Customer Reviews

Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire

5 star:		(212)
4 star:		(66)
3 star:		(34)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

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

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.

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.

I've read many reviewers complain that this story is plagued with plot gaps and holes... and that's definitely true. This story was written to go along with the mass marketing project of the same name. To get the full story of "Shadows", you have to read the comic book and, in part, play the Nintendo 64 video game. When the three are in combination the story flows much more smoothly and the entire experience is more enjoyable. Without the other two the book can definitely get... annoying.

"Stand back. Let's see if it will stop a lightsaber."
Han Solo is locked in carbonite, in the possession of Boba Fett. Luke, Lando, Leia, and Chewie are desperately searching for the bounty hunter, in the hopes of rescuing Han. Meanwhile, Prince Xizor of the Black Sun is angling to destroy his rival and destroyer of his family, Darth Vader.
NOTE: Based on the audiobook and what I remember of the novel I read years ago.

I Liked:
Steve Perry is given a difficult task: bridge the gap between The Empire Strikes Backand Return of the Jedi. This is difficult because he has to write an interesting book, yet keep continuity. Most authors just have to write a plausible future Luke, Leia, and Han; this job is far more difficult. And for the most part, Perry does an impressive job.
The characters were fairly strong, namely Luke and Leia. I liked how Perry lead Luke into being the sedate Jedi we see in Return of the Jedi, making him grow from the brash apprentice in Empire Strikes Back. One moment I particularly was fond of was Luke returning to Obi-Wan's hovel to build his lightsaber. I loved this little bit of continuity. Leia was also well done, conflicted about her feelings to Han, wondering how he felt, nervous, yet still strong even in the face of Prince Xizor's advances (which were fine to me as he was using pheromones on her--in fact, I thought it made her look stronger to be able to withstand his biological advances).
As for our bad guys, we rarely get to see Darth Vader in the helmet, and at the time, this novel was novel (har har) in that we got a Vader point of view. Since most Bantam books were strictly post-Jedi, Vader got omitted completely, which was a shame, as he was such an interesting character. Here, I enjoyed how Perry had Vader try to use the Dark Side to heal himself, but always fail, as his joy for being healed won out.
Lastly, I oddly liked how it was unclear whether or not Prince Xizor died (at least, that's the way I heard it).

I Didn't Like:
The first thing I didn't like was how much Dash Rendar was like Han Solo. Now, I've heard that the character was created for the game, so maybe Perry had very little choice in how Dash was supposed to be. Okay, I understand that. But still, couldn't Perry have tried a wee bit harder to make Dash unique and not so much like Han? I couldn't help but wince when I read him in a scene.
Xizor is often uplifted as this really great villain, and I am just unsure why. Sure, he plots and schemes in this book, but, partly because he is doomed to fail, nothing happens of it. All he does is exercise, change clothes, and seduce women. I wish Perry had allowed Xizor some way of winning something, just so I could be assured he was a real threat, instead of a dandified playboy. And I almost didn't even want to start reading the novel when Xizor miraculously knows that Vader is Anakin Skywalker. No one knows that! How does he?
Another problem I have is how this book feels like filler. Other than a few nice tie-ins (Leia getting the Boushh costume, the thermal detonator, Luke's lightsaber, the Bothan spies), the whole book is just filler. We all know the outcome, there is little suspense, there is little to engage us. It doesn't help when circumstances keep repeating themselves (Leia gets kidnapped to lure Luke to Coruscant, like done in Empire, Dash Rendar returns to help like Han returned to help Luke in A New Hope, Luke and Lando hide in a surprisingly dense asteroid field, and so on).

My last complaint is about Perry's writing style. I found it quite juvenile, filled with simple, embarrassing sentences. Here is one such example:
[Luke] "Stand back. Let's see if it will stop a lightsaber."
The door would not stop a lightsaber. They went through and continued to climb.
Not only does the above excerpt contain an unnecessary and embarrassing line of dialogue made of pure cheese, the narration is boring, uninspired, and uninteresting. I have no idea how Luke sliced the door, where, if he cut a chunk or the whole thing off, if there were people right behind him or anything. In fact, all this scene does is give us filler, more padding to drag out the big escape.

Dialogue/Sexual Situation/Violence:
Light to none spattering of mild profanity.
Prince Xizor fancies himself a player and makes the moves on Leia.
We have space battles, attempted murders, lightsaber battles, rescues, kidnappings, etc.

Overall:
One of the better Star Wars novels out there, Shadows of the Empire is entertaining but not hugely memorable. Not a bad book to put on your reading list, but I wouldn't rush out to read it anytime soon.

Brought to you by:
*C.S. Light*

Steve Perry does a wonderful job in this book of bringing interest and drama to a story that is carefully shoehorned into the gap between Empire and Jedi. To be honest I did not expect much from this book because I thought there wasn't much story to tell about this time period. Turns out I was wrong.

Luke, Leia, and Lando were quite busy while Han was being carted around the galaxy like so much cargo in Boba Fett's ship and being tacked up on the wall at Jabba's palace. There are some battles and some spying and intrigue and some buildings get blow up. Leia gets hit on by a crime lord. Luke builds a lightsaber. And Artoo and Threepio fly the Falcon at one point. Wonder if anyone ever got around to telling Han about what went on while he was frozen?

