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Star Wars Legends: Novels
Star Wars: Darth Maul - Shadow Hunter
For the infamous, power-hungry Sith,
beholden to the dark side,
the time has come to rise again . . .
After years of waiting in the shadows, Darth Sidious is taking the first step in his master plan to bring the Republic to its knees. Key to his scheme are the Neimoidians of the Trade Federation. Then one of his Neimoidian contacts disappears, and Sidious does not need his Force-honed instincts to suspect betrayal. He orders his apprentice, Darth Maul, to hunt the traitor down.
But he is too late. The secret has already passed into the hands of information broker Lorn Pavan, which places him right on the top of Darth Maul's hit list. Then, in the labyrinthine alleyways and sewers of Coruscant, capital city of the Republic, Lorn crosses paths with Darsha Assant, a Jedi Padawan on a mission to earn her Knighthood. Now the future of the Republic depends on Darsha and Lorn. But how can an untried Jedi and an ordinary man, stranger to the powerful ways of the Force, hope to triumph over one of the deadliest killers in the galaxy?
beholden to the dark side,
the time has come to rise again . . .
After years of waiting in the shadows, Darth Sidious is taking the first step in his master plan to bring the Republic to its knees. Key to his scheme are the Neimoidians of the Trade Federation. Then one of his Neimoidian contacts disappears, and Sidious does not need his Force-honed instincts to suspect betrayal. He orders his apprentice, Darth Maul, to hunt the traitor down.
But he is too late. The secret has already passed into the hands of information broker Lorn Pavan, which places him right on the top of Darth Maul's hit list. Then, in the labyrinthine alleyways and sewers of Coruscant, capital city of the Republic, Lorn crosses paths with Darsha Assant, a Jedi Padawan on a mission to earn her Knighthood. Now the future of the Republic depends on Darsha and Lorn. But how can an untried Jedi and an ordinary man, stranger to the powerful ways of the Force, hope to triumph over one of the deadliest killers in the galaxy?
332 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
302 people are currently reading
4802 people want to read
About the author
Michael Reaves
130 books211 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 579 reviews
July 24, 2010
"He can't be bought off, scared off, or thrown off the trail and he'll stop at nothing..."
Lorn Pavan hates the Jedi. So when he and his droid companion, I-Five, get access to a Sith Holocron detailing the impending Naboo blockade, the first person he goes to is a Hutt crimelord attached to the Black Sun, not the Jedi. But someone wants that Holocron back...and he will stop at nothing to get it.
NOTE: Based on audiobook and novel.
I Liked:
WOW! I am astonished at how good this novel is! I remember when I had first read it eons ago, that I adored it and thought Reaves was an impressive author. And time has aged this novel favorably.
The writing is very engaging, very quick paced for the action, yet insightful and thoughtful for the character moments. Reaves balances the two well, not spending the whole novel on a underbelly of Coruscant race (Anderson might have) or having his characters sit around a fire gabbing all night (Traviss might have).
The characters are absolutely impressive. Lorn Pavan is your average guy. Sure, he lives in the underlevels, his best friend is a droid, and he sells information, but he isn't a Jedi, smuggler, Sith, Mandalorian, bounty hunter, assassin, or any of a million occupations that have been almost exclusively seen in Star Wars. In fact, he used to work in the Jedi Temple in finances. No different than the millions who go to work each day at Sterling Bank. What this "Everyman" character gives us is the chance to see how one guy, who isn't the best shot, pilot, or fighter in the galaxy faces off against a Sith Lord. He has guts, he has courage, and he has a friend who helps him along. Plus, we see a character who has a reason to hate the Jedi, yet when he faces on personally, realizes that there is more to them than meets the eye (unlike the Jedi-haters from Traviss' books). These qualities really stand out to me and make Lorn Pavan (Jax Pavan's father) a much more approachable character.
Then we have Darsha Assant. In some ways, she is a predecessor to Etain Tur-Mukan. She's a Jedi Padawan, trying to become a Jedi Knight, but totally ruins her first mission. She meets up with Lorn, who informs her of his find and now it is her task to see him to safety. I don't want to ruin the plot, but there is a scene where she faces off with Darth Maul that is up there with Ganner Rhysode from Traitor.
I-Five is probably the only droid I actually like to read about. C-3PO, R2-D2, and all the others always seems to get in the way or are just thrown in for a plot element. I-Five is actually a character, with feelings, with opinions, and with an excellent sense of humor. It was a good move on Reaves' part to have I-Five and Lorn banter as they do, and add levity to this intense novel.
Lastly, Darth Maul appears. If I could say only one thing, it would be this: Reaves needs to write more Maul books! He does a great job with Maul's single-minded hatred. My only complaint is there wasn't enough of him.
The plot was fantastic. The pacing was great, the flow was superb, the scenes made sense (no deus ex machina or other @ss-pulling), and the outcome was fabulous.
I Didn't Like:
Michael Reaves likes his vocabulary. He loves to dig deep into the dictionary and pull out words no one has ever heard of, such as "pyrric" and "rictus".
Obi-Wan is included, and while his part isn't inflated and does serve the purpose as to put closure for the characters, I wonder if we really needed such a prominent character in this role. Couldn't Reaves have invented a different apprentice or Jedi? Why Obi-Wan?
Lastly, Mahwi LIhnn, a bounty hunter going after Hath (who has the Sith Holocron), makes a comment that there are 1 trillion people on Coruscant, and, at a rate of 1 person/second, it would take her 100 Tatooine Sarlacc's lifetimes to interview them all. Being an ubergeek, I crunched the numbers and came up with 31.7 years. Either the character can't do math or Tatooine Sarlaccs don' live very long ;)
Dialogue/Sexual Situations/Violence:
Lorn spews b*****d and d***.
Obi-Wan finds Darsha good to look at.
Darth Maul is a ruthless hunter. Several people end up dead by the end. Hath wets himself from fear.
Overall:
This is a positively astounding novel, interesting, compelling, with great characters, great writing, and great story. I enjoyed rereading about Jax's father, I-Five, and their origins. About my biggest complaint is, for a "Darth Maul" book, there isn't enough Darth Maul. Otherwise, this is definitely going on my top 10 favorite Star Wars novels list, and I highly recommend Star Wars fans to read.
Lorn Pavan hates the Jedi. So when he and his droid companion, I-Five, get access to a Sith Holocron detailing the impending Naboo blockade, the first person he goes to is a Hutt crimelord attached to the Black Sun, not the Jedi. But someone wants that Holocron back...and he will stop at nothing to get it.
NOTE: Based on audiobook and novel.
I Liked:
WOW! I am astonished at how good this novel is! I remember when I had first read it eons ago, that I adored it and thought Reaves was an impressive author. And time has aged this novel favorably.
The writing is very engaging, very quick paced for the action, yet insightful and thoughtful for the character moments. Reaves balances the two well, not spending the whole novel on a underbelly of Coruscant race (Anderson might have) or having his characters sit around a fire gabbing all night (Traviss might have).
The characters are absolutely impressive. Lorn Pavan is your average guy. Sure, he lives in the underlevels, his best friend is a droid, and he sells information, but he isn't a Jedi, smuggler, Sith, Mandalorian, bounty hunter, assassin, or any of a million occupations that have been almost exclusively seen in Star Wars. In fact, he used to work in the Jedi Temple in finances. No different than the millions who go to work each day at Sterling Bank. What this "Everyman" character gives us is the chance to see how one guy, who isn't the best shot, pilot, or fighter in the galaxy faces off against a Sith Lord. He has guts, he has courage, and he has a friend who helps him along. Plus, we see a character who has a reason to hate the Jedi, yet when he faces on personally, realizes that there is more to them than meets the eye (unlike the Jedi-haters from Traviss' books). These qualities really stand out to me and make Lorn Pavan (Jax Pavan's father) a much more approachable character.
Then we have Darsha Assant. In some ways, she is a predecessor to Etain Tur-Mukan. She's a Jedi Padawan, trying to become a Jedi Knight, but totally ruins her first mission. She meets up with Lorn, who informs her of his find and now it is her task to see him to safety. I don't want to ruin the plot, but there is a scene where she faces off with Darth Maul that is up there with Ganner Rhysode from Traitor.
I-Five is probably the only droid I actually like to read about. C-3PO, R2-D2, and all the others always seems to get in the way or are just thrown in for a plot element. I-Five is actually a character, with feelings, with opinions, and with an excellent sense of humor. It was a good move on Reaves' part to have I-Five and Lorn banter as they do, and add levity to this intense novel.
Lastly, Darth Maul appears. If I could say only one thing, it would be this: Reaves needs to write more Maul books! He does a great job with Maul's single-minded hatred. My only complaint is there wasn't enough of him.
The plot was fantastic. The pacing was great, the flow was superb, the scenes made sense (no deus ex machina or other @ss-pulling), and the outcome was fabulous.
I Didn't Like:
Michael Reaves likes his vocabulary. He loves to dig deep into the dictionary and pull out words no one has ever heard of, such as "pyrric" and "rictus".
Obi-Wan is included, and while his part isn't inflated and does serve the purpose as to put closure for the characters, I wonder if we really needed such a prominent character in this role. Couldn't Reaves have invented a different apprentice or Jedi? Why Obi-Wan?
Lastly, Mahwi LIhnn, a bounty hunter going after Hath (who has the Sith Holocron), makes a comment that there are 1 trillion people on Coruscant, and, at a rate of 1 person/second, it would take her 100 Tatooine Sarlacc's lifetimes to interview them all. Being an ubergeek, I crunched the numbers and came up with 31.7 years. Either the character can't do math or Tatooine Sarlaccs don' live very long ;)
Dialogue/Sexual Situations/Violence:
Lorn spews b*****d and d***.
Obi-Wan finds Darsha good to look at.
Darth Maul is a ruthless hunter. Several people end up dead by the end. Hath wets himself from fear.
Overall:
This is a positively astounding novel, interesting, compelling, with great characters, great writing, and great story. I enjoyed rereading about Jax's father, I-Five, and their origins. About my biggest complaint is, for a "Darth Maul" book, there isn't enough Darth Maul. Otherwise, this is definitely going on my top 10 favorite Star Wars novels list, and I highly recommend Star Wars fans to read.
October 16, 2022
Shadow Hunter takes place a few years before the events of The Phantom Menace.
Lorn Pavan is a top-rate information broker. He and his droid partner, I-Five, have stumbled across a gold-mine- not only a Sith holocron but also information about an impending Trade Federation blockade. Both these things have also garnered the interest of Darth Sidious.
Pavan and I-Five's misadventures have them stumbling across a Jedi Padawn, Darsha Assant, and her Master, Anoon Bondara, must try to navigate the dangerous lower reaches of Coruscant and try to save him and retrieve the information. The only problem? Sidious has sent his apprentice, Darth maul to also terminate all evidence and people connected.
What follows is a great story about Pavan and the Jedi trying to escape from the clutches of Darth Maul. I enjoyed this Star Wars tale and appreciated the ending. A very good entry into the "good" Star Wars (aka "Legends") stories, as opposed to the horrifically bad SJW stories.
Lorn Pavan is a top-rate information broker. He and his droid partner, I-Five, have stumbled across a gold-mine- not only a Sith holocron but also information about an impending Trade Federation blockade. Both these things have also garnered the interest of Darth Sidious.
Pavan and I-Five's misadventures have them stumbling across a Jedi Padawn, Darsha Assant, and her Master, Anoon Bondara, must try to navigate the dangerous lower reaches of Coruscant and try to save him and retrieve the information. The only problem? Sidious has sent his apprentice, Darth maul to also terminate all evidence and people connected.
