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Star Wars: Coruscant Nights #2
Street of Shadows
With the Jedi all but wiped out in the grim aftermath of Order 66, the Empire’s power seems unchecked. But one lone Knight continues to fight the good fight–against all odds and when all else fails.
Deep in the bowels of Coruscant, Jedi Jax Pavan ekes out a living as a private investigator, a go-to, can-do guy for the downtrodden. Now a mysterious Zeltron knockout named Deejah approaches Jax with a case that needs to be cracked: to find out who killed her artist lover Volette, brutally murdered hours after his triumphant unveiling of a dazzling new light sculpture with obvious links to lightsaber pyrotechnics.
Finding Volette’s killer won’t be easy–too many secrets, too many suspects, and all kinds of motives. But with the droid I-5YQ’s help, and ex-reporter Den Dhur’s excellent snooping skills, the investigation is soon operating like a well-oiled machine.
Unfortunately, there’s a far more efficient machine hunting Jax. It’s a deadly game of cat-and-mouse as the clock starts ticking toward the final explosive showdown . . . to see who strikes first and who will die first.
Deep in the bowels of Coruscant, Jedi Jax Pavan ekes out a living as a private investigator, a go-to, can-do guy for the downtrodden. Now a mysterious Zeltron knockout named Deejah approaches Jax with a case that needs to be cracked: to find out who killed her artist lover Volette, brutally murdered hours after his triumphant unveiling of a dazzling new light sculpture with obvious links to lightsaber pyrotechnics.
Finding Volette’s killer won’t be easy–too many secrets, too many suspects, and all kinds of motives. But with the droid I-5YQ’s help, and ex-reporter Den Dhur’s excellent snooping skills, the investigation is soon operating like a well-oiled machine.
Unfortunately, there’s a far more efficient machine hunting Jax. It’s a deadly game of cat-and-mouse as the clock starts ticking toward the final explosive showdown . . . to see who strikes first and who will die first.
306 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 26, 2008
81 people are currently reading
1916 people want to read
About the author
Michael Reaves
130 books213 followersMichael Reaves is an Emmy Award-winning television writer and screenwriter whose many credits include Star Trek: The Next Generation, Twilight Zone, Batman: The Animated Series, and Gargoyles. His novels include the New York Times bestseller STAR WARS: Darth Maul- Shadowhunter and STAR WARS: Death Star. He and Neil Gaiman cowrote Interworld. Reaves has also written short fiction, comic books, and background dialogue for a Megadeth video. He lives in California.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 120 reviews
June 18, 2022
Despite the Star Wars affiliation, Coruscant Nights II: Street of Shadows is not yet another Jedi/Sith war tale, nor does it have much to do with interstellar dogfighting. Rather, it's very much Perry Mason meets space opera. Sure, Darth Vader gets quite a few pages, but it's largely a science fiction/mystery novel, involving non-cinematic characters, that takes place in between the film trilogies. The whole premise may scream "cash cow," but it actually works quite well. The writing was crisp and easy to read, the story was great, and it brough back memories of watching old-school television detectives such as Jessica Fletcher and Columbo. So, if you like sci-fi and whodunits, you most likely will enjoy this.
July 8, 2025
Jedi private detective Jax Pavan returns in the second book of Michael Reaves' Coruscant Nights series, "Street of Shadows", set in the Star Wars universe. On the Star Wars timeline, Pavan's adventures take place after the terrible Purge, in which the Emperor has ordered all Jedi Knights hunted down and killed. It is a dark time in the galaxy, as planets are forced to become enslaved by the Emperor's iron-fisted rule or face death and destruction. Meanwhile, the Emperor's second-in-command, the Sith Lord known as Darth Vader, has taken it upon himself to hunt down and kill the remaining Jedi survivors of the Purge.
Pavan has gone into hiding, but he's hiding out on Coruscant, the capital city of the Empire. It's there, he figures, that he can do the most good for the Resistance, helping to secretly shuttle out Rebel spies and those with knowledge and skills that would benefit the steadily-growing Resistance movement. He also occasionally helps out those in need in the lower slum sections of Coruscant, for a fee. He does need to eat after all.
His most recent case is to solve the murder of a well-known Caamasi artist known as Ves Volette, whose beautiful light sculptures caused controversy due to the not-so-subtle anti-Empire feelings they evoked. Needless to say, there are plenty of suspects for Pavan to investigate. Close to a hundred billion of them actually, not excluding Darth Vader or the Emperor himself.
"Street of Shadows" is, like Reaves' previous novel "Jedi Twilight", pulpy good fun, an entertaining mix-up of classic noir and Star Wars. Reaves isn't the best of writers, but he knows how to have fun with, and deftly blend, both genres.
Pavan has gone into hiding, but he's hiding out on Coruscant, the capital city of the Empire. It's there, he figures, that he can do the most good for the Resistance, helping to secretly shuttle out Rebel spies and those with knowledge and skills that would benefit the steadily-growing Resistance movement. He also occasionally helps out those in need in the lower slum sections of Coruscant, for a fee. He does need to eat after all.
His most recent case is to solve the murder of a well-known Caamasi artist known as Ves Volette, whose beautiful light sculptures caused controversy due to the not-so-subtle anti-Empire feelings they evoked. Needless to say, there are plenty of suspects for Pavan to investigate. Close to a hundred billion of them actually, not excluding Darth Vader or the Emperor himself.
"Street of Shadows" is, like Reaves' previous novel "Jedi Twilight", pulpy good fun, an entertaining mix-up of classic noir and Star Wars. Reaves isn't the best of writers, but he knows how to have fun with, and deftly blend, both genres.
July 23, 2010
"You're being hunted by the best, Jax"
After reading the first one, I realized I had no choice but to read number two!
Jax Pavan, LaranthTarak, Den Dhur, and I-Five are back and this time they have a murder to solve. Ves Volette, a Caamasi artist, has been murdered! Was it his partner, the gorgeous Dejah Duare? Or someone else? And can they solve the crime before Aurra Sing finds and kills Jax?
I Liked:
This time around, Michael Reaves wrote his novel as a mystery, which is sort of the marketing for this series of the Star Wars Expanded Universe. And he does an okay job with it (more later).
What really stood out to me, however, was the further depth given to Laranth's character. She really gets fleshed out, from being stoic action girl, to a woman who is beginning to develop feelings for Jax...feelings that, unfortunately for her, aren't reciprocated (which makes me want to slap Jax silly!!). I love how Reaves didn't overwrite her feelings, how he kept it subtle and delicate. Well done!
Also, gotta give Reaves a hand for writing two characters not seen much in Star Wars novels: Captain Typho and Aurra Sing! While I didn't much like his character, Typho was interesting to see (and to see what happened to him!) and his twist (his unrequited love for Padme) brought some definition to his character. Aurra Sing was well done, a cold-blooded killer, yet also half-crazed.
Lastly, Reaves knows how to finish off his novels with a bang! Not only do you get the mystery wrapped up, but let's also throw in a righteous battle between our heroes and Aurra Sing!
I Didn't Like:
I just didn't enjoy this book as much as the first one. I didn't like Dejah Duare, the perfect, sexy Zeltron female (who is, of course, always wearing nice, sexy clothes that make the guys eyes pop out) introduced in the book (gag me already). Jax was still an annoying character whom I wanted to throw across the room. No one says what happens to Nick Rostu. The mystery was very so-so and not very interesting at all (though who did it makes a nod at the mystery genre cliches and got me laughing!). The pacing I felt was rather plodding. People just seem to float for pages on end, not really doing anything that seems all that important and just saying the same things over and over (Typho's quest for vengeance, how Aurra will bring in Jax, finding the murderer of Ves, etc.). I understand that second novels/movies/whatever are a challenge, but this one seemed particularly "saggy".
Dialouge/Sexual Situations/Violence:
Star Wars invented language if anything.
Dejah is, of course, a gorgeous, beautiful, sexually appealing woman. This is mentioned frequently. Also, some of the denizens of Coruscant's underworld could be interpreted as sexual.
Ves Volette is murdered and while it isn't gory, he still does die. There are a few lightsaber battles, chase scenes...nothing that great overall.
Overall:
It's really hard to rate this book for me. I didn't hate it, but I felt that it lacked something, that final quality that could have made it a sure thing for me. I certainly don't consider this a terrible book; I adored the subtle changes to Laranth and some discussion of droids and their "sentience". But there were other parts, such as the weak mystery, that really make me second guess my rating. So, after much contemplation, I think it's fair to rate it 4.5 stars rounded down to 4.
After reading the first one, I realized I had no choice but to read number two!
Jax Pavan, LaranthTarak, Den Dhur, and I-Five are back and this time they have a murder to solve. Ves Volette, a Caamasi artist, has been murdered! Was it his partner, the gorgeous Dejah Duare? Or someone else? And can they solve the crime before Aurra Sing finds and kills Jax?
I Liked:
This time around, Michael Reaves wrote his novel as a mystery, which is sort of the marketing for this series of the Star Wars Expanded Universe. And he does an okay job with it (more later).
What really stood out to me, however, was the further depth given to Laranth's character. She really gets fleshed out, from being stoic action girl, to a woman who is beginning to develop feelings for Jax...feelings that, unfortunately for her, aren't reciprocated (which makes me want to slap Jax silly!!). I love how Reaves didn't overwrite her feelings, how he kept it subtle and delicate. Well done!
Also, gotta give Reaves a hand for writing two characters not seen much in Star Wars novels: Captain Typho and Aurra Sing! While I didn't much like his character, Typho was interesting to see (and to see what happened to him!) and his twist (his unrequited love for Padme) brought some definition to his character. Aurra Sing was well done, a cold-blooded killer, yet also half-crazed.
Lastly, Reaves knows how to finish off his novels with a bang! Not only do you get the mystery wrapped up, but let's also throw in a righteous battle between our heroes and Aurra Sing!
I Didn't Like:
I just didn't enjoy this book as much as the first one. I didn't like Dejah Duare, the perfect, sexy Zeltron female (who is, of course, always wearing nice, sexy clothes that make the guys eyes pop out) introduced in the book (gag me already). Jax was still an annoying character whom I wanted to throw across the room. No one says what happens to Nick Rostu. The mystery was very so-so and not very interesting at all (though who did it makes a nod at the mystery genre cliches and got me laughing!). The pacing I felt was rather plodding. People just seem to float for pages on end, not really doing anything that seems all that important and just saying the same things over and over (Typho's quest for vengeance, how Aurra will bring in Jax, finding the murderer of Ves, etc.). I understand that second novels/movies/whatever are a challenge, but this one seemed particularly "saggy".
Dialouge/Sexual Situations/Violence:
Star Wars invented language if anything.
Dejah is, of course, a gorgeous, beautiful, sexually appealing woman. This is mentioned frequently. Also, some of the denizens of Coruscant's underworld could be interpreted as sexual.
Ves Volette is murdered and while it isn't gory, he still does die. There are a few lightsaber battles, chase scenes...nothing that great overall.
Overall:
It's really hard to rate this book for me. I didn't hate it, but I felt that it lacked something, that final quality that could have made it a sure thing for me. I certainly don't consider this a terrible book; I adored the subtle changes to Laranth and some discussion of droids and their "sentience". But there were other parts, such as the weak mystery, that really make me second guess my rating. So, after much contemplation, I think it's fair to rate it 4.5 stars rounded down to 4.
April 20, 2025
I am really enjoying this series by Michael Reaves. I think this really highlights his strengths as a writer and allows him his own untapped sandbox to play in.
While book 1 was a crime-thriller, this book is a mystery thriller. This book has 3 mystery stories to it that all converge: Who Killed Ves Volette, Who is Responsible for the death of Padme, and Where is Jax Pavan?
The first mystery: "Who Killed Ves Volette", is the primary mystery of the book. Jax and his team, who normally focus on ferrying people out of Coruscant, decide to help the Zeltron, Dejah Duare, with solving the murder of her friend. I actually really enjoyed seeing this mystery play out in the book. Reaves doesn't quite have the writing strengths of Agatha Christie, but he still tells a fun mystery here.
The second mystery: "Who is responsible for the death of Padme", is a mystery the audience knows the answer to. However, there is a character from Padme's past: Captain Typho, who is adamant that he find the answer. This was such a sad story to read, because I wanted to yell at Typho"Don't Do It" throughout the book. Reaves includes an element to Typho's character that seems out of place to me, but does work for the plot of the book.
The third mystery is assigned to Darth Vader as he asks "Where is Jax Pavan?". But rather than search himself, he hires a bounty hunter: Aurra Sing, to find Jax. This story was probably the weakest of the three, but still very well done nonetheless.
