sustainably_lucia's review against another edition
3.0
It was a fun adventure but not the best written. My husband read it to me which was the best part. If you are a fan of Star Wars I would recommend it.
gingerreader99's review against another edition
2.0
Goodreads really needs to change from out of 5 stars to 10, because I feel like this deserves 2.5(or like a 4 on a 10 star scale). Anyways a friend of mine rated this 2 stars and I was shocked considering this is such a classic of the Legends continuity. Well turns out he was pretty accurate. It's not that this book is BAD it's just not amazing. Xizor is annoying, creepy and doesn't really do it for me at all, and that really drags the plot down because he's at the center. On top of that the short paragraphs, sections and jumps from character to character are extremely annoying. It's not a chapter cliffhanger when two paragraphs later it's back to that character. It's just an annoyance.
sboard's review against another edition
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
tarmstrong112's review against another edition
3.0
A good but not great Star Wars story. It was entertaining but I also felt maybe a bit too long. I found Vader very compelling but Xizor was a boring Thrawn wannabe and his schtick got old fast.
lordenglishssbm's review against another edition
1.0
In the prologue of this book a character refers to the emperor as the guy who was formerly "Senator Palpatine." The book was written in 1996, and the edition I read said that it was the unaltered text. Since Phantom Menace came out in 1999, this means that either Lucas already knew Palpatine's backstory or he liked the idea so much he canonized it.
Sadly, the prose is so godawful that I couldn't make it more than a few chapters into the book.
Sadly, the prose is so godawful that I couldn't make it more than a few chapters into the book.
h4wke's review against another edition
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.
mal8181's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.75
twilliamson's review against another edition
3.0
Shadows of the Empire was the biggest novel in the series to date, debuting in 1996 as the focus of a massive advertising campaign to pull people back into the property ahead of Lucas's film remasters in 1997. It is, unsurprisingly, a novel built to be a blockbuster; lots of action, a dash of sex, and a couple of new characters perfect for selling some toys and other assorted merchandise.
But whereas the book was a media sensation, the story itself isn't all that great. True, Perry gives us a convincing new villain in Prince Xizor and brings back Darth Vader for the first novel in about a dozen years, but his dialogue is often clumsy, his plotting uneven, and his transitions from scene to scene whiplash-inducing. The book isn't all bad, but its seams show fairly obviously, and the book serves as too convenient an effort to narrativize Luke's transition from fledgling Jedi to Jedi Knight.
In many ways, the book is just a little too convenient, a bit too unfocused, and it stands about 80 pages too long, filled with explanatory prose that falls far too wholly on the diegetic. The story is fairly repetitive, especially as it pertains to the bits explaining Xizor's point of view. The new villain, Prince Xizor, is an interesting antagonist, but he exists only to lose, and the fact that he's only present mostly in this novel and so quickly disposed of undercuts any significance he could have had to the series as a whole.
The book is also oddly horny for a Star Wars novel, and I counted that Perry uses the word "lube" at least six times in this book, which is approximately six times too many. As much as I think Star Wars could stand to be a bit more romantic at times, I do think the bits between Leia and Xizor were just a bit overcooked, and it's pretty clear Perry intended for their interaction to go pretty well beyond a kick to the nuts.
All in all, Shadows of the Empire isn't the worst of Star Wars, but it is Star Wars in one of its most commercialized forms. It's not nearly as philosophically complex as some of the other novels in the series, its focus more on action and adventure in the swashbuckling fashion of old serials, and in this it gets the spirit of Star Wars kind of right; where it fails is in convincing a readership that these books are anything but quick cash-grab novels. To be fair, that is kind of what Shadows of the Empire is, but I do want it to aspire to be more than that--especially when the other books published in 1996 proves that Star Wars can aspire to more.
But whereas the book was a media sensation, the story itself isn't all that great. True, Perry gives us a convincing new villain in Prince Xizor and brings back Darth Vader for the first novel in about a dozen years, but his dialogue is often clumsy, his plotting uneven, and his transitions from scene to scene whiplash-inducing. The book isn't all bad, but its seams show fairly obviously, and the book serves as too convenient an effort to narrativize Luke's transition from fledgling Jedi to Jedi Knight.
In many ways, the book is just a little too convenient, a bit too unfocused, and it stands about 80 pages too long, filled with explanatory prose that falls far too wholly on the diegetic. The story is fairly repetitive, especially as it pertains to the bits explaining Xizor's point of view. The new villain, Prince Xizor, is an interesting antagonist, but he exists only to lose, and the fact that he's only present mostly in this novel and so quickly disposed of undercuts any significance he could have had to the series as a whole.
The book is also oddly horny for a Star Wars novel, and I counted that Perry uses the word "lube" at least six times in this book, which is approximately six times too many. As much as I think Star Wars could stand to be a bit more romantic at times, I do think the bits between Leia and Xizor were just a bit overcooked, and it's pretty clear Perry intended for their interaction to go pretty well beyond a kick to the nuts.
All in all, Shadows of the Empire isn't the worst of Star Wars, but it is Star Wars in one of its most commercialized forms. It's not nearly as philosophically complex as some of the other novels in the series, its focus more on action and adventure in the swashbuckling fashion of old serials, and in this it gets the spirit of Star Wars kind of right; where it fails is in convincing a readership that these books are anything but quick cash-grab novels. To be fair, that is kind of what Shadows of the Empire is, but I do want it to aspire to be more than that--especially when the other books published in 1996 proves that Star Wars can aspire to more.
pnutbuttajllyman's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
2.0
I did not like this book very much. I found the plot boring and the book was a wasted opportunity to really show the black sun organization.
This was my second read after about 20 years. First time I read it as a teenager i did enjoy it.
This was my second read after about 20 years. First time I read it as a teenager i did enjoy it.
bbtbridge's review against another edition
3.0
There’s always a bigger fish. And hyphens, apparently! Despite the somewhat distracting number of hyphens, the story manages to keep the attention going like E5. Lando gets some much-needed spotlight time, a lot of random world building tidbits get discussed, and there is some neat POVs from others.