What follows is a great story about Pavan and the Jedi trying to escape from the clutches of Darth Maul. I enjoyed this Star Wars tale and appreciated the ending. A very good entry into the "good" Star Wars (aka "Legends") stories, as opposed to the horrifically bad SJW stories.
October 8, 2019
Urgh, I really dislike writing negative reviews but in this case I've got to go that way. I felt all along that this book was going to take an unexpected turn and suddenly a lot of the shaky plotting and contrivances would be forgiven but...no. Ultimately it just felt like a "then this happens, then this, then this..." amateur recounting of what would have been, admittedly, a fun RPG campaign.
If nothing else, I'm glad I've read it as it has helped me understand just how far the Lucasfilm editorial team has come since those times.
If nothing else, I'm glad I've read it as it has helped me understand just how far the Lucasfilm editorial team has come since those times.
December 20, 2024
This book is surprisingly shorter than you'd expect. The font size and type makes it feel very large and the story moves at such a propulsive pace that the book just flies by. I read it in 2 sittings in 1 day. Absolutely stunning how well it works together.
The crux of the story is about various people hunting a Nemoidian who has information about the upcoming Blockade of Naboo by the Trade Federation. Both a Bounty Hunter and Darth Maul are both sent to race to find this Nemodian and bring him back. There is also a Jedi padawan who is undergoing her trial to become a knight, and her assignment is to find an informant from the black sun, and her story gets her and her master entangled with the Nemodian and Maul.
The book really feels like an action/horror thriller, and Michael Reaves moves the story along so fast. The book never has a chapter that feels like filler, and the action is very easily written to understand. I mean, if you know the prequels you kind of know exactly what will happen, but you're still on the edge of your seat!
I was particularly impressed by Michael Reaves' vocabulary in the book. In just about every chapter he uses a vocabulary word that is really is impressive and high level, but is used in exactly the right way to work if you don't already know the word, because the context will make it makes sense. Excellent writing there.
I also really connected with the characters, particularly Lorn Pavan and Dasha Assant, who really I would categorize as the protagonists. Each of their stories is exciting to follow, and you really feel their terror and graple with their decisions.
The tie-ins for the movies really work here, and this serves as an excellent prequel to The Phantom Menace.
Overall, I loved this book. I had heard good things, but man is it an excellent book. 9.3 out of 10.
The crux of the story is about various people hunting a Nemoidian who has information about the upcoming Blockade of Naboo by the Trade Federation. Both a Bounty Hunter and Darth Maul are both sent to race to find this Nemodian and bring him back. There is also a Jedi padawan who is undergoing her trial to become a knight, and her assignment is to find an informant from the black sun, and her story gets her and her master entangled with the Nemodian and Maul.
The book really feels like an action/horror thriller, and Michael Reaves moves the story along so fast. The book never has a chapter that feels like filler, and the action is very easily written to understand. I mean, if you know the prequels you kind of know exactly what will happen, but you're still on the edge of your seat!
I was particularly impressed by Michael Reaves' vocabulary in the book. In just about every chapter he uses a vocabulary word that is really is impressive and high level, but is used in exactly the right way to work if you don't already know the word, because the context will make it makes sense. Excellent writing there.
I also really connected with the characters, particularly Lorn Pavan and Dasha Assant, who really I would categorize as the protagonists. Each of their stories is exciting to follow, and you really feel their terror and graple with their decisions.
The tie-ins for the movies really work here, and this serves as an excellent prequel to The Phantom Menace.
Overall, I loved this book. I had heard good things, but man is it an excellent book. 9.3 out of 10.
September 14, 2008
4.0 to 4.5 stars. A terrific "star wars" novel and a really fun read. Darth Maul is a great character and the insights into his powers, origins and thought process was worth the read all by itself.
June 22, 2023
I love anything Star Wars and this book is not an exception! Darth Maul is one of my favorite Star Wars characters and Micheal Reaves did such a good job at showing Darth Maul’s pure hatred and terrifying demeanor. I literally loved Darsha, Lorn and I-Five. I had an obvious idea about how it was going to end considering it took place before The Phantom Menace but it was still tragic.
November 23, 2016
It was good but I was hoping to know more about how Darth Maul and Darth Sidious interacted.
March 25, 2016
My reaction to this book:
First,
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then,
and finally!
(HEADS UP. THIS REVIEW IS KIND OF LONG. I needed to get this out).
O. MI. GOD! This book!! I CANNOTEVEN! I can’t. I’m new to the Star Wars novelization game and I’m trying out multiple authors. They all love Star Wars and each have a unique description of the infamous universe. As of this review Michael Reaves is MAH FAV!
I’ve already experienced:
-James Luceno (my 2nd) Darth Plagues
-Wryder Windham The Wrath of Darth Maul
-Timothy Zahn Heir to the Empire
-William C. Dietz Dark Forces Trilogy
and
-Joe Schreiber Death Troopers ew… :/
Out of all of them Michael Reaves has shown me just how much he knows and loves his characters. AND how to put the reader on the same level as them. Every character mattered, not just Darth Maul (which is the whole reason I bought this book).
Why this works:
Darth Maul is just 1 of (let’s say) 5 different stories following different characters all simultaneously corresponding.
1.) Darsha is a Padawan that just wants to make her master proud and become a Jedi Knight. Things go horribly wrong during her initiation mission and she absolutely dreads facing her master about it. So much, in fact, that she spends the night in a crumbling building filled with homeless people! :(
2.) Lorn is a poor guy at the end of his rope and drinks to drown his many failures at trying to gain a little cash. (He also hates Jedi. Like, all of them). Luckily he has I-Five, a not-so-normal protocol droid who treats him like a best friend rather than an owner.
3.) Darth Maul is sent to retrieve a Sith holocron containing valuable information about the Sith and their plans.
4.) Obi-wan (still an apprentice) shows up at some point following Darsha’s trail throughout the book.
5.) Chapters shift between Sidious, some Neimoidians, and a bounty hunter.
The plot focuses on Darsha, Lorn, and I-Five trying to escape Maul, who’s constantly a step behind them. The group wades through more than just a few close calls as they try to reach the safety of Coruscant’s surface. And they go through a lot! Street thugs, booby traps, sewer mutants, ancient creatures that aren’t supposed to exist, Darth Maul…more Darth Maul. Through it all Lorn, who hates Jedi for spoiler reasons, comes to realize that Darsha isn’t so bad. He is NOT okay with that.
Darth Maul finally catches up with them and…oh boy. (Give me a minute………) 
Let’s just say “showdown” #1 happens, and Lorn discovers that Darsha is more important to him than he believed. Long story short, everybody is separated from each other involving the most emotional trauma I can’t deal with in just one day and things cool down so the book can finally come to an end…until the last page. I’m not kidding. Literally, the very last page in the book changes everything!!! Yeah.
The whole time I was reading I was with the characters. All through their tireless flight and towards a goal that rips out the reader’s heart! I was so in love with the heroes…that…I was actually praying Maul would not accomplish his task! That’s right. Me (crazy Darth Maul fan lady and may secretlyhaveanunhealthycrushonanimaginary Star Wars person), wanted Maul to LOSE…I can’t believe I just said that. 
Please, don’t pass this one up. If not this novel then another, but Michael Reaves needs a chance from all who love a good book :)
February 11, 2023
Lorn Pavan, an information broker down on his luck, finds himself accidentally involved with the Trade Federation and the Sith. Along with his droid I-Five, He steals a holocron crystal from the murdered Monchar that contains the plot of the film Episode 1. The Naboo blockage planned by Sidious. Maul is sent to clean up the loose ends and ends up chasing them throughout the underbelly of Coruscant.
Darsha Assant, a Jedi Padawan on a different mission ends up getting involved with the two and protects them as she tries to get them back to the Jedi Temple. They fail. Darsha dies by sacrificing herself to allow the two to escape. Lorn, wanting to avenge her, follows Maul to a space station and stuns him but can't kill him. He manages to find Palpatine in the same station and hands it to him. Maul shows up the next day at the hospital and kills him. And his droid is stolen by his friend who was supposed to help him.
Also Obi-Wan runs around a bit, but finds nothing.
I definitely don't remember this book being this bleak lol, but it was really good still.
Darsha Assant, a Jedi Padawan on a different mission ends up getting involved with the two and protects them as she tries to get them back to the Jedi Temple. They fail. Darsha dies by sacrificing herself to allow the two to escape. Lorn, wanting to avenge her, follows Maul to a space station and stuns him but can't kill him. He manages to find Palpatine in the same station and hands it to him. Maul shows up the next day at the hospital and kills him. And his droid is stolen by his friend who was supposed to help him.
Also Obi-Wan runs around a bit, but finds nothing.
I definitely don't remember this book being this bleak lol, but it was really good still.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 30, 2020
Good story, well done. Having fewer ensemble cast members of the Star Wars pantheon gives the author more outcome flexibility, but knowing where the story has to end up still gives the reader too much knowledge of what has to happen to the non-canon players. (Is that a spoiler?)
The more I'm exposed to the SW universe, the more the technology baffles me. First, over the span of about five thousand years a galaxie--stuffed with advanced cultures--seems to make no technology improvements--despite wars, famine and floods (well, maybe no floods). Travel, weapons, communications, etc. all seem frozen at one level. Look at what's happened here in the last five hundred years.
Second, more like a quibble, the lack of communication between Jedi less than twenty kilometers from the Jedi Temple on Coruscant is a major element of this story, and it makes no sense. First, they should all have comm implants. So their comm links don't get lost, stolen, or broken. Then, they ought to track each other through the Force, if nothing else.
I would think Darsha's mentor would be monitoring her through the Force every minute she's on her "final exam" assignment. Considering what she went through and how she reacted to it, I would think the shock waves would be hard to ignore. (Not when Jedi "feel" Force sensitives die on remote planets in other stories.)
Still, worth reading for the SW fan.
The more I'm exposed to the SW universe, the more the technology baffles me. First, over the span of about five thousand years a galaxie--stuffed with advanced cultures--seems to make no technology improvements--despite wars, famine and floods (well, maybe no floods). Travel, weapons, communications, etc. all seem frozen at one level. Look at what's happened here in the last five hundred years.
Second, more like a quibble, the lack of communication between Jedi less than twenty kilometers from the Jedi Temple on Coruscant is a major element of this story, and it makes no sense. First, they should all have comm implants. So their comm links don't get lost, stolen, or broken. Then, they ought to track each other through the Force, if nothing else.
I would think Darsha's mentor would be monitoring her through the Force every minute she's on her "final exam" assignment. Considering what she went through and how she reacted to it, I would think the shock waves would be hard to ignore. (Not when Jedi "feel" Force sensitives die on remote planets in other stories.)
Still, worth reading for the SW fan.
June 3, 2023
Set in 32BBY
This was, what can I say, I'm a sucker for a Maul story, and this one was ok. Sure, had its moments, good and bad and some moments dragging too much, and some others which made me not care that much, especially for the main Padawan Jedi here, and I have to say at first the main "Solo" character here was interesting, but halfway through, this same motif kept pushing for the guy's agenda and he was constantly chit-chatting with his droid, which after awhile became tedious.
Wouldn't be as much a problem if it wasn't for the Padawan in this one, Darsha? Sharla? Darla? I don't remember and I don't want to remember. She was boring and everything she said or thought was cringe-worthy at best.