As you'd expect, all three stories converge the way Reaves always does in these books, and it was an enjoyable ending.
In fact, the way this book utilizes the mysteries, coruscant, and the characters, it almost read to me like an arc of the Clone Wars (I mean this in a good way). This, and the pacing, made it move quickly for me.
Overall, I'm really enjoying this series. None of the books are top tier Star Wars, but they are lots of fun and well worth the read. 8.5 out of 10. Well done Reaves!
While book 1 was a crime-thriller, this book is a mystery thriller. This book has 3 mystery stories to it that all converge: Who Killed Ves Volette, Who is Responsible for the death of Padme, and Where is Jax Pavan?
The first mystery: "Who Killed Ves Volette", is the primary mystery of the book. Jax and his team, who normally focus on ferrying people out of Coruscant, decide to help the Zeltron, Dejah Duare, with solving the murder of her friend. I actually really enjoyed seeing this mystery play out in the book. Reaves doesn't quite have the writing strengths of Agatha Christie, but he still tells a fun mystery here.
The second mystery: "Who is responsible for the death of Padme", is a mystery the audience knows the answer to. However, there is a character from Padme's past: Captain Typho, who is adamant that he find the answer. This was such a sad story to read, because I wanted to yell at Typho"Don't Do It" throughout the book. Reaves includes an element to Typho's character that seems out of place to me, but does work for the plot of the book.
The third mystery is assigned to Darth Vader as he asks "Where is Jax Pavan?". But rather than search himself, he hires a bounty hunter: Aurra Sing, to find Jax. This story was probably the weakest of the three, but still very well done nonetheless.
As you'd expect, all three stories converge the way Reaves always does in these books, and it was an enjoyable ending.
In fact, the way this book utilizes the mysteries, coruscant, and the characters, it almost read to me like an arc of the Clone Wars (I mean this in a good way). This, and the pacing, made it move quickly for me.
Overall, I'm really enjoying this series. None of the books are top tier Star Wars, but they are lots of fun and well worth the read. 8.5 out of 10. Well done Reaves!
August 14, 2024
2.5 stars
For 2024, I decided to pick up where I left off after 2022 and reread books published between 2004 and 2011—a hodgepodge of Clone Wars, inter-trilogy, and Original Trilogy stories, plus a smattering of Old Republic Sith. This shakes out to twenty-one novels and four short stories, mainly consisting of the Republic Commando series, the Darth Bane trilogy, the Coruscant Nights trilogy, five Clone Wars books written by the Karens, and four standalone novels.
This week’s focus: the second book in the Coruscant Nights trilogy, Streets of Shadows by Michael Reaves
SOME HISTORY:
Glen Orbik made the cover art for all three books in the Coruscant Nights trilogy, and I think that was a great choice as Orbik was known for his noir-style art. If his artwork looks familiar to you, it may be because he illustrated some Batman covers for DC Comics, or because he created the cover art for more than two dozen of the Hard Case Crime novels—I particularly remember two by Stephen King, The Colorado Kid and Joyland.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
As with the previous book in the Coruscant Nights trilogy, I never read Street of Shadows before. In fact I kept getting the title wrong! “Streets of Shadows” sounds better to my ear, but no, it’s singular “Street.” All I knew going into it was that Jax finally had a team, but the rest was unknown.
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
Having decided to stay on Coruscant for the time being, Jax Pavan and his pals continue to work for the Whiplash resistance movement. When a Zeltron stunner named Dejah approaches Jax about getting her artist partner Volette and herself off Coruscant, everyone is shocked to find the Caamasi artist murdered in his studio. But while Jax and co. investigate who killed the artist, Darth Vader continues to search for Jax—and he's employed a famous bounty hunter to do so…
THE PLOT:
In Street of Shadows, Jax Pavan is investigating something even if I wouldn't call him a private investigator per se. He and his team are working for Whiplash as part of the Underground Mag-Lev ferrying people off Coruscant, and after the world of Caamas is destroyed they’re approached by Dejah Duare about getting her Caamasi artist partner offplanet. Unfortunately, Jax and Dejah arrive back at Volette’s studio to find that he was murdered, so Jax and company start investigating whodunit and why. The narrative’s focus on the murder mystery ebbs and flows throughout the story.
Meanwhile, Captain Typho of Naboo has arrived on Coruscant, in search of Padme Amidala’s killer. In the course of his investigations, Typho comes to the conclusion that Padme and Anakin Skywalker were killed by Darth Vader, so he sets up a confrontation with the Sith Lord. Vader still wants to find Jax Pavan, so he hires legendary bounty hunter Aurra Sing to track Jax down. Everything culminates in Typho facing off against Vader, Jax and I-5 revealing the identity of Volette’s murderer, and Aurra Sing ambushing Jax in a spaceport—but he gets away in the end.
CHARACTERS:
I had issues with Jax's attitude in the previous book when he didn't want to be a Jedi, so fortunately he’s more committed to his role here. He’s actively helping people and taking a leadership position, even if it doesn’t seem to come naturally to him. His two main plot points boil down to Jax wanting to build a new lightsaber after he lost his at the end of Jedi Twilight, but not having much luck tracking down a new energy crystal, and Jax trying to learn more about his heritage by having Rhinann dig into his father’s past. Meanwhile, Jax investigates a murder in a very haphazard manner; he gives the police his actual name, which seems like a bad move for someone hiding from the authorities. Den Dhur buys a fake police ID and when he’s caught, calls Jax to bail him out. When Jax is finally ready to pull the Agatha Christie reveal, he invites the police along too. Jax, if you’re trying to stay on the down-low, this is not the way to do it!
He approaches the energy crystal search in an….interesting way. He straight up asks the Vindalian Baron if he can have an energy crystal from one of Volette’s sculptures. The Baron says no. Then he tasks Den Dhur with finding an energy crystal, but he never asks Dejah if she could help. If Volette used energy crystals in his art, why didn’t Jax pursue that angle? Instead Den Dhur asks every Joe Schmoe on the street, and most of Jax’s murder investigation follows this sloppy approach. He interviews the Baron, but doesn’t use the Force to sense what the Baroness was feeling. He makes no progress until Den Dhur finds a thief, but that conversation doesn’t produce any clear suspects. Then next thing we know, Jax says he has the solution and accuses the innocent Baroness, leading to their protocol droid confusing rather like “the butler did it.” Jax investigated diddly squat here. Jax’s lightsaber problems are likewise solved by Captain Typho sending him one of Aurra Sing’s lightsaber, so the energy crystal search is moot.
Jax learns from Rhinann the events of Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, that Lorn Pavan was probably killed by a Sith. Jax confronts I-5 about keeping this from him. I-5 finally shares that he’s been carrying around this vial of bota since the Battle of Drongar, that Barriss Offee gave it to him to bring to the Jedi Council on Coruscant, and that since the Jedi are fallen he’s meant to give it to Jax. Maybe this is why Vader is pursuing him? Perhaps. (But we won’t find out until the conclusion of book number three.)
Jedi Laranth Tarak is still very skilled with her blasters and doing the strong and silent routine, except she seems to be going through some emotional issues. As the reader, I thought it was very obvious, but Laranth doesn’t reveal them until the very last chapter. She quits Jax’s group and wants to go solo because she was jealous of Dejah the Zeltron and has romantic feelings for Jax. Jax (belatedly) realizes that he feels the same, but we won’t get any resolution on this front until the next book. I felt sorry for Laranth; she’s the first to face off against Aurra Sing, and she’s successful, but then she’s badly wounded during Sing’s spaceport ambush. I don’t think the prequel Jedi Order prepared Jedi for the situation she’s in now, what with No Attachments and all, and I think Luke’s Jedi Order took the right approach of ending that rule. It must be hard to cope with those kind of feelings when you were told they were un-Jedi-like and you were never given an emotional framework to work through a problem like that.
Den Dhur is still not working as a reporter, but he got to do a little bit of investigating. I liked seeing him wander around buying parts for Jax’s lightsaber, and while the fake ID was a very bad idea, it did progress the mystery plotline further. Of Jax’s group, Den Dhur is the most insistent that they leave Coruscant, and I don’t blame him! He’s just a little guy, and they get into some dangerous situations. The Elomin Rhinann is also not happy about staying on Coruscant in this partnership, and I half expected him to betray the group to Vader. Instead, he starts to dig into past things like the bota, and I expect his inevitable betrayal in book #3 to be related to that—a surprising number of people talked about bota in this book, and it has to be a Chekhov's Gun.
I-5YQ is also here, being sassy and helping with Jax’s murder investigation by…uh…listening into private networks and hacking stuff? He shows a lot more forthrightness and wherewithal than droids are expected to have, and I liked the reminder that I-5 has been carrying around this vial for bota for months now. His relationship with Jax was very rocky in the first book, but they’re on much better footing now.
I found the presence of Captain Typho interesting. I liked that we had a member of Padme’s security team who saw her body and didn’t accept the explanation they were given. He knows that she was strangled, and he wants to find out who did it. He comes across Aurra Sing in the remains of the Jedi Temple and out-maneuvers her; he finds Jax Pavan much faster than Vader has managed to; he looks at what happened on Mustafar and comes to an understandably wrong conclusion. He sets an ambush for Vader by informing him that he knows Jax’s location, and when Vader arrives he tries to kill him. He fails, obviously, but as he’s dying he tells Vader that he did it for Padme. This really throws Vader, because I think he’s too close to the events of Revenge of the Sith.
Vader continues to look for Jax Pavan, but he’s not looking for Jax himself. Like in the previous book, he has someone else do it, so he pulls Aurra Sing out of prison to find Jax and company. While I liked what Captain Typho added to the story, I felt like Sing tended to pull the focus away from Jax and the murder mystery, and it just dragged out a confrontation that I knew wasn’t going to happen until the third book. Every time we would focus on the mystery, or Captain Typho’s activities, the story would cut away to Aurra Sing and her meandering assignment. Perhaps Sing is too well known of a character, and that’s why it felt like she pulled focus so much? Her fate is also left ambiguous at the end, as she falls into a construction droid, but I’ve read the Legacy of the Force books—I know that she’s alive decades later, so that was obviously not the end of her.
ISSUES:
While I felt like the noir element was developed a bit more here than it was in Jedi Twilight, I still don't think that either of these books approach Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter’s gritty noir atmosphere. That’s a little strange to me, because this trilogy has a lot of potential for being like a hardboiled detective story set within the Star Wars galaxy. Some of the elements were there, like the murder mystery with the seductive dame, but none of the locations had that grimy pulpy quality. This is set in the Underworld of Coruscant, but it certainly didn’t feel like it.
Some of the dates were very wrong in this book, particularly when Rhinann is investigating Lorn Pavan’s past. He finds a message from Bariss Offee to Luminara Unduli about the bota, and he says it's from twenty years ago. No!?! Jedi Healer took place two years into the Clone Wars, and this book is maybe six months to a year after Order 66. Rhinann says that the Trade Federation embargo of Naboo was twenty-three years ago, but that was 32 ABY and this is around 18 ABY. The Phantom Menace was fourteen years ago! Then Rhinann says that the Zabrak Sith (Maul) killed a Hutt in a nightclub eighteen years ago. That’s wrong, but it’s a different wrong date from the earlier one when those events happened in the same year! I wonder if Michael Reaves originally intended for the Coruscant Nights trilogy to be set closer to the Battle of Yavin instead of not long after Order 66, because otherwise the math just isn’t adding up here.
My biggest issue with Street of Shadows, though, was how the mystery plotline felt poorly executed. We have a Caamasi artist who’s upset about his planet’s destruction, so he creates this piece of art to serve as a cairn for his people. Meanwhile, his business partner finds Jax and tries to hire him to smuggle Volette and herself off Coruscant. They head back to the studio, and find his dead body. First, what happened to that art piece? I initially thought that his murder was connected to the destruction of Caamas and that potentially seditious artwork, but no, the droid did it. Then I wondered if he was murdered because he created sculptures out of energy crystals, which the Empire might crack down on, but no, it’s not related to that either. Jax never pursues either line of inquiries.
He talks to Volette’s sponsor but does a half-assed job, then they talk to undisclosed people and learn nothing. Den Dhur makes a breakthrough with his fake ID and they find out about a thief, but that’s it. Suddenly it’s the end of the novel and Jax has to wrap this up, so he accuses the Baroness and gets the droid to admit guilt. This murder mystery could have added a ton to the missing noir atmosphere, but it felt like huge chunks of the book would forget about the mystery and focus on Captain Typho’s quest or Aurra Sing’s search and then be like “oh, yeah, the murder mystery… There’s no progress.” This plotline could have been executed so much better, yet it ended up being the biggest downside of the book for me.
