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A review by h4wke
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire by Steve Perry
2.0
This was a fun enough book, but ultimately felt rather pointless.
I assumed, going in (perhaps a mistake), that this novel would adequately fill the gap between Empire and Return. It explained how they were physically there with the props and costumes they'd acquired, I guess. But it felt like it didn't delve into character motivations enough—it was the perfect opportunity to show Luke starting to toy with the dark side and it just doesn't happen.
So, with the novel being disappointing on that front, was the story good on its own? It's... fine.
The main villain, Xizor, is serviceable, though incredibly rapey towards Leia, which was uncomfortable to read. The male characters do feel like their movie counterparts (seeing more Lando was great), but the female characters in this book are over-sexualised, which doesn't really fit into what I see Star Wars as (yes, even with sail-barge Leia). The Black Sun was a decent addition though, and the action sequences were exciting enough. Vader's ruminations were interesting at first, but end up quite repetitive especially considering they would be told to Luke in Return.
I also didn't enjoy the writing in the novel. There's constant perspective shifts in the middle of action scenes that I'm trying to visualise. I found it completely unnecessary to mix the scenes; they would have been better separated. Plus Dash Rendarr is budget Han Solo with a backstory that's far too similar to the Xizor's to be interesting.
I appreciate that this was a big deal when it came out, but now it's just a decent story with disappointing presentation. I wanted to like it, I really did. At least I'll be reading the second in the Thrawn trilogy soon, hopefully that will make up for this one.
I assumed, going in (perhaps a mistake), that this novel would adequately fill the gap between Empire and Return. It explained how they were physically there with the props and costumes they'd acquired, I guess. But it felt like it didn't delve into character motivations enough—it was the perfect opportunity to show Luke starting to toy with the dark side and it just doesn't happen.
So, with the novel being disappointing on that front, was the story good on its own? It's... fine.
The main villain, Xizor, is serviceable, though incredibly rapey towards Leia, which was uncomfortable to read. The male characters do feel like their movie counterparts (seeing more Lando was great), but the female characters in this book are over-sexualised, which doesn't really fit into what I see Star Wars as (yes, even with sail-barge Leia). The Black Sun was a decent addition though, and the action sequences were exciting enough. Vader's ruminations were interesting at first, but end up quite repetitive especially considering they would be told to Luke in Return.
I also didn't enjoy the writing in the novel. There's constant perspective shifts in the middle of action scenes that I'm trying to visualise. I found it completely unnecessary to mix the scenes; they would have been better separated. Plus Dash Rendarr is budget Han Solo with a backstory that's far too similar to the Xizor's to be interesting.
I appreciate that this was a big deal when it came out, but now it's just a decent story with disappointing presentation. I wanted to like it, I really did. At least I'll be reading the second in the Thrawn trilogy soon, hopefully that will make up for this one.