Maul was good. That's the good part, he wasn't out of character that much, besides some cringe-worthy stuff again, which made him look more of.. like.. Maul has empathy or respect for his enemies?! And I really really didn't like that. Especially if when I'm reading, the book is trying to make the good Padawan seem like she's so good that even Maul respects her and/or feels whatever that resembles feelings of respect. We're talking about a guy who was raised to hate, hunt and kill Jedis, not think about wow this jedi is a padawan but she's really tough, wow, respect, *smile* wow, she can fight, she has a plan, woah, good for her. Nope. That's not Maul. Dunno who that guy was those moments, but it wasn't Maul. And in the battle thinking all of that even though he's not going to lose (because duh, he's in the movie right after the book) and all these things felt pushed and thrown to the reader's face just so we can say how worthy of an opponent this nobody was. BAH!
Other than that; what can I say, nice plot overall, good story, great fight scenes and depictions of places and whatnot, whenever Maul was on the scene, or Palpatine, or Obi-Wan, it was solid. That's what I liked, and also Lorn was fun to read half the time, and especially at the end.
There's a twist which I really loved and you will definitely too, a couple wow moments too. I'd give this 2 stars for being an ok read, but right towards the end with the whole 3rd arc with Maul and Lorn, it kept getting better and much more fun to read.
“You can at least meet your fate without groveling.” - Darth Maul
TL;DR: You like Maul? Read it! Is it a must Star Wars read? I'd say no.
This was, what can I say, I'm a sucker for a Maul story, and this one was ok. Sure, had its moments, good and bad and some moments dragging too much, and some others which made me not care that much, especially for the main Padawan Jedi here, and I have to say at first the main "Solo" character here was interesting, but halfway through, this same motif kept pushing for the guy's agenda and he was constantly chit-chatting with his droid, which after awhile became tedious.
Wouldn't be as much a problem if it wasn't for the Padawan in this one, Darsha? Sharla? Darla? I don't remember and I don't want to remember. She was boring and everything she said or thought was cringe-worthy at best.
Maul was good. That's the good part, he wasn't out of character that much, besides some cringe-worthy stuff again, which made him look more of.. like.. Maul has empathy or respect for his enemies?! And I really really didn't like that. Especially if when I'm reading, the book is trying to make the good Padawan seem like she's so good that even Maul respects her and/or feels whatever that resembles feelings of respect. We're talking about a guy who was raised to hate, hunt and kill Jedis, not think about wow this jedi is a padawan but she's really tough, wow, respect, *smile* wow, she can fight, she has a plan, woah, good for her. Nope. That's not Maul. Dunno who that guy was those moments, but it wasn't Maul. And in the battle thinking all of that even though he's not going to lose (because duh, he's in the movie right after the book) and all these things felt pushed and thrown to the reader's face just so we can say how worthy of an opponent this nobody was. BAH!
Other than that; what can I say, nice plot overall, good story, great fight scenes and depictions of places and whatnot, whenever Maul was on the scene, or Palpatine, or Obi-Wan, it was solid. That's what I liked, and also Lorn was fun to read half the time, and especially at the end.
There's a twist which I really loved and you will definitely too, a couple wow moments too. I'd give this 2 stars for being an ok read, but right towards the end with the whole 3rd arc with Maul and Lorn, it kept getting better and much more fun to read.
“You can at least meet your fate without groveling.” - Darth Maul
TL;DR: You like Maul? Read it! Is it a must Star Wars read? I'd say no.
January 31, 2025
"How do you know a Neimoidian is lying?"
"Its mouth is open."
This wasn't excellent, but it wasn't too bad either. This is Darth Maul being Palpatine's assassin in the shadows.
Maul is trained to be a mindless killer in the dark side of the force and plays a lot on his impatience to get things done.
Maul is not trained in the lessons passed down from master to apprentice, which makes one wonder if Maul was just a patsy.
I found the writing to be enjoyable and was a fast read.
Darsha's character was incompetent for a Padawan. She was sent on a mission, which was her trial to become a Jedi Knight. She gets mixed up with Lorn Pavan and his droid.
When Lorn tells her why he hates the Jedi, she can't grasp why. It is one of the first things Jedi learned: no attachments.
This ties in with Phantom Menance and the novel Darth Plagueis. Events that unfold in the political plans of the Sith.
This novel is still my Canon.
"Its mouth is open."
This wasn't excellent, but it wasn't too bad either. This is Darth Maul being Palpatine's assassin in the shadows.
Maul is trained to be a mindless killer in the dark side of the force and plays a lot on his impatience to get things done.
Maul is not trained in the lessons passed down from master to apprentice, which makes one wonder if Maul was just a patsy.
I found the writing to be enjoyable and was a fast read.
Darsha's character was incompetent for a Padawan. She was sent on a mission, which was her trial to become a Jedi Knight. She gets mixed up with Lorn Pavan and his droid.
When Lorn tells her why he hates the Jedi, she can't grasp why. It is one of the first things Jedi learned: no attachments.
This ties in with Phantom Menance and the novel Darth Plagueis. Events that unfold in the political plans of the Sith.
This novel is still my Canon.
January 1, 2023
I've always jabbed at the fact that the conflict of the first Star Wars movie, A New Hope, is clear and relatable (Luke wants revenge on the guy who killed his father) but the conflict of the "first" Star Wars movie, Phantom Menace, is vague and technical (something about the trade federation and a blockade--can anyone put it into a complete sentence, with a subject and verb?).
I was horrified, opening this book, and hoping that it would tell me something interesting about Darth Maul, only to find that its central conflict is the exact same as Phantom Menace--it's still about the trade federation and Darth Sidious, there's still some sort of blockade, and no, none of the details are ever explained about what the blockade means, or why the Sith (???) would care about it. When I was younger I was annoyed that the conflict was so political, but now that I'm older, I'm annoyed that the political conflict is not explained. People are not stupid--we can follow a political conflict--but you have to give us the details, and neither George Lucas nor this novel writer ever thought it necessary to explain past "It's a blockade. That's bad."
So the book whose cover has been stuck in my mind ever since I saw it in 2001, front and center on the library's "Best Seller" shelf (I checked it out at age 11, found it technical and boring, took it back) has nothing more going on than replicating the Phantom Menace in both conflict and scenery, and adding some new people who don't do anything and have no characteristics besides "This book is about me". I thought I would get some detail about the Sith, but I didn't realize the central truth about Star Wars, which is that it is not about going deep into detail, but rather flooding the viewer with too much to look at so that you get distracted. It expects you to marvel about the millions of planets and aliens and spaceships and all that, but if you try to ask questions about any of it, there's nothing there.
Reading bad books is bad for the character, said W.H. Auden. He was right, and my soul is damaged for the hours I've pumped into garbage literature this year...but then, you can never know what book is REALLY going to be garbage until you try it, and I do think it's valuable to study bad literature technically--what makes it bad? What would it need to be good? This is how you learn any other skill--cooking, piano, basketball, whatever--you have to know what not to do in order to do something well.
This book ends literally minutes before the plot of Phantom Menace begins, and I think there was an interesting Writer's Challenge here in its conceit, which is to write 300 pages of material that would make George Lucas's movie be compelling and make sense from the very first minute. The book failed to do this, but I still do wish someone could have done it better...that's the Star Wars nostalgia I'll never be able to shake.
I was horrified, opening this book, and hoping that it would tell me something interesting about Darth Maul, only to find that its central conflict is the exact same as Phantom Menace--it's still about the trade federation and Darth Sidious, there's still some sort of blockade, and no, none of the details are ever explained about what the blockade means, or why the Sith (???) would care about it. When I was younger I was annoyed that the conflict was so political, but now that I'm older, I'm annoyed that the political conflict is not explained. People are not stupid--we can follow a political conflict--but you have to give us the details, and neither George Lucas nor this novel writer ever thought it necessary to explain past "It's a blockade. That's bad."
So the book whose cover has been stuck in my mind ever since I saw it in 2001, front and center on the library's "Best Seller" shelf (I checked it out at age 11, found it technical and boring, took it back) has nothing more going on than replicating the Phantom Menace in both conflict and scenery, and adding some new people who don't do anything and have no characteristics besides "This book is about me". I thought I would get some detail about the Sith, but I didn't realize the central truth about Star Wars, which is that it is not about going deep into detail, but rather flooding the viewer with too much to look at so that you get distracted. It expects you to marvel about the millions of planets and aliens and spaceships and all that, but if you try to ask questions about any of it, there's nothing there.
Reading bad books is bad for the character, said W.H. Auden. He was right, and my soul is damaged for the hours I've pumped into garbage literature this year...but then, you can never know what book is REALLY going to be garbage until you try it, and I do think it's valuable to study bad literature technically--what makes it bad? What would it need to be good? This is how you learn any other skill--cooking, piano, basketball, whatever--you have to know what not to do in order to do something well.
This book ends literally minutes before the plot of Phantom Menace begins, and I think there was an interesting Writer's Challenge here in its conceit, which is to write 300 pages of material that would make George Lucas's movie be compelling and make sense from the very first minute. The book failed to do this, but I still do wish someone could have done it better...that's the Star Wars nostalgia I'll never be able to shake.
January 19, 2025
Definitely one of the better Star Wars books I've read. The narrative was brisk and lively and it was certainly a page turner. The basic plot was simple but believable. I only wish the book was longer. It seemed like some of the scenes could have been described in more detail. Other than that, I have no complaints. A worthy effort.
August 25, 2021
I’ll give it 3.3 stars. The author simply has not mastered that different characters speak differently from one another. Maul speaks the same way that the rest of the book is written and his vocabulary makes it impossible to feel like it’s really him. He’s also careless. This book isn’t bad but it’s just unrealistic when put into the context of the rest of the Star Wars universe. It’s probably the most unrealistic Star Wars book I’ve read since Fatal Alliance. Also I feel like the author tried to hard. Every twist of the story instead of being interesting just felt like something he had to do to make the story keep going and make sense. It makes no sense for Darsha to disobey her master instead of going to the Temple. How is there a lightsaber fight in the middle of Coruscant and nobody knows the Sith are back? This makes no sense. I was also disappointed in the love story, however I did think the ending was decent. Maul seems a bit incompetent though and I have a feeling Sidious would have killed him. Mostly things started to come together at the end. It’s not terrible, it’s just a bit problematic.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 26, 2023
Star Wars: Darth Maul - Shadow Hunter was written by Michael Reaves. This story belongs to the Expanded Universe/Legends novel timeline. It takes place 32 years before the events of A New Hope.
SUMMARY:
Darth Sidious, the dark lord of the Sith is getting so close to accomplishing his order's goal - conquering the galaxy. One of the first major steps to throw the galaxy into chaos is at risk! A delegate of the the Trade Federation with knowledge of the planned blockade has gone on the run. Sidious sends out his apprentice, Darth Maul, to hunt down the deserter and traitor. The trail leads Maul to the Republic political world, of Coruscant.
Darsha Assamt, a Jedi Padawan, is sent on her first solo mission; to retrieve a known former member of the Black Sun crime organization. Darsha is to transport him to the Jedi temple unharmed, where he will trade information for safety. This mission takes Darsha to the underbelly of Coruscant, a dark dingy place overrun with crime and degenerates. The mission spirals out of control, and Darsha must tap into all that she's trained for.
