Lit Books Star Wars: Shadow of the Sith Novel by Adam Christopher

I love this thread fo it.

 

Congratulations! Well deserved, I loved the book.

 

Spoiler

I just finished the audiobook. Great story!! Am I to understand that Komat had a reflective mask with letters on it, a la the original Ren that was introduced in the Rise of Kylo Ren comic book? Or was it reflective merely because it was the mirrored faceplate helmet that was part of Komat's environment suit?

 

the latter I think

 

Sorry to hear it. Had a friend get it...the Covid was bad...but that is not got him in the hospital. It was the Covid Pneumonia. You might want to check with your doctor about preventing the stuff that comes after.

 

I loved this book! It's a shame that ROS needed an entirely separate novel to make the MacGuffin make sense. But, it's a good enough story that it stands on it's own. I do have some questions though...

Spoiler: SPOILER

Didn't Gallius Rax kill Yupe Tashu in the last Aftermath book? Instead they talked about Kiza doing the deed?

I also didn't get how the Sith Eternal called in the help of Pryde and the CSA without the First Order being in the loop.

Also, did it I miss it but how did Dathan and Miramir find out that Ochi was the one after them? At first seemed like they just knew "hunters" were after them and then they know his name.

 

Some damn good stuff in this....I would very much appreciate an Exim Panshard prequel novel/comic/video game.

 

Some answers...

Spoiler

- The only person who says Kiza killed Yupe Tashu is Komat, so she's either wrong, knows something else, or is lying.

- The First Order don't exist at this point in time. The Imperial Remnant has partnered with the CSA. It was established in Greg Rucka's Before the Awakening, which takes place 10 years later, that the CSA were funding the First Order. So it's likely that somewhere between Shadow of the Sith and Before the Awakening, the First Order rose as a distinct force, and still relied on the CSA, at least initially.

- Komat's first mask is a blank, mirrored faceplate that is part of her protective clothing for Polaar. It's the same as the masks and ponchos that she gives Luke and Lando to wear. She has written a prayer on the front of her mask. When she wears it again at the burial of Dathan and Miramir, the writing has changed to a new prayer. I guess it is similar to Ren's mask, but not deliberately. Her second mask/helmet is from the Wind Raiders of Taloraan, and she gives it to Lando - it's the helmet he's wearing on Pasaana in The Rise of Skywalker.

 

In regards to what exactly please…?


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Spoiler

Shadow of the sith being where the idea first came.

 

Spoiler

The location of Luke's temple being Ossus.

 

Thank you @Fredrik Vallestrand and @Coherent Axe, much appreciated!!


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Interesting. I wonder why they went with Ossus if the terrain was going to be different and there wasn't going to be the jedi library.

 

I saw a bunch of people on twitter and such asking "why did Ochi do X/Y/Z," and I really think that people are missing the real answer: Ochi is very, very stupid.

 

And that's why we love him.

 

Am I the only one that realized Ochi is the Dark Side version of Jarjar Binks? Talkative clumsy villain... be glad your JarJar is Plagueis theories did not come true, that is what it would have looked like.

And yes like JarJar he does have talent and luck to truly be a master assassin and Jedi killer.


@Adam Christopher While I am still reading the book, digesting it slower these days, I love every page of it! What is your next project? Looking forward to meet you at next years Celebration!

 

Not the only one. Although ultimately Jar Jar was way more useful to Sidious than Ochi.

 

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Intresting.

 

Just over 150 pages in. Liking it a lot so far.

 

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Pure name nostalgia is my bet. Like with Tython.

I still pity we don't get to see on screen some day a Yavin IV Praxeum now. Though they kinda took its terrain and slapped it on to Ossus as if they threw around several names before settling on Ossus instead of Yavin IV. For what its worth, it could have been Ajan Kloss even terrain wise as Mandoverse kept it vague. And ST flashbacks as well as Rise of Kylo Ren comics had it more grassland or tree-free rather than the forrested world we got now. The barren ST flashback look would work better for Ossus rather than the treeworld of Mandoverse that is more Yavin IV. Even Tython would have been possible given its rocky landscape we saw. Why Luke did not pick that one with existing Jedi ruins that may help him with a Seeing Stone is beyond me.

