Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire [Hardcover]

Steve Perry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1996

Darth Vader joins forces with Xizor, an ambitious and ruthless Underlord of a criminal organization called Black Sun, to target the young Jedi knight Luke Skywalker, while Princess Leia launches a desperate campaign to free Han Solo, frozen in a carbonite slab.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Xizor, the Dark Prince and underlord of the criminal organization Black Sun, plots to kill Luke Skywalker to usurp Darth Vader's position with the Emperor. Perry is the first novelist authorized by George Lucas to reveal what happened to the familiar Star Wars characters between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Highly recommended for fans of the series.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Yet another prolific action-sf writer has been recruited to labor on the Star Wars series, George Lucas' stupendous mingled-media creation. The results are something of a mixed bag but, on the whole, more agreeable than not. The story takes place between the events of The Empire Strikes Back and those of Return of the Jedi, with Luke continuing his self-training as a Jedi knight and everybody else trying to track down and unfreeze Han Solo before Boba Fett delivers him to Jabba the Hutt. Unfortunately, Darth Vader is looking for his son (Luke--remember?), to turn him to the dark side of the Force, and a nonhuman criminal mastermind who makes Jabba look like a shoplifter--Prince Xizor of the Black Sun--is also after Luke, to take vengeance on Darth Vader for killing his family. We see a good deal of Vader's ambivalence toward both his son and his emperor, which led to the conclusion of Return, and Perry handles the multitudinous details of the increasingly complex Star Wars universe as competently as he deals with characters and pacing. A solid rather than an outstanding effort in the reliably popular SW canon. Roland Green

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 340 pages
• Publisher: Spectra; First Edition edition (April 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553100890
• ISBN-13: 978-0553100891
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (348 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #457,258 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm married, got kids, grandkids, dogs, all like that. Ex-hippie, long-time martial artist, duffer on the guitar.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Shadows" is a crowd-pleaser...where's the film version?, October 14, 2003

By 

Alex Diaz-Granados "fardreaming writer" (Miami, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shadows of the Empire (Star Wars) (Mass Market Paperback)

Steve Perry's Shadows of the Empire, first published in 1996, is the centerpiece of a Lucasfilm multi-media marketing campaign that could be summed up with the tag line "Everything but the movie." Not only was Perry assigned to write the novel, but Kenner (now Hasbro) rolled out a line of action figures, Dark Horse Comics published a multi-issue series, Nintendo released a console-based game for its Nintendo 64 system, and Joel McNeeley (The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles) composed an original score. In short, all that was missing was the feature film.

And what a film Shadows of the Empire would make! Although the novel is part of the Expanded Universe series that started with Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire, it's the first of the 1990s-era novels to explore the six-month or so time span between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

In this smartly-written, fast-paced novel, Lord Darth Vader and his evil master Emperor Palpatine still live and Han Solo is frozen in carbonite en route to Jabba's Palace on Tatooine. On that desert planet, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Organa wait for word from Lando Calrissian and Han's Wookiee first mate Chewbacca that the bounty hunter Boba Fett has landed with his prized captive. But Fett has taken a detour to repair his ship, the Slave I, and has been spotted on an Imperial-held world known as Gall. Deciding it's worth the risk, and with the assistance of Rogue Squadron and a dashing and brash mercenary named Dash Rendar, Luke and his friends mount a rescue attempt.

Meanwhile, on the Imperial throne world Coruscant, Vader juggles his quest to find Luke Skywalker and at the same time contend with the machinations of Prince Xizor, a cunning crime lord and Vader's rival for the favor of their mutual overlord, Emperor Palpatine. Xizor, a Falleen with great intellect, fighting prowess, and even greater ambition, seeks to usurp the former Jedi Knight-turned-Sith Lord. His plan combines the elimination of Vader's son and the setting of a deadly trap for the Rebel Alliance.

Although the ending is, of course, pre-determined (the events that follow are chronicled in the 1983 film Return of the Jedi), Shadows of the Empire is an exciting and suspenseful book. Vader fans particularly will enjoy this novel; we get glimpses into the Dark Lord's personality that the movies (and their novelizations) only barely hint at. Even better, Perry uses the films (particularly The Empire Strikes Back) as a gold mine of material. The prologue, set inside the Imperial Palace, takes a short but crucial scene from Episode V and gives it new depth and meaning, even though Perry leaves the dialog intact. In the rest of the novel, the author not only creates his own adventures for the Star Wars heroes and villains, but also "sets the stage" for the "official story" as seen in Episode VI. (Indeed, other Lucasfilm-licensed or created projects incorporated Shadows of the Empire into their storyline. In 1997's Special Edition re-release of A New Hope, Asp droids make an appearance, as does Dash Rendar's ship, the Outrider. And Brian Daley made several references to events from Shadows in his Return of the Jedi radio drama.)