Lorn Pavan, a mildly depressed Information broker, gets himself caught up in a dangerous game when he purchases valuable information from a Namodian - a Holocron! Pavan knows he can earn a pretty penny selling the Holocron to the right buyer. He and his droid business parter, I-Five, would be able to leave Coruscant and start a new life. This "Sith Holocron" actually contains Sidious's plans of taking out the Jedi Order and conquering the Galaxy. Darth Maul must find the Holocron before it falls into Jedi Hands.
OVERALL THOUGHTS:
With so much going on, many paths being crossed with multiple characters, it's surprisingly a very smooth read. With the first couple chapters I was a bit concerned that the book was going to be derailed or I'd get lost with the multiple stories going on all at once. That concern quickly faded as the stories came together rather seamlessly. So it turned out, that I was delighted with the flow of the story and the setting. The deep dive into the nasty underworld of Coruscant was highly entertaining.
It was interesting to follow a Jedi character that struggled so much. Not that I want to see the Jedi fail, but to see that such a powerful character-type can struggle. Throwing Darsha in the lower levels of Coruscant on her first mission was a fantastic story element. It takes her out of her comfort zone, being so close to home, yet seeming so far away and foreign.
Michael Reeves did a fine job giving us new characters such as Darsha, Lorn Pavan and his droid partner, I-Five. I was slightly irritated that a few characters were so quick to label the Sith. The Sith were thought dead and gone for so long, why would their existence/presence be at the forefront of multiple people's minds? I think some of the story points could have been altered so that folks would think that a Jedi had gone rogue, and the Jedi are trying to figure out who it would be.
Speaking of the Sith, following Maul on his mission gave us a great look at the character's inner thoughts, his control and lack there of with his actions. His quest for death and irradiation of the Jedi gets the better of him.
So, do I recommend that you read Darth Maul - Shadow Hunter? Yes! a fun story in a contained environment, easy to follow.
RATING: I will give this book an A.
SUMMARY:
Darth Sidious, the dark lord of the Sith is getting so close to accomplishing his order's goal - conquering the galaxy. One of the first major steps to throw the galaxy into chaos is at risk! A delegate of the the Trade Federation with knowledge of the planned blockade has gone on the run. Sidious sends out his apprentice, Darth Maul, to hunt down the deserter and traitor. The trail leads Maul to the Republic political world, of Coruscant.
Darsha Assamt, a Jedi Padawan, is sent on her first solo mission; to retrieve a known former member of the Black Sun crime organization. Darsha is to transport him to the Jedi temple unharmed, where he will trade information for safety. This mission takes Darsha to the underbelly of Coruscant, a dark dingy place overrun with crime and degenerates. The mission spirals out of control, and Darsha must tap into all that she's trained for.
Lorn Pavan, a mildly depressed Information broker, gets himself caught up in a dangerous game when he purchases valuable information from a Namodian - a Holocron! Pavan knows he can earn a pretty penny selling the Holocron to the right buyer. He and his droid business parter, I-Five, would be able to leave Coruscant and start a new life. This "Sith Holocron" actually contains Sidious's plans of taking out the Jedi Order and conquering the Galaxy. Darth Maul must find the Holocron before it falls into Jedi Hands.
OVERALL THOUGHTS:
With so much going on, many paths being crossed with multiple characters, it's surprisingly a very smooth read. With the first couple chapters I was a bit concerned that the book was going to be derailed or I'd get lost with the multiple stories going on all at once. That concern quickly faded as the stories came together rather seamlessly. So it turned out, that I was delighted with the flow of the story and the setting. The deep dive into the nasty underworld of Coruscant was highly entertaining.
It was interesting to follow a Jedi character that struggled so much. Not that I want to see the Jedi fail, but to see that such a powerful character-type can struggle. Throwing Darsha in the lower levels of Coruscant on her first mission was a fantastic story element. It takes her out of her comfort zone, being so close to home, yet seeming so far away and foreign.
Michael Reeves did a fine job giving us new characters such as Darsha, Lorn Pavan and his droid partner, I-Five. I was slightly irritated that a few characters were so quick to label the Sith. The Sith were thought dead and gone for so long, why would their existence/presence be at the forefront of multiple people's minds? I think some of the story points could have been altered so that folks would think that a Jedi had gone rogue, and the Jedi are trying to figure out who it would be.
Speaking of the Sith, following Maul on his mission gave us a great look at the character's inner thoughts, his control and lack there of with his actions. His quest for death and irradiation of the Jedi gets the better of him.
So, do I recommend that you read Darth Maul - Shadow Hunter? Yes! a fun story in a contained environment, easy to follow.
RATING: I will give this book an A.
October 13, 2023
Definitely one of the best Star Wars novels I've ever read. The writing was absolutely on point and I devoured this book like a baby hippo with his first watermelon. Michael Reaves is a class act!
The book adds a lot more depth and character to Darth Maul and gives us more to work with besides the relatively short screen time he got in The Phantom Menace. Which I loved because I've always wanted to know more about him, and as I'm not a huge fan of the clone wars, this gave me exactly what I wanted without having to sit through hours of kids animation.
Plus it was all wrapped up in an adventure that was nothing short of unique and exciting. We meet some fantastic new characters one of which is the father of someone who'll become important in later legends novels and we also had to face some very sad moments, but all in all it was just bloody great fun. I also really loved how the book became interlinked with other star wars novels and with the events that we know will unfold in Episode 1. Fantastic!
The book adds a lot more depth and character to Darth Maul and gives us more to work with besides the relatively short screen time he got in The Phantom Menace. Which I loved because I've always wanted to know more about him, and as I'm not a huge fan of the clone wars, this gave me exactly what I wanted without having to sit through hours of kids animation.
Plus it was all wrapped up in an adventure that was nothing short of unique and exciting. We meet some fantastic new characters one of which is the father of someone who'll become important in later legends novels and we also had to face some very sad moments, but all in all it was just bloody great fun. I also really loved how the book became interlinked with other star wars novels and with the events that we know will unfold in Episode 1. Fantastic!
December 10, 2019
"No hay emoción hay paz.
no hay ignorancia, hay conocimiento.
no hay pasión, hay serenidad.
no hay caos, hay armonía.
no hay muerte, hay la fuerza."
Código Jedi
“Star Wars. Darth Maul: Cazador de las tinieblas”, escrita por Michael Reaves y publicada en 2001, es una novela del antiguo universo expandido de Star Wars ahora conocido como Legends. Los acontecimientos se ubican días antes de la “Amenaza Fantasma” y nos llevan al Pasillo Carmesí, un inhóspito y peligroso lugar en los barrios bajos de Coruscant atestado de criminales y exóticas formas de vida. Un neoimidiano de la Federación de Comercio intenta vender información referente a un próximo embargo comercial en Naboo. Darth Sidious ordena a su discípulo, el potente y enigmático Darth Maul, exterminar al traidor y a todos quienes posean la valiosa y secreta información encriptada en un holocrón. El conjurado y cobarde neimoidiano contacta a Lorn Pavan, traficante de información, y a su androide I-Cinco que esperan obtener una buena suma de créditos galácticos al vender las intrigas a los hutt. El Consejo Jedi envía a la padawan Darsha Assant a proteger a un asilado de la organización el Sol Negro; sus intentos fracasan cuando su misión se cruza con la de Darth Maul; su propio maestro, el Jedi Anoon Bondara, vendrá al rescate. Esta novela es una película de acción trepidante, junto a “Velo de Traiciones” de corte político, configuran el contexto previo a la invasión de Naboo por parte de las tropas de la Federación de Comercio, es decir, son precuelas directas de la primera película de Star Wars; después de leerlas, la experiencia visual cambia para siempre.
Después de varios enfrentamientos con criminales de poca monta, el Sith y el Jedi quedan frente a frente. Anoon Bondara es uno de los Jedis más hábiles en el manejo del sable; sin embargo, no podrá derrotar a su oponente, diestro en el ataque y defensa con sable de doble hoja, una técnica casi imposible de dominar, por los riesgos que implican para el aprendiz. Bondara sacrifica su vida, permitiendo que su padawan huya junto a Lorn Pavan e I-Cinco, poseedores de la valiosa información, por las mismas entrañas del planeta Coruscant sorteando especies caníbales e insectos gigantes inmunes a la Fuerza. El tono del libro es el de una persecución, con los débiles ingeniando tretas para salvar sus pellejos, y el siniestro impaciente, pero seguro de cercenar sus cuellos. Un acierto del libro es profundizar en las memorias y sentimientos de Darth Maul, de manera que el brillante personaje se complejiza, lo advertimos como un malvado, eficaz y poderoso Sith que no descansará hasta cumplir la voluntad de su maestro: ver arder el Templo Jedi. También conocemos los intrincados recovecos de la formación Jedi, con sus normas y códigos, aforismos y preceptos, de manera que tenemos una visión de la Fuerza desde dos perspectivas, lo que nos permite apreciar la luz y la oscuridad.
Este libro además forma parte de una trilogía protagonizada por Darth Maul, siendo el tomo número dos. Al final, nada ni nadie impedirá que el maligno cumpla sus órdenes y acabe con todos quienes osaron cruzarse en su camino. Una novela que demuestra, una vez más, los infalibles planes de Palpatine para levantar su imperio.
"La paz es una mentira, solo hay pasión.
con la pasión, gano fortaleza.
con la fortaleza, gano poder.
con el poder, obtengo victoria.
mis cadenas se rompen, la fuerza me liberará."
Código Sith
no hay ignorancia, hay conocimiento.
no hay pasión, hay serenidad.
no hay caos, hay armonía.
no hay muerte, hay la fuerza."
Código Jedi
“Star Wars. Darth Maul: Cazador de las tinieblas”, escrita por Michael Reaves y publicada en 2001, es una novela del antiguo universo expandido de Star Wars ahora conocido como Legends. Los acontecimientos se ubican días antes de la “Amenaza Fantasma” y nos llevan al Pasillo Carmesí, un inhóspito y peligroso lugar en los barrios bajos de Coruscant atestado de criminales y exóticas formas de vida. Un neoimidiano de la Federación de Comercio intenta vender información referente a un próximo embargo comercial en Naboo. Darth Sidious ordena a su discípulo, el potente y enigmático Darth Maul, exterminar al traidor y a todos quienes posean la valiosa y secreta información encriptada en un holocrón. El conjurado y cobarde neimoidiano contacta a Lorn Pavan, traficante de información, y a su androide I-Cinco que esperan obtener una buena suma de créditos galácticos al vender las intrigas a los hutt. El Consejo Jedi envía a la padawan Darsha Assant a proteger a un asilado de la organización el Sol Negro; sus intentos fracasan cuando su misión se cruza con la de Darth Maul; su propio maestro, el Jedi Anoon Bondara, vendrá al rescate. Esta novela es una película de acción trepidante, junto a “Velo de Traiciones” de corte político, configuran el contexto previo a la invasión de Naboo por parte de las tropas de la Federación de Comercio, es decir, son precuelas directas de la primera película de Star Wars; después de leerlas, la experiencia visual cambia para siempre.
Después de varios enfrentamientos con criminales de poca monta, el Sith y el Jedi quedan frente a frente. Anoon Bondara es uno de los Jedis más hábiles en el manejo del sable; sin embargo, no podrá derrotar a su oponente, diestro en el ataque y defensa con sable de doble hoja, una técnica casi imposible de dominar, por los riesgos que implican para el aprendiz. Bondara sacrifica su vida, permitiendo que su padawan huya junto a Lorn Pavan e I-Cinco, poseedores de la valiosa información, por las mismas entrañas del planeta Coruscant sorteando especies caníbales e insectos gigantes inmunes a la Fuerza. El tono del libro es el de una persecución, con los débiles ingeniando tretas para salvar sus pellejos, y el siniestro impaciente, pero seguro de cercenar sus cuellos. Un acierto del libro es profundizar en las memorias y sentimientos de Darth Maul, de manera que el brillante personaje se complejiza, lo advertimos como un malvado, eficaz y poderoso Sith que no descansará hasta cumplir la voluntad de su maestro: ver arder el Templo Jedi. También conocemos los intrincados recovecos de la formación Jedi, con sus normas y códigos, aforismos y preceptos, de manera que tenemos una visión de la Fuerza desde dos perspectivas, lo que nos permite apreciar la luz y la oscuridad.
