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Shadows of the Empire (Star Wars Universe)

3.75 of 5 stars 3.75 · rating details · 7,650 ratings · 168 reviews

Shadows of the Empire illuminates the shadowy outlines of a criminal conspiracy that exists in the background of the events in the movies, ruled by a character new to us. Prince Xizor is a mastermind of evil who dares to oppose one of the best-known fictional villains of all time: Darth Vader. The story involves all the featured Star Wars movie characters, plus Emperor Pal...more

Paperback, 400 pages

Published April 1997 by Spectra (first published 1996)

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Jun 05, 2007 Siria rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: american-fiction, 20th-century, scifi

All the furore over the release of Episode III has made me go back and search out some of the Star Wars Extended Universe novels that I devoured so furiously when I was a kid, out of the hope that immersing myself in the Original Trilogy and the books based around it would help block out some of the pain caused by the prequels. They're essentially glorified, sanctioned fanfiction - though the ten-through-twelve-year-old version of me didn't know that. Shadows of the Empire was one of my favourit...more All the furore over the release of Episode III has made me go back and search out some of the Star Wars Extended Universe novels that I devoured so furiously when I was a kid, out of the hope that immersing myself in the Original Trilogy and the books based around it would help block out some of the pain caused by the prequels. They're essentially glorified, sanctioned fanfiction - though the ten-through-twelve-year-old version of me didn't know that. Shadows of the Empire was one of my favourites at the time, and I was curious to see how it would stand up re-reading it so many years later.

To put it bluntly: not bad. Re-reading it with the knowledge of what fanfiction is in my mind, it really does seem more than ever like one. It even fulfils a role which a lot of fanfic takes on - filling in events which take place 'off-screen' in canon, the background events which we don't get to see. The book itself is set between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and tells the story of the first failed attempt to rescue Han.

The pacing is as fast and the action as non-stop as the movies, helping to pull along the plot, which aspires to the Machiavellian, but which really ends up achieving only the political acumen which one could imagine the bastard love child of Blair and Bush possessing. The characterisation is mostly good, too, with the addition of some new OCs - Guri (the assassin femme fetale droid, whom I quite like); Prince Xizor (the mostly fun-in-a-ahahaomgwtf! way Gary Stu who continues on in the fine tradition of fantasy novel characters having really fucking stupid names); and Dash Rendar (so obviously a clone of Han Solo I'm surprised they didn't test his DNA for Corellian ancestry). The expansion of the canonical universe I especially liked - particularly the parts where we get to see something of how the Empire operated on a day-to-day basis.

The dialogue, however, is choppy, and often reads more like a screen-play than a novel. The exposition too often seems forced - something which seems especially irksome when you consider that the number of people reading this who don't have a fairly good knowledge of the Star Wars universe will more than probably be extremely low.

All in all, though, it's a fun read if you have an hour or two to spare and want to switch your brain off. If Star Wars is a popcorn kind of movie, this is a popcorn kind of book.(less)

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Sep 28, 2012 Jeff Cothern rated it 4 of 5 stars

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

...more

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Jul 22, 2012 Scott Rhee rated it 4 of 5 stars

I can easily guess why George Lucas never went on to make his planned third trilogy (Episodes 7-9) by perusing the sci-fi section of any bookstore: he didn't need to. There are a slew of other writers who have carried on the Star Wars mythos. Probably better than Lucas's movies would have been, in my opinion. I have read a small handful of the Star Wars novels, and some are better than others. Back in the mid-'90s, best-selling sci-fi author Steve Perry jumped on the Star Wars bandwagon with hi...more

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Jan 21, 2012 Stuart rated it 3 of 5 stars

***SPOILERS ABOUND***

The 3-stars on this review should be taken as 3-stars for a Star Wars book, not for just any book.
I don't think that it's fair to read these puffed up pieces of fan-fiction as actual books and the rating reflects this.