IN CONCLUSION:
Street of Shadows continues the Coruscant Nights trilogy by showing how Jax and crew are helping the Whiplash resistance movement—except in this case, they also get dragged into a murder mystery. While they solve the mystery and Jax defeats Aurra Sing, presumably Vader will not give up his hunt and will eventually confront Jax in book number three. There were some weird timeline errors here, the noir atmosphere could have been better, and the mystery plot line was rather slapdash, but I'll be interested to see how the trilogy concludes—especially as I suspect that bota will play a key role in it.
Next up: the fourth book in the Republic Commando series, Order 66 by Karen Traviss.
YouTube review: https://youtu.be/O8EbZwxOFWo
For 2024, I decided to pick up where I left off after 2022 and reread books published between 2004 and 2011—a hodgepodge of Clone Wars, inter-trilogy, and Original Trilogy stories, plus a smattering of Old Republic Sith. This shakes out to twenty-one novels and four short stories, mainly consisting of the Republic Commando series, the Darth Bane trilogy, the Coruscant Nights trilogy, five Clone Wars books written by the Karens, and four standalone novels.
This week’s focus: the second book in the Coruscant Nights trilogy, Streets of Shadows by Michael Reaves
SOME HISTORY:
Glen Orbik made the cover art for all three books in the Coruscant Nights trilogy, and I think that was a great choice as Orbik was known for his noir-style art. If his artwork looks familiar to you, it may be because he illustrated some Batman covers for DC Comics, or because he created the cover art for more than two dozen of the Hard Case Crime novels—I particularly remember two by Stephen King, The Colorado Kid and Joyland.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
As with the previous book in the Coruscant Nights trilogy, I never read Street of Shadows before. In fact I kept getting the title wrong! “Streets of Shadows” sounds better to my ear, but no, it’s singular “Street.” All I knew going into it was that Jax finally had a team, but the rest was unknown.
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
Having decided to stay on Coruscant for the time being, Jax Pavan and his pals continue to work for the Whiplash resistance movement. When a Zeltron stunner named Dejah approaches Jax about getting her artist partner Volette and herself off Coruscant, everyone is shocked to find the Caamasi artist murdered in his studio. But while Jax and co. investigate who killed the artist, Darth Vader continues to search for Jax—and he's employed a famous bounty hunter to do so…
THE PLOT:
In Street of Shadows, Jax Pavan is investigating something even if I wouldn't call him a private investigator per se. He and his team are working for Whiplash as part of the Underground Mag-Lev ferrying people off Coruscant, and after the world of Caamas is destroyed they’re approached by Dejah Duare about getting her Caamasi artist partner offplanet. Unfortunately, Jax and Dejah arrive back at Volette’s studio to find that he was murdered, so Jax and company start investigating whodunit and why. The narrative’s focus on the murder mystery ebbs and flows throughout the story.
Meanwhile, Captain Typho of Naboo has arrived on Coruscant, in search of Padme Amidala’s killer. In the course of his investigations, Typho comes to the conclusion that Padme and Anakin Skywalker were killed by Darth Vader, so he sets up a confrontation with the Sith Lord. Vader still wants to find Jax Pavan, so he hires legendary bounty hunter Aurra Sing to track Jax down. Everything culminates in Typho facing off against Vader, Jax and I-5 revealing the identity of Volette’s murderer, and Aurra Sing ambushing Jax in a spaceport—but he gets away in the end.
CHARACTERS:
I had issues with Jax's attitude in the previous book when he didn't want to be a Jedi, so fortunately he’s more committed to his role here. He’s actively helping people and taking a leadership position, even if it doesn’t seem to come naturally to him. His two main plot points boil down to Jax wanting to build a new lightsaber after he lost his at the end of Jedi Twilight, but not having much luck tracking down a new energy crystal, and Jax trying to learn more about his heritage by having Rhinann dig into his father’s past. Meanwhile, Jax investigates a murder in a very haphazard manner; he gives the police his actual name, which seems like a bad move for someone hiding from the authorities. Den Dhur buys a fake police ID and when he’s caught, calls Jax to bail him out. When Jax is finally ready to pull the Agatha Christie reveal, he invites the police along too. Jax, if you’re trying to stay on the down-low, this is not the way to do it!
He approaches the energy crystal search in an….interesting way. He straight up asks the Vindalian Baron if he can have an energy crystal from one of Volette’s sculptures. The Baron says no. Then he tasks Den Dhur with finding an energy crystal, but he never asks Dejah if she could help. If Volette used energy crystals in his art, why didn’t Jax pursue that angle? Instead Den Dhur asks every Joe Schmoe on the street, and most of Jax’s murder investigation follows this sloppy approach. He interviews the Baron, but doesn’t use the Force to sense what the Baroness was feeling. He makes no progress until Den Dhur finds a thief, but that conversation doesn’t produce any clear suspects. Then next thing we know, Jax says he has the solution and accuses the innocent Baroness, leading to their protocol droid confusing rather like “the butler did it.” Jax investigated diddly squat here. Jax’s lightsaber problems are likewise solved by Captain Typho sending him one of Aurra Sing’s lightsaber, so the energy crystal search is moot.
Jax learns from Rhinann the events of Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, that Lorn Pavan was probably killed by a Sith. Jax confronts I-5 about keeping this from him. I-5 finally shares that he’s been carrying around this vial of bota since the Battle of Drongar, that Barriss Offee gave it to him to bring to the Jedi Council on Coruscant, and that since the Jedi are fallen he’s meant to give it to Jax. Maybe this is why Vader is pursuing him? Perhaps. (But we won’t find out until the conclusion of book number three.)
Jedi Laranth Tarak is still very skilled with her blasters and doing the strong and silent routine, except she seems to be going through some emotional issues. As the reader, I thought it was very obvious, but Laranth doesn’t reveal them until the very last chapter. She quits Jax’s group and wants to go solo because she was jealous of Dejah the Zeltron and has romantic feelings for Jax. Jax (belatedly) realizes that he feels the same, but we won’t get any resolution on this front until the next book. I felt sorry for Laranth; she’s the first to face off against Aurra Sing, and she’s successful, but then she’s badly wounded during Sing’s spaceport ambush. I don’t think the prequel Jedi Order prepared Jedi for the situation she’s in now, what with No Attachments and all, and I think Luke’s Jedi Order took the right approach of ending that rule. It must be hard to cope with those kind of feelings when you were told they were un-Jedi-like and you were never given an emotional framework to work through a problem like that.
Den Dhur is still not working as a reporter, but he got to do a little bit of investigating. I liked seeing him wander around buying parts for Jax’s lightsaber, and while the fake ID was a very bad idea, it did progress the mystery plotline further. Of Jax’s group, Den Dhur is the most insistent that they leave Coruscant, and I don’t blame him! He’s just a little guy, and they get into some dangerous situations. The Elomin Rhinann is also not happy about staying on Coruscant in this partnership, and I half expected him to betray the group to Vader. Instead, he starts to dig into past things like the bota, and I expect his inevitable betrayal in book #3 to be related to that—a surprising number of people talked about bota in this book, and it has to be a Chekhov's Gun.
I-5YQ is also here, being sassy and helping with Jax’s murder investigation by…uh…listening into private networks and hacking stuff? He shows a lot more forthrightness and wherewithal than droids are expected to have, and I liked the reminder that I-5 has been carrying around this vial for bota for months now. His relationship with Jax was very rocky in the first book, but they’re on much better footing now.
I found the presence of Captain Typho interesting. I liked that we had a member of Padme’s security team who saw her body and didn’t accept the explanation they were given. He knows that she was strangled, and he wants to find out who did it. He comes across Aurra Sing in the remains of the Jedi Temple and out-maneuvers her; he finds Jax Pavan much faster than Vader has managed to; he looks at what happened on Mustafar and comes to an understandably wrong conclusion. He sets an ambush for Vader by informing him that he knows Jax’s location, and when Vader arrives he tries to kill him. He fails, obviously, but as he’s dying he tells Vader that he did it for Padme. This really throws Vader, because I think he’s too close to the events of Revenge of the Sith.
Vader continues to look for Jax Pavan, but he’s not looking for Jax himself. Like in the previous book, he has someone else do it, so he pulls Aurra Sing out of prison to find Jax and company. While I liked what Captain Typho added to the story, I felt like Sing tended to pull the focus away from Jax and the murder mystery, and it just dragged out a confrontation that I knew wasn’t going to happen until the third book. Every time we would focus on the mystery, or Captain Typho’s activities, the story would cut away to Aurra Sing and her meandering assignment. Perhaps Sing is too well known of a character, and that’s why it felt like she pulled focus so much? Her fate is also left ambiguous at the end, as she falls into a construction droid, but I’ve read the Legacy of the Force books—I know that she’s alive decades later, so that was obviously not the end of her.
ISSUES:
While I felt like the noir element was developed a bit more here than it was in Jedi Twilight, I still don't think that either of these books approach Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter’s gritty noir atmosphere. That’s a little strange to me, because this trilogy has a lot of potential for being like a hardboiled detective story set within the Star Wars galaxy. Some of the elements were there, like the murder mystery with the seductive dame, but none of the locations had that grimy pulpy quality. This is set in the Underworld of Coruscant, but it certainly didn’t feel like it.
Some of the dates were very wrong in this book, particularly when Rhinann is investigating Lorn Pavan’s past. He finds a message from Bariss Offee to Luminara Unduli about the bota, and he says it's from twenty years ago. No!?! Jedi Healer took place two years into the Clone Wars, and this book is maybe six months to a year after Order 66. Rhinann says that the Trade Federation embargo of Naboo was twenty-three years ago, but that was 32 ABY and this is around 18 ABY. The Phantom Menace was fourteen years ago! Then Rhinann says that the Zabrak Sith (Maul) killed a Hutt in a nightclub eighteen years ago. That’s wrong, but it’s a different wrong date from the earlier one when those events happened in the same year! I wonder if Michael Reaves originally intended for the Coruscant Nights trilogy to be set closer to the Battle of Yavin instead of not long after Order 66, because otherwise the math just isn’t adding up here.
My biggest issue with Street of Shadows, though, was how the mystery plotline felt poorly executed. We have a Caamasi artist who’s upset about his planet’s destruction, so he creates this piece of art to serve as a cairn for his people. Meanwhile, his business partner finds Jax and tries to hire him to smuggle Volette and herself off Coruscant. They head back to the studio, and find his dead body. First, what happened to that art piece? I initially thought that his murder was connected to the destruction of Caamas and that potentially seditious artwork, but no, the droid did it. Then I wondered if he was murdered because he created sculptures out of energy crystals, which the Empire might crack down on, but no, it’s not related to that either. Jax never pursues either line of inquiries.
He talks to Volette’s sponsor but does a half-assed job, then they talk to undisclosed people and learn nothing. Den Dhur makes a breakthrough with his fake ID and they find out about a thief, but that’s it. Suddenly it’s the end of the novel and Jax has to wrap this up, so he accuses the Baroness and gets the droid to admit guilt. This murder mystery could have added a ton to the missing noir atmosphere, but it felt like huge chunks of the book would forget about the mystery and focus on Captain Typho’s quest or Aurra Sing’s search and then be like “oh, yeah, the murder mystery… There’s no progress.” This plotline could have been executed so much better, yet it ended up being the biggest downside of the book for me.
IN CONCLUSION:
Street of Shadows continues the Coruscant Nights trilogy by showing how Jax and crew are helping the Whiplash resistance movement—except in this case, they also get dragged into a murder mystery. While they solve the mystery and Jax defeats Aurra Sing, presumably Vader will not give up his hunt and will eventually confront Jax in book number three. There were some weird timeline errors here, the noir atmosphere could have been better, and the mystery plot line was rather slapdash, but I'll be interested to see how the trilogy concludes—especially as I suspect that bota will play a key role in it.
Next up: the fourth book in the Republic Commando series, Order 66 by Karen Traviss.
YouTube review: https://youtu.be/O8EbZwxOFWo
January 8, 2025
Star Wars: Legends: Coruscant Nights II 02 Street of Shadows by Michael Reaves
challenging emotional mysterious sad tense
Medium-paced
Plot or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters are a main focus? Yes
3.25 Stars
This story is slightly better than the first book. Ugh. If I wasn't wanting to read ALL of the Star Wars: Legends books (in story order), I'd have DNFd this series. So, saying that...I have just lowered the bar, on how I view this story.
