In the declining days of the so-called Star Wars "Expanded Universe," there were largely two kinds of books: tedious ongoing event series (like Legacy of the Force and Fate of the Jedi) and very disconnected standalones (such as Paul Kemp's Crosscurrent). The former category I gave up on as the ongoing narrative kept getting worse and worse, but the latter I kept buying, on the basis that a standalone adventure could be the kind of fun I want out of a Star Wars tie-in.
Star Wars: Shadow Games |
Published: 2011 Read: September 2024 |
At this point, fun standalones are what I want out of the EU, but this one didn't hit the mark for me. Too fast, too many complications that ultimately got ridiculous, too little emphasis on character. I think there was probably an interesting story to be told about Dash's state of mind, his reluctance to join up with a group like the Rebellion and so on, his dealing with the trauma of his past, but the novel doesn't really go into that in a meaningful way. It's kind of just there when it ought to be the crux of the story, I think.
Also I am no longer a continuity nut as I once was, but seemingly everyone in the galaxy knowing Prince Xizor was the leader of Black Sun is a pretty big inconsistency with what is literally the only other book to feature Dash and Xizor. So though I appreciate this book was allowed to exist, it's much more of a miss than a hit.
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