I have known about Shadows of the Empire since it was released in 1996. I was in middle school and I totally bought in to the marketing. I collected Star Wars figures at the time, and despite not having read the central piece in the media onslaught, I got figur...more ***SPOILERS ABOUND***

The 3-stars on this review should be taken as 3-stars for a Star Wars book, not for just any book.
I don't think that it's fair to read these puffed up pieces of fan-fiction as actual books and the rating reflects this.

I have known about Shadows of the Empire since it was released in 1996. I was in middle school and I totally bought in to the marketing. I collected Star Wars figures at the time, and despite not having read the central piece in the media onslaught, I got figures for Xizor, Dash Rendar, and even Chewbacca in his transvestite bounty hunter disguise.

For the past 16 years, I had just assumed that this was a rather epic story centered around Dash Rendar, and that the quality control was comparatively higher than other, less promoted Star Wars novels.

I was wrong.

The first thing that struck me was how weak the writing in the initial chapters is. I'm not sure if the writing improves as the novel progresses, or if I simply became accustomed to it. Regardless, the writing is not fantastic.

I also found the characterization to be rather poor. Darth Vader stands out in particular. Take this scene, for example. Xizor supplies the Empire with the location of an unguarded Rebel base, to which Vader replies "I'll have my agents check it out." He'll WHAT?? I cannot imagine Vader ever saying "check it out". How about "I'll send my agents to investigate" or...ANYTHING but "check it out". Vader's dialogue was constantly off-key.

Also, Dash Rendar's existence baffles me. He was left completely one-dimensional, given very little "screen-time", and the roles he fulfills could have been accomplished by Wedge or another one of the already existing side characters who also appear in the book. ***SPOILER*** His sudden death and the emotional weight we're apparently supposed to feel was, at most, shrug-worthy. Why was this character created? The most obvious answer is to sell merchandise. Hell, I bought the toy. The design of the toy was infinitely cooler than his portrayal in the book.

To wrap things up, I also didn't like the way they shoe-horned in connections to Return of the Jedi. The Bothan acquisition of the Death Star plans, Leia and the Boushh suit, and...probably some other things. I didn't think the inclusion of these connections was clever. Moreover, they took me out of the fantasy and served as a reminder that there were human hands guiding the story.

Was Shadows of the Empire entertaining? Sure. But given the push behind it, I expected more. Most of my satisfaction comes from finally reading this piece of Star Wars history. If you aren't interested in that, I'd say skip it.
(less)

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Jan 09, 2012 Paul Darcy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

by Steve Perry, published in 1996.

This Star Wars novel, ‘Shadows of the Empire’, fits exactly between the Star Wars movies ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ and ‘Return of the Jedi’ and is even sanctioned by that Lucas guy. As you recall Han is kinda frozen, Luke is not quite done his training and Lando has possession of the Falcon and Leia is, well Leia and Chewie still snarls a lot.

What this novel does well is set a good fast pace of activities in the Star Wars universe and really fill in how Luke bui...more by Steve Perry, published in 1996.

This Star Wars novel, ‘Shadows of the Empire’, fits exactly between the Star Wars movies ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ and ‘Return of the Jedi’ and is even sanctioned by that Lucas guy. As you recall Han is kinda frozen, Luke is not quite done his training and Lando has possession of the Falcon and Leia is, well Leia and Chewie still snarls a lot.

What this novel does well is set a good fast pace of activities in the Star Wars universe and really fill in how Luke built his new light saber and what Leia and Chewie and Lando did between movies. And as far as that goes a pretty decent job was done.

But, since Han is frozen in carbonite sitting pretty in Jabba’s throne room, I guess the author felt the readers really needed another Han and so created Dash Rendar . . . Yeah, that’s what I thought to. I thought the Clone Wars were long over . . .

Perhaps the neatest creation, to give the author some credit back, is Xizor the head of Black Sun the evil underground crime network of the Star Wars Universe - if you are a super geek you will also know that there was a plastic model kit made of Xizor, an actual full length movie soundtrack and other marketing goodies just like it was an actual movie release.

So, back to Xizor. Pretty decent character as far as evil characters go; ruthless, charming and reptilian with a juiced up pheremone system to drive all the humanoid ladies wild when he so chooses - no really. And you can guess that at some point in the novel Leia gets to sample his scent, but I won’t spoil it for you here.