The rules/lore of Star Wars are (in my opinion) broken by this author. It was his to do, within the Extended Universe time of books, but I don't agree with a LOT of his choices and feel that it actually hurts the franchise BECAUSE it exists. BUT, it does exist, and now I have to find the pearls within this mess of a series.
I feel he does a better job on the Dark Side (the characters that weild that power), than the Light Side characters, but that might just be...because he (and us) spend more time with them...so he's got more time to mess things up (my opinion).
For those that love this series, I'm happy that you love it, but I am just going to do my best to find things that I like, instead of pooping on the long list of things that I do not like.
One, I like the covers. They are so part of the time that this book was published. I also like the "hide in plain sight", that Jax Paven is doing. Interesting choice.
We all know that it isn't going to work (foreknowledge of the events of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope...and the state of the Jedi, at that time).
I can say, that I'm getting attached to this merry band of outliers, and hope that they have as long a life as possible, but it isn't a sure bet, that's for sure.
Okay, on to the next novel in this series, Coruscant Nights III - Patterns of Force, the third of four books in the series.
challenging emotional mysterious sad tense
Medium-paced
Plot or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters are a main focus? Yes
3.25 Stars
This story is slightly better than the first book. Ugh. If I wasn't wanting to read ALL of the Star Wars: Legends books (in story order), I'd have DNFd this series. So, saying that...I have just lowered the bar, on how I view this story.
The rules/lore of Star Wars are (in my opinion) broken by this author. It was his to do, within the Extended Universe time of books, but I don't agree with a LOT of his choices and feel that it actually hurts the franchise BECAUSE it exists. BUT, it does exist, and now I have to find the pearls within this mess of a series.
I feel he does a better job on the Dark Side (the characters that weild that power), than the Light Side characters, but that might just be...because he (and us) spend more time with them...so he's got more time to mess things up (my opinion).
For those that love this series, I'm happy that you love it, but I am just going to do my best to find things that I like, instead of pooping on the long list of things that I do not like.
One, I like the covers. They are so part of the time that this book was published. I also like the "hide in plain sight", that Jax Paven is doing. Interesting choice.
We all know that it isn't going to work (foreknowledge of the events of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope...and the state of the Jedi, at that time).
I can say, that I'm getting attached to this merry band of outliers, and hope that they have as long a life as possible, but it isn't a sure bet, that's for sure.
Okay, on to the next novel in this series, Coruscant Nights III - Patterns of Force, the third of four books in the series.
March 3, 2022
Relationships Matter
This was book 2 in the Coruscant Nights series. Jedi Jax Pavan is still coming to terms with information about his father, adjusting to I-5 and his other two companions. Into this mix, a murder may and Vader's search for him. We also have bounty hunter force sensitive Aurra Sing and Captain Typho, formerly of the Royal House of Naboo, and two very different women who are rather fond of Jax. This is noir, Star Wars style. It is interesting to see how the threads intertwine. On to book 3, Patterns of Force.
This was book 2 in the Coruscant Nights series. Jedi Jax Pavan is still coming to terms with information about his father, adjusting to I-5 and his other two companions. Into this mix, a murder may and Vader's search for him. We also have bounty hunter force sensitive Aurra Sing and Captain Typho, formerly of the Royal House of Naboo, and two very different women who are rather fond of Jax. This is noir, Star Wars style. It is interesting to see how the threads intertwine. On to book 3, Patterns of Force.
November 25, 2010
Really 3.5.
Good story, well told. Nice "What happened to Padme and Anakin Skywalker?" thread. Thought Typho got short shrift.
Quibble: Jax and Co. search all over Coruscant for a Compressed Energy Crystal for a lightsaber. Why didn't they use whatever source Ves Volette used to obtain them for his light sculptures?
Good story, well told. Nice "What happened to Padme and Anakin Skywalker?" thread. Thought Typho got short shrift.
Quibble: Jax and Co. search all over Coruscant for a Compressed Energy Crystal for a lightsaber. Why didn't they use whatever source Ves Volette used to obtain them for his light sculptures?
September 17, 2020
This feels like the kind of book that Coruscant Nights I: Jedi Twilight should have been. The book I felt I was promised in the first book but Reaves failed to deliver. Sure, the book still doesn’t give us much of the seedy underbelly cyberpunk vibe that I was hoping for from this trilogy – but Jax actually has a case! He has an unexpected murder to solve, and a client paying him. And Den isn’t useless here; he actually does draw on his reporter’s skills to make not one but several important contributions to unravelling that case. This book actually passes muster as a detective novel. So that’s good. It’s certainly a step up from its predecessor.
There are still certain problems, however. It still didn’t give us a rich, vivid picture of Coruscant underlevel life that I was hoping for and which I feel could have been such a strength of this trilogy! And it annoys me because I think Reaves could have had the page space to do all that if only he hadn’t wasted that page space on unnecessary characters instead. Yes, I think the inclusion of Aurra Sing and Captain Typho was unnecessary. Don’t get me wrong, I kind of like Typho… for a vaguely cool character we barely see on screen in the films. But he pretty much only exists in this book to get Jax Pavan a lightsabre. The whole spiel about him secretly and we never see him again. Aurra Sing gets a bit more involved in the plot but… again, I feel like she’s really only there to give us the sense of “Vader’s still breathing down your necks! Really! Look, he hired a bounty hunter!” When actually Vader doesn’t really do much in this book and yet to keep the stakes high we have to believe that he has some kind of special grudge against Jax Pavan, for some reason, that he doesn’t against the average Jedi who’s escaped the Empire thus far. She also exists to give the protagonists a Big Showdown at the end, because without it the murder mystery is resolved with a physical confrontation. I mean, that’s usually good enough for your standard murder mystery novel, but this has Jedi, so there has to be lightsabres flashing before the final curtain. (That was sarcasm, in case anyone missed it; I’ve read plenty of fantastic Star Wars books that didn’t have a single lightsabre mentioned in them, and I think some authors need to stop relying on the flashy thing so much). Anyway, so Aurra Sing ties into the main plot a bit better than Typho does… but her storyline still kind of feels unnecessary because I think it almost would have been better and more intimidating if we didn’t get any sections from her perspective and just had this shadowy, unidentified figure following them around for most of the book.
Reaves seems to have a problem with bringing characters in for guest appearances that mean very little by the end of the book. After seeing Kaird of Nediji and Prince Xizor in the last book, I was wondering where the Black Sun involvement would be in this book. There wasn’t any. I was also wondering about the fate of the critically-wounded-but-still-alive Nick Rostu, especially since I greatly enjoyed Matthew Stover’s novel where he was introduced, Shatterpoint. We’re literally told nothing about Nick’s current location or status despite the previous book leaving him on a major cliffhanger. Oi! Don’t introduce major guest stars into your books only to leave them on a cliffhanger, or just to pointlessly kill them off! It’s annoying. It makes this fan disgruntled.
Well, since the book actually delivered on a murder mystery plot, I consider it to have lived up to its basic promise and premise, and I’m rating it a little above average. It still didn’t knock me off my feet though and, to be honest, if I’m looking at it in the wider context of the Expanded Universe, I could lose this book without missing it.
6 out of 10
April 7, 2020
After the fantastic Jedi Twilight, my hopes were super high for Street of Shadows. Unfortunately, they didn’t get there with this one.
Of course Street of Shadows is still a good book. Reaves once again shows that he gets understands fans of Star Wars don’t always want books that go far too in-depth with the Force or with pointless side plots. And Reaves gets how to write a good story with decent characters and a setting that tends to get skipped over.
The problem with Shadows though, is that it’s jut not as exciting as it’s precursor. It’s storyline isn’t nearly as intricate or as fun. I-5, the droid from countless other Reaves books had begun to become cliche, with his sardonic and sarcastic remarks.
However, there are far, far worse stories in the pantheon of Star Wars and by no means is Shadows even remotely horrible. I still thoroughly recommend it.
Of course Street of Shadows is still a good book. Reaves once again shows that he gets understands fans of Star Wars don’t always want books that go far too in-depth with the Force or with pointless side plots. And Reaves gets how to write a good story with decent characters and a setting that tends to get skipped over.
The problem with Shadows though, is that it’s jut not as exciting as it’s precursor. It’s storyline isn’t nearly as intricate or as fun. I-5, the droid from countless other Reaves books had begun to become cliche, with his sardonic and sarcastic remarks.
However, there are far, far worse stories in the pantheon of Star Wars and by no means is Shadows even remotely horrible. I still thoroughly recommend it.
April 19, 2023
Star Wars “Street of Shadows” is absolutely freaking awesome! It is a proper sequel to the plots that were set up Jedi Twilight. One of the most impressive things about this book is how grounded it is in storytelling, environment, and atmosphere. It’s fantastic.
The best part of this book is there is a twist that I just did not see coming. Out of all the Star Wars I’ve watched and read I just didn’t see it coming.
There are characters who makes surprise appearances in this book. Our main character’s life gets more and more complicated as he takes on more and more responsibility.
The entire team seems to have purpose within the story and what feels like organic growth. Reads go super quick. I’m stoked to start the third book. Check it out!
The best part of this book is there is a twist that I just did not see coming. Out of all the Star Wars I’ve watched and read I just didn’t see it coming.
There are characters who makes surprise appearances in this book. Our main character’s life gets more and more complicated as he takes on more and more responsibility.
The entire team seems to have purpose within the story and what feels like organic growth. Reads go super quick. I’m stoked to start the third book. Check it out!
July 26, 2025
Though not quite as good as the first one, and while there were some canon vs. legends things that took me a while to get used to, this was a fun book.
I went into this series not really knowing what to expect, but I enjoy the characters and the mood of these books.
I went into this series not really knowing what to expect, but I enjoy the characters and the mood of these books.
January 4, 2019
One does not put phrase "there's nothing wrong with capitalism" in a SW novel.
November 6, 2010
Probably the most legitimate complaint about the first book in the "Coruscant Nights" series was the fact that it was marketed as Star Wars Noir, and then didn't contain any actual noir. Author Michael Reaves more than made up for this with a dynamic plot that was driven by interesting characterizations.
The second book, "Street of Shadows", corrects the first mistake by featuring a more noirish murder mystery plot, but at the cost of the deft plotting the drove the first work. The result is a second chapter in the series that manages to capture a similar tone to its predecesor, but ends up spinning its wheels solving a murder that holds only passing relevance to the story arcs of the novel's main characters. And while the novel is mostly well written, its also filled with what seems like a lot more redundant philosophizing than "Jedi Twilight" and a frustrating series of too-similar depictions of various parts of the Coruscant underworld.
There are some positive things that carry over from the first novel. The characters themselves pop and the relationships are well defined. Also, like the first novel, Reaves weaves together with Jax's investigation, two other plots following periphary characters that the author gets to flesh out into interesting people. This time around its the deceased Queen Amidala's earnest bodyguard, Captain Typhoo, and the mysterious (and borderline cliched) bounty hunter, Aurra Sing. It seems that a throughline for each novel in the series will be Darth Vader's enigmatic pursuit of Jax Pavan, and the events of Typoo's and Sing's lives that bring them into Vader's machinations are by far the most intersting part of the book.
Jax Pavan and his gang are great characters, but their murder investigation is so ho-hum, the entire plot feels like a waste of a perfectly good dramatis personae. To begin with, the murder itself has zero stakes for the overall storyline of Jax. Most of the investigation consists of tracking down and interviewing suspects who have little to do with the mystery's ultimate solution. And the solution itself seems plucked out of thin air, bourn on the shoulders of a deus ex machina just in the nick of time. Oh, and the story ends on the same exact note as the first novel: a rich benefactor agreeing to fund Jax's odd little do-gooder endeavor. Reaves seems like he has a great handle on writing the Star Wars EU. He does not seem to have a handle of writing an engaging murder mystery.
Ultimately, two thirds of "Street of Shadows" is an interesting character driven adventure story, that is interrupted by the other one third which is a banal murder mystery. There are some big picture storylines that are advanced, just not an entire novel's worth. I'm wondering if maybe "Coruscant Nights" might have worked better as a two novel series as opposed to three.
The second book, "Street of Shadows", corrects the first mistake by featuring a more noirish murder mystery plot, but at the cost of the deft plotting the drove the first work. The result is a second chapter in the series that manages to capture a similar tone to its predecesor, but ends up spinning its wheels solving a murder that holds only passing relevance to the story arcs of the novel's main characters. And while the novel is mostly well written, its also filled with what seems like a lot more redundant philosophizing than "Jedi Twilight" and a frustrating series of too-similar depictions of various parts of the Coruscant underworld.