Este libro además forma parte de una trilogía protagonizada por Darth Maul, siendo el tomo número dos. Al final, nada ni nadie impedirá que el maligno cumpla sus órdenes y acabe con todos quienes osaron cruzarse en su camino. Una novela que demuestra, una vez más, los infalibles planes de Palpatine para levantar su imperio.
"La paz es una mentira, solo hay pasión.
con la pasión, gano fortaleza.
con la fortaleza, gano poder.
con el poder, obtengo victoria.
mis cadenas se rompen, la fuerza me liberará."
Código Sith
October 21, 2023
Tragic but brilliant
December 21, 2025
Sam Witwer…. Your voice acting is so 🤌
July 21, 2012
Michael Reaves does a good job with "Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter". I was impressed. I was wondering if I'd ever give another Star Wars book more than two stars.
Of course the problem with Darth Maul is that he is mainly visual and doesn't have much in the way of any kind of character. His hopes and dreams are rudimentary and his goal is to kill and destroy wherever his master (Darth Sidious a.k.a. the future Emperor Palaptine) sends him.
Speaking of Sidious, if you read the "Darth Plagueis" novel before this one, like I did, that book will totally spoil the ending of this one. If you've read both, you know what I mean.
Aside from that, Reaves does a good job with his characters, including Maul. If I'm not mistaken, this book is a sort of prologue to Reaves' "Coruscant Nights" series where "private eye Jedi" Jax Pavan tries to help the downtrodden of Coruscant while evading Darth Vader. Lorn Pavan, Jax's father, is one of our main characters in "Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter". Lorn is a down on his luck information broker who happens into a matter of galactic importance.
What's that matter, you ask? One of those treacherous Neimoidians has betrayed Darth Sidious and Nute Gunray and plans to reveal the plot for the upcoming Trade Federation blockade of Naboo (the events of "The Phantom Menace" film), which sets in motion the Sith plan to destroy the Jedi.
So the main focus of the story is Maul trying to find the holocron with the blockade plan and killing all who know of the blockade. Lorn Pavan and his droid partner I-5 and a Jedi padawan named Darsha Assant all end up working together to avoid Maul and get the blockade information to the Senate or the Jedi. Even Obi-Wan Kenobi gets into the mix, briefly, towards the end.
Reaves does a good job keeping the story moving and gives us characters with more depth than Darth Maul. Maul doesn't go much deeper than "crush, kill, destroy" and his devotion to Sidious, yet the author does give us some insights into his character. And we do come to care for Lorn and Darsha and I-5 along the way as they have harrowing adventures in the underbelly of Coruscant evading Darth Maul, cannibals, and a very large and hungry predator.
As a side note, the two Darth Maul short stories (written by James Luceno) included with Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter are nowhere near as good as the book. I am always a bit shocked when authors find a way to make the Sith boring. Luceno's two tales, one about Maul as a saboteur and the other about Maul's Dathomiri past coming back to haunt him as a teenager, are both pretty dull and predictable. The sabotage story is particularly dull and uninspired.
If you're a Darth Maul fan and haven't read the Darth Plagueis book (which, as I said, TOTALLY spoils the ending of this book) you could do a lot worse than to pick up Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter.
Of course the problem with Darth Maul is that he is mainly visual and doesn't have much in the way of any kind of character. His hopes and dreams are rudimentary and his goal is to kill and destroy wherever his master (Darth Sidious a.k.a. the future Emperor Palaptine) sends him.
Speaking of Sidious, if you read the "Darth Plagueis" novel before this one, like I did, that book will totally spoil the ending of this one. If you've read both, you know what I mean.
Aside from that, Reaves does a good job with his characters, including Maul. If I'm not mistaken, this book is a sort of prologue to Reaves' "Coruscant Nights" series where "private eye Jedi" Jax Pavan tries to help the downtrodden of Coruscant while evading Darth Vader. Lorn Pavan, Jax's father, is one of our main characters in "Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter". Lorn is a down on his luck information broker who happens into a matter of galactic importance.
What's that matter, you ask? One of those treacherous Neimoidians has betrayed Darth Sidious and Nute Gunray and plans to reveal the plot for the upcoming Trade Federation blockade of Naboo (the events of "The Phantom Menace" film), which sets in motion the Sith plan to destroy the Jedi.
So the main focus of the story is Maul trying to find the holocron with the blockade plan and killing all who know of the blockade. Lorn Pavan and his droid partner I-5 and a Jedi padawan named Darsha Assant all end up working together to avoid Maul and get the blockade information to the Senate or the Jedi. Even Obi-Wan Kenobi gets into the mix, briefly, towards the end.
Reaves does a good job keeping the story moving and gives us characters with more depth than Darth Maul. Maul doesn't go much deeper than "crush, kill, destroy" and his devotion to Sidious, yet the author does give us some insights into his character. And we do come to care for Lorn and Darsha and I-5 along the way as they have harrowing adventures in the underbelly of Coruscant evading Darth Maul, cannibals, and a very large and hungry predator.
As a side note, the two Darth Maul short stories (written by James Luceno) included with Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter are nowhere near as good as the book. I am always a bit shocked when authors find a way to make the Sith boring. Luceno's two tales, one about Maul as a saboteur and the other about Maul's Dathomiri past coming back to haunt him as a teenager, are both pretty dull and predictable. The sabotage story is particularly dull and uninspired.
If you're a Darth Maul fan and haven't read the Darth Plagueis book (which, as I said, TOTALLY spoils the ending of this book) you could do a lot worse than to pick up Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter.
January 20, 2010
Star Wars: Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, by Michael Reaves
Another prequel novel to "Episode I: The Phantom Menace," this Star Wars book focuses on Darth Maul, the apprentice to Darth Sidious. Tasked by his master to find a missing Neimoidian, Maul travels to Coruscant on what first appears to be a simple mission.
Maul feels that this hunt and kill mission is beneath him - he is a Sith. He was born to fight and kill Jedi, not cowardly Neimoidians. But luckily for him, Maul soon encounters a resourceful Corellian information broker, Lorn Pavan. Unluckily for Pavan, he had been sold information on the upcoming Naboo blockade by the Neimoidian, information Darth Sidious wants kept secret - so Maul is commanded to kill Pavan.
In a strange twist of fate, Pavan is rescued by a Padawan on her first solo mission. Ironically, Pavan hates the Jedi, and here he is in debt to one for his life. Pavan is accompanied by a protocol droid without creativity dampners who provides dry comic relief as well as a voice of reason when needed.
"Shadow Hunter" is a great view into Darth Maul, and his philosophy - while he detests the Jedi, he also respects the ones who give him a challenging fight. While I wish Reaves would have expanded more on Maul's training in the Sith order, the few flashbacks provided do the job, showing how his unshakable loyalty to Sidious was developed, as well as his devotion to lightsaber fighting.
Darsha, the Padawan who rescues Pavan, is also an enjoyable character. After failing her first mission, she is doubtful of her future as a Jedi, and Reaves handles her internal debate well. Far from being an "all-knowing Jedi," she is the perfect person to partner with Pavan.
If you're curious about Darth Maul, this book is for you.
4/5.
Another prequel novel to "Episode I: The Phantom Menace," this Star Wars book focuses on Darth Maul, the apprentice to Darth Sidious. Tasked by his master to find a missing Neimoidian, Maul travels to Coruscant on what first appears to be a simple mission.
Maul feels that this hunt and kill mission is beneath him - he is a Sith. He was born to fight and kill Jedi, not cowardly Neimoidians. But luckily for him, Maul soon encounters a resourceful Corellian information broker, Lorn Pavan. Unluckily for Pavan, he had been sold information on the upcoming Naboo blockade by the Neimoidian, information Darth Sidious wants kept secret - so Maul is commanded to kill Pavan.
In a strange twist of fate, Pavan is rescued by a Padawan on her first solo mission. Ironically, Pavan hates the Jedi, and here he is in debt to one for his life. Pavan is accompanied by a protocol droid without creativity dampners who provides dry comic relief as well as a voice of reason when needed.
"Shadow Hunter" is a great view into Darth Maul, and his philosophy - while he detests the Jedi, he also respects the ones who give him a challenging fight. While I wish Reaves would have expanded more on Maul's training in the Sith order, the few flashbacks provided do the job, showing how his unshakable loyalty to Sidious was developed, as well as his devotion to lightsaber fighting.
Darsha, the Padawan who rescues Pavan, is also an enjoyable character. After failing her first mission, she is doubtful of her future as a Jedi, and Reaves handles her internal debate well. Far from being an "all-knowing Jedi," she is the perfect person to partner with Pavan.
If you're curious about Darth Maul, this book is for you.
4/5.
April 28, 2013
Darth Sidious is about to implement his plan of a trade blockade when one of his “partners” in the scheme goes missing, planning to sell the information he has to whoever will pay the most. Sidious sends his apprentice Darth Maul to find the traitor. The action takes place on Coruscant, as the Neimoidian gets set to make a deal with Lorn Pavan, a broker of all things worth money. A Jedi Padawan sent to Coruscant on a test mission, fails in her job, eventually crossing paths with Pavan and his droid I Five. They are all now on Darth Maul’s death list, fighting for their lives, escaping over and over with a lot of good fortune.
This is a light weight novel: Easy and quick to read but not completely satisfying. When dealing with a character like Darth Maul I wanted the tone to be darker, but it was too tame. I didn’t feel the evil that Maul supposedly possesses. As the odd circumstances that let his quarry escape pile up you get the feeling the author didn’t really know what to do with this set up to make it compelling. Also, for a novel that has Darth Maul’s name in the title, there wasn’t enough of the character in the story. I felt like I read more about the other characters than the lead.
This is a light weight novel: Easy and quick to read but not completely satisfying. When dealing with a character like Darth Maul I wanted the tone to be darker, but it was too tame. I didn’t feel the evil that Maul supposedly possesses. As the odd circumstances that let his quarry escape pile up you get the feeling the author didn’t really know what to do with this set up to make it compelling. Also, for a novel that has Darth Maul’s name in the title, there wasn’t enough of the character in the story. I felt like I read more about the other characters than the lead.
September 8, 2012
Not the best Star Wars Expanded Universe adventure, but still pretty good nonetheless. Though Shadow Hunter is billed as a thriller, the fact that it takes place before The Phantom Menace takes away some of the suspense; however, some of the novel-only characters, such as the personified android I-Five and his best friend Lorn, as well as the strange creature known as the Taozin, were interesting to read about, as was Darth Maul's history. If you've read nearly other Star Wars novel in existence, you'll probably enjoy this; however, if you're just starting to read the Expanded Universe, start with Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy.
November 10, 2016
I found this book mildly entertaining, but, as far as Star Wars novels on the Sith, it is not as gripping as the Darth Bane Trilogy by Drew Karpyshyn. Darth Maul comes across as a single-minded, almost robotic, predator ----- the way he's characterized almost made him seem like the Terminator. As such, I thought it a little disappointing, and I would have liked to see a novel that went deeper into Maul's background and thinking as a Sith. However, it's still a good read for Star Wars fans. But is it one of the best ones? No, there are better ones in the genre in my opinion.