The actual writing itself left me a bit annoyed. The sentences are too damn short. And repetitive. And too melodrama. Just too much. Way too much. Really too much, it was. If you follow me.

Still, the writing style aside, the story is pretty decent and we get to see Darth Vader pitted against Xizor in a competition to win the Emperor’s favours. Good rivalry there for sure and yeah, since you’ve seen ‘Return of the Jedi’ you can guess which evil villain wins.

Overall a worthwhile bit of time spent with your favourite Star Wars characters. I really would have liked to not see Dash Rendar though - the Han Solo clone. You do get to see how and where Leia gets her funky bounty hunter suit though and how the Emperor let the rebels get the new Death Star plans - It’s a trap!

I leave it up to you. If you are a Star Wars geek you will likely need to read this book since it ties up a bunch of activities between movies and is treated as official Star Wars Universe stuff. If you just like the movies (the first three produced, not the last three) you can skip this book and never knew it existed.

May the . . .

Nope, not gonna do it.(less)

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Aug 06, 2011 Willem van den Oever rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: in-english, science-fiction-fantasy, adventure

Having been presented in the form of a novel, comic book series, a soundtrack CD and various other incarnations, ‘Star Wars; Shadows of the Empire’ is a Star Wars movie like any other, except there was never a movie released. It was an enormous project Lucasfilm set up in 1996 in order to warm up the fans for the release of the 1997 special editions of the original movies.
Filling in the gap between ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ and ‘Return of the Jedi’ the plot focuses on the rescue of Han Solo afte...more

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Jul 23, 2010 Crystal Starr Light rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: star-wars, it-s-not-you-it-s-me

"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...more

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Jun 16, 2010 Adam Kranz rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: star-wars, science-fiction

I'd heard good things about SoTE, had fond memories of the game, and honestly thought the plot sounded pretty good in summary. Unfortunately, Steve Perry's execution of it was terrifically worthless. He includes not one but two Gary Stus - Dash Rendar and Prince Xizor. This is generally a bad way to design characters. However, the real problem with SoTE is that Perry never escapes the tropes of the SW universe. I realize there is a fine line between repetitious, predictable tropes and the archet...more I'd heard good things about SoTE, had fond memories of the game, and honestly thought the plot sounded pretty good in summary. Unfortunately, Steve Perry's execution of it was terrifically worthless. He includes not one but two Gary Stus - Dash Rendar and Prince Xizor. This is generally a bad way to design characters. However, the real problem with SoTE is that Perry never escapes the tropes of the SW universe. I realize there is a fine line between repetitious, predictable tropes and the archetypes and mythological patterns that are central to SW, but it seems like the editors could have kept this piece of clumsy fan-fiction grade writing off the shelves.

Every character is motivated by murdered family members, everyone is a played-out stereotype of a character with a few major traits that are turned up to the max, and all the action occurs in bursts of stereotyped scenes - chase scenes, fight scenes, etc, which all end predictably and follow the patterns. Nor are the plot arcs really developed in a way that emphasizes their relative importance. The Suprosa bit, crucial to setting up ROTJ, came out of nowhere, went by quickly and without much attention, and didn't give me any reason to care about the Bothan pilots. So what if half the squadron died, and they were rookies? If it had been a larger battle, and they'd been members of a no-name random x-wing squadron, they'd never get mentioned again.

Another reviewer made some comment to the effect that, if you're picking a star wars novel, you can't be expecting "existential philosophy." But fortunately, many authors have recently raised the bar in SW to the point that I do now have high expectations of SW novels. The KOTOR games, Matthew Stover's novels, as well as select other novels written by people who care and know how to write, and also including the excellent essential guides and rpg sourcebooks written by people who care as much or more, have done great things for the quality of new Star Wars stories. Enjoy one of them, and don't bother with SoTE. Read a summary instead.(less)

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Dec 10, 2011 Sebastien rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Fan de Star Wars

Recommended to Sebastien by: Video Game

Shelves: star-wars

Pendant que je lisais la trilogy des Jedi, le Nintendo 64 avait sortie un nouveau jeu de Star Wars que tout le monde qualifiait de brillant, de révolutionnaire et surtout de meilleur jeu de Star Wars à date. Ce jeu Shadow of the Empire. Étant un fan des jeux qui avaient été fait sur le Super Nintendo, j'ai pris le temps d'y jouer et j'ai trouver que malgré un contrôle pas toujours évident, l'histoire et le jeu était en effet révolutionnaire.

