The Continued Reboot Of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Continues With Avatar, Book 2!

The Good: Interesting characters, Resolution, Moments of concept
The Bad: Very simplified plot, Somewhat simplified writing
The Basics: A good, but not great, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novel reboots the franchise with a story that caps off the story begun in Avatar Book One!


With Star Trek: Deep Space Nine rebooting with the Avatar books, I think ultimately what I feel most bothered by is the title. The books work as a two-part season premiere or pilot to the novel series for the continuing adventures of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. And while the pilot to the television series, "Emissary" was all about Benjamin Sisko, the Emissary, Avatar is not, actually about the title character. This is like "Prelude To Avatar's Eventual Arrival," with this being part 2. And Avatar, Book Two is very much dependent upon reading Avatar, Book One (reviewed here!). This is very much a second part and it is also the introduction to an entirely new chapter of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

And it's good. It is not great, but it is good and near the end, Avatar, Book Two took a turn that made me say "that's just too convenient." A chapter or two later, I was saying, "ahhh . . . that's my Deep Space Nine!" So, it is not problematic to refer to Avatar, Book Two as erratic. It is. But it truly is a setup for a new run of novels for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine that continue the story with the same emphasis on character that the television series had. And while this book is a little more plot-heavy than most episodes of the television series were, it ends with a number of character threads established that make it enjoyable to think about coming back for the next novel.

With space station Deep Space Nine in disarray following the Jem'Hadar attack and the revelation to Kira of a prophecy that tells of ten thousand deaths to bring a new age of enlightenment to Bajor, Kira begins to question her faith, though she believes in the strength of the Bajoran people and the wisdom of the Prophets. While she seeks for proof that the supposedly pacifistic Jem'Hadar, Kitana'klan, is telling the truth about his mission from Odo, Vedek Yevir arrives on the station to recover the heretical text that her friend apparently died for. Kassidy Yates and Lieutenant Ro rail against the prophecy, but Kira suddenly finds Yevir's playing religious politics strangely familiar.

No sooner has Kira become resolved to a course of action than the U.S.S. Enterprise arrives with Commander Elias Vaughn, preparing to meet with a fleet for an impending invasion of the Gamma Quadrant to retaliate for the breaking of the treaty. Vaughn and Picard return the Orb of Memory to the Bajoran people when Kitana'klan shows his true colors and Deep Space Nine is sabotaged and hovers on the brink of destruction.

Avatar, Book One set up a number of plot threads that needed to be dealt with, as did some of the characters brought on from the various Trek series'. So, for example, the presence of Ro Laren and her betrayal of Captain Jean-Luc Picard becomes rather imperative to be dealt with as both Picard and Ro are put in the same place for the first time since the episode "Preemptive Strike" (reviewed here!). More than any other episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation or Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the reader is serviced by watching that episode before reading the second book of Avatar.

Avatar, Book Two finds the crew of Deep Space Nine dealing with the deaths from the first book, while Jake Sisko makes his attempt to bring his father back from the Celestial Temple and Nog and Shar, the new Andorian science officer, bond. The opening for Elias Vaughn was made in the first book and he seems like a good fit for the Deep Space Nine crew, though his integration is more of a plot contrivance than a character act.

Similarly, the use of the Enterprise crew seems somewhat tired when they are mentioned. The only sensible use of the Enterprise crew in Avatar, Book Two would have been for Data to use his super-speed to try to save the station when the threat was finally revealed. Data, fortunately, is not featured in this book, but there are scenes with Deanna Troi and Will Riker that seem forced in this book. Conversely, Picard's part in the book is decent, especially as it relates to Ro and her position.

Even better is the cameo by Odo. Odo, having left the station in the series finale of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is allowed a scene in Avatar, Book Two that serves as the passing the torch all of the modern Star Trek series' have possessed. Odo was always one of the most compelling characters on the show and continuing the novel series without him represented a serious difficulties for the writers, but S.D. Perry smoothly replaces Odo with Ro and still allows a cameo that keeps Odo's absence sensible and well within the character of the Changeling security chief.

Most of the book does focus on Kassidy Yates and Kira Nerys, with a subplot for Ensign Shar and one for Commander Vaughn. Vaughn's mostly just sets him up to be the new first officer on the station and to finally get rid of the Enterprise crew, Shar's sets up a backstory and history of Andorians that opens an entirely new door for the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novel writers.