December 13, 2024
Hands down best Stars Wars book I've read. They could make this into a movie and make it part of the canon.
Doesn’t disappoint on a re-read, and the audiobook is great.
Doesn’t disappoint on a re-read, and the audiobook is great.
February 22, 2022
3.5 stars
For 2022, I decided to go back in time and reread all the Prequels Era novels published between 1999 and 2005, plus a smidgen of other novels (like Survivor's Quest and the Dark Nest trilogy) released during that time frame. This shakes out to 21 novels, four eBook novellas, and at least thirteen short stories.
This week’s focus: a novel from 2001 set immediately prior to The Phantom Menace: Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter by Michael Reaves.
SOME HISTORY:
Michael Reaves wrote or co-wrote nine Star Wars books between 2001 and 2013, but he is perhaps better known as a screenwriter of animated series—he served as the head writer for Batman: The Animated Series, Gargoyles, and Spider-Man Unlimited (to name a few). Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter made it to number nine on the New York Times bestseller list for two separate weeks: the week of February 18 and the week of March 4, 2001--and was on the NYT list for four weeks.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
I’m fairly certain that I read Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter when it was released, but I didn’t have any memories of it—Maul isn’t one of my favorite characters, he always felt like a menacing cipher to me.
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
After years of waiting in the shadows, Darth Sidious meets secretly with the Trade Federation to plan the blockade of the planet Naboo. But one member of the Nemoidian delegation is missing, and Sidious orders his apprentice, Darth Maul, to hunt the traitor down. The future of the Republic depends on Lorn Pavan, an information broker, and Jedi Padawan Darsha Assant. But how can an untried Jedi and an ordinary man hope to triumph over one of the deadliest killers in the galaxy?
THE CHARACTERS:
If you go into Shadow Hunter expecting more information about Maul (his backstory, etc.), you will be disappointed. I don’t blame Reaves—I suspect Lucasfilm put an embargo on the history of Maul, Sidious, and the Sith since Lucas hadn’t finished the prequel trilogy yet—so while we learn that Sidious has trained Maul his entire life, we don’t get much more than that. Maul is still a shadowy figure: he’s unquestionably loyal to Sidious, he will do anything his Master asks, and he believes in the supremacy of the Sith. We also know that Sidious has been shaping events for decades, that his final game plan is the destruction of the Jedi Order, but a lot of his goals are still nebulous at this point. Maul isn’t a particularly complex character; he’s very good at what he does, but what he does is evil and violent. There’s not any conflict within Maul—he merely wants to see this job through to its conclusion, and it ends up being a little more difficult than he first imagined.
Maul’s job is to track down a missing Neimoidian, Hath Monchar, and make sure that he hasn’t leaked information about the upcoming blockade of Naboo to anyone. Of course, there wouldn’t be a story unless some people did uncover that knowledge, so the main trio we follow are Lorn Pavan, an information broker, his protocol droid partner I-5YQ, and Jedi Padawan Darsha Assant.
Lorn has a complicated history with the Jedi—as the story progresses, we learn that he worked for the Jedi, that his Force-sensitive child was taken by the Jedi and that they fired him from his position. He hasn’t seen his son in five years, and he has a lot of grief and anger bottled up inside over the situation. Lorn’s definitely a scoundrel type, he does some morally questionable things in an effort to make money, but when push comes to shove he also does the right thing. He thinks about weaseling his way out of this situation multiple times, but in the end he does try to get this information to the Jedi.
I like I-Five, but I am predisposed to like droids who have developed their own personality! I-Five is a hoot. Lorn views him as an equal business partner, and they don’t have that typical master-servant relationship; he relies heavily on I-Five’s ideas, and while I-Five is also not the most lawful individual (he hacked into the banking system!), he’s absolutely loyal to Lorn.
Darsha was also an interesting character. She’s around the same age as Obi-Wan Kenobi, and she’s excited to face her Jedi Trial and become an actual Knight. But she’s also unsure of herself. A lot of that devolves from her failed mission for her Trial; she second guesses herself, she doesn’t think she’s strong enough or learned enough, and she struggles at times to fully immerse herself in the Force.
Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi also appear briefly. Obi-Wan is assigned to find out what happened to Darsha after she didn’t return from her mission, and spends the book about ten steps behind Darsha and Lorn. He knows that something bad happened to Darsha and her Master, but he’s never able to uncover what precisely happened because Qui-Gon and he are sent to Naboo. No one finds out what Darsha and Lorn learned, and it’s sad—they tried to accomplish something immense, and no one will ever know. Like Outbound Flight, they make a huge sacrifice that goes unacknowledged.
PACE: THE BAD AND THE GOOD:
Going into Shadow Hunter, I found the beginning a little slow. There's a lot of setup to wade through: Darsha and Master Bondara and the failed extraction of the Black Sun informant, and well as Lorn and I-Five being double-crossed by a Toydarian, desperately needing money, meeting with Monchar and then stealing huge sums of money AND the all-important holocron. But once Lorn encounters Maul for the first time and encounters Darsha, the story really took off from there.
You know they’re not going to be able to share this information with anyone, because then the events of The Phantom Menace would have never occurred. So in Shadow Hunter it’s less about “will they get to the Jedi in time?” and more “oh no, how will this go wrong?” Sometimes I don’t enjoy reading something where the conclusion is known from the beginning (it feels pointless, like the characters accomplished nothing), but the pace was so good and I was so interested in Lorn and Darsha’s stories that I never felt frustrated with their obvious ending.
Darsha ultimately sacrifices herself to save Lorn and I-Five; Lorn, in turn, is able to reach someone with this vital information. But it’s a gut-wrenching moment—he thinks he’s gotten to safety, but you as the reader know that he has turned to the absolute worst person in this situation. And poor I-Five never makes it to the Jedi Council, but is instead memory wiped and sold by one of Lorn’s underworld acquaintances.
THE SETTING:
I really liked the setting here—it gave me a film noir feeling, because we spend so much time in the underworld of Coruscant. This is not the glittering spires we see in The Phantom Menace: there's gangs, there's violence, and I think that's partially how Maul is able to go on a killing spree that no one really notices. Because it's the underworld, you just expect disastrous events like that to happen.
ISSUES:
I did wonder why no one picked up on Maul’s murder spree, especially when Lorn walked into the room where Monchar the Neimoidian was killed, instantly picked up on the fact that he was decapitated with a lightsaber, and realized that they had either a rogue Jedi or a Sith running around. Maul kills a bunch of Black Sun people, he fights with Master Bondara, yet somehow news of a Sith never trickles out until Maul’s appearance on Tatooine. It felt a little bit like Maul was behaving too obviously for a book called Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter.
Sometimes Maul seemed too easily foiled by Lorn and I-Five and Darsha. He’s supposedly one of the greatest swordsmen of all time, who’s been training for years—when we first encounter him in the book, he destroys four combat droids in less than a minute—but I suppose that Maul is so rigid in his thinking, so convinced that he’s better than everyone else, that he tends to underestimate those he encounters. When he duels Darsha towards the end, he doesn’t realize she has a plan until almost the last moment. I think that more than anything, Shadow Hunter shows that despite Maul’s training, the real world has the ability to flummox him. People don’t always behave how he expects them to, and that’s his greatest weakness: he thinks he knows everything, but he’s been almost sheltered and hasn’t encountered the ingenuity of others.
And perhaps in keeping with the film noir tone, there’s an unrequited romantic element here. While initially Lorn hated the Jedi, he reaches a point where he finds Darsha very attractive—and the feeling seems to be reciprocal. Nothing ever comes of it; Darsha sacrifices herself, and then Lorn dies at the end, but I felt like it was an unnecessary addition to the story. I could see the attraction on Lorn’s end, but not so much why Darsha would be interested as well. I guess I’m not sure that a two-sided attraction would have occurred, and it felt like one aspect of the story that could have been excised pretty easily. I think it’s enough for Lorn to spend time with Darsha, realize that some Jedi are good and kind, without adding a doomed romance in there as well.
IN CONCLUSION:
Shadow Hunter was a fun prequel-era noir story. Lorn and Darsha's fates are a foregone conclusion, so the interesting bits are how things go wrong, how they outsmart Darth Maul, and how they eventually fail in their mission. I wasn't crazy about the romantic elements, and the initial pace was a bit too slow, but this was still an enjoyable read despite my initial disinterest in Maul's character.
Next up: James Luceno’s prequel novel to The Phantom Menace, Cloak of Deception.
My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/upZs6hoohHg
For 2022, I decided to go back in time and reread all the Prequels Era novels published between 1999 and 2005, plus a smidgen of other novels (like Survivor's Quest and the Dark Nest trilogy) released during that time frame. This shakes out to 21 novels, four eBook novellas, and at least thirteen short stories.
This week’s focus: a novel from 2001 set immediately prior to The Phantom Menace: Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter by Michael Reaves.
SOME HISTORY:
Michael Reaves wrote or co-wrote nine Star Wars books between 2001 and 2013, but he is perhaps better known as a screenwriter of animated series—he served as the head writer for Batman: The Animated Series, Gargoyles, and Spider-Man Unlimited (to name a few). Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter made it to number nine on the New York Times bestseller list for two separate weeks: the week of February 18 and the week of March 4, 2001--and was on the NYT list for four weeks.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
I’m fairly certain that I read Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter when it was released, but I didn’t have any memories of it—Maul isn’t one of my favorite characters, he always felt like a menacing cipher to me.
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
After years of waiting in the shadows, Darth Sidious meets secretly with the Trade Federation to plan the blockade of the planet Naboo. But one member of the Nemoidian delegation is missing, and Sidious orders his apprentice, Darth Maul, to hunt the traitor down. The future of the Republic depends on Lorn Pavan, an information broker, and Jedi Padawan Darsha Assant. But how can an untried Jedi and an ordinary man hope to triumph over one of the deadliest killers in the galaxy?
THE CHARACTERS:
If you go into Shadow Hunter expecting more information about Maul (his backstory, etc.), you will be disappointed. I don’t blame Reaves—I suspect Lucasfilm put an embargo on the history of Maul, Sidious, and the Sith since Lucas hadn’t finished the prequel trilogy yet—so while we learn that Sidious has trained Maul his entire life, we don’t get much more than that. Maul is still a shadowy figure: he’s unquestionably loyal to Sidious, he will do anything his Master asks, and he believes in the supremacy of the Sith. We also know that Sidious has been shaping events for decades, that his final game plan is the destruction of the Jedi Order, but a lot of his goals are still nebulous at this point. Maul isn’t a particularly complex character; he’s very good at what he does, but what he does is evil and violent. There’s not any conflict within Maul—he merely wants to see this job through to its conclusion, and it ends up being a little more difficult than he first imagined.
Maul’s job is to track down a missing Neimoidian, Hath Monchar, and make sure that he hasn’t leaked information about the upcoming blockade of Naboo to anyone. Of course, there wouldn’t be a story unless some people did uncover that knowledge, so the main trio we follow are Lorn Pavan, an information broker, his protocol droid partner I-5YQ, and Jedi Padawan Darsha Assant.