It was fascinating to me to see how Perry took the characters from where they are at the end of one movie to where they are at the beginning of the next. This had to have been a difficult task, to be hemmed in on both sides creatively - your beginning and your ending are set in stone. or, rather, locked on film.

I found myself engaged in the story all the way, even though I knew, of course, who had to emerge unscathed at the end. The interesting part was watching the characters from Empire grow and change through their adventures and end up as the people we see in Jedi.

Luke, in particular, is a very different person at the beginning of Jedi than he was at the end of Empire, and Perry's story helps us understand how this happened. Especially because we've gotten used to Luke the Jedi Master - Perry gives us some insight into how the gawky farm boy from Tatooine matured into the Jedi who destroyed the Emperor. It's cool to watch his confusion and uncertainty melting away and watch his confidence grow to the point where he's ready to take charge.

It is also interesting to watch Luke grappling with his feelings for Leia and balancing this with the fact that she's obviously chosen Han. As most of the EU books take place outside of the film's timeline, we tend to forget that there was a time when Luke didn't know the truth about his father, or that Leia was his sister. So it's nice to see a glimpse into that part of his life.

It was also fun for me to see a side of Princess Leia that we don't see often. Perry takes us inside her head and it's intersting to watch her work her way through all the complications that life has thrown her lately.

After spending considerable time in their future of late (I finally caved in and am slogging my way through the NJO) it was fun to go back and revist the characters I remember in the time period I remember them.

I really enjoyed this book and it's one of only a handful of the EU novels (besides Timothy Zahn's marvelous Thrawn trilogy) that I've actually bothered to purchase after reading from the library. These days that's the highest compliment I pay to a book - owning it. Meaning, I plan to read it again. For fun.

This is by far the best stand alone Star Wars book ever written. The reader does not have to have read any of the other books to understand the story behind "Shadows". This book captures the feel of the original movies and fills in a great deal of missing plot from the films. Highly recommended title!

This is the novel that connects the dots between Episodes V and VI. The novel starts firmly planted in The Empire Strikes Back with the Emperor's holo-message to Vader - but this time from Palpatine's point of view (and although Vader didn't know it, the Emperor was not alone). And then several months later Princess Leia wakes up from a nightmare about Han Solo being frozen on Cloud City.

Many questions arise about the time between the two Star Wars sequels, and this novel has the answers. How did Luke Skywalker, severely demoralized by finding out the true identity of his father and feeling that Obi-Wan Kenobi had lied to him, go from being a Jedi padawan with incomplete training to a confident, powerful Jedi Knight in every way except for his final trial? Who completed Luke's training? How did Luke construct his new lightsaber? Why didn't Boba Fett deliver Han to Jabba the Hutt right away? Who died to make Jabba the most powerful crime lord in the galaxy? How did Leia get her Boushh disguise and thermal detonators? How did Wedge Antilles become the leader of the Rebel's elite X-fighter squadron? How did the Bothans bring the Alliance the information about the second Death Star? If the droids ever tried to pilot the Millennium Falcon through Coruscant while Han was frozen, would you ever tell him about it?

Shadows of the Empire ends with Luke hiding his lightsaber in R2-D2 and recording his message for Jabba. This novel is an adventurous story very worthy of the Star Wars name. And this BOOK even has it's own SOUNDTRACK!

Star Wars: Shadows Of The Empire [Enhanced CD]

I also highly recommend the following 5-star novels that are extremely relevant to the prequel trilogy:

Cloak of Deception (Star Wars)
Shadow Hunter (Star Wars: Darth Maul)
Labyrinth of Evil (Star Wars, Episode III Prequel Novel)
Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader (Star Wars)

Shadows of the Empire is set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Steve Perry does a really nice job of incorporating your favorite Star Wars characters along with some new ones. The action is quite intense throughout the entire book, and the new approaches to the Star Wars saga make for good reading.

Prince Xixor and the Black Sun Organization were incredible additions and were used nicely in the storyline. I would have liked to see a little bit less of the typical good vs. evil. The Star Wars movies and most of the other books always have characters that can side either way. Here, there really wasn't any of that.

The storyline and all of the characters were well-developed and the plot seemed to have the usual twists and turns, loaded with action and adventure, leading up to a nice enjoyable ending. The writing style was was not overly descriptive and had a nice flow, making it an easy read. All in all, the novel was pretty adequate and fun to read.

One of the most-hyped Star Wars novels to date, Shadows of the Empire (SotE) is also one of the worst to date, in my opinion. Considering all the spin-off items this book generated (action figures, video games, and even a soundtrack!), it's amazing how lackluster this book ended up being.

The worst thing about this book are it's characterizations. Luke, Leia, and the rest of the gang seem to have reverted to their 'A New Hope' characters, not having changed a bit. It's the worst with Luke, who whines his way almost through the entire novel, which is a huge step backward considering his maturity in 'Return of the Jedi'. Darth Vader is also prominently featured in this book, which you might think is a huge bonus, but it actually ends up making his character look awkward and weak. It definitely takes away from Vader's aura of mystery and power to see his thoughts throughout the book.

The second problem is Xizor. One of the lamest bad guys ever featured in Star Wars, Xizor is a lizard with a huge libido and a love for power. This sounds like the makings of a great protaganist (sarcasm), but Perry only succeeds in creating a flat, uninteresting foil for our heroes.

You'll probably end up reading SotE despite any negative reviews, but take my word for it, don't buy into the hype before you read it, and borrow it from the library before spending hard-earned cash on it.