Kassidy Yates is portrayed largely as afraid of Bajoran fanatics and who can blame her? Yates is presented as a moody pregnant woman stereotype, but is otherwise interesting and an effective character who is struggling to be a woman whose baby is a religious icon and is now the source of serious spiritual controversy. Her character is almost entirely devoid of the perky, quietly wise and principled character who was evident on the screen. Perhaps even more problematic is that Perry sets up a whole romantic subplot with Ro and Quark and never once mentions that Yates and Ro both were working for the Maquis at one point. In other words, there seems to be a fundamental shift between Yates from the television series to the books and it does not entirely work.

Similarly, Kira is too often characterized simply as a woman of faith. Kira was a very well-rounded character on the show and while she started the series as something of a religious fanatic, she was played more often as a former-terrorist. She then developed into a leader who had an awkward relationship between her personal faith and her proximity to the religious icon of the Emissary. But the television series never made played it as overtly and blindly dogmatic as Perry's Kira does. In fact, outside of being a woman of faith, she is little else in Avatar, Book Two. This is especially problematic when one considers that three months prior, the head of her religion died after allying with the enemies of her gods. That that is not truly addressed is bothersome.

However, when Perry allows Kira a moment of choice in relation to the Prophecy, it works beautifully and is very Kira. Moreover, the final moments of the book have a great Kira character moment that is very Deep Space Nine.

This book is far more likely to be enjoyed by fans of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine than fans of literature or even science fiction in general. It is more a political novel with that type of espionage and twists between religion and politics than indicative of any sort of science fiction premise. I actually like that about it and that is why I was ultimately very enthusiastic to recommend it, even if it was a pretty average book.

For other Star Trek: Deep Space Nine books, check out my reviews of:
The Fall Of Terok Nor
War Of The Prophets
Inferno

5/10

For other book reviews, please visit my Book Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the books I have reviewed!

© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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A Tale Of Two Bajorans: Kira And Ro Reboot Star Trek: Deep Space Nine With Avatar!

The Good: Generally interesting characters, Good writing
The Bad: Essentially the same plot at the first pilot to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine!
The Basics: A good, but not great, restart of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine begins with Avatar, Book One!

For those who might not read my many, many reviews, I am a huge fan of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (reviewed here!). I was one of the few who was hooked from the first episode and I cry every time the last frames come up on screen of the last episode. It was a powerful part of my life during some rather formative years, so it is almost a surprise it has taken me so long to getting around to getting into the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novel series as it has. Actually, it is not so much of a surprise: I gave up on the Star Trek novels shortly after Star Trek: Voyager began and Pocketbooks was cramming out two per month on the average month. The first original Star Trek: Voyager book was abysmal; the characters sounded nothing like the characters and it was just all-around bad.

Lately, though, I had been hearing rumors that because there was a chance somewhere between 0% and "never" of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine either returning to television or being picked up as a film franchise, Pocket Books was now being given license from the Powers That Be at CBS/Paramount to continue the story of Space Station Deep Space Nine following the series finale. Given how climactic and final "What You Leave Behind" (the series finale to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, reviewed here!) was, the novelists working on the project basically had to reboot the series and they started doing that with Avatar, Part 1 by S.D. Perry. Avatar functions as a pilot for "season eight" of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, much the way that "Emissary" (reviewed here!) functioned as a pilot for the television series.

Three months after the end of the Dominion War and the disappearance of Captain Benjamin Sisko in the Fire Caves of Bajor, Jake Sisko is working at the archaeological excavation of B'Hala when a Prylar hands him an ancient prophecy concerning him and the Emissary (Captain Sisko). Eager to see his father again, Jake abandons the dig and makes plans to make a journey that will allow the prophecy to come true. Elsewhere, in the Badlands, the U.S.S. Enterprise-E is hunting rogue Breen ships that have been sighted following the war. Instead, they come across an old Cardassian vessel that is housing a secret of its own, a secret that will call the 101 year-old Elias Vaughn to change his life.

Unfortunately, it is at this time that space station Deep Space Nine is running a complete and total retrofit of the station and the Defiant and it is at its most vulnerable. Protected by a lone ship, the new command staff of Deep Space Nine - made up of familiar faces like Colonel Kira Nerys (now the commander of the space station), Dr. Bashir, Lieutenant Nog (Chief of Operations), and Lieutenant Ezri Dax (ship's counselor) and characters entirely new or new to this context, like Security Chief Lieutenant Ro Laren, Ensign Thirishar ch'Thane (Andorian science officer), and Commander Jast (first officer) - is overrun with mechanical problems when Prylar Istani Reyla arrives on the station and is killed in an apparent robbery which also results in the death of her assailant. As Ro and Kira square off over the new security chief's handling of the situation, the station comes under attack by three Jem'Hadar attack ships. Normally this would not be a problem, but with the station and Defiant in the middle of complete overhauls . . .