There are some positive things that carry over from the first novel. The characters themselves pop and the relationships are well defined. Also, like the first novel, Reaves weaves together with Jax's investigation, two other plots following periphary characters that the author gets to flesh out into interesting people. This time around its the deceased Queen Amidala's earnest bodyguard, Captain Typhoo, and the mysterious (and borderline cliched) bounty hunter, Aurra Sing. It seems that a throughline for each novel in the series will be Darth Vader's enigmatic pursuit of Jax Pavan, and the events of Typoo's and Sing's lives that bring them into Vader's machinations are by far the most intersting part of the book.
Jax Pavan and his gang are great characters, but their murder investigation is so ho-hum, the entire plot feels like a waste of a perfectly good dramatis personae. To begin with, the murder itself has zero stakes for the overall storyline of Jax. Most of the investigation consists of tracking down and interviewing suspects who have little to do with the mystery's ultimate solution. And the solution itself seems plucked out of thin air, bourn on the shoulders of a deus ex machina just in the nick of time. Oh, and the story ends on the same exact note as the first novel: a rich benefactor agreeing to fund Jax's odd little do-gooder endeavor. Reaves seems like he has a great handle on writing the Star Wars EU. He does not seem to have a handle of writing an engaging murder mystery.
Ultimately, two thirds of "Street of Shadows" is an interesting character driven adventure story, that is interrupted by the other one third which is a banal murder mystery. There are some big picture storylines that are advanced, just not an entire novel's worth. I'm wondering if maybe "Coruscant Nights" might have worked better as a two novel series as opposed to three.
May 10, 2021
Stars: 2
Reread: No, unless the third book in the trilogy improves drastically.
Recommend for die-hard Star Wars fans who want to read every book.
I wasn't a fan of the first book, and this one wasn't good either. I kind of liked the idea of a noir type of Star Wars book, but it felt very ho-hum and underwhelming. All of the bigger picture topics in this trilogy didn't really progress. Like the last book, I like the idea of a non-typical Star Wars book that isn't focused on the Force, Jedi vs Sith, or other common character types. The book still needs to be good though.
For some unknown reason, Reaves decided to bring in .
Pretty much the only thing I liked in the book was the inclusion of
He managed to make one of the somewhat interesting characters, Laranth, much less interesting.
One part of the book was so dumb it was insulting.
I don't think Reaves had a handle on dialogue for Vader, because I could never picture. That'd probably be hard, so I don't hold that against him.
This book tried to do a few different things, and none of them worked for me at all. I'll keep reading mainly because I want to read all of the now Legends Star Wars books.
Random things that annoyed me:
They don't have enough money to buy transport to the outer rim, but they bought an extremely rare sword in an auction from royalty for Jax to use.
Discussing the force: "Most savants dismissed it out of hand, calling it a legend, a myth, a throwback to the sort of primitive religions that thankfully had all but died out in this modern, more enlightened era." What the heck is he talking about? Until very recently, there were thousands of Jedi roaming the galaxy using the force. They did it publicly and were the peacekeepers of the Republic.
"The Cephalon was easily the most alien of alien beings he had ever encountered, and as someone who had spent as much time as he had in a front-line Rimsoo, seeing in a week more xenomorphs, both in side and out, than most people did in a year, that was saying something." Does Reaves not know his own book? Den was at a field hospital for clones. They were literally all not just the same species, but the same person. The only aliens they would've worked on would be enemy soldiers, which would be few. So to describe that experience as being around more alien species than Coruscant is just absurd.
The entire book, they are trying to .
The timeline says this book happens 22-19 years BBY, but Reaves gives dates that are all over the place and make no sense. I didn't keep track of them, but he would say how they are watching a recording from 20 years ago, but we know when that recording was made, and it would put the present for them around the same time as A New Hope. If it was just once, I would say it was a typo, but there were at least 3-4 examples of this that makes me think Reaves didn't bother to do any basic research into the timeline before writing these books.
More rip-offs or unoriginal ideas:
"Most of the rumors of his origin, disparate though they were, agreed on one thing - that Vader was more machine than man." Way to describe him almost word for word like Obi-Wan did.
Species gives off pheromones just like Falleen do. Should've just made her Falleen.
Reread: No, unless the third book in the trilogy improves drastically.
Recommend for die-hard Star Wars fans who want to read every book.
I wasn't a fan of the first book, and this one wasn't good either. I kind of liked the idea of a noir type of Star Wars book, but it felt very ho-hum and underwhelming. All of the bigger picture topics in this trilogy didn't really progress. Like the last book, I like the idea of a non-typical Star Wars book that isn't focused on the Force, Jedi vs Sith, or other common character types. The book still needs to be good though.
For some unknown reason, Reaves decided to bring in .
Pretty much the only thing I liked in the book was the inclusion of
He managed to make one of the somewhat interesting characters, Laranth, much less interesting.
One part of the book was so dumb it was insulting.
I don't think Reaves had a handle on dialogue for Vader, because I could never picture. That'd probably be hard, so I don't hold that against him.
This book tried to do a few different things, and none of them worked for me at all. I'll keep reading mainly because I want to read all of the now Legends Star Wars books.
Random things that annoyed me:
They don't have enough money to buy transport to the outer rim, but they bought an extremely rare sword in an auction from royalty for Jax to use.
Discussing the force: "Most savants dismissed it out of hand, calling it a legend, a myth, a throwback to the sort of primitive religions that thankfully had all but died out in this modern, more enlightened era." What the heck is he talking about? Until very recently, there were thousands of Jedi roaming the galaxy using the force. They did it publicly and were the peacekeepers of the Republic.
"The Cephalon was easily the most alien of alien beings he had ever encountered, and as someone who had spent as much time as he had in a front-line Rimsoo, seeing in a week more xenomorphs, both in side and out, than most people did in a year, that was saying something." Does Reaves not know his own book? Den was at a field hospital for clones. They were literally all not just the same species, but the same person. The only aliens they would've worked on would be enemy soldiers, which would be few. So to describe that experience as being around more alien species than Coruscant is just absurd.
The entire book, they are trying to .
The timeline says this book happens 22-19 years BBY, but Reaves gives dates that are all over the place and make no sense. I didn't keep track of them, but he would say how they are watching a recording from 20 years ago, but we know when that recording was made, and it would put the present for them around the same time as A New Hope. If it was just once, I would say it was a typo, but there were at least 3-4 examples of this that makes me think Reaves didn't bother to do any basic research into the timeline before writing these books.
More rip-offs or unoriginal ideas:
"Most of the rumors of his origin, disparate though they were, agreed on one thing - that Vader was more machine than man." Way to describe him almost word for word like Obi-Wan did.
Species gives off pheromones just like Falleen do. Should've just made her Falleen.
November 12, 2015
Actual rating is 3.5 stars.
This is the second book of a trilogy and the first book should be read to understand this one. This book is a mystery novel set in our favorite galaxy. An artist is murdered and our gang investigates the crime to see who is the culprit.
I believe this novel to be better than the first one. This isn't your typical Star Wars novel with lightsaber duels, laser guns firing, or battleship confrontations. This is your typical murder crime novel albeit with fantastic creatures. The strength of this book is its characters. Even though they are cliches like the out of luck hero who still has a strict moral code or the client who is an irresistible female these characters are filled with personality and are a delight to read. The weakness of this novel was the actual mystery. It never was attention grabbing and the twist was a nice one but didn't provide a bang.
If you are looking for a book in this universe that is outside the box this book is that book. It is a welcome change for this universe and a nice read.
This is the second book of a trilogy and the first book should be read to understand this one. This book is a mystery novel set in our favorite galaxy. An artist is murdered and our gang investigates the crime to see who is the culprit.
I believe this novel to be better than the first one. This isn't your typical Star Wars novel with lightsaber duels, laser guns firing, or battleship confrontations. This is your typical murder crime novel albeit with fantastic creatures. The strength of this book is its characters. Even though they are cliches like the out of luck hero who still has a strict moral code or the client who is an irresistible female these characters are filled with personality and are a delight to read. The weakness of this novel was the actual mystery. It never was attention grabbing and the twist was a nice one but didn't provide a bang.
If you are looking for a book in this universe that is outside the box this book is that book. It is a welcome change for this universe and a nice read.
January 22, 2019
Star Wars Legends Project #193
Background: Street of Shadows was written by Michael Reaves. It was published in August of 2008. Reaves has written or co-written 9 Star Wars novels, including the Coruscant Nights trilogy (of which this is the 2nd novel).
Street of Shadows is set about a year after Order 66 (18 years before the battle of Yavin). The main characters are Jax Pavan, I-5, Den Dhur, and Laranth. Darth Vader, Aurra Sing, and Captain Typho all play significant roles. Almost the entire novel takes place on Coruscant.
Summary: Believed dead by Darth Vader, Jax Pavan and his ragtag team of companions have settled into a comfortable niche as private investigators in the bowels of Imperial City, and as agents of the underground resistance. In the wake of the Caamasi genocide, the high-profile murder of a well-known Caamasi artist falls right in Jax's lap, drawing unwanted attention from law enforcement. Meanwhile, Darth Vader isn't quite as convinced of their demise as they had believed. If Jax can't solve this case soon, he'll need to vacate the planet . . . and if he doesn't solve the case, he may not be able to leave at all!
Review: I can't shake the feeling that I've been overly generous to this novel, so permit me a moment to try and convince myself that this was the right call. Most of Street of Shadows . . . Actually, hang on. I really hate that title. I can't figure out what it has to do with anything, and it's so blandly generic that I've read the whole thing and I still keep glancing up to keep track of whether it's Street of Shadows or Streets of Shadows or Streets of Shadow and it doesn't even matter because the novel isn't about a street or shadows. Anyway, sorry . . . Most of *checks* Street of Shadows is a passable attempt at the noir detective novel that I was hoping the first book would be. There's a slinky femme fatale, a grumpy police detective, and a rogues gallery of shady underworld characters intersecting with a not-as-different-or-distant-as-they'd-like cast of upper-class swells.
It is not remotely a good murder mystery, but it's at least entertaining. And yet, for whatever reason, Reaves either lacked the confidence to let it carry the weight of the whole novel, or he just couldn't figure out how to write a novel-length mystery, and so the story is fatally weighted down by 2 oppressively subpar subplots. In the first, Darth Vader hires bounty hunter Aurra Sing to track down Jax Pavan and bring him in, dead or alive. This is never anything but completely extraneous to the main story, which it perfunctorily intersects with only at the end, but at least Reaves does a solid job of writing Sing as a character. Her point-of-view is reminiscent of his excellent Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, if only this had been more consequential to the story.
But it's the second that really kills it: Captain Typho, Padme's bodyguard throughout the Clone Wars, was (we learn completely out of nowhere) deeply in love with her, and he embarks on a quest to find out who was responsible for her death and avenge her. And, somehow, the execution is even worse than the idea itself, and even less consequential to the Aurra Sing plot. So, overall this reads like 3 novellas, 2 of which are decent and 1 of which is terrible, spliced together at random, and I don't know why the editor was apparently MIA on this one.
And they very much were. This is one of the sloppiest Star Wars novels I've ever read in terms of internal consistency. Like, the official timeline placement of this novel is 18 BBY, a year after the end of the Clone Wars. However, partway through the novel, one of the characters stumbles across an old message Barriss Offee sent to the Jedi Temple during the events of the Medstar Duology (set during the Clone Wars, 21 BBY), and dates it at over 20 years earlier, which would mean this novel is happening 1 BBY. Then, later on, there is a reference to "the Nemoidian trade embargo of the planet Naboo that had occurred twenty-three years previous." That happened 32 BBY, which would date this novel at 9 BBY. But like 2 pages later, there is another reference to "approximately eighteen years ago, from the time of the Naboo trade embargo," which would date this at 14 BBY. Unless Reaves thinks the Naboo blockade from Episode I lasted 5 years (but even then, the dating is all wrong)?
The novel is also very squirrely about general knowledge of the Sith. In particular, Typho's quest to track down what happened to Padme, if he doesn't already know (and he, of all people, should have been privy to the truth from when her body arrived on Naboo), ought to hit a complete dead end. There are maybe 5 people alive in the galaxy who know what happened on Mustafar, and they aren't talking. But because Reaves wants Typho to figure it out, he does. He knows that Padme died there, and he knows that Anakin Skywalker was there. He also knows that Anakin would have died protecting Padme, so he deduces that a Sith must have killed both Anakin and Padme because only a Sith could have posed a threat to Anakin.
