Rating: 
Summary: Amazing
Review: Shadows of the EmpireThe Good:
Amazing storyline. The characters are well defined. This book also answers a lot of questions you may have about the movies. Where did the force increase from Luke come from? How did he get his new light-saber? The Bad: Why not a Trilogy? Conclusion: This is a very good book and a pleasure to read.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: This Book is great! Luke, Princess Leia, Lando,and the droids are on a mission to save Han Solo. Meanwhile, Darth Vader wants to find Luke alive and bring him to the Dark Side. Xisor,the third most powerful beings in the dark side, wants Luke dead as part of his plot of revenge on Darth Vader.
Rating: 
Summary: Great continuation of Star Wars
Review: As far as Star Wars stories goes, this one is good. Great action and story. It fits in nicely with the Star Wars universe. I liked some of the different points of view that are told from instances in Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Steve Perry really took his time to weave this tale so it fits in perfectly between Empire and Jedi. One thing that turned me off though. The dialogue. I know Star Wars has been criticized in the past for hokey dialogue but this is the worst. I couldn't picture any of the characters saying some of these things. It was just cheesy. But the action makes up for it. Now if someone would just write a story that takes place between A New Hope and Empire that would be great. I'd love to see how the characters end up on Hoth.
Rating:
Summary: Great book and answers alot of questions
Review: This book fills in the gap between TESB and ROTJ. It is mainly about the fued between Darth Vader and Prince Xizor for the favor of the Emperor. Meanwhile Leia, Luke, Lando and Chewie are planning to rescue Han from Boba Fett before he reaches Jabba's palace. There is lots of cool background info in this book like how Luke made his lightsaber (and that book he found at Ben's house). Also it show how Leia got her Boussh disguise and the thermal detonator she showed up at Jabba's with. Also in ROTJ you hear about the Bothans that died getting the plans to the new deathstar. This book tells of the assault that was actually lead by Luke to retrieve them. There are also lots of great new characters added to the star wars universe like the Prince Xizor's lethal robot Guri and the mercenary Dash Rendar.
Rating:
Summary: I couldn't put this one down
Review: Several of the other star wars books are good attempts but just don't pull off the same feel as the star wars movies. This is the book that brings that feeling back. The author cleverly plays off Prince Xizor and Darth Vader against each other, he clearly shows that although Vader despises the Prince he can not come right out and destroy him for no reason. The author does a great job of demonstrating the politics and motives of the characters. perhaps my favorite part was the Prince's seduction of princess Leia. I can't say anymore...you just have to read it to find out what happens. the author also does an awesome job of filling in back story to return of the Jedi yet at the same time he creates an epic tale worth of the name star wars. If your a fan of the movies I highly recommend this book!
Rating:
Summary: This book is MINDBLOWING!!!!