Avatar, Book One is a reboot of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine franchise, but it is also a continuation of the story that was told in the television series. S.D. Perry and the producers of the novel series are smart enough to not simply recreate the television series. As a result, the characters who left in the final episode: Odo, Worf, and O'Brien are all still gone. Similarly, there are giant political and religious holes in the Cardassian and Bajoran governments. First Minister Shakaar is still the leader of Bajor, but the religious leaders from the Vedek Assembly are scheming to figure out the future of Bajor and the Cardassian Union is absent, save the mention of a letter Bashir receives from Garak.

In other words, change is entirely in the air at Deep Space Nine and three months after the final frames from the television series, Avatar picks up as a new pilot. On the good, this is very strongly the universe of Star Trek presented in this novel. The book includes the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise-E, plus Ro Laren and Simon Tarses from Star Trek: The Next Generation, making it a clear and powerful crossover with the established Star Trek universe. That both works and it doesn't. It works in that since the pilot to Star Trek: The Next Generation, there has been some firm character connection to another Star Trek series to "pass the torch." The problem here is that it was the Enterprise and Picard who appeared in "Emissary" to make that transition, so it feels much like replaying the best ideas from the television series. I understand Perry could not use any characters from Star Trek: Voyager - the U.S.S. Voyager has not made it home when this book takes place - but that feeling is still left in the text that they are rehashing "Emissary."

Nowhere is this more clear than in the character of Elias Vaughn. Vaughn is headed somewhere - though he is thinking of leaving StarFleet until he encounters what he encounters on the old Cardassian freighter - but he is painted as a man who is lost, who has a vision which appears to be taking him to Deep Space Nine. This is essentially Benjamin Sisko's character arc in "Emissary." The insulting aspect is that Perry seems to get this and Picard observes that he observed the exact change in Elias that he recognizes from the time he saw Sisko go through it.

Beyond that, Avatar is a decent fit into the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine universe. Readers would be best served by watching the episodes "The Abandoned" (reviewed here!), "Rapture" (reviewed here!) and "What You Leave Behind." Without the last two, especially, readers will likely be a bit lost as to what is going on as the events of those episodes trigger much of the action of Avatar up until the moment of the Jem'Hadar attack. Avatar, Book One actually picks up nicely as a "season eight" season premiere, though the plot similarities to "Emissary" would not be lost on readers who are fans of the television series.

What Avatar does very well is fit into the adult concepts that were presented in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. While my usual nit-pick about any Maquis being left alive had to be tabled for me to accept Ro Laren in Avatar, I enjoyed that there are casualties even in this first act of the new series. As for Ro, the fundamental problems with Ro are that she is referred to as a Lieutenant (a StarFleet rank, when she is working for the Bajorans) and there is instant conflict between her and Kira. Kira, having once been a terrorist and having worked over the seven years of the television series to accept everyone from her collaborator mother to Cardassian war criminals who were pawns in their government's machinations, seems to have taken a big step backward here. After all, Ro did her part for Bajoran refugees before the end of the Occupation, left StarFleet to join the Maquis (an organization Kira sympathized with!) and ultimately (we are told in Avatar) was part of a rogue force attacking Dominion installations during the Dominion War.

But even better is the thematic aspect of Reconstruction. The Dominion War is over, but Nog is essentially an anti-Jem'Hadar racist, Elias Vaughn is in the middle of a spiritual crisis where he wants to contribute something other than death to the galaxy (he is a great warrior for the Federation, yet has somehow never progressed beyond the rank of Commander), and Dax and Bashir are already having fractures in their young romance. That works especially well and Perry is able to do things that could not be done on television and seldom are on the shows that can; in the middle of a sex scene between Julian Bashir and Ezri Dax, there comes a huge spiritual shift in the act (Bashir senses suddenly that he is not with Ezri, but with one of the former hosts to the Dax Symbiont) and everything is thrown into chaos as a result. Politically, tensions are high about the treaty that was signed ending the Dominion War and when the Jem'Hadar ships appear and attack, fears run rampant and tensions run high. This works beautifully to open a new chapter for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Above all, it continues the story from the television series and progresses it forward. Can the book