Donc dès que j'ai fini le jeu j'ai tout de suite décide...more

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Aug 08, 2012 Alex rated it 3 of 5 stars

Filling the space between Episodes V and VI, this is a solid stopgap that bridges the two films together. Introducing Xizor to the Star Wars universe, the book follows the political and personal battles between the elegant alien and Darth Vader, as both fight for the Emperor's favor and for the acquirement of Luke Skywalker. There are a few silly moments in the book, and the writing feels a little forcibly dramatic at times, with many chapters using repetion of the final line to create a hook; f...more

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Apr 04, 2012 Stephanie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: i-own-a-hard-copy

I picked this book up because i was feeling all nostalgic about how much i used to love reading Star Wars books, and i remembered that i thought the junior novelization of this one was really good. I do think this is a pretty good one as far as Star Wars books go, i just don't get nearly as much pleasure out of them as i used to.

***Spoiler Alert***

In the beginning i thought it was a little corny how the author kept recycling sound bytes from the Star Wars movies; "it's not my fault!" "i've got...more

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Jun 23, 2011 Jon rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book is awesome!! You really get to see Darth Vader in a different light(no pun intended) Luke is in tune with the force in this book. Prince Xizor is trying to undermine Darth Vader and become the emporers left hand man, Darth Vader learns of this and puts Xizor on his bad list. Meanwhile, Luke is trying to find Leia who has been captured by Xizor when trying to get help from him.(read book for deatails) Xizor and Leia almost make love, but Leia overcomes the urge. Xizor has a power where...more

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Jun 09, 2009 Billy Maise rated it 4 of 5 stars

There was a video game with the same title as this book that I used to play a lot on the Nintendo 64. It was a pretty sweet game. Good graphics for the time. Decent gameplay. Cool level environments. The main character was a never-before-seen friend of Han Solo with a ship similar to the Millenium Falcon called the Outrider. He was trying to save Leia from this creepy alien called Prince Xizor, I think. I couldn't beat it. There was this level on a garbage planet that was uber hard; you had to k...more

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Jan 05, 2012 Ricky Ganci rated it 4 of 5 stars

Wow—I feel so in love with the Star Wars EU right now, and couldn’t be more excited about reading more of the SWEU novels and comics. Again, the winning aspect of this novel was the dialogue, especially Vader’s. Great story, great allusions to the films, and, perhaps most surprising, great dichotomy of Anakin/Vader in his quiet times outside of the suit. It’s crazy to think that the SotE project was concieved and implemented well before the prequel films, and yet the continuity of Anakin’s feeli...more

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Feb 13, 2012 Bonix rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: scifi, fantasy

After this book I came to the conclusion, I don't like the good guys from the original trilogy, specially Luke. There are some moments that I just want to slap him on the face so hard... I never was a big fan of him, but on this book the author really explore his aggravating inner "conflict" that is shallow as a puddle. But Vader is really something, all the time I was looking forward for his passages, he saved the book OMHO.

And Xizor, what a badly constructed character... he built an empire of...more

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Apr 11, 2011 John Cress rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was one of the better Star Wars books that I read. I can easily see how there was a big marketing campaign with video game ties ins built around this big in the mid 90s. The thing I liked most about this book was that something happened on just about every page. There was very little down time and I could swear that I could hear the John Williams soundtrack in the background at times. Also, the main villain, Xizor, was very credible opponent to Luke, Lea, and even Vader. Both Xizor and Vade...more

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Feb 02, 2013 Mike rated it 2 of 5 stars

The pace is fast but the characters' choices are unbelievably dumb and the conversations vapid. The language used in the book is very simple and makes for a pretty boring read.