So far, fine, I guess. But then he goes to an information broker to find out if any Sith traveled to Mustafar at the time of Padme's death, and he learns that someone named Darth Sidious was there. Who could possibly have known about that who would have spread it around the Coruscant underworld? Someone might know that the Emperor traveled to Mustafar and that the Emperor is a Sith Lord . . . surely that would make far more sense. But then, Typho's response is basically, "Darth Sidious, eh? Well, that settles it: Darth Vader murdered Padme!" That is literally the logical leap that happens, with no reasoning or explanation to connect it. The thing is, it is widely known across pretty much the whole galaxy by this point that Darth Vader is a Dark Lord of the Sith, and Typho even knows that there are supposed to be only 2 Sith at any one time . . . but he dismisses this, and with it any chance that there would be a sensible explanation for him figuring out what he does.
But then, bizarrely, in like the next chapter, Jax finally learns for the first time the true story of what happened to his father: That he was murdered by a Sith (Darth Maul). And this is his response: "If there was the faintest possibility that a Sith did still exist, it was his duty as a Jedi to hunt him down." But Jax already knows about Darth Vader. Just . . . what is even happening with this novel? It feels like everyone responsible for putting it together is asleep at the wheel. I more than half-suspect that this is all down to it being rushed. It was published a mere 2 months after the first novel in the series, and it feels exactly like a hurried first draft, unpolished and uncorrected. Very disappointing.
I still love these characters, and there are some good ideas and some even better writing buried here and there if you're willing to excavate for them . . . But as I say, I can't shake the feeling that I've rated it too generously.
C
Background: Street of Shadows was written by Michael Reaves. It was published in August of 2008. Reaves has written or co-written 9 Star Wars novels, including the Coruscant Nights trilogy (of which this is the 2nd novel).
Street of Shadows is set about a year after Order 66 (18 years before the battle of Yavin). The main characters are Jax Pavan, I-5, Den Dhur, and Laranth. Darth Vader, Aurra Sing, and Captain Typho all play significant roles. Almost the entire novel takes place on Coruscant.
Summary: Believed dead by Darth Vader, Jax Pavan and his ragtag team of companions have settled into a comfortable niche as private investigators in the bowels of Imperial City, and as agents of the underground resistance. In the wake of the Caamasi genocide, the high-profile murder of a well-known Caamasi artist falls right in Jax's lap, drawing unwanted attention from law enforcement. Meanwhile, Darth Vader isn't quite as convinced of their demise as they had believed. If Jax can't solve this case soon, he'll need to vacate the planet . . . and if he doesn't solve the case, he may not be able to leave at all!
Review: I can't shake the feeling that I've been overly generous to this novel, so permit me a moment to try and convince myself that this was the right call. Most of Street of Shadows . . . Actually, hang on. I really hate that title. I can't figure out what it has to do with anything, and it's so blandly generic that I've read the whole thing and I still keep glancing up to keep track of whether it's Street of Shadows or Streets of Shadows or Streets of Shadow and it doesn't even matter because the novel isn't about a street or shadows. Anyway, sorry . . . Most of *checks* Street of Shadows is a passable attempt at the noir detective novel that I was hoping the first book would be. There's a slinky femme fatale, a grumpy police detective, and a rogues gallery of shady underworld characters intersecting with a not-as-different-or-distant-as-they'd-like cast of upper-class swells.
It is not remotely a good murder mystery, but it's at least entertaining. And yet, for whatever reason, Reaves either lacked the confidence to let it carry the weight of the whole novel, or he just couldn't figure out how to write a novel-length mystery, and so the story is fatally weighted down by 2 oppressively subpar subplots. In the first, Darth Vader hires bounty hunter Aurra Sing to track down Jax Pavan and bring him in, dead or alive. This is never anything but completely extraneous to the main story, which it perfunctorily intersects with only at the end, but at least Reaves does a solid job of writing Sing as a character. Her point-of-view is reminiscent of his excellent Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, if only this had been more consequential to the story.
But it's the second that really kills it: Captain Typho, Padme's bodyguard throughout the Clone Wars, was (we learn completely out of nowhere) deeply in love with her, and he embarks on a quest to find out who was responsible for her death and avenge her. And, somehow, the execution is even worse than the idea itself, and even less consequential to the Aurra Sing plot. So, overall this reads like 3 novellas, 2 of which are decent and 1 of which is terrible, spliced together at random, and I don't know why the editor was apparently MIA on this one.
And they very much were. This is one of the sloppiest Star Wars novels I've ever read in terms of internal consistency. Like, the official timeline placement of this novel is 18 BBY, a year after the end of the Clone Wars. However, partway through the novel, one of the characters stumbles across an old message Barriss Offee sent to the Jedi Temple during the events of the Medstar Duology (set during the Clone Wars, 21 BBY), and dates it at over 20 years earlier, which would mean this novel is happening 1 BBY. Then, later on, there is a reference to "the Nemoidian trade embargo of the planet Naboo that had occurred twenty-three years previous." That happened 32 BBY, which would date this novel at 9 BBY. But like 2 pages later, there is another reference to "approximately eighteen years ago, from the time of the Naboo trade embargo," which would date this at 14 BBY. Unless Reaves thinks the Naboo blockade from Episode I lasted 5 years (but even then, the dating is all wrong)?
The novel is also very squirrely about general knowledge of the Sith. In particular, Typho's quest to track down what happened to Padme, if he doesn't already know (and he, of all people, should have been privy to the truth from when her body arrived on Naboo), ought to hit a complete dead end. There are maybe 5 people alive in the galaxy who know what happened on Mustafar, and they aren't talking. But because Reaves wants Typho to figure it out, he does. He knows that Padme died there, and he knows that Anakin Skywalker was there. He also knows that Anakin would have died protecting Padme, so he deduces that a Sith must have killed both Anakin and Padme because only a Sith could have posed a threat to Anakin.
So far, fine, I guess. But then he goes to an information broker to find out if any Sith traveled to Mustafar at the time of Padme's death, and he learns that someone named Darth Sidious was there. Who could possibly have known about that who would have spread it around the Coruscant underworld? Someone might know that the Emperor traveled to Mustafar and that the Emperor is a Sith Lord . . . surely that would make far more sense. But then, Typho's response is basically, "Darth Sidious, eh? Well, that settles it: Darth Vader murdered Padme!" That is literally the logical leap that happens, with no reasoning or explanation to connect it. The thing is, it is widely known across pretty much the whole galaxy by this point that Darth Vader is a Dark Lord of the Sith, and Typho even knows that there are supposed to be only 2 Sith at any one time . . . but he dismisses this, and with it any chance that there would be a sensible explanation for him figuring out what he does.
But then, bizarrely, in like the next chapter, Jax finally learns for the first time the true story of what happened to his father: That he was murdered by a Sith (Darth Maul). And this is his response: "If there was the faintest possibility that a Sith did still exist, it was his duty as a Jedi to hunt him down." But Jax already knows about Darth Vader. Just . . . what is even happening with this novel? It feels like everyone responsible for putting it together is asleep at the wheel. I more than half-suspect that this is all down to it being rushed. It was published a mere 2 months after the first novel in the series, and it feels exactly like a hurried first draft, unpolished and uncorrected. Very disappointing.
I still love these characters, and there are some good ideas and some even better writing buried here and there if you're willing to excavate for them . . . But as I say, I can't shake the feeling that I've rated it too generously.
C
January 18, 2009
I liked this book better than the first Coruscant Nights book, but it was still nothing to write home about. I started liking the secondary characters better, but still couldn't care less about Jax Pavan. And that side story with Typho? Lame. AND the one character I actually did like - Laranth - seems to have been effectively removed from the next book's events. Dejah's OK, I guess. Maybe she'll be more than two dimensional in the next book, but my hopes are not high, to be frank. Let us hope the next book will be the last in this series.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 3, 2014
Too many story lines. The whole side story about Captain Typho is not needed, and serves very little purpose but to help the hero, Jax, obtain one minor goal. Ends up all getting resolved too quickly. Overall weekest book. in the series.
The author's continual use of "big" words often distract from flow of story throughout the series. Feel that his large vocabulary does not serve the story. I don't feel they add or enhance the narrative at all.
The author's continual use of "big" words often distract from flow of story throughout the series. Feel that his large vocabulary does not serve the story. I don't feel they add or enhance the narrative at all.
October 24, 2021
In his follow-up to Jedi Twilight, Reaves attempts to give Star Wars fans a noir-infused detective story. Unfortunately, neither his plotting nor his prose styling live up to that hard-boiled aspiration. Dashiell Hammett he's not.
Jedi Knight-in-hiding Jax Pavan and his crew remain hidden in the lower levels of Coruscant. A mysterious Zeltron named Dejah Duare seeks their assistance in investigating the death of her lover, a famous light sculptor named Ves Volette. Because Volette was quite successful with his artwork, Duare has significant financial means at her disposal and puts the team on a nice retainer. Jax and his colleagues - Laranth Tarak, Den Dhur, I5-YQ, and Haninum Tyk Rhinann - take the case and work it, much like an episode of Magnum, PI or Veronica Mars.
Meanwhile, Darth Vader retrieves Force-using bounty hunter Aurra Sing from a penal colony and hires her to track down Pavan. And in yet another subplot, Gregar Typho, formerly a security force Captain on Naboo, goes on a quest to find out who murdered Padme Amidala. These two threads take up a lot of space in the book, which is probably for the best as the main mystery feels fairly slight. The clues, suspects, and leads are all rather pedestrian, and our "detective" heroes are not interesting enough in their own right to hold our attention.
As he did in the previous book, Reaves seems to have overplotted this installment; there's a lot going on for such a relatively short novel, and most of it seems like a side quest. The question of how Pavan and Tarak will remain alive as fugitive Jedi seems a far more critical one, but it barely gets touched in this volume. With the exception of the Aurra Sing story, nothing here seems to point toward an arc, connecting the three volumes of the Coruscant Nights trilogy together. The solution of the mystery does suggest that it might have bearing on the unusual nature of the droid I5-YQ, but its a light connection at best.
I also found Reaves attempts to be clever a bit annoying. A case in point is Duare. Giving her the name Dejah and making her a red-skinned alien seems an obvious allusion to Dejah Thoris, but it's just a little too cute for my tastes.
I like the idea of telling a detective story (or stories) set in the lower levels of Coruscant. Such a book could easily have a Blade Runner sort of feel to it, if done well. Unfortunately, this is not that novel.
Jedi Knight-in-hiding Jax Pavan and his crew remain hidden in the lower levels of Coruscant. A mysterious Zeltron named Dejah Duare seeks their assistance in investigating the death of her lover, a famous light sculptor named Ves Volette. Because Volette was quite successful with his artwork, Duare has significant financial means at her disposal and puts the team on a nice retainer. Jax and his colleagues - Laranth Tarak, Den Dhur, I5-YQ, and Haninum Tyk Rhinann - take the case and work it, much like an episode of Magnum, PI or Veronica Mars.
Meanwhile, Darth Vader retrieves Force-using bounty hunter Aurra Sing from a penal colony and hires her to track down Pavan. And in yet another subplot, Gregar Typho, formerly a security force Captain on Naboo, goes on a quest to find out who murdered Padme Amidala. These two threads take up a lot of space in the book, which is probably for the best as the main mystery feels fairly slight. The clues, suspects, and leads are all rather pedestrian, and our "detective" heroes are not interesting enough in their own right to hold our attention.
As he did in the previous book, Reaves seems to have overplotted this installment; there's a lot going on for such a relatively short novel, and most of it seems like a side quest. The question of how Pavan and Tarak will remain alive as fugitive Jedi seems a far more critical one, but it barely gets touched in this volume. With the exception of the Aurra Sing story, nothing here seems to point toward an arc, connecting the three volumes of the Coruscant Nights trilogy together. The solution of the mystery does suggest that it might have bearing on the unusual nature of the droid I5-YQ, but its a light connection at best.
I also found Reaves attempts to be clever a bit annoying. A case in point is Duare. Giving her the name Dejah and making her a red-skinned alien seems an obvious allusion to Dejah Thoris, but it's just a little too cute for my tastes.
I like the idea of telling a detective story (or stories) set in the lower levels of Coruscant. Such a book could easily have a Blade Runner sort of feel to it, if done well. Unfortunately, this is not that novel.
