Star Wars: Shadow of the Sith was written by Adam Chrisopher. This novel was published by Del-Rey (thanks for the ARC for review). This story takes place seventeen years after the events of Return of the Jedi.
SUMMARY
A young family is on the run. Dathan, Miramir, and little Rey (Palpatine) are being hunted down by the Sith Eternal Cultists. The family is to be taken to Exegol. New Republic forces stumble upon Dathan and Miramir’s ship while the family was under attack, the Republic rescues the family, and files a report with them before the family heads back out into space.
Lando Calrissian is having the Sabbac game of his life, when he overhears a guy called Ochi of Bastoon talking with some goons about the Sith and kidnapping a girl. This hits hard for Lando, as his own daughter was taken from him six years ago, when she was just two years old! Lando then reaches out to Luke Skywalker, knowing that he would absolutely want to hear of any Sith happenings in the galaxy.
Luke has been training new students of the force, including his nephew, Ben Solo. Luke senses something dark on the horizon, but can’t pin down exactly what it is. When Lando reaches out to him about Sith shenanigans, the two hit the road to save a family from being kidnapped and to find out more about the Sith and their secrets.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
I was pretty excited for this book, a new Luke story featuring Lando. The lesson I learned, once again, is to keep expectations low. What I thought was going to be a fun adventure, turned out to be a boring and depressing tale.
The author does a pretty good job with descriptions, however, sometimes it turns into a detail overload, describing the same thing in slightly different ways… it’s very repetitive. The format of the shorter chapters is something I have really come to enjoy, it makes the story feel like it’s moving along quickly.
The story heavily ties to the sequel trilogy, lightly touching on some of the questions that were raised by the films, but not fully answering anything. I get the feeling that the story group still doesn’t really know how to handle characters or situations in this New Republic era. A lot of ancient Sith lore is mentioned, but never fully explored. While answering some questions from the sequels, it actually raises new questions… being vague and mysterious does not make a story good – the sequel films were vague and mysterious, and many fans were unsatisfied by the lack of depth with the story and characters.
Ochi, the Jedi Hunter that worked with Sidious and Vader, is now working for the Sith Eternal Cultists. He is in a public place, talking about working with the Sith, telling secrets, telling of his past, and how he’s on a mission to kidnap a child. One, the word “kidnap” is a little too silly sounding in Star Wars. Two, Ochi is in PUBLIC, so EVERYONE can hear his plans.
At times, the story read like a YA or children’s book. Some moments with the Sith Eternal Cultists that could have been creepy, come across cheesy. There is a planet that we visit, called Yoturba, I kept reading it as YouTuber, I can’t be the only one that did this. That line from The Rise of Skywalker that goes something like “Somehow, Palptine has returned” is echoed in a way, “Somehow, the Sith blade knew it murdered and enjoyed it.”
Do I recommend you read this novel? If you’re a huge fan of the sequel trilogy, then you might enjoy this book. If you didn’t like the sequels, this one may not be for you.
RATING
I have to give Star Wars: Shadow of the Sith 1/5 stars or a D. The story really lacked depth and good characterization of the characters we know and love.