Rating: 
Summary: Very good at first glance
Review: At first glance, Shadows of the Empire: Evolution is a very good and interesting book. The continuing story of Guri, Xizor's second in command, is supplemented by good artwork and not too much boring dialogue, and complimented by plenty of action.Unfortunately, when you look at it again a bunch of little details crop up. First of all, why didn't Xizor's niece have that huge spinal ridge thingie? It has been established that all Falleen, male and female, do have it, so why didn't she? So she would fit into her human costume? So she would be easier to draw? Next is another minor technical thing. Supposedly taking place immediately after Return of the Jedi, but before Vandelhelm Mission and all that, it just doesn't fit in properly. If they'd made it take place during the same time as the early Rogue Squadron comics it would have been much better. All the females in the comic for some reason are unrealistic. The Pikkel sisters, who have mastered Teras Kasi among various other martial arts, are in pretty good condition, but are too buxom. In my experience, most female dancers and athletes don't have such huge breasts. Leia is also too slender and buxom, as is the Falleen, and all of the other women in the comic. I know it's probably more fun for the illustrator's that way, but it's unrealistic. The inclusion of Dash in this comic was kind of a corny stretch as well, and the Imperials at the beginning were kind of random. Since when does a Star Destroyer on random patrol randomly open fire on a civilian ship legitimately passing through the sector? And since when can a "full spread" of all of five or six proton torpedoes destroy an ImpStar? Oh well. I applaud the authors for some other details, though. All of the aurebesh really translates, it's not just random lines, and all of the art is pretty good. There wasn't excessive dialogue, but there was some good humor, and a neat look at Guri's past. Besides the fact that the story is completely inconsequential in the grand {Star Wars} scheme of things, it's quite nice. If you want some nice Star Wars eye candy with lots of action and a few questions answered, this is for you. Otherwise, skip it.
Rating: 
Summary: Wow-great book
Review: This book is the best star wars book written to date
Rating: 
Summary: Characterization, people...
Review: Okay, let's start with some facts. By the time of the Empire Strikes Back, Luke Skywalker was a full Commander. That is roughly analagous to Colonel in the modern armed forces. He was a seasoned soldier with four years of war under his belt. Somehow, I don't think that he would be acting as boyish as he does in this book, especially after the last of his innocence was pretty much stripped away by Vader's claim on Bespin. The characterization of Vader himself is pretty much right on, which is why this book got two stars, but the treatment of Luke Skywalker is simply disgusting.
Rating:
Summary: A BOOK THAT DESERVES A "OH, HECK YA!"
Review: this book open a whole new world for me about the star wars trilogy and it also showed me things i never knew about the emporer and darth vade
Rating: 
Summary: Good SW Book
Review: This is probably one of the best Star Wars Novel
Rating:
Summary: Pretty average
Review: This book basically kept you entertained most of the time, but very often, I found myself thinking, "That character wouldn't say that." Then there's Dash Rendar, one of the cheesiest names in the history of Star Wars, and a personality to match, what happened here? There couldn't be one Star Wars story without a Han Solo, but since he was frozen in carbonite, Steve Perry just took his character, dumbed him down a shade, gave him red hair and a beard, and then killed him off at the end. Good thing he did that, we can't have two Hans running around later. I would have liked at least one SW story without that rebel without a cause attitude. Oh well, Prince Xizor was totally awesome. If you are a Star Wars fan, I suppose you should read it.
Rating:
Summary: Fast paced, exciting and funny!
Review: Shadows is, in my opinion, the best SW novel out there. It's WAY WAY better than the overrated Zahn trilogy. It presents our main heroes very well and the new ones are great. Xixor and Dash are cool, but Guri is the coolest(and toughest)! Not as good as the movies, of course, but a truly AWESOME, FUN book! Any SW fan owes it to him/herself to read this one. One last thought: GURI ROCKS!
Rating: 
Summary: A book devoid of any depth
Review: Though I am not a Star Wars fanatic and did not read all the other Star Wars books, I found this book appealing to only the very young. It is very superficial, written in short sentences and lacking any any real depth that would normally interest an adult reader (above the age of 16). I did read Zahn's first trilogy and thought it was amazing. Zahn knew how to add insight and intrigue to his characters by doing what writers do best, use words to bring to life a world recreated in the reader's mind. Perry's writing however is very basic. It almost seems as if he wrote the book in hope of turning it into a movie script. It would play well against a visual background, but it is not interesting when a reader tries to see throught the authors mind.
Rating:
Summary: The real deal!
Review: Far and away the best EU book, and the only one even remotely comparable to the classic movies! Every other EU book I have read suffered from either poor characterization (Zahn's overrated "Empire" Trilogy), a lame plot (The Crystal Star), weak villains (KJA's Jedi Trilogy and I, Jedi), or were just plain idiotic and dull (The Black Fleet Trilogy and Planet of Twilight). With Shadows of the Empire, however, I could find none of the above. The characterizations of Luke, Leia, Vader, and even the droids were dead-on perfect. Xizor and Guri were excellent ideas, especially Xizor, a worthy opponent for Vader. And it was great to have the Emperor as a main character. Dash Rendar was pretty cool (although too much of a caricature of Han Solo), and he was the one character I liked the least. The plot was simple but good; Xizor wants revenge on Vader by killing his son, and Vader wants to turn to the dark side. And I wasn't bored for a second, it was so good. I loved the space battle at the beginning, when Rogue Squadron tried to intercept Boba Fett to save Han Solo, only to be attacked by Imperial TIE fighters. We even get to see how Luke constructed his new lightsaber. The book also had its funny moments, especially when Lando tried to cook dinner for everyone on the Millennium Falcon. Everything about this book was near-perfect. Now, I'll explain why I had to give this book a 4 instead of a well-deserved 5. The ending of the book was only really good. The first 3/4 of the story were amazing, well-written, and exciting. The climax, though, is a little disappointing. It seemed like Steve Perry tried to have too many things happening at once. I mean, in only a dozen or pages, Luke and Co. breaks into Xizor's castle, fights a dianoga (those one-eyed garbage creatures from ANH), gets ambushed by several of Xizor's guards, including a shoot-out with the big man himself, a hand-to-hand battle with Luke and Guri, the destruction of Xizor's palace, a space battle in orbit over Coruscant, the Imperial fleet joining the fray, Vader destroying Xizor's skyhook, and Dash getting killed in a collision with some debris. Everything seemed to happen so fast that it barely let us pause to take a breath. Despite that, this book is extremely good. Well-written, funny, exciting, believable, and by far the best book of the EU series. Get the soundtrack too; it is just plain awesome. SW fans, buy this book and enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Better of the Star Wars books
Review: The books will never live up to the movies. But of those that are worthy of note, Shadows of the Empire is truly one of them. Prince Xizor is an excellent villain, and he serves as Vader's nemesis quite well. This book does a great job in filling that missing time period between Empire and Jedi. It's a good adventure, worth a reading, or two...or even three.
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