June 19, 2022
Streets of shadows is the definition of a mixed bag. The characterizations have improved from the first one greatly, Jax now has a personality. The idea of a mystery noir on Courscant is great and for the most part it pays off with a fun big reveal for an audience at the end, like any good classic mystery.
The only issue is that it's too long. For every paragraph of story there's three of needlessly long world building or exposition that's so superfluous it's irritating by the third chapter, in a book of 30. Not to mention complete plots that go nowhere and an annoyingly contrived love triangle.
The idea that Typho, the background bodyguard to Padme was in love with her is ironically hilarious. His entire plot on discovering who killed Padme and avenging her is such an incredible waste of time and way too many pages. His story goes exactly how you'd think and only intersects with the main plot in one example that solved a problem that could've had a hundred better solutions.
Aurra Sing is a POV character, being a bounty hunter sent after Jax and she too is an incredible waste of time. Not sure what the point is to have a character constantly described as tough and edgy, to only be beaten by someone who can't even use the force five chapters in, undermining any of her reputation the book still desperately tries to cram down your throat.
In the end it's hard even recommending this book for fans of the first, but it's really not worth it's time. It's not insultingly bad, but it's not anything special. A plot synopsis on wikipedia is a better solution then reading Streets of Shadows.
Also Den describes them as a found family trope, and that's the most unbelievable thing in a book with space magic. Absolutely unearned and really just shows how amateur Reaves writing can be, sorry to say.
The only issue is that it's too long. For every paragraph of story there's three of needlessly long world building or exposition that's so superfluous it's irritating by the third chapter, in a book of 30. Not to mention complete plots that go nowhere and an annoyingly contrived love triangle.
The idea that Typho, the background bodyguard to Padme was in love with her is ironically hilarious. His entire plot on discovering who killed Padme and avenging her is such an incredible waste of time and way too many pages. His story goes exactly how you'd think and only intersects with the main plot in one example that solved a problem that could've had a hundred better solutions.
Aurra Sing is a POV character, being a bounty hunter sent after Jax and she too is an incredible waste of time. Not sure what the point is to have a character constantly described as tough and edgy, to only be beaten by someone who can't even use the force five chapters in, undermining any of her reputation the book still desperately tries to cram down your throat.
In the end it's hard even recommending this book for fans of the first, but it's really not worth it's time. It's not insultingly bad, but it's not anything special. A plot synopsis on wikipedia is a better solution then reading Streets of Shadows.
Also Den describes them as a found family trope, and that's the most unbelievable thing in a book with space magic. Absolutely unearned and really just shows how amateur Reaves writing can be, sorry to say.
February 28, 2025
2.5 stars
Reaves managed to instill a sense of low-brow fun into this one. Murder mystery connected to the Caamasi genocide? Captain Typho on a crusade against Vader? Aurra Sing being Aurra Sing? All fun concepts. Plus, the cast has more chemistry together than before, to where I would say the book is more enjoyable in the moment than its predecessor. Michael Reaves is simply among the most fun EU authors to read: No matter whether a book is a success or not, you can tell he's having fun with all these off the wall scifi ideas (a living brain thingie that exists four-dimensionally?).
Where it falters is the execution. The murder mystery is barely given any attention. Typho's motivation being love for Padmé feels... off, and barely figures into the main plot. Said main plot consists largely of the characters meandering around (again, with the admitted positive of character interactions, etc). Aurra Sing is just kind of generic, and this is the second post-2005 EU novel in which she kind of just randomly appears (hello, Tempest). There are the seeds of an interesting story about sentience and how it relates to droids, but it's so few and far between. Street of Shadows is like a Bantam middle-book: Highly imaginative and quite fun, but so very clearly a story being stretched out to its own detriment. I stand by the rating - it's a lot more fun than, say, Death Star. But it's still another EU book that simply doesn't come together particularly well.
I'm also not sure about the marketing re: this being a noir trilogy? Jedi Twilight at least had all the dark underworld vibes and atmosphere, but this one lacks that and continues to miss the mark as a genre piece. It feels more like a novelized RPG campaign of Reaves'. A missed opportunity, given how well Shadow Hunter and Medstar worked in their niche.
Reaves managed to instill a sense of low-brow fun into this one. Murder mystery connected to the Caamasi genocide? Captain Typho on a crusade against Vader? Aurra Sing being Aurra Sing? All fun concepts. Plus, the cast has more chemistry together than before, to where I would say the book is more enjoyable in the moment than its predecessor. Michael Reaves is simply among the most fun EU authors to read: No matter whether a book is a success or not, you can tell he's having fun with all these off the wall scifi ideas (a living brain thingie that exists four-dimensionally?).
Where it falters is the execution. The murder mystery is barely given any attention. Typho's motivation being love for Padmé feels... off, and barely figures into the main plot. Said main plot consists largely of the characters meandering around (again, with the admitted positive of character interactions, etc). Aurra Sing is just kind of generic, and this is the second post-2005 EU novel in which she kind of just randomly appears (hello, Tempest). There are the seeds of an interesting story about sentience and how it relates to droids, but it's so few and far between. Street of Shadows is like a Bantam middle-book: Highly imaginative and quite fun, but so very clearly a story being stretched out to its own detriment. I stand by the rating - it's a lot more fun than, say, Death Star. But it's still another EU book that simply doesn't come together particularly well.
I'm also not sure about the marketing re: this being a noir trilogy? Jedi Twilight at least had all the dark underworld vibes and atmosphere, but this one lacks that and continues to miss the mark as a genre piece. It feels more like a novelized RPG campaign of Reaves'. A missed opportunity, given how well Shadow Hunter and Medstar worked in their niche.
November 3, 2023
When a femme fatale comes to former Jedi Jax Pavan for help in getting her boss off Coruscant, he agrees - and then said boss ends up dead. The police would rather Jax stay out of it, but he's a got a job to do (and his time he's getting paid!). Now he has to figure out who would want to kill a beloved artist - and somehow do this while avoiding the assassin Darth Vader has sent after him.
The series has now flicked the noir switch - a whole book late. The first instalment delivered none of those promised vibes and that felt like false advertising to me (especially given how crappy it was). But now, finally, Jax gets to be a PI. And Reaves finally gives us a proper plot! I'm not impressed, just surprised. This was a successful attempt at replicating a pretty standard noir storyline. Another pleasant surprise? The usual references to other sci-fi franchises were more subtle this time, which made me appreciate them instead of being jerked out of the story (Doctor Who and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - such references have also been seen in previous Star Wars novels written/co-written by Reaves).
So that's the good. There's... still a lot of the bad. I'm not really sure if this story needed to be told - or frankly, if Jax Pavan needed to have any books about him at all. Aurra Sing was underutilised. Typho felt superfluous. Darth Vader was annoyingly OOC (except for his reactions when he met Typho, so there's that at least). Female characters were so poorly written. I honestly wanted to scream.
Street of Shadows in a nutshell: a blatant self-insertion fantasy that features an average noir storyline.
The series has now flicked the noir switch - a whole book late. The first instalment delivered none of those promised vibes and that felt like false advertising to me (especially given how crappy it was). But now, finally, Jax gets to be a PI. And Reaves finally gives us a proper plot! I'm not impressed, just surprised. This was a successful attempt at replicating a pretty standard noir storyline. Another pleasant surprise? The usual references to other sci-fi franchises were more subtle this time, which made me appreciate them instead of being jerked out of the story (Doctor Who and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - such references have also been seen in previous Star Wars novels written/co-written by Reaves).
So that's the good. There's... still a lot of the bad. I'm not really sure if this story needed to be told - or frankly, if Jax Pavan needed to have any books about him at all. Aurra Sing was underutilised. Typho felt superfluous. Darth Vader was annoyingly OOC (except for his reactions when he met Typho, so there's that at least). Female characters were so poorly written. I honestly wanted to scream.
Street of Shadows in a nutshell: a blatant self-insertion fantasy that features an average noir storyline.
June 13, 2017
3.4 stars
I am beginning to delve into what is now considered the Legends series of Star Wars. I ran across this book in a used book store and figured it would be worth the dollar I spent on it.
This is what is supposed to be a noir trilogy, so to speak, and deals with a Jedi named Jax that survived Order 66 (albeit just becoming a Jedi when the order was sent out) and his comrades that help him solve mysteries in the lower levels of Coruscant. I was intrigued by the story and it reads just fine and has a couple of characters (other than Jax himself) that are to my liking. I-5, the illegally upgraded droid and Laranth, a Twi'lek trained in the art of the Grey Jedi to be lethal with any weapon, not just a light saber. It has a few more in the way of Den, a little annoying, as an ex-reporter and a Zeltron named Deejah who is described pretty much as a perfect 10 with powerful pheromones, who is possibly the lover of the murder victim. She has hired Jax and his team to investigate, getting them tied up as possible suspects in the process. And to spice things up a bit more, Vader has become aware of Jax's existence and has sent the notorious bounty hunter Aurra Sing in after him.
It was a good book, but not a great book. The big reveal of the true murderer was a bit out there for me and fell flat in my opinion. I'll eventually read the third book in the series if I run across it, but I'm not going out of my way to do so...
I am beginning to delve into what is now considered the Legends series of Star Wars. I ran across this book in a used book store and figured it would be worth the dollar I spent on it.
This is what is supposed to be a noir trilogy, so to speak, and deals with a Jedi named Jax that survived Order 66 (albeit just becoming a Jedi when the order was sent out) and his comrades that help him solve mysteries in the lower levels of Coruscant. I was intrigued by the story and it reads just fine and has a couple of characters (other than Jax himself) that are to my liking. I-5, the illegally upgraded droid and Laranth, a Twi'lek trained in the art of the Grey Jedi to be lethal with any weapon, not just a light saber. It has a few more in the way of Den, a little annoying, as an ex-reporter and a Zeltron named Deejah who is described pretty much as a perfect 10 with powerful pheromones, who is possibly the lover of the murder victim. She has hired Jax and his team to investigate, getting them tied up as possible suspects in the process. And to spice things up a bit more, Vader has become aware of Jax's existence and has sent the notorious bounty hunter Aurra Sing in after him.
It was a good book, but not a great book. The big reveal of the true murderer was a bit out there for me and fell flat in my opinion. I'll eventually read the third book in the series if I run across it, but I'm not going out of my way to do so...
May 2, 2024
Coruscant Nights II: Street of Shadows by Micheal Reeves
This book was decent to good but not as good as the first one. These books aren’t necessarily the best Star Wars books but they feel like the Ant-Man movies for me. Decent and for some reason I really like the characters and it’s still enjoyable. This book was shorter than the first one and the mystery didn’t grip me as much as the first one but it was ok. Typho’s story I was more interested in because of the Padme angle and I was very much looking forward to him meeting Darth Vader.
I also wish he figured out he was Anakin Skywalker which would have been really interesting to see unfold. Anyway, the character of Laranth didn’t add anything to the story and the reveal in the end that she was in love with Jax didn’t really do it for me. I question why she’s even in these books to be honest.
The gang trying to gather clues to solve the murder mystery was decent and the whole world in they live in, under Coruscant is such a rich world, you could have easily written multiple volumes of this. I sincerely wish there was more, as it’s not the best but it’s still enjoyable and an interesting world.
Anyway I rate this 7/10
This book was decent to good but not as good as the first one. These books aren’t necessarily the best Star Wars books but they feel like the Ant-Man movies for me. Decent and for some reason I really like the characters and it’s still enjoyable. This book was shorter than the first one and the mystery didn’t grip me as much as the first one but it was ok. Typho’s story I was more interested in because of the Padme angle and I was very much looking forward to him meeting Darth Vader.
I also wish he figured out he was Anakin Skywalker which would have been really interesting to see unfold. Anyway, the character of Laranth didn’t add anything to the story and the reveal in the end that she was in love with Jax didn’t really do it for me. I question why she’s even in these books to be honest.
The gang trying to gather clues to solve the murder mystery was decent and the whole world in they live in, under Coruscant is such a rich world, you could have easily written multiple volumes of this. I sincerely wish there was more, as it’s not the best but it’s still enjoyable and an interesting world.
