3/5 Rancors - Street of Shadows by Michael Reaves is the second book in the Coruscant Nights trilogy, set in the months after Order 66 changes the galaxy forever. It follows the continuing adventures of private investigator Jax Pavan and his oddly-assorted band of sidekicks. This trilogy is not as tightly interwoven as the usual Star Wars offerings: there are links and some sense of progression between the first two books but the main plotlines are almost completely independent of one another. The main arc so far that is tying these books together is the various discoveries concerning Pavan's past and ultimately it looks like it will morph into his connections to Darth Vader as the final narrative thrust.The main storyline of Street of Shadows concerns the murder of renowned Caasmasi light sculptor Ves Volette. The almost total destruction of Ves' homeworld Caamas (an event with echoes explored much further down the timeline in the Star Wars Expanded Universe) spurs him to create a piece in protest of the Empire and its ignoble actions. Almost immediately after, he is destroyed, and his partner, the beautiful Zeltron Dejah Duare, employs Jax to solve the mystery. Jax gathers his friends, including recurring Reaves' characters I-Five and Den Dhur, along with a couple introduced in Jedi Twilight, and they set off through both the lofty heights and lightless depths of Coruscant to see what they can find.
Concurrently, Captain Typho, Padme's chief of security from Episodes II and III, sets off for Coruscant in an attempt to solve the mystery surrounding Padme's death and thereby do justice to his unrequited love for her. This love is a surprising development, to say the least, and although the Typho scenes are entertaining, he does feel somewhat shoe-horned into the storyline. However, he has the single best scene in the book, a riotously funny sequence in which he exchanges insults with a Jenet bureaucrat named Losh. The Jenet culture thrives on rude exchanges instead of meek shows of respect and their banter is priceless.This trilogy is developing an interesting pattern of fleshing out a wide array of both movie and EU characters. Prince Xizor and Nick Rostu come to mind from the first volume, whereas Street of Shadows utilizes the aforementioned Typho plus blink-and-you-miss-her Phantom Menace bounty hunter Aurra Sing. Aurra has appeared in a variety of comics and a couple of books, but Reaves does fill in intriguing parts of her background that had not been revealed before. She brings a sense of menace to the story, one that the reader is aware of long before the protagonists. It's not clear if she'll return in the third book, Patterns of Force, or not: I'm hoping so, as the end of her story here is a tad unfulfilling.Overall this is an entertaining second entry in the series, although not quite as novel and fresh as Jedi Twilight was. The continuing ties back to Reaves' earlier story Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter are interesting, exploring Jax's reactions to his increasing knowledge of his past and also his associate Haninum Tyk Rhinann's developing plans to make his own devious use of this information about the Jedi and Sith. The stage is set for a third volume with a final showdown between Jax and Vader, who Reaves writes very well.
4/5 Rancors - The aptly-named Jedi Twilight, the first book of the Coruscant Nights trilogy by Michael Reaves, is an adventurous, fast-paced romp of a tale that skillfully weaves in many characters and story elements of the larger Expanded Universe. The setting is the largely untapped Dark Times, the eighteen years between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. The Jedi have been decimated by the infamous Order 66, Emperor Palpatine is consolidating his grasp on the galaxy and building his new Empire, and Darth Vader is growing comfortable in his position at his master's side.Reaves brings a very intriguing cast of characters to this story. Referencing his own earlier works, the main character is Jax Pavan, son of Lorn Pavan who had the limelight in Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter. Happily, Lorn's sarcastic and self-aware droid sidekick I-5YQ returns, bringing along his closest friend, Sullustan reporter Den Dhur. Den was first featured in another Reaves work, the Medstar duology, as was rising Black Sun vigo Kaird, also returning here. More surprisingly, Reaves also grabs Prince Xizor of Steve Perry's Shadows of the Empire fame and tosses in Nick Rostu from the superb Shatterpoint by Matthew Stover. It's definitely an interesting brew of characters.
The storyline primarily focuses on weaving relationships between these disparate people, using a chase for a missing protocol droid named 10-4TO as its focal point. Reaves deftly depicts the grittiness and peril of the less desirable reaches of Coruscant, creating a vaguely film noir atmosphere with what really is a detective story at its core. The inclusion of Prince Xizor and the insights into his ascension up Black Sun's ladder are particularly compelling reading. The sections featuring Vader are brief, and some of his dialogue doesn't seem quite right tonally. Arguably, since this is so early into Anakin's career as Vader, he may indeed have spoken differently from the familiar dialogue we heard in the Original Trilogy. His actions, however, are very much in keeping with his characterization from the films.Events weave into a gripping climax set in Coruscant's downtrodden Factory District. There is an illuminating foreshadowing of Xizor's humaniform creation Guri in his hidden facility, and Reaves brings an extremely entertaining new concept to the Star Wars universe in the form of feral droids. These regressed droids are the result of programming gone haywire and act as a thematic counterpoint to the heightened self-awareness of I-5.Jedi Twilight is a fun, entertaining kickoff to a promising trilogy. Reaves does a good job with managing an unusual cast and setting up future books while simultaneously creating a reasonably self-contained story. The book doesn't end with a particular cliffhanger, but through its strong character focus it creates excitement for the second volume in the series, Street of Shadows.
