Author Topic: "Shadows of the Empire," by DHC, LucasArts, Bantam, Et. al. [Various, 1996]
Kai_Halicon 
Registered: Jun '02
40071_Ben Skywalker
Date Posted: 8/30/04 9:52pm Subject: RE: "Shadows of the Empire," by DHC, LucasArts, Bantam, Et. al. [Various, 1996]
I give it an 8.

For me, it was the thing that got me back into SW again back in 1997, after not really having followed it since I was a kid. I'd seen the Zahn trilogy in the bookstores at this point, but for my birthday that year, my girlfriend at the time got me SOTE after we went and saw the Special Editions that year.

I found that yes, Dash was a bit of a Han knock-off, but he had his own personality, probably what Han might of been had he not hooked up with Kenobi and Luke a few years before. I liked in particular the focus on Luke's Jedi transition, and in particular, the construction and use of his new lightsaber. It helped immmensely when I wanted answers on the bridging gaps between ESB and ROTJ.

The aspect of explaning things from Vader's perspective too, with his attempts at self-healing were good as well, as up until then we'd only seen things from a hero perspective. Didn't think much of Xizor, but there have been worse EU villans - Kueller springs to mind...

It's probably mostly nostalgia that makes me like it so much, because it was my last year in high school and the period when I really got back into SW.

 

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master_organa 
Registered: Jun '04
19940_Obi-Wan and Luke
Date Posted: 9/25/04 9:53pm Subject: RE: "Shadows of the Empire," by DHC, LucasArts, Bantam, Et. al. [Various, 1996]
I gave it a three. I was generous.
These are my questions about this book:
1: Who on Earth or any other planet would someone have a naked Darth Vader, and TWICE at that?
2: Why is the Emperor dumb enough to even consider replacing Vader with Xizor?
3: Why is the main villian a babe-magnet lizard?
4: Why is Vader so weak?
5: And WHY do they have Leia strip in front of Lizard Prince?

 

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Prequel_Dreamer 
Registered: Mar '04
6640_Anakin Skywalker
Date Posted: 10/3/04 6:24pm Subject: RE: "Shadows of the Empire," by DHC, LucasArts, Bantam, Et. al. [Various, 1996]
10 -- It was an excellent follow up to Empire and a stupendous lead-in to Jedi. It really gave us the evolution of the Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader characters. Luke went from Whiny Luke at the start to Jedi Luke at the end and Vader went from Darth Vader to Anakinesque Vader as he was in Jedi. Steve Perry took the parts of the story we knew must have happened and he made them flesh but better he made them feel like Star Wars.

There was never a moment when I was reading this novel that I didn't feel like it wasn't a part of the Star Wars universe.

The book should not have had the Dash Rendar character in it though, he was just a weak Han Solo stand-in and the book would have been better had it expanded Landos role.

 

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May 19th, 2005 "Oh Yeah!"
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DARTH_KAOS 
Registered: Oct '04
7279_Darth Vader
Date Posted: 10/6/04 12:03am Subject: RE: "Shadows of the Empire," by DHC, LucasArts, Bantam, Et. al. [Various, 1996]
I voted 9.

It could have been a little better.

 

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Jedi_Master_ElderGod 
Registered: Jan '02
17804_Jedi
Date Posted: 10/6/04 11:57am Subject: RE: "Shadows of the Empire," by DHC, LucasArts, Bantam, Et. al. [Various, 1996]
I give it a 9.

 

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DarthShona 
Registered: Jul '03
24179_Vader
Date Posted: 10/16/04 8:48pm Subject: RE: "Shadows of the Empire," by DHC, LucasArts, Bantam, Et. al. [Various, 1996]
I give it a 10 but it deserves MUCH higher!

 

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"Vader is a man behind a mask, and up until now we didn't know who that man was." - Hayden
May 19, 2005 - Happiest day of my life!!
Face it, Windu got punked!
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Saberwielder315 
Registered: Oct '04
6442_We Know Drama
Date Posted: 11/17/04 2:43pm Subject: RE: "Shadows of the Empire," by DHC, LucasArts, Bantam, Et. al. [Various, 1996]
This was an excellent book. I enjoyed it so much. I read it lie 3 years ago and I really feel that it tied up the events between Empire and Jedi.

 

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Susimetsa 
Registered: Nov '04
14355_Qui-Gon Jinn
Date Posted: 11/17/04 7:06pm Subject: RE: "Shadows of the Empire," by DHC, LucasArts, Bantam, Et. al. [Various, 1996] - Date Edited: 11/17/04 7:10pm (1 edits total) Edited By: Susimetsa
Very much over-hyped book when it came out some years back. DHC clearly could not describe a decent scene even if someone was hanging a sausage-on-a-stick in front of his face. Every single scene is merely a brief glimpse (a page or two at most) at some badly written dialogue or action before the author realises that he is quite unable to give decent descriptions or build an atmosphere or characters and jumps onto the next underdeveloped scene.

