Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire

The Empire triumphant. The Rebellion in tatters.Han Solo is in the slimy hands of Jabba the Hutt. Luke Skywalker surreptitiously works to complete his training on Tatooine. Darth Vader finds himself facing palace intrigue while the scowling and manipulative Emperor Palpatine stokes the fires of mistrust and discontent. All this and battles…many, many battles. This is Shadows of the Empire, perhaps one of the great non-cannon novels in the franchise.As Star Wars novels go, Shadows of the Empire stands out as among the best. It is well written, dives deep into the personalities of the characters, and provides us with a solid glimpse of what occurred in the year between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. It is a totally original story, and one that fills the gaps between the two films quite nicely. It introduces a new villain in Prince Xizor—a scheming Falleen Crime Lord who seems to have no loyalties but to his own rising power base and exacting a bitter revenge against Darth Vader.The author conveys the desperation inherent in Princess Leia as she works to mount a rescue mission with the help of old friends and new allies, only to be caught in the middle of a power struggle between Vader and Xizor. While not considered part of the "new cannon" as dictated by Disney, Shadows of the Empire still serves as a valuable example of a thrilling narrative that captivates its audience until the very last page. The author possesses a remarkable talent for narrative structure and does not seek to pander to tokenism and literary sleight of hand like the ignoble writer of the more-often-than-not lamentable Aftermath series.I recommend including this novel in the pantheon of cannon storylines. It was plotlines like this that introduced a new generation of fans to the Star Wars universe.

Years later...this is still one of the best books in the wide world of Star Wars Canon. It's paced astonishingly well. There is interest in every corner of the story. Nothing seems out of place to me although, Xizor's sex appeal seems a bit overdone at times. His demise is assumed but never really spoken of, thus from the beginning to end, it keeps you wondering what will happen next. Such a great installment between the original movies. Well worth a read if you're a Star Wars fan. Don't sleep on this one.

This is the first Star Wars book I have ever read, though I do plan to read more. I simply chose to read this book because years ago I bought the Nintendo 64 game, and had been given several action figures for Christmas such as IG-88, Dash Rendar, Prince Xizor, and Luke disguised as an imperial officer. Along with this I read a few of the comic books, though I remember nothing of what they were about.Anyways, to the book, which is roughly 380 pages long and took me 5 days to complete. The author, though captivating, often will overuse terms and dialogue throughout the story. For example, whether it is Xizor or Rendar, characters always seem to be shouting "Blast it!" or "Blast you!", etc. Furthermore, he tends to use this kind of dialogue countless times, whether it is being said by a character or the narrarator. It might go something like this "Xizor could not remember ever being this angry, save for when his family was killed back on Falleen." He tends to use "Save" sentences a lot.Another thing is that this book does not go hand in hand with the game, though this is nothing to get upset over. In the game, there was an entire mission at Gall Space port, while in the book they never even land there, just fly overhead. And where is IG-88 in this book? He was such a major character in the game as well as comic books.While I have nothing to compare this to, such as Zahn or Anderson, I would say this is a relatively entertaining book. I give it a 4/5!

Showed up in a day! Wow...and in great condition 👌

It is hard for a paperback to come in perfect condition but this came in great condition.Thank you AmazonThank you

If I could, I'd give this 4 1/2 stars, for as much I enjoyed this abridgement, there was one small thing that bothered me: it doesn't use much of the Shadows of the Empire soundtrack, by Joel McNeely, aside from Xizor's Theme. There is great music on that CD, and I was hoping a lot of it was used in this one.Still, it was a wonderful performance by TV, movie actor Anthony Heald, (TV's Boston Public, "Silence of the Lambs") whom I've enjoyed as an actor for years. I was pleasantly surprised by the variety of voices he uses in this for the different Star Wars characters, most notably Darth Vader, which was electronically modified and deepened, giving the listener a good mental image of the Sith Lord, though the voice is definitely not James Earl Jones, or even the late Brock Peters(voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars Radio Drama Trilogy), but it is sufficient.Some of the other reviewers have noted that since this is an abridgement, a lot of material is removed from the performance. This is a fact, but in my humble opinion, it does not overly hurt the story. To my knowledge, there is not an unabridged version available.But I'm glad to have this in my audio book collection. It's good listening while I'm in my car, working. Better that than most of the garbage on radio these days!

Un muy buen proyecto de lucasfilm al lanzar la historia de shadows of the empire como un proyecto multimedia con novela, comic, videojuego pero sin pelicula. En esta ocasion es la novela la cual narra una trama escencial para los amantes de la trilogia original al tratarse de una historia situada entre el Imperio Contrataca y el Regreso del Jedi. Imperdible para los verdadreos fans de Star Wars

As a huge Star Wars fan, I simply had to read this book.Like many fans here, my first experience with Shadows of the Empire was the Nintendo 64 videogame. That game was pretty interesting in terms of giving us a deeper look into the darker side of the Star Wars universe - hence the name “Shadows.”Much like the game, this novel is interesting. It’s not one that wows the reader, like Heir to the Empire. Mostly this is because of mediocre writing. I’m not saying it’s a bad book, but the dialogues, motivations, and scenes feel a bit forced. Prince Xizor is generic as a villain, and definitely not as well-developed as Thrawn, for example. Also, the pacing is somewhat off.However, there are cool moments, such as when Luke makes his green lightsaber. Guri is perhaps the more developed of the new characters - which is curious, since she is a robot.In summary, it’s a good read for the sake of delving deeper into the series’ lore, but as an actual story it might disappoint.

Super livre, rien à dire! Avoir le point de vue de Darth Vader est juste génial!

Like the progression of Luke's abilities as a budding Jedi Master that we see in Return of the Jedi film. 👍 Finally off my to be read list.

I first encountered Shadows of the Empire on the n64. I loved that game so much and it was my first interaction to the world outside of the original trilogy, but for the sake of a game it was obviously light on the storyline so that led me to purchase this book, it's one of the only books I pick up again and again, I think this is my 5th time reading it. I hope they bring out an updated game version of Shadows of the Empire with a more developed story because it really deserves it.