Imagine my surprise when I learned that there are two versions of this book: the original authored by Perry and a children's version authored by Golden. Ah ha! I eagerly checked which version I had, fully expecting to find Golden's name on my copy. I was shocked to see it was Perry. I'm glad that the Star Wars universe is...more

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Feb 04, 2012 StoryTellerShannon rated it 1 of 5 stars

I lasted through 40 pages or so of this novel. The concept sounded interesting; a rival vs Darth Vader for the affections of the Emperor.
But the problem is that the concept wasn't fully mined nor not even partially enough to make it interesting enough. Furthermore, every other chapter jumped to the Star Wars characters in which they rehashed stuff from the movies just like the crime lord character who was opposed to Vader. I get that he hates Vader but do I have to hear it for pages and pages of...more

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Jan 03, 2009 Jeffrey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi

Good solid airplane fun reading. The usual Star Wars cliches and weaknesses apply, but what were you expecting from a Star Wars novel, existential philosophy? It's fun seeing Luke, Leia et. al. during their original series prime, and Luke as a Jedi in training is more entertaining than his omnipotent later incarnations. The characters are a bit more vulnerable and human than in other books (this book has more "adult situations" than all the others combined, but that isn't saying much), so it's c...more

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Dec 06, 2012 Grahm Eberhardt rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: space, star-wars, sci-fi

This was the first Star Wars book to be officially sanctioned by Lucas as canon. It depicts what happens between Empire and Jedi. Except that it's all about a brand new Han Solo-esque smuggler/hero and a pheremone-emitting lizard man bad guy who somehow is a rival to Darth Vader. It reads very much like the author had a sci-fi story already written and retrofitted it to fit into the Star Wars universe.
Lame.
Mstly it's a very big bit of fan fiction (which also sums up my opinion of the Prequel Tri...more

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Feb 10, 2013 Richard rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, star-wars

This was a great bridge between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, it expands and gives much background information of events that are hinted at in the movies (such as where Leia gets her disguise for Jabba's Palace), what is really clever is that while it gives this information it never feels forced and is also a story in itself.
The story and characters are excellent and has a strong Star Wars feel to it, both the characters from the movie and those new to the book are well written.
The...more

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Oct 16, 2011 Yves rated it 4 of 5 stars

L'histoire de se roman se passe entre l'épisode 5 et 6. Le prince Xizor veut tuer Luke Skywalker dans le but de mettre Darth Vader en disgrâce face à l'Empereur et peut être même prendre sa place à ses côtés. Pendant ce temps, Luke et ses compagnons partent à la recherche de Boba Fett qui détient toujours Han Solo pris dans le carbonite.

J'ai vraiment beaucoup aimé ce roman de Steve Perry car il y a beaucoup d'action. On a la chance de se promener de planète en planète et découvrir les différente...more

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Feb 09, 2011 Bobby rated it 3 of 5 stars

I'm a lifelong Star Wars geek but until this book I had never really delved into any of the Expanded Universe novels. For those looking to get into it, I suppose this is a good place to start.

While the story takes place chronologically between "Empire" and "Jedi", the main villain, Prince Xizor, and his "Black Sun" crime syndicate, are completely new to the universe. It is an interesting idea, a mob-style intergalactic organization just as powerful as the Empire, existing alongside it.