Another odd choice that may be possible but totally out there: Imagine they had taken Mustafar that slowly is getting greener again. TROS shows Kylo slaughter some trees before getting to the Oracle. And a cooled down Mustafar may work nice with ST flashback terrain as well as anything else. The Jedi healing the world that is recovering so to speak. But nope, they did not do that.

 

Now that I've finished the book, I think I might need to read Rise of Skywalker again for the first time since it was published.

Spoiler

I'm still going with Jannah being Kadara Calrissian. I think it would be a goram shame for Lando, at the end of all of this, to not find his daughter. He's the sole surviving member of our (human) OT cast. Oddly, Luke, Leia and Han end up getting a happy but bittersweet ending with Ben's ultimate sacrifice and redemption. I need Lando to have finally found his little girl through finding Rey. By the Force, this has to be the resolution!

Perhaps my only quibble with this book is how quickly everything seemed to wrap up in the last 30 pages or so. Dathan and Miramir being murdered and Ochi dying in the sinking sands in the next chapter, while obviously narratively necessary, just seemed to happen far too quickly after everything that preceded it.

I sure hope Unkar Plutt was decent to Rey when she was young. I always took him for a real dikut, but maybe he's just a gruff money driven guy that really wasn't all that bad to Rey when she was a child? One hopes.

I would love to see more of Luke and Ben and the Temple on Ossus before and after this story. Luke's adventures with Lor San Tekka would be really interesting. Particularly their dealings with the Acolytes of the Beyond.

This one is rough, because it can't but end in tragedy to set up the ST. Likewise, the story of the kidnapping and search for Lando's daughter. I would like to get that story and how Luke, Han, Leia and Chewie all banded together to help, it would be such a Bantam era type story, but it can't but end in failure.... and that just breaks my heart.

I loved this book to death, though. It might be my favorite Canon novel yet.

 

Ok, let's get some stuff out the way first.

There's some stuff about the Sequels I like, other stuff I really, really don't and I'm loathe to deem the three films a trilogy because they just don't work together for me. Could a supporting story salvage some of the creative decisions that I deeply disagree with? Not impossible but, for specific cases? Very, very high odds against.

Next, Rise of Skywalker pretty much managed to revive my interest in SW after the immense crapbag that is The Last Jedi smashed it down to near zero. So yeah, I do like that film.

Where the sequels become more interesting to me is, when I look at the three films, there are good pieces there. Needed better assembly, yes but still good pieces. In a way this book does show the kind of Sequels we might have had, an alternative vision as it were.

I also require a dedicated story covering the team-up of Mr Bones and KB-6D, with massive levels of droid-inflicated violence.

Your question is answered by:

He really, really is.

Now, about the actual book....

Spoiler

Not sure why its so hazy over Kadara's mother, that was odd.

I loved all the Exegol stuff here, especially Dathan's creepy memories of surviving there as a kid.

It also gives answer of how Sheev would have a kid - cook him up in a tube. What I really like here is how Dathan shows that abilities are not easily replicable. He doesn't have Sheev's force powers so is deemed useless by him, but he has his own skills too.

The Luke and Lando team-up works very well here. The portrait of Luke I particularly like. Willing to kill if he must but very reluctant to do so before that point. I also greatly liked the line about giving up and the later observation of how neither Kiza or Panshard knew lightsaber combat. Which is a neat nod in turn to Luke having duelled Vader twice.

I really liked the Pasaana misdirect that kills Ochi. Talking of whom, what a raging inferiority complex that guy has.

The dagger and mask were wonderfully creepy. I also liked the saber of Darth Noctyss. Don't think there's been light-scimiters before.

Talking of stuff not seen before, I don't think the films or even animation have done much with space stations either. Those locations were neat.

As to what stories should be told in what medium, I think my position is well known. Anything goes. No medium has an exclusionary claim to particular stories. If SW drifts away from being multimedia to being just film-TV it will be far poorer for it.

That said I have thought the Kylo comic* pushes the case hard for it to be done in a more visible medium. But, after reading this book and enjoying the High Republic, what is really needed is better signposting. As it could be argued that Cloak of Deception should be in TPM but it never will be. The majority of the audience will never read it? That doesn't matter - the material is created because there is a sufficient audience for it. Plus, profit.

*Which turns out to be weird in that the trade, publication date August 2020, think it came out later due to Covid, is unavailable. Not out of stock, unavailable. There aren't even people selling the trade on Amazon. So, practically, unless you access it digitally, it doesn't exist.

 

TCW did some.