Review: SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE IS AMAZING, IT IS SET BETWEEN TESB AND ROTJ AND ANSWERS ALOT OF QUESTIONS LEFT UNANSWERED OR BRIEFLY EXPLAINED DURING THE 2 MOVIES,FOR EXAMPLE WHERE DID LEIA GOT HER THERMAL DETENATOR?THE ONE SHE THREATENED TO USE IN JABBAS PALACE. ANYWAY THIS BOOK IS MAINLY ABOUT DARTH VADER AND PRINCE XIZOR(THE FALLEAN AND LEADER OF THE BIGGEST CRIME ORGANIZATION IN THE GALAXY 'BLACK SUN', WHICH DWARFS JABBAS CRIME INDUSTRY)FIGHTING FOR THE FAVOUR OF BOTH OF THEIR MASTERS Emperor Palpatine.A PSYCALOGICAL FIGHT THAT THEY BOTH KNOW WILL END IN ONE OF THEIR DEATHS. XIZOR IS SO DESPERATE TO OUTSMART VADER (XIZOR IS AS RUTHLESS AND PROBABLY MORE CUNNING THAN THE SITH LORD VADER,)SO HE DECIDES TO SEND OUT A CONTRACT WHICH WILL APPEAL TO ALL OF THE SCUMMY,UNDERWORLD BOUNTY HUNTERS FROM TATOOINE TO CORRELIA TO RODIA.FOR ALL THE CREDITS THOUGHT IMAGINABLE XIZOR ASKS OR REALLY BRIBES THE BOUNTY HUNTERS TO BRING HIM SKYWALKER ALIVE OR PREFERABLY DEAD HE DOES SO BECAUSE HE ACCIDENTLY FINDS OUT THAT VADER IS LUKES DAD FROM EMPEROR PALPATINE AND VADER AS THEY TALK VIA HOLNET.THEREFORE HE SETS OUT TO KILL LUKE IN ORDER TO SET VADER ALIGHT WITH FURY . MEANWHILE XIZOR ALSO PLANS TO SEDUCE THE PRINCESS LEIA BUT WITH THE HELP OF LUKE,LANDO,CHEWIE AND THE ROGUE DASH RENDAR (WHO IS MORE OF A CORELLIAN AND SCOUNDREL THAN HAN.)THEY SET OUT TO SAVE HER IN THE MOST IMPERIAL BITTEN PLACE THERE IS 'CORUSANT'.THIS BOOK IS REALLY EXCELLANT, I'D GIVEN IT 10STARS IF I COULD.THIS BOOK HAS A EXPLOSIVE ENDING WHICH I WONT GIVE AWAY,PHEW!! OH BY THE WAY REMEMBER WHEN MON MOTHMA MADE HER FAMOUS SPEECH 'MANY BOTHANS DIED TO GIVE YOU THIS INFORMATION' IN ROTJ.IF YOU EVER THOUGHT WHO IN THE BLAZES ARE BOTHANS,THIS BOOK EXPLAINS ABOUT THEM IN GREAT DETAIL.*****
Rating:
Summary: The book that began my venture into the expanded universe
Review: After seeing all the hype on TV for the Shadows of the Empire action figures and video game, I was plesantly surprised to find a novelization of it sitting on the shelf at a local bookstore. Now up until this point, I had only a vague interest in the Star Wars expanded universe. Eager to see what all the talk was about (and why this one novel would deserve multimedia treatment above all the others) I picked it up and started reading. From that one book, I now have over two dozen various Star Wars novels in my collection. Some of the novels like Zahn, Anderson, and Aaron Alliston's works have been brilliant. Others have fallen considerably short. Shadows of the Empire remains one of my favorite reads of my collection. SotE is an easily accessible entry into the Star Wars universe. To understand where most of the events come from, the reader only has to referr to the original movies. With this in mind, Perry was rather limited in what he could do and not do. Obviously, the gang would have to attempt to rescue Han Solo, and obviously they would fail, because Han is not rescued until Return of the Jedi. Perry stays with Tattooine, Coruscant, and other familiar planets to make the reader feel more at home - the use of familiar aliens from the Star Wars universe (Barabels, Bothans, Ho'Dins) adds contunity that other books have not used (admit it - most of the later novels have featured one shot alien races) Dash Rendar may be more or less a Han Solo clone, but his use was only as a supporting character. The video game tie-in would be the one to feature his exploits. One of the amazing things Perry did was introduce a character as memorable and formidible as Grand Admiral Thrawn in the space of one book. Xizor is a crafty villian, with a hint of sexuality that other Star Wars characters don't have, making for an interesting twist. As for the usual characters, they are all depicted as they should be. Luke is still developing his force powers as a Jedi Knight, and Perry's simpler writing style captures his farmboy-to-Jedi transformation. Vader, given that hes been dead for years in the other books, finally gets some extra development. The reader finds out his feelings about the Emperor, Luke, and Xizor, who is Vader's rival for the Emperors favor. All in all, Perry did an excellent job with SotE. Granted, the book was merely a part of a major multimedia money-making engine - but the idea was well executed, and provides newbie Star Wars fans with an excellent entry into the expanded universe
Rating:
Summary: A very good book, though some things were irritating