Most of the plot points were utterly predictable and the characters acted as if they did not have their own minds at all - they were merely string-puppets serving the author's weak grasp of the concept of a plot...

Clearly one of the worst books in Bantam series. I gave it 1.

 

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aesium 
Registered: May '04
20246_General's Henchman
Date Posted: 1/28/05 1:19pm Subject: RE: "Shadows of the Empire," by DHC, LucasArts, Bantam, Et. al. [Various, 1996]
I gave it a 9. This is the first EU book that I have read. To be honest, its the first book that i've read since I was in elementary school and now im in college. The only reason why I chose to read this book was because I was a huge fan of the N64 game. I had one dissapointment but, I can understand it if I had read the book first and then played the game. In the game, we see that bounty hunter IG-88, I believe, and it wasn't mentioned in the book. I also didn't like how there was a small amount of Boba mentioned in the book also. But all in all, I was entertained enough to finish it and have a smile on my face once I finished it.

 

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ROGUESQUAD 
Registered: Oct '04
6624_X-Wing Fighter
Date Posted: 2/26/05 1:51am Subject: RE: "Shadows of the Empire," by DHC, LucasArts, Bantam, Et. al. [Various, 1996]
I gave it 7.
The title of the book and the content don't match.

 

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NorCalBirdz 
Registered: Dec '04
24208_Count Dooku
Date Posted: 3/8/05 2:03pm Subject: RE: "Shadows of the Empire," by DHC, LucasArts, Bantam, Et. al. [Various, 1996]
SOTE was a dissapointment for me. I was very familiar with the video game storyline and when I read it I was hoping to get some good dialogues between Xizor and Vader. Instead it was just "I know what you're up to Xizor" and "You have no proof Vader" over and over. The relationship between Vader and the Emperor didn't seem portrayed well to me either.

Xizor's character was a dissapointment as well. I love the way his mind worked in a devellish kind of way but it seemed stupid to estabilish him as the "third most powerful person in the galaxy" and then he's dead by the end of the book. I also didn't like the notion that he was present when the Emperor spoke to Vader in TESB.

 

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Ana_Labris 
Registered: Oct '00
7432_Vader's Shaving Habits
Date Posted: 3/9/05 12:50am Subject: RE: "Shadows of the Empire," by DHC, LucasArts, Bantam, Et. al. [Various, 1996]
Gave it a 9 - it's leagues above the other EU books I've read, and yes that includes the Zahn Trilogy, I loved Vader and Luke's characterisations, really felt for Leia and was annoyed with the green lizard (and I think that was the point with him).

 

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Obi_One_Kenodi 
Registered: Feb '04
19240_Kyle Katarn
Date Posted: 3/28/05 4:15pm Subject: RE: "Shadows of the Empire," by DHC, LucasArts, Bantam, Et. al. [Various, 1996] - Date Edited: 3/28/05 4:17pm (4 edits total) Edited By: Obi_One_Kenodi
"Otherwise known as "The Zahn Factor." Tear down the established characters in an attempt to elevate one's own.

Would/Could anyone stand up to the Emperor? Nope. Not hardly. But, lo and behold, Thrawn stood up to the Emperor four times.

It's definitely a fair criticism of the EU. The Thrawn Trilogy brought in this standard by which the other Bantam novels would follow. And that's not a good thing with respect to this issue."

But thats what makes Zahn's writing so good! The whole while through, I was thinking: "Wow, this guy really is as bad as the Emporer and Vader." And thats something the EU has never done before. Anyways, I gave SOTE a 8/10. Nice novel and a good tie in to ESB and ROTJ, but Rendar was a complete copy of Han.

 

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mrfootball 
Registered: Mar '05
8082_Howard the Duck
Date Posted: 3/30/05 2:39pm Subject: RE: "Shadows of the Empire," by DHC, LucasArts, Bantam, Et. al. [Various, 1996]
I love this book, but quick question:
is there any other book with Xizor in it?

 

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JediPadmeLightside 
Registered: Mar '05
23557_Padme Skywalker
Date Posted: 4/7/05 8:00am Subject: RE: "Shadows of the Empire," by DHC, LucasArts, Bantam, Et. al. [Various, 1996]
I liked the book. Very entertaining. Did you know there was a soundtrack for the book? It was very interesting to listen to.

 

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