Lorn has a complicated history with the Jedi—as the story progresses, we learn that he worked for the Jedi, that his Force-sensitive child was taken by the Jedi and that they fired him from his position. He hasn’t seen his son in five years, and he has a lot of grief and anger bottled up inside over the situation. Lorn’s definitely a scoundrel type, he does some morally questionable things in an effort to make money, but when push comes to shove he also does the right thing. He thinks about weaseling his way out of this situation multiple times, but in the end he does try to get this information to the Jedi.
I like I-Five, but I am predisposed to like droids who have developed their own personality! I-Five is a hoot. Lorn views him as an equal business partner, and they don’t have that typical master-servant relationship; he relies heavily on I-Five’s ideas, and while I-Five is also not the most lawful individual (he hacked into the banking system!), he’s absolutely loyal to Lorn.
Darsha was also an interesting character. She’s around the same age as Obi-Wan Kenobi, and she’s excited to face her Jedi Trial and become an actual Knight. But she’s also unsure of herself. A lot of that devolves from her failed mission for her Trial; she second guesses herself, she doesn’t think she’s strong enough or learned enough, and she struggles at times to fully immerse herself in the Force.
Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi also appear briefly. Obi-Wan is assigned to find out what happened to Darsha after she didn’t return from her mission, and spends the book about ten steps behind Darsha and Lorn. He knows that something bad happened to Darsha and her Master, but he’s never able to uncover what precisely happened because Qui-Gon and he are sent to Naboo. No one finds out what Darsha and Lorn learned, and it’s sad—they tried to accomplish something immense, and no one will ever know. Like Outbound Flight, they make a huge sacrifice that goes unacknowledged.
PACE: THE BAD AND THE GOOD:
Going into Shadow Hunter, I found the beginning a little slow. There's a lot of setup to wade through: Darsha and Master Bondara and the failed extraction of the Black Sun informant, and well as Lorn and I-Five being double-crossed by a Toydarian, desperately needing money, meeting with Monchar and then stealing huge sums of money AND the all-important holocron. But once Lorn encounters Maul for the first time and encounters Darsha, the story really took off from there.
You know they’re not going to be able to share this information with anyone, because then the events of The Phantom Menace would have never occurred. So in Shadow Hunter it’s less about “will they get to the Jedi in time?” and more “oh no, how will this go wrong?” Sometimes I don’t enjoy reading something where the conclusion is known from the beginning (it feels pointless, like the characters accomplished nothing), but the pace was so good and I was so interested in Lorn and Darsha’s stories that I never felt frustrated with their obvious ending.
Darsha ultimately sacrifices herself to save Lorn and I-Five; Lorn, in turn, is able to reach someone with this vital information. But it’s a gut-wrenching moment—he thinks he’s gotten to safety, but you as the reader know that he has turned to the absolute worst person in this situation. And poor I-Five never makes it to the Jedi Council, but is instead memory wiped and sold by one of Lorn’s underworld acquaintances.
THE SETTING:
I really liked the setting here—it gave me a film noir feeling, because we spend so much time in the underworld of Coruscant. This is not the glittering spires we see in The Phantom Menace: there's gangs, there's violence, and I think that's partially how Maul is able to go on a killing spree that no one really notices. Because it's the underworld, you just expect disastrous events like that to happen.
ISSUES:
I did wonder why no one picked up on Maul’s murder spree, especially when Lorn walked into the room where Monchar the Neimoidian was killed, instantly picked up on the fact that he was decapitated with a lightsaber, and realized that they had either a rogue Jedi or a Sith running around. Maul kills a bunch of Black Sun people, he fights with Master Bondara, yet somehow news of a Sith never trickles out until Maul’s appearance on Tatooine. It felt a little bit like Maul was behaving too obviously for a book called Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter.
Sometimes Maul seemed too easily foiled by Lorn and I-Five and Darsha. He’s supposedly one of the greatest swordsmen of all time, who’s been training for years—when we first encounter him in the book, he destroys four combat droids in less than a minute—but I suppose that Maul is so rigid in his thinking, so convinced that he’s better than everyone else, that he tends to underestimate those he encounters. When he duels Darsha towards the end, he doesn’t realize she has a plan until almost the last moment. I think that more than anything, Shadow Hunter shows that despite Maul’s training, the real world has the ability to flummox him. People don’t always behave how he expects them to, and that’s his greatest weakness: he thinks he knows everything, but he’s been almost sheltered and hasn’t encountered the ingenuity of others.
And perhaps in keeping with the film noir tone, there’s an unrequited romantic element here. While initially Lorn hated the Jedi, he reaches a point where he finds Darsha very attractive—and the feeling seems to be reciprocal. Nothing ever comes of it; Darsha sacrifices herself, and then Lorn dies at the end, but I felt like it was an unnecessary addition to the story. I could see the attraction on Lorn’s end, but not so much why Darsha would be interested as well. I guess I’m not sure that a two-sided attraction would have occurred, and it felt like one aspect of the story that could have been excised pretty easily. I think it’s enough for Lorn to spend time with Darsha, realize that some Jedi are good and kind, without adding a doomed romance in there as well.
IN CONCLUSION:
Shadow Hunter was a fun prequel-era noir story. Lorn and Darsha's fates are a foregone conclusion, so the interesting bits are how things go wrong, how they outsmart Darth Maul, and how they eventually fail in their mission. I wasn't crazy about the romantic elements, and the initial pace was a bit too slow, but this was still an enjoyable read despite my initial disinterest in Maul's character.
Next up: James Luceno’s prequel novel to The Phantom Menace, Cloak of Deception.
My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/upZs6hoohHg
January 16, 2025
“Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter” is my first Maul-specific Star Wars novel, the rest of my exposure to the character being “The Phantom Menace”, the various shows, a few comics, and one short story. Shadow Hunter acts as a fun but non essential bit of background for Phantom Menace with one Trade Federation official trying to leak details about the impending blockade of Naboo and Maul being tasked with hunting down anyone that finds out about the plot. Shadow Hunter’s story isn’t too deep and it's clear that Maul will succeed in his mission as Phantom Menace shows the blockade happening and the Jedi not learning about Maul/the Sith’s plot until then. Still I found the novel more than entertaining.
The titular character does exactly what you expect to in a story like this. Whenever Maul hunts his targets, he shows up at a new set piece, kills a lot of people while his primary targets elude him, rinse & repeat. Not too much to the conflict but that’s fine because I picked up the book for Maul’s action scenes. As this is before the Clone Wars’ renaissance for the character, Maul himself isn’t as deep as a character, he only serves to be an intimidating Sith warrior whose only goal is to serve his master and kill Jedi. Really the only bit of nuance to his personality is the respect he develops for one of Michael Reaves original character Lorn Pavan, who constantly avoids Maul despite having no Force talents.
While most of the supporting cast are stock Star Wars characters (Hutt gangsters, bounty hunters, etc.) that are essentially dead people walking with Maul around, Pavan and the other main characters have a bit more nuance to them. Pavan’s pretty much a protagonist in a crime noir story that’s become a horror movie and while I don’t think he’s a favorite, I did appreciate the background Reaves gave him and his distrust of the Jedi. I5, the sarcastic and dangerous protocol droid, might not have had too much of an impact on me as I was already introduced to 000 but I5 was a pretty amusing addition to the cast (I know he pops up again in other Reaves books so I’m curious as to what capacity). Darsha Assant is mostly just there to serve as a counterpart to Obi-Wan as a Padawan taking on Maul but there’s nothing too offensive about her. Speaking of Obi-Wan he rounds out the cast, and while I don’t think he added too much to the novel as someone just viewing the aftermath of everyone else’s fights, it was fun seeing him.
The first part of the book when most of the characters are separate was fine but felt very disjointed. The book does pick up significantly in Part 2 when Maul’s targets all team up and it goes from a film noir story to a mix of a horror movie and thriller. There’s some fun exploration of Coruscant’s (literal and figurative) underworld , some good character interactions (the only aspect I didn’t care for was the forced attraction between Pavan and Darsha) and some nice twists and turns, particularly the way Reeves ensures the Sith’s plot isn’t revealed before Phantom Menace.
Overall while not essential, Shadow Hunter’s story and characters were still very entertaining. The thing that really made the experience for me was the audiobook’s quality. I had listened to the recent unabridged recording narrated by Maul himself, Sam Witwer (with all respect meant to Ray Park and Peter Serafinowicz). As someone who has made himself beloved by fans for voicing Star Wars characters, Witwer frankly made Shadow Hunter a hit. He struggles when voicing Neimoidian characters (TBF its hard for anyone to voice a species with racially insensitive vocal patterns) and there are times when he switches his voice to other character’s voices in chapters whose POV is a different character’s. But these aren’t enough to detract from the strength of Witwer’s strong performance here.
Again, it’s not essential, it lacks some of the nuance that later Darth Maul stories added, but fans of the character and franchise should enjoy “Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter” despite its flaws. It's got me interested in the rest of Reaves Star Wars books which I'll be getting to in the future.
The titular character does exactly what you expect to in a story like this. Whenever Maul hunts his targets, he shows up at a new set piece, kills a lot of people while his primary targets elude him, rinse & repeat. Not too much to the conflict but that’s fine because I picked up the book for Maul’s action scenes. As this is before the Clone Wars’ renaissance for the character, Maul himself isn’t as deep as a character, he only serves to be an intimidating Sith warrior whose only goal is to serve his master and kill Jedi. Really the only bit of nuance to his personality is the respect he develops for one of Michael Reaves original character Lorn Pavan, who constantly avoids Maul despite having no Force talents.
While most of the supporting cast are stock Star Wars characters (Hutt gangsters, bounty hunters, etc.) that are essentially dead people walking with Maul around, Pavan and the other main characters have a bit more nuance to them. Pavan’s pretty much a protagonist in a crime noir story that’s become a horror movie and while I don’t think he’s a favorite, I did appreciate the background Reaves gave him and his distrust of the Jedi. I5, the sarcastic and dangerous protocol droid, might not have had too much of an impact on me as I was already introduced to 000 but I5 was a pretty amusing addition to the cast (I know he pops up again in other Reaves books so I’m curious as to what capacity). Darsha Assant is mostly just there to serve as a counterpart to Obi-Wan as a Padawan taking on Maul but there’s nothing too offensive about her. Speaking of Obi-Wan he rounds out the cast, and while I don’t think he added too much to the novel as someone just viewing the aftermath of everyone else’s fights, it was fun seeing him.
The first part of the book when most of the characters are separate was fine but felt very disjointed. The book does pick up significantly in Part 2 when Maul’s targets all team up and it goes from a film noir story to a mix of a horror movie and thriller. There’s some fun exploration of Coruscant’s (literal and figurative) underworld , some good character interactions (the only aspect I didn’t care for was the forced attraction between Pavan and Darsha) and some nice twists and turns, particularly the way Reeves ensures the Sith’s plot isn’t revealed before Phantom Menace.
Overall while not essential, Shadow Hunter’s story and characters were still very entertaining. The thing that really made the experience for me was the audiobook’s quality. I had listened to the recent unabridged recording narrated by Maul himself, Sam Witwer (with all respect meant to Ray Park and Peter Serafinowicz). As someone who has made himself beloved by fans for voicing Star Wars characters, Witwer frankly made Shadow Hunter a hit. He struggles when voicing Neimoidian characters (TBF its hard for anyone to voice a species with racially insensitive vocal patterns) and there are times when he switches his voice to other character’s voices in chapters whose POV is a different character’s. But these aren’t enough to detract from the strength of Witwer’s strong performance here.
Again, it’s not essential, it lacks some of the nuance that later Darth Maul stories added, but fans of the character and franchise should enjoy “Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter” despite its flaws. It's got me interested in the rest of Reaves Star Wars books which I'll be getting to in the future.