Alex Diaz-Granados

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Continue the Thrills of STAR WARS with Shadows of the Empire, November 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Shadows of the Empire (Star Wars) (Mass Market Paperback)

If you liked the STAR WARS movies, you'll love Shadows of the Empire. Han Solo has been captured and frozen in carbonite. Now Luke, Leia, Chewbacca, Lando, and their new friend Dash Rendar are on a mission to break him out. Set between Empire Strikes back and Return of the Jedi, it explains the events between the two of George Lucas's action-packed films. It will also give new meaning to the Shadows of the Empire video game for Nintendo 64. The game corresponds almost exactly with the novel.

Steve Perry perfectly captures the action that people have come to expect from the name STAR WARS. The action is amazing,the detail makes it even more thrilling, and it comes down to a climax any reader would love. Read this book to continue the non-stop action of STAR WARS.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you've never read a Star Wars novel before, try this one, June 8, 2007

By 

Andrew Pruette "Rancors Love to Read" (U.S.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shadows of the Empire (Star Wars) (Mass Market Paperback)

In 1996 the marketing team at Lucasfilm developed an innovative concept for a major cross-channel promotion: they proposed Shadows of the Empire, a Star Wars movie without the movie. What did this mean? It meant all the trappings of a movie were released: a novelization, a full orchestral score, a videogame, comic books, toy lines, statues, and sundry other widgets, but there was never an actual movie for them to center around. Each aspect of the campaign emphasized different aspects of the story, but the core tale was contained in Steve Perry's novel. The idea seemed to meet with mixed success, as the Shadows toys, statues, and some of the other odd products lingered on the pegs a terribly long time, but the Nintendo 64 videogame is fondly remembered by many and the score by Joel McNeely is absolutely terrific (pick up a copy if you haven't heard it before!)

Shadows of the Empire fills in some of the blank space between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, a year left largely untapped except in the Marvel comic series. Perry works hard to build a strong bridge between the two films and succeeds beautifully, exploring some of the emotional aftermath of the climax of Episode V and setting up the opening section of Episode VI. Of course, Han Solo spends the duration of this novel frozen in a block of carbonite, but the majority of the other main film characters all get a chance to shine.

The novel introduces us to Black Sun, the galaxy far, far away's leading organized crime syndicate. Black Sun is headed by the brilliant, charismatic, egotistical Falleen Prince Xizor, the third most powerful person in the galaxy after our old favorites Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader. Xizor's constant preening and self-admiration make for slightly tiresome reading, but he does play a role distinct from the usual Sith and Imperial villains in other Star Wars novels. Being the third most powerful person is not quite enough for the Prince, and so much of the plot of Shadows of the Empire is driven by his scheming against Darth Vader and his attempts to kill Vader's son. The Falleen species is endowed with some slightly creepy abilities to attract mates, and Xizor almost leads Leia, newly separated from her love Han Solo, down a very unpleasant path. Fortunately stalwart Chewbacca is on hand to help Leia escape Xizor's pheromone-driven trap. This sequence was unusual reading for a Star Wars novel, and although it is deliberately rather icky, I give Perry credit for exploring these themes rather than sticking solely to action sequences.

The other main new character is Dash Rendar, virtually a "carbon" copy of A New Hope-era Han Solo. Dash is a smuggler and superb pilot who was doing a job for the Rebel Alliance when the Empire struck the Hoth base. Dash always looks out for himself first and drops sarcastic wisecracks right and left. However, maybe Dash isn't as shallow as he first appears, and perhaps by the end of the story he'll find the need to look out for others and the ability for self-sacrifice. Sound familiar? I didn't really mind this character but Perry could have made a little more effort to make him less of a second-tier Han Solo.

The story itself is a rollicking thrill-ride. Perry takes us all over the galaxy as our heroes try to track down Boba Fett and Vader and Xizor try to track down our heroes. We learn the back story of the "many Bothans" who died procuring the Death Star II plans, how Leia got the Boushh bounty hunter disguise she uses in Return of the Jedi, how Luke spent time enhancing his Jedi skills and constructing his new lightsaber, and many other interesting tidbits. The characterization of Vader maps well with the new information we learned about Anakin Skywalker in the prequels, and it's nice to see a new element introduced to the Emperor/Vader plotting in the form of Xizor. R2 and 3PO have a hysterical sequence piloting the Millennium Falcon across Coruscant (it's rare that a Star Wars novel makes me laugh out loud). Perry writes in a brisk, cinematic style, and it is quite easy to picture this novel as a good film, an Episode Five-and-a-Half, if you will.

Shadows of the Empire does a terrific job of detailing the story between the final two films in the saga. Depending on which stories a reader considers to be canon, there are either many or very few tales set during the original trilogy. Personally, I would love to see more novels covering this period of time, as well as the three years between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. These years host the only stories with the opportunity to directly explore the Vader-Luke dynamic, an element so central to the films. The ancillary products such as the toys, comics, and especially the soundtrack further enhance the Shadows experience. This book is highly recommended to everyone, including readers trying their first Star Wars novel.