JasperKazai’s Reviews > Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire > Status Update

Like I said when I started, I did not remember many details at all. The fact that Xizor convinced the Emperor to leak the second Death Star plans to the Rebels is... ehhh. It's not the worst idea ever, but it's very unnecessary. The ever-present prequel problem: you are adding unintended context to a story that was already complete. Black Sun giving Leia the Boussh disguise she uses in RotJ is also unnecessary.

Luke finishes constructing his lightsaber, and then the next scene that we see him, a swoop gang comes out of nowhere with the sole intent of killing him. Nothing but a flimsy excuse for an action scene with the lightsaber, lol. It feels like a TTRPG session where you throw meaningless filler baddies at the players so they have something to beat up. Is this really the best use of the limited space that a novel has??

Having a good time so far. But Prince Xizor really does come across a bit like a super special oc donut steel. He's a crime sydnicate boss, is not human, but he's the Emperor's second favorite person? The racist/xenophobic Emperor?? It doesn't make much sense. Also how Jabba just agreed to Xizor's summons, and also obeyed his commands without hesitation, is silly. I'm nitpicking, but I'd be a hypocrite if I wasn't.

I've been looking forward to this. I have read this before, and I remember enjoying it, but I honestly don't remember many details. (I mean, it's probably been close to if not more than 20 years since I read it! My god what is time) Shadows of the Empire was a pretty cool multimedia project in its day. The N64 game is iconic. This is absolutely emblematic of Star Wars for me.