Anyway I rate this 7/10
September 23, 2021
Ah, the ever problematic second book in a Star Wars Expanded Universe novel trilogy. While Zahn's middle book in his Heir to the Empire trilogy was arguably the best book in the series, in following efforts by other authors, the middle book of a 3 parter is usually a slog. While the first two books in this Reaves' Coruscant novels, "Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter" and "Coruscant Nights: Jedi Twilight" were both great reads, this one left alot to be desired. The first two books really felt like Star Wars, they were action packed and fun, this one was very slow and hard to get through in parts. It tries to be a murder mystery, and it loses the momentum of the first two books. The story of Captain Typho trying to avenge Padme's death was fascinating and I wish more time was spent on that, instead it felt kind of underdeveloped. Vader's presence also felt underused. The murder mystery at the core of it wasn't very suspenseful or interesting, and it took away from the "Star Warsness" of the book. I hope the 3rd book in the trilogy is more like the first one.
August 12, 2022
Very similar to reading a noir pulp novel, Street of Shadow has everything it needs to just entertain for the sake of entertainment. Some Star Wars novels have a “what does it matter” feeling to them, and that’s not the case here. While it has no real bearing on the greater SW universe (especially now that Disney has turned it into a Legend), it never feels like none of it matters, because it’s just simple fun.
I could not help imagining Jax as a Humphrey Bogart from The Maltese Falcon. I know that’s not correct, but I love that book and film. It’s only during the action scenes that the image of that casting breaks down.
Michael Reaves is incredibly competent when it comes to writing Star Wars. I always enjoy it. I don’t think I’ve ever read one of his other books, but that’s fine. I wish he were still writing for Star Wars, as it would provide plenty of fun side-adventures like these.
I could not help imagining Jax as a Humphrey Bogart from The Maltese Falcon. I know that’s not correct, but I love that book and film. It’s only during the action scenes that the image of that casting breaks down.
Michael Reaves is incredibly competent when it comes to writing Star Wars. I always enjoy it. I don’t think I’ve ever read one of his other books, but that’s fine. I wish he were still writing for Star Wars, as it would provide plenty of fun side-adventures like these.
August 17, 2019
It's certainly not unheard of for the second installment to be a trilogys week point, but even so, there was a lot lacking here. Towards its end, I was expecting this series to continue following the patterns of an RPG campaign, complete with a diverse mix of characters and classes (and truthfully, not a bad formula for a Star Wars novel). Unfortunately, most of that is jettisoned in favour of an awkward romp into the mystery genre, whose clumsy development is only surpassed by its flimsy wrap up.
I don't want to go into further detail, except to say, it is bad writing to invest so much plot on name dropping. Why is everybody constantly introducing themselves (as well as their absent friends and employers) to every stranger they come across? It's one thing if your character is into small talk, but when your stone cold assassin starts gabbing to a random stranger... You done messed up.
I don't want to go into further detail, except to say, it is bad writing to invest so much plot on name dropping. Why is everybody constantly introducing themselves (as well as their absent friends and employers) to every stranger they come across? It's one thing if your character is into small talk, but when your stone cold assassin starts gabbing to a random stranger... You done messed up.
November 1, 2008
When we last left our hero he was battling for his life, on the run from several plot lines veering wildly in his direction with not a hope in the world of actually fulfilling the jacket's promise of being a Jedi P.I.--Street of Shadows proves to be no different. Although sticking to their story, the folks at LucasBooks have rehashed the P.I. bit for the new jacket copy in the hopes a reappearance will dazzle fans into believing something that just isn't there. But when we first see Jax, he's actually a body smuggler, ferrying important Imperial law-breaking renegade diplomats and other sundry folk through the relative safety of the Underground Mag-Lev courtesy of Whiplash, your friendly neighborhood resistance movement. Having lost his lightsaber in an epic battle of angry assistants, criminal over lords and fallen Jedi, Jax is left with a really weird metal vibrating stick Reaves invented (I think) called a Velmorian energy sword. But, this rag tag team of droid, depressed Elomin, Jedi, and a Sullustan with a fear of all things dirty are going to need some heavy duty backup and, without the convenience and conspicuousness of a lightsaber, the energy sword will have to do.
Back track a couple of chapters to the prologue: Captain Typho (Amidala's latest--and last--body guard) attends the late Senator's funeral, gets really mad and decides it's up to him to find and kill Anakin Skywalker. I'm not one to judge, but I'm betting Typho loses.
Fast forward to the introduction of what will no doubt be the new trouble-causing characters: Dejah (the jacket says Deejah.. seriously, do they even read the books they write this stuff for?) and Ves Volette. On the eve of displaying his new art exhibit, Ves discovers rumors abound about the destruction of his homeworld, Caamas. Oh, you remember them. They're the peaceful folk Zahn mentioned in Specter of the Past and Vision of the Future. They've since sprinkled themselves generously across prequel-era literature and insured their survival by not falling into complete obscurity. Jax, being a Jedi and everything, is driven to epiphany the moment millions of lives suddenly cry out and vanish: Anakin Skywalker is still alive.
Of course, we already know this, but cut to the next scene in which we find Aurra Sing slaving away in the prison mines of Oovo-4 collecting Zenium until her lungs explode only to become the victim of attempted murder. Oddly enough, because we know at this point you can't mention Anakin being alive without a foreboding and menacing revelatory guest appearance, Vader shows up via holo and unleashes his latest dastardly plan: the murder plot was only a test to measure Aurra's ass-kicking abilities. That she hasn't gone soft and thus remains pure baddie evil, gives Vader all the info he needs and hires her on the spot. But who could Vader be sending a bounty hunter after? We know all too well from book one, everyone always seems to be chasing Jax Pavan so I'll let you decide.
Meanwhile, Deejah, an odd alien species that can, like the Falleen, mesmer the pants off any humanoid, comes to Jax with a plea: haul her and her man toy, Ves, off Coruscant and onto somewheres safe. With the destruction of Caamas, it's ill advised to advertise the ethnicity and like the Jedi, Ves has become a hunted man. At this point, Captain Typho has landed on planet in search of Anakin or anyone (hint hint) that can lead him to the Jedi. With Jax at a loss what to do with the Force-given information of Anakin's miraculous survival, I'm sure he and Typho will come to a mutually-driven partnership very soon.
But it's not Typho Jax and the gang happen to meet on the way to collect Ves and head for higher ground--it's Ves, stabbed to death. And here, finally is where the Jedi P.I. thing comes into the storyline. Ready folks? It's all a front for Jax's real involvement in Whiplash and one he uses to fool the first officer on scene. I kind of wished Reaves had mentioned this a lot sooner (like in the first book), but I wish more that this series really was about a Jedi P.I.. Anyway. Now that Jax and Deejah are as good as suspects, it's up to him to find the real murderer and end the case before the "cools" (that's the local law enforcement) get too involved and discover Jax's many secrets, putting him and Whiplash in a lot of danger.
Unfortunately, they're the only ones that know about it. Split up for efficiency's sake, Den, I-Five, and Laranth begin looking for a Whiplash contact to take Dejah and Ves off planet and Rhinann is, unfortunately, stuck on the continued hunt for a lightsaber to put in Jax's arsenal of comfort. But this Force-obsessed Elomin finds more than he bargained for: the possibility to give a non-Force user an ample boost of midi-chlorian mojo and enhance one's Force abilities temporarily. Ever the determined fan, the opportunity proves too enticing for Rhinann not to pass up and promises swift revenge on his more recent enemies.
While Street of Shadows and its two counterparts in the Coruscant Nights trilogy may not add to the overall drama and consequence of the prequel era, the books do manage to retain the essence of what I ultimately remember Star Wars books in the Bantam era had: a good guys vs. bad guys adventure story with impossible but entertaining blaster and lightsaber battles and bad characterization. The plot culminates in a series of lightsaber battles that leave two dead, one wounded, and a haphazard love triangle that really could have been handled with a lot less wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am and a little more sentiment. But overall, these books are fun, easy, quick reads.
Back track a couple of chapters to the prologue: Captain Typho (Amidala's latest--and last--body guard) attends the late Senator's funeral, gets really mad and decides it's up to him to find and kill Anakin Skywalker. I'm not one to judge, but I'm betting Typho loses.
Fast forward to the introduction of what will no doubt be the new trouble-causing characters: Dejah (the jacket says Deejah.. seriously, do they even read the books they write this stuff for?) and Ves Volette. On the eve of displaying his new art exhibit, Ves discovers rumors abound about the destruction of his homeworld, Caamas. Oh, you remember them. They're the peaceful folk Zahn mentioned in Specter of the Past and Vision of the Future. They've since sprinkled themselves generously across prequel-era literature and insured their survival by not falling into complete obscurity. Jax, being a Jedi and everything, is driven to epiphany the moment millions of lives suddenly cry out and vanish: Anakin Skywalker is still alive.
Of course, we already know this, but cut to the next scene in which we find Aurra Sing slaving away in the prison mines of Oovo-4 collecting Zenium until her lungs explode only to become the victim of attempted murder. Oddly enough, because we know at this point you can't mention Anakin being alive without a foreboding and menacing revelatory guest appearance, Vader shows up via holo and unleashes his latest dastardly plan: the murder plot was only a test to measure Aurra's ass-kicking abilities. That she hasn't gone soft and thus remains pure baddie evil, gives Vader all the info he needs and hires her on the spot. But who could Vader be sending a bounty hunter after? We know all too well from book one, everyone always seems to be chasing Jax Pavan so I'll let you decide.
Meanwhile, Deejah, an odd alien species that can, like the Falleen, mesmer the pants off any humanoid, comes to Jax with a plea: haul her and her man toy, Ves, off Coruscant and onto somewheres safe. With the destruction of Caamas, it's ill advised to advertise the ethnicity and like the Jedi, Ves has become a hunted man. At this point, Captain Typho has landed on planet in search of Anakin or anyone (hint hint) that can lead him to the Jedi. With Jax at a loss what to do with the Force-given information of Anakin's miraculous survival, I'm sure he and Typho will come to a mutually-driven partnership very soon.
But it's not Typho Jax and the gang happen to meet on the way to collect Ves and head for higher ground--it's Ves, stabbed to death. And here, finally is where the Jedi P.I. thing comes into the storyline. Ready folks? It's all a front for Jax's real involvement in Whiplash and one he uses to fool the first officer on scene. I kind of wished Reaves had mentioned this a lot sooner (like in the first book), but I wish more that this series really was about a Jedi P.I.. Anyway. Now that Jax and Deejah are as good as suspects, it's up to him to find the real murderer and end the case before the "cools" (that's the local law enforcement) get too involved and discover Jax's many secrets, putting him and Whiplash in a lot of danger.
Unfortunately, they're the only ones that know about it. Split up for efficiency's sake, Den, I-Five, and Laranth begin looking for a Whiplash contact to take Dejah and Ves off planet and Rhinann is, unfortunately, stuck on the continued hunt for a lightsaber to put in Jax's arsenal of comfort. But this Force-obsessed Elomin finds more than he bargained for: the possibility to give a non-Force user an ample boost of midi-chlorian mojo and enhance one's Force abilities temporarily. Ever the determined fan, the opportunity proves too enticing for Rhinann not to pass up and promises swift revenge on his more recent enemies.
While Street of Shadows and its two counterparts in the Coruscant Nights trilogy may not add to the overall drama and consequence of the prequel era, the books do manage to retain the essence of what I ultimately remember Star Wars books in the Bantam era had: a good guys vs. bad guys adventure story with impossible but entertaining blaster and lightsaber battles and bad characterization. The plot culminates in a series of lightsaber battles that leave two dead, one wounded, and a haphazard love triangle that really could have been handled with a lot less wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am and a little more sentiment. But overall, these books are fun, easy, quick reads.
June 27, 2022
I definitely enjoyed this more than Book 1. I think since the characters had already been established, it was much easier to jump right into the story.
However, my qualms with this is that it seemed like it was trying to do too many things at once. The Captain Typho revenge plot may have been interesting, but it almost had nothing to do with the whole Caamasi murder case. Also, I don’t understand how the Sector Police having Jax Pavan on file could have been overlooked by higher levels of the Empire connected to Vader. Also Vader was written weirdly like him laughing a lot.
I do love this book for the vibe though. I think it nailed the neo-noir cyberpunk vibe a lot better than the first book, that I could hear Vangelis’ Blade Runner soundtrack playing in my head as I read it.
However, my qualms with this is that it seemed like it was trying to do too many things at once. The Captain Typho revenge plot may have been interesting, but it almost had nothing to do with the whole Caamasi murder case. Also, I don’t understand how the Sector Police having Jax Pavan on file could have been overlooked by higher levels of the Empire connected to Vader. Also Vader was written weirdly like him laughing a lot.
I do love this book for the vibe though. I think it nailed the neo-noir cyberpunk vibe a lot better than the first book, that I could hear Vangelis’ Blade Runner soundtrack playing in my head as I read it.
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