April 21, 2016
About halfway through this novel, I remembered I had read something else by Reaves. He was the co-author with Neil Gaiman on InterWorld, an ultimately disappointing and notably non-Gaiman story that read like it was more Reaves working from a Gaiman idea than a true collaboration. I didn't remember because of the style or anything like that, though; I just realized it out of the blue.
Shadow Hunter feels somewhat similar to InterWorld, since it, too, uses an idea that someone else developed. To Reaves' credit, he writes an original story, and avoids making it about existing characters, but with the Star Wars universe there, a lot of the work was already complete. The same is true for all the other writers who wrote stories set in the universe, so it's unfair to hold him alone to that standard, but somehow Shadow Hunters feels like it doesn't reach the same level those other writers reached. Part of it is that story simply doesn't feel significant.
Shadow Hunters is ostensibly about Maul chasing down a Neimoidian who could reveal Palpatine's plans to bring down the Galactic Senate, but really the story is about Lorn Pavan, an information broker who stumbles across the plans, his Droid partner I-5YQ, and Darsha Assant, a Padawan who becomes involved with the both of them as Maul tracks them down for the information they have. Throughout the novels, Maul has felt like a cardboard cutout of a character, which fits, since that's how he felt in The Phantom Menace, too. What attention he does get in his books seems to be devoted to how skilled he is, how devoted he is to Palpatine, and how strong he is in the Force, but he doesn't make for a compelling character around which to build a full story. Luckily for us, Reaves brings in the additional characters to have enough of a frame for Maul to do his thing, but the story is ultimately weak in terms of the overall universe of Star Wars. Even in Deceived, which was a more personal story instead of a galaxy-spanning story of intrigue, the background of the story added to the context of the universe. It seems like Reaves started with a "What If?" experiment -- what would happen if Palpatine's plans to block Naboo were to be revealed too soon? -- but then it devolved into an adventure story that ignored the larger implications of that experiment. It's not bad, as far as adventure stories go, but it doesn't feel appropriately Star Wars enough, despite being a supposed showcase for Maul.
Another strike against the story is that we know how it has to end. This is a prequel novel to The Phantom Menace, so we know Maul has to survive the story in order to be available to do his part in that story, making whatever tension there would normally be in the story irrelevant. It's interesting to see how the other characters respond to Maul, but knowing that Maul's goal is to eliminate all the people who know of the plan, and that Maul will survive the story, means that there's only one possible outcome for the story. That outcome makes the entire novel feel somewhat pointless.
Shadow Hunters feels like a YA novel. Any of the books I've read so far in the series would be appropriate for any age reader (well, maybe not the two Joe Schreiber books...), but this was the first one I read that felt like it was written for a younger audience. Aside from the younger characters and their getting caught up with juvenile concerns -- Obi-Wan and Lorn both acknowledge their attraction to Darsha -- there's something about Reaves' narrative that feels like it's for younger readers. It isn't pandering, but it does lack some subtlety, which reminds me of YA fiction.
Reaves brings in the Jedi, as the story is set on Coruscant, but he does so without any real subtlety. He establishes the character of Darsha well enough, but when it comes time to bring in the Jedi Council, he gives us Qui-Gon, Yoda, and Mace Windu, though without any introduction or explanation. He also uses Obi-Wan as a secondary character, but still doesn't develop him enough for him to feel fully realized. The characters are well known enough that it isn't necessary to go into a lot of background, and he captured Mace Windu's voice fairly well (though, oddly, his attempt at Yoda's dialogue felt clumsy), but it bothered me that he expected us to fill in the characterization for these characters instead of truly creating them for his story. Since they only feature in just a few pages, they feel superfluous, like Reaves is reminding us that yes, he's actually writing a Star Wars novel.
The novel ends with two short stories "Saboteur" and "Restraint", both written by James Luceno, and both take place before not just this book, but also Lockdown, the preceding book. The chronology is weird, but I stuck with reading these in the proper chronological order.
"Restraint" isn't particularly noteworthy, save for the fact that it is intended to further explain some history behind Maul and Asajj Ventress, as their origins were altered in the animated series The Clone Wars. In the story, Maul is being trained at an off-planet location, but he's not allowed to use his Force powers in his training. During this training, women from Dathomir, Maul's home planet, come to reclaim him for their society. Not being familiar with The Clone Wars, I don't understand the full implications of the story, and it winds up feeling very pedestrian. I will say that Luceno captures Maul's impetuous, arrogant character fairly well.
"Saboteur" is actually a better story. Maybe I'm getting used to Luceno's style, but I thought he did a good job of keeping the story interesting. That being said, a Sith stealthily recording conversations and pitting two corporations against each other is about as "Star Wars" as a cat video. Apart from Sidious using the rivalry as a means to further the Trade Federation's grip on trade, it didn't have much to do with the larger Star Wars story at all.
Honestly, Shadow Hunters isn't a bad book, but it doesn't fit in with the other books I've read in the Expanded Universe. It feels too much like it was written to feed the demand for Maul, and not enough like Reaves had a good story he wanted to tell in the universe. If he had eliminated Maul entirely from the story and written the book as a standalone story focusing on his main characters and marketed it for the YA crowd, I would have gone easier on the book, but for all that build-up, the story ends up lacking.
Shadow Hunter feels somewhat similar to InterWorld, since it, too, uses an idea that someone else developed. To Reaves' credit, he writes an original story, and avoids making it about existing characters, but with the Star Wars universe there, a lot of the work was already complete. The same is true for all the other writers who wrote stories set in the universe, so it's unfair to hold him alone to that standard, but somehow Shadow Hunters feels like it doesn't reach the same level those other writers reached. Part of it is that story simply doesn't feel significant.
Shadow Hunters is ostensibly about Maul chasing down a Neimoidian who could reveal Palpatine's plans to bring down the Galactic Senate, but really the story is about Lorn Pavan, an information broker who stumbles across the plans, his Droid partner I-5YQ, and Darsha Assant, a Padawan who becomes involved with the both of them as Maul tracks them down for the information they have. Throughout the novels, Maul has felt like a cardboard cutout of a character, which fits, since that's how he felt in The Phantom Menace, too. What attention he does get in his books seems to be devoted to how skilled he is, how devoted he is to Palpatine, and how strong he is in the Force, but he doesn't make for a compelling character around which to build a full story. Luckily for us, Reaves brings in the additional characters to have enough of a frame for Maul to do his thing, but the story is ultimately weak in terms of the overall universe of Star Wars. Even in Deceived, which was a more personal story instead of a galaxy-spanning story of intrigue, the background of the story added to the context of the universe. It seems like Reaves started with a "What If?" experiment -- what would happen if Palpatine's plans to block Naboo were to be revealed too soon? -- but then it devolved into an adventure story that ignored the larger implications of that experiment. It's not bad, as far as adventure stories go, but it doesn't feel appropriately Star Wars enough, despite being a supposed showcase for Maul.
Another strike against the story is that we know how it has to end. This is a prequel novel to The Phantom Menace, so we know Maul has to survive the story in order to be available to do his part in that story, making whatever tension there would normally be in the story irrelevant. It's interesting to see how the other characters respond to Maul, but knowing that Maul's goal is to eliminate all the people who know of the plan, and that Maul will survive the story, means that there's only one possible outcome for the story. That outcome makes the entire novel feel somewhat pointless.
Shadow Hunters feels like a YA novel. Any of the books I've read so far in the series would be appropriate for any age reader (well, maybe not the two Joe Schreiber books...), but this was the first one I read that felt like it was written for a younger audience. Aside from the younger characters and their getting caught up with juvenile concerns -- Obi-Wan and Lorn both acknowledge their attraction to Darsha -- there's something about Reaves' narrative that feels like it's for younger readers. It isn't pandering, but it does lack some subtlety, which reminds me of YA fiction.
Reaves brings in the Jedi, as the story is set on Coruscant, but he does so without any real subtlety. He establishes the character of Darsha well enough, but when it comes time to bring in the Jedi Council, he gives us Qui-Gon, Yoda, and Mace Windu, though without any introduction or explanation. He also uses Obi-Wan as a secondary character, but still doesn't develop him enough for him to feel fully realized. The characters are well known enough that it isn't necessary to go into a lot of background, and he captured Mace Windu's voice fairly well (though, oddly, his attempt at Yoda's dialogue felt clumsy), but it bothered me that he expected us to fill in the characterization for these characters instead of truly creating them for his story. Since they only feature in just a few pages, they feel superfluous, like Reaves is reminding us that yes, he's actually writing a Star Wars novel.
The novel ends with two short stories "Saboteur" and "Restraint", both written by James Luceno, and both take place before not just this book, but also Lockdown, the preceding book. The chronology is weird, but I stuck with reading these in the proper chronological order.
"Restraint" isn't particularly noteworthy, save for the fact that it is intended to further explain some history behind Maul and Asajj Ventress, as their origins were altered in the animated series The Clone Wars. In the story, Maul is being trained at an off-planet location, but he's not allowed to use his Force powers in his training. During this training, women from Dathomir, Maul's home planet, come to reclaim him for their society. Not being familiar with The Clone Wars, I don't understand the full implications of the story, and it winds up feeling very pedestrian. I will say that Luceno captures Maul's impetuous, arrogant character fairly well.
"Saboteur" is actually a better story. Maybe I'm getting used to Luceno's style, but I thought he did a good job of keeping the story interesting. That being said, a Sith stealthily recording conversations and pitting two corporations against each other is about as "Star Wars" as a cat video. Apart from Sidious using the rivalry as a means to further the Trade Federation's grip on trade, it didn't have much to do with the larger Star Wars story at all.
Honestly, Shadow Hunters isn't a bad book, but it doesn't fit in with the other books I've read in the Expanded Universe. It feels too much like it was written to feed the demand for Maul, and not enough like Reaves had a good story he wanted to tell in the universe. If he had eliminated Maul entirely from the story and written the book as a standalone story focusing on his main characters and marketed it for the YA crowd, I would have gone easier on the book, but for all that build-up, the story ends up lacking.
October 26, 2025
If you are going to pick this book up, I highly recommend going the audiobook route as Sam Witwer did an amazing job. He really gives his all in every audiobook I’ve listened to him read. (He’s also the voice of Darth Maul in the Clone Wars TV show so that was a nice touch as well.) He did a great job voicing Maul of course, but he also did an amazing Darth Sidious AND (my personal favorite) an AMAZING impression of Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon (one of my favorite Star Wars characters). Between Sam’s performance and the fun sound effects, the audiobook was excellent.
I just wish I had enjoyed the story itself more.
It was repetitive, and for a book about Darth Maul, he felt like a side character. I thought the book would give more dimension to his character but it really didn’t.
I liked the friendship between Lorn Pavan and I5, but I didn’t really care for Darsha.
This is set just before The Phantom Menace which kind of made the whole book…obsolete? I mean, if you’ve seen the movie you know that the plan worked.
Still a really enjoyable audiobook though. Definitely recommend!
I just wish I had enjoyed the story itself more.
It was repetitive, and for a book about Darth Maul, he felt like a side character. I thought the book would give more dimension to his character but it really didn’t.
I liked the friendship between Lorn Pavan and I5, but I didn’t really care for Darsha.
This is set just before The Phantom Menace which kind of made the whole book…obsolete? I mean, if you’ve seen the movie you know that the plan worked.
Still a really enjoyable audiobook though. Definitely recommend!
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