Never fun making these threads. Michael Reaves has passed away after a long battle with Parkinson's. We know him for his Star Wars books, but he also wrote for many TV series from about the '70s to '90s, including Star Trek TNG, Gargoyles, Batman the Animated Series, and helped write Batman Mask of the Phantasm. He'll be missed.
RIP. I remember enjoying the Star Wars books he wrote with Steve Perry. Especially the Battle Surgeons series.
I always wanted to read more of the Reaves-verse. Medstar was fun as hell, and Shadow Hunter and Coruscant Nights were pretty high on my to-read list for a while, but for some reason or other I never got around to them. But Medstar revealed that he and Steve Perry weren't afraid to have fun in the SW universe with a pair of books that could be goofy in one chapter and deadly serious about the war in the next. It's never an easy balance to strike, but they did it well. I would have loved to overhear that phone call, too. "Hey fellas, we want you to write a duology set during the Clone Wars. Any famous war movies you want to pay homage to?" "How about M*A*S*H?" "Uh.... sure?" Never too late to pick up Coruscant Nights, is it? RIP to a very talented author.
Sad, sad news. The Reaves-verse was one of the lower profile delights of the old EU, running across the PT era, all the way to ANH.
This is heartbreaking news. I wish his family and friends the very best in this difficult time. The term "Reaves-verse" has been lovingly used in this thread to refer to his SW writing, but, given his prolific career, it's worth noting just how fitting that term is. Michael Reaves has written for some of the biggest franchises and fandoms that exist and he possessed a deep and abiding love for them all. So much so that he would often slip in Easter eggs and wink-nod references to them in his work. For example, his novel Death Star mentioned a "Sagar" and the "Blackstar wheelworld." These are references to the setting and titular character of 1981's Blackstar, a cartoon that was among his earliest TV credits (and freely available on YouTube). More recently, he worked on the underrated Titan AE, where he slipped the Rybet into the novelisation amongst the various alien species. Reaves truly loved his work and it showed. And those of us to read his work were truly blessed to share in that love. May he rest in peace.
In a way, that's a strength as part of the reason stuff gets discussed is due to how easily fault can be found. The Reaves-verse doesn't really do that. The biggest controversy it had was how Coruscant Nights used Vader, but that was far from agreed. Generally, the books were liked for being fun, entertaining reads.
I haven't read Death Star and Shadow Games yet, but Shadow Hunter, the Medstar books, and the Coruscant Nights books all make one cohesive (and really good) saga, for me finishing his last book was quite an emotional experience, having read Shadow Hunter so long before.
I really enjoyed that book and RIP for Reaves. The Medstar books I still re-read every now and then and love the bota connection to the force. Coruscant Books were amazing. I can say this, the EU had some super stories that are memorable and really can be considered true star wars.
Even when Reaves's books didn't entirely hit the mark for me, I always enjoyed them. His Coruscant Nights books explored a lot of interesting ideas and were pretty fun, and much of their weaknesses stemmed from being hemmed in on the timeline by the limitations put on Dark Times material. Of his work with Steve Perry, Death Star was interesting, but MedStar really sparkled as a weighty MASH-in-space look at the Clone Wars, full of memorable characters. Reaves had a great talent for character work. But his masterpiece is Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, a tense, rip-roaring action thriller locked into the intrigue-packed run-up to The Phantom Menace. It's a great chase story, and one of the best pure action-thriller stories in the entire EU, a perfectly-crafted adventure. Reaves would deserve to be remembered among EU fans just for that. An excellent Star Wars career -- plus some great accomplishments outside SW. Anybody with a hand in Batman: The Animated Series has a lot to be proud of. He had an excellent career. I understand that he was unwell as far back as the tail of Coruscant Nights, over a decade ago, so he made it a good long fight against Parkinson's. I owe him thanks for a lot of fun I've had with his work.