As for the...more

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Jul 22, 2010 Mike rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I recently came across a cache of old Star Wars books from my youth and I've been reading them all over again. Most of them are strictly mediocre fare. "Shadows of the Empire" is everything a tie-in novel should be and what most of them aren't. It has a good story with many relevant characters (and as few as possible new ones), plenty of action and convincing characterizations.
"Shadows of the Empire" takes place between the films "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi." So we know non...more I recently came across a cache of old Star Wars books from my youth and I've been reading them all over again. Most of them are strictly mediocre fare. "Shadows of the Empire" is everything a tie-in novel should be and what most of them aren't. It has a good story with many relevant characters (and as few as possible new ones), plenty of action and convincing characterizations.
"Shadows of the Empire" takes place between the films "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi." So we know none of the main characters are in any severe danger, since they lived to participate in the last film of the original trilogy.
The two new "main" characters are the scheming Prince Xizor and the daredevil pilot Dash Rendar. Xizor is head of the criminal organization Black Sun and his power rivals that of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader, which is why both of them keep an eye on him while he pretends to be their loyal partner in crime. Xizor and Vader hate each other and are involved in a deadly chess game to see who will be the Emperor's favorite. Dash Rendar is Han Solo all over again, with the volume turned up on his brash and mercenary nature.
Both Dash Rendar and Prince Xizor die fairly innocuous deaths in the final, somewhat hurried pages of the novel. Those last pages are the only thing I didn't like as much about the book. Drama seemed to be sacrificed for expediency, as if the writer was on a deadline and needed to finish the book quickly. So instead of ending with a real bang, the novel ends with some explosions and people dying--the end. Not the best way to end a good novel, if you ask me.
All the main characters (except Han Solo, who is frozen in carbonite)that fans of the films love (and hate?) are well represented in "Shadows of the Empire."
Steve Perry created such a good villain in Xizor and such a good situation in his criminal cold war with the Emperor and Vader that K.W. Jeter used the three of them and their power struggle as part of a large plotline in his mediocre "Star Wars" tie-in series of novels, The Bounty Hunter Wars, which I don't highly recommend.(less)

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Mar 28, 2008 Trevor rated it 2 of 5 stars

Jammed with as many references as possible to the original trilogy, pointless and familiar uses of creatures that only hardcore fans would know (actual line: "A dianoga!" ...and then the dianoga is dead within a paragraph), and repetitive enough to beat all of its inanities deep into your head. That's it in a nutshell. The plot on the light side of the Force doesn't make much sense (yeah, the audience loves Han Solo, but to the Rebel Alliance he's just another smuggler. Why are so many of them d...more

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Jul 14, 2009 Cody rated it 4 of 5 stars

As an ardent and obsessed Star Wars fan, I would recommend this to anyone who is a fan of the beloved saga. As an "expanded universe" novel Shadows of the Empire seamlessly bridges a fantastic story with new characters such as: the narcissistic Prince Xizor, the cocky but genuine smuggler Dash Rendar, and the "seductive" cyborg Guri. With these new and unique personalities SOTE ensconces a new story, with great continuity, between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

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Jul 11, 2009 Vinsenmdv rated it 5 of 5 stars

My absolute favorite book, Shadows of the Empire tells the story between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. It was this tale that so heavily influenced my own methods of writing today. It's well written all around, especially the antagonism between rivals Prince Xizor and Darth Vader. Sometimes books get a little too complicated for their own good, but this one doesn't. It all felt familiar and easy enough to read. For all Star Wars fans, this is a must own title.

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Feb 04, 2011 Daniel Kukwa rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: star-wars

For a book set in a pivotal gap between "Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi", it is less than the sum of its parts. Izor is a character made up of 100% cardboard, either over the top in his deviousness, or downright dull. Luke's journey through his final training steps doesn't have the sense of urgency it SHOULD have, and the entire novel is held together only by the power of the relationship between Vader & Palpatine. It could have been so much more...

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Nov 29, 2011 Mphecker rated it 3 of 5 stars

I remember this book being better when I was a kid. The first half of the book was great, but I quickly grew tired of the author's 'Prince Xizor is rich, handsome, brilliant, powerful, and basically perfect' descriptions every time he was in a chapter. Also, Xizor's attempted 'seduction' of Leia bordered on date rape, with his overaggressiveness and drugging her with his pheromones. While I loved the action scenes, Xizor's character kept me from loving this book the second time around.

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Mar 19, 2012 Dan rated it 2 of 5 stars

Love my star wars books and while this one was very well written (characters came across exactly like they're portrayed in the movies) there wasn't much action or real sense of excitement. This is the first book I've read set during the movie timeline and when there is a plot to kill Luke Skywalker you kind of already know its not going to succeed. This book was set in the time between Empire and Jedi, so Luke just found out about Vader and fills in the gap between the two movies. Neat stuff hap...more

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