3/5 Rancors - Wild Space is set during the Clone Wars that have been popularized recently by last year’s feature film and the current TV series. Obi-Wan, Anakin, Padme, Ashoka, Yoda, Bail Organa, and several other familiar characters play key roles in this tale. The book itself is a trade paperback, and I hope that will set a trend for future star Wars books. The cover of the book shows a squad of clone troopers, which seems appropriate for the action taking place during the Clone Wars. However, clone troopers actually do not play a major role in the book. A more appropriate cover would have shown Obi-Wan and Bail Organa.
The first part of the book is concerned mainly with Anakin and Padme and their blossoming relationship. The tale begins with the aftermath of the battle of Geonosis and moves on from there. The two lovers are struggling to keep their relationship secret, and Obi-Wan is charged by Yoda with the responsibility of telling Padme that she needs to keep her distance from Anakin. The Jedi receive a tip that General Grievous is taking his fleet to attack Bothawui and clearly that cannot be allowed to happen. One of the Jedi needs to lead a battle fleet to Bothawui and stop Grievous. Obi-Wan has just been injured in a terrorist attack on Coruscant, so he is not available. The Jedi Council, despite misgivings, decides that Anakin should lead the fleet. So Anakin heads off with his troops and cruisers to do battle with Grievous, and we expect to read about a momentous battle. Well, that is not to be. More on that in a minute.
During this same timeframe, Bail Organa receives a tip from his secret sources that the Sith are planning efforts to eliminate the Jedi. His sources want to meet Bail and a Jedi on the unknown planet of Zigoola. The Jedi take his information seriously, so the first thing you know Bail and Obi-Wan are headed off on a long trip to Zigoola to see what can be learned about the Sith. Nobody knows where Zigoola is, so our two heroes have to depend on coordinates parceled out to them at each stage of the journey by Bail’s secret sources. They eventually make it to Zigoola after barely surviving a pirate attack. They find the planet uninhabited but clearly ridden with Sith influences and the Dark Side. Both Bail and Obi-Wan almost die in their efforts to destroy a Sith temple on Zigoola and then figure out a way to return home safely.
So we basically have two stories going on in the book, and each one is worthy of our attention. The trouble is that Anakin’s efforts to defeat Grievous and save Bothawui are given short shrift after the Kenobi/Organa mission gets underway. We know that Anakin and his troops succeed, but we really don’t know any details except that he has lost R2-D2 and the important Jedi plans that the droid carries in his memory. We know that Anakin mounts an effort to find R2-D2, and then that part of the story just disappears. You have to watch the TV show to watch R2 lost and then found. I found the abrupt move away Anakin’s tale to be disconcerting.
The trip to Zigoola by Bail and Obi-Wan is described in excruciating detail, especially their conversations during the long space journeys. It was interesting at first but went on way too long. I felt a similar problem existed in the first part of the book when the author kept informing us of how much Padme and Anakin loved each other. Some pages read like a romance novel.
The book is fun to read. It is a good story, and I like the characters. I just wish that more editing had been done.
4/5 Rancors - Shadows of Mindor is set in the period after the battle of Endor. Palpatine and Vader are dead, and the New Republic is in charge. However, not everyone agrees that this is the way things should be. Serious bad guys still exist, and Luke Skywalker and his friends are called upon once again to set things right in the galaxy. This time they face a legion of black-armored stormtroopers who are led by Warlord Shadowspawn and who operate from an extremely unusual position on the planet Mindor. To further complicate matters, the Sith appear to be involved as well. Fortunately, Luke has help from Han, Leia, Chewbacca, Lando, R2-D2, and C-3P0 in this mission. Needless to say, having all of these folks back in action is great fun for the reader.
Luke is the reigning hero in the galaxy, but he is still very young and does not have a clear understanding of his role in reestablishing the Jedi, much less a clear understanding of the Force itself. He is now General Skywalker and not at all sure that he should be. Luke’s struggles in trying to find his way and win victories for the Republic while minimizing loss of life make for extremely interesting reading.
The book is extremely well done. I only had two reservations. The first is that I felt Mr. Stover had a little too much fascination with the technical side of Star Wars a few times. I think some description of ships, weapons, and technology is extremely useful to the reader, but it is possible to go overboard. My second reservation is harder to pin down without giving away some key plot points. Let me just say that I found the concepts of Shadowspan and the meltmassif substance to be difficult to grasp clearly. I believe the story could have been just as effective with Shadowspawn and his evil machinations presented in a different way.
Basically, I am quibbling here. I enjoyed the book very much and I believe any Star Wars fan would have a great time reading Shadows of Mindor.
3/5 Rancors - Lucasfilm's decision to produce a new TV series set during the Clone Wars has spurred numerous releases from virtually all of its key licensees. In the case of the novels, Del Rey is releasing five new books that build upon and expand the story we are seeing in the cartoon. Authorial duties will be split between two Karens, seasoned Star Wars vet Karen Traviss and new-to-the-EU author Karen Miller. The first book out of the gate, the novelization of the film which kicked off the whole project, was from Traviss. This second entry, Wild Space, is the first in the series to present an original story woven between the spaces in the TV show.My anticipation for this one was high. (Of course, who am I kidding? It's always high for a new Star Wars novel.) I have been thoroughly enjoying revisiting the Clone Wars via the weekly show and it's an era Del Rey had definitely not exhausted in their previous releases. Miller brings prior genre credentials to the table, including SG-1 spinoff novels, so I was quite curious to see how Wild Space would turn out.
The book starts wonderfully. Instead of kicking off post-Battle of Christophsis, Miller goes back to the aftermath of the Geonosis arena battle from Attack of the Clones. She builds an evocative portrait of the turmoil churning within the few Jedi survivors and also introduces an element which smoothes over one of the key timeline alterations that the new show has wrought. Anakin now becomes a Knight much earlier in the war than he did in the original Clone Wars multimedia project, and Miller posits that the vacuum created by the deaths of so many Knights and Masters at Geonosis required accelerated promotions of Padawans to Knighthood. This makes sense to me.However, there is another timeline issue raised by the book that's harder to reconcile, and that's placing Anakin's knighting only four weeks after Geonosis. It takes an incredible amount of retconning to stuff all his adventures as a Padawan during the war into four weeks and I'm not comfortable with that take. For now, my view on the timeline matter is the Battle of Christophsis takes place roughly six months after Geonosis. I'm sure there will be plenty of sorting of the war's events over the next few years as more is released, anyway.Miller excels in characterization and if that's something you're interested in, this book is a good bet. There is very little action for a Star Wars novel, but she takes a great deal of time in the first half exploring multiple points-of-view and sifting through the emotional debris of Geonosis. This section is excellent and I tore through it. There are scenes from Padme's perspective, something rarely addressed in prior EU stories, and building upon the Traviss novel we get a couple from the viewpoint of Darth Sidious. Good stuff. She also fleshes out Anakin and Padme's early relationship and their decision to keep their marriage a secret.Midway through the novel takes a puzzling left turn. From weaving this rich tapestry of characterizations and emotional states, Miller focuses the story entirely on two characters, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Bail Organa. I had very mixed feelings about the second half of the book. On the one hand, it's a delightful idea to begin exploring the relationship between these two, one we as viewers have been aware of dating back to the original Star Wars movie. Miller lays out the interplay between the two in detail and while doing so builds solid foundations for Obi-Wan's decision to trust this particular politician, a group of people he has little use for.On the other hand, this section of the book dragged. The plot device of Bail Organa's informant from the shadowy Friends of the Republic was incompletely sketched, as is the MacGuffin of the Sith planet of Zigoola. There is a lengthy section consisting primarily of Obi-Wan and Bail chatting as they fly from planet to planet. Once they arrive at Zigoola, there is a significantly longer section of them painfully making their way across the planet on foot, all the while being devastated by the effects of the Sith planet on Obi-Wan and by the environment itself. I had trouble getting through this part, and when the payoff comes it's just a relief to be done. This part of the book has a markedly grim tone, making it an odd match for the cartoon.Overall, Wild Space shows tremendous promise for Karen Miller as a Star Wars author: I simply didn't much care for the storyline. She shows an impressive willingness to depict the iconic prequel-era characters as actual human beings and not just as plot points. I look forward to her next entry in the Clone Wars saga and hope to see a more engaging plot coupled with her already strong characterizations.
Concurrently, Captain Typho, Padme's chief of security from Episodes II and III, sets off for Coruscant in an attempt to solve the mystery surrounding Padme's death and thereby do justice to his unrequited love for her. This love is a surprising development, to say the least, and although the Typho scenes are entertaining, he does feel somewhat shoe-horned into the storyline. However, he has the single best scene in the book, a riotously funny sequence in which he exchanges insults with a Jenet bureaucrat named Losh. The Jenet culture thrives on rude exchanges instead of meek shows of respect and their banter is priceless.