Review: This book overall, as far as writing, storyline, characters, and intercharacter relations go, was excellent, more than excellent in some ways. However, the book also suffers from stereotyped villians and the all too obvious Han stand-in Dash Rendaar. I read the junior novelization prior to this, and thought it was great, but reading this full version makes it seem almost silly. This book takes place between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and basically focuses on the adventures of Luke, Leia, Lando, Chewie and some other new friends they meet as they try to find a way to rescue Han from Boba Fett and Jabba the Hutt. Meanwhile, two mysterious persons put out seperate bounties for Luke, one wanting him alive, the other wanting him dead. As you can probably guess this worries him and his friends quite a bit, since Luke believes one of them is certainly Vader, but who is the other one? Leia decides to contact the major criminal organization Black Sun, led by the infamous Prince Xizor, to see if they can find out who it is. She also hires smuggler Dash Rendaar to keep an eye on Luke, which further adds to the mess, for reasons I won't go into at the moment for the benefit of those who haven't read it yet. One thing that bothered me about this book was that all the bad guys (with the exception of Darth Vader) were completley unbelievable and very annoying at some points. Guri especially was a very stupid add on. She could have been an awesome character, but the way she was portrayed is completely unacceptable by my standards. She is simply a man's stupid fantasy of what a strong female should be and is basically a parady of other, better super spy/assassin type women such as Mara Jade (now THERE was an awesome character). Also, Dash seemed just a little too much like Han, and is obviously nothing but a stand-in. I have to admit, Xizor was a pretty good villian because I found myself truly hating him because of what a complete PIG he was. I also thought that in this book all the characters were accuratly portrayed, even Luke, who a lot of writers seem to have trouble with. I also enjoyed Leia's thoughts on Luke and Han, and how it truly brings to light the fact that she loved both of them, Han in a more romantic way, and Luke in a more protective, almost motherly way. Anyway, I would urge younger readers to stay with the junior novelization of this book, since there are some scenes that younger children will probably find disturbing, but nothing anyone over 12 or so couldn't handle. I myself am fifteen and there was nothing in it that bothered me that much. Every Star Wars fan should definitly read the full version eventually though, and I would even recommend it to those people who are not die hard fans.
Rating: 
Summary: Failed Expectations
Review: I can sum up my feelings toward this book in one word: disappointment. I stopped reading the Star Wars books a few years ago because I was disgusted by the junk novels the series was turning out, but several people told me that this one was better than other recent books, so I picked it up--and am I ever sorry. It's true that Xizor is a new character and somewhat fresh, but nearly every other character in the book is dry, boring and completely stereotypical. The new good guy character, Dash Rendar, is just a cardboard clone of Han, and the characters spend too much time speaking in phrases taken from the movies, acting out situations from the movies (the Millenium Falcon is chased into an asteroid field again; more visits to cantina-type casinos, more time on Tatooine--surely there's another planet in the universe they could 'hide out' on??). And all those Darth Vader musings--yeah, I can see Vader thinking some of that, but the way Perry presented it wasn't very convincing. Overall, the book is a series thin scenes about cardboardy characters strung together into a decently-written but incredibly uncreative and altogether disappointing plot. This could've been a very good book fleshing out the gaps between ESB and ROTJ, and I can see what he was going for--I'm just sorry he didn't manage to suceed.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful insights into the Dark Lord....
Review: I really enjoyed this book not for the action or the introduction of numerous characters, but for the insight it gives into Vader. As we all know, Vader was not 100% evil. This book really gives you good internal dialogue for him. That was a first. What is he feeling behind the mask? I know, my review is cheesy, but if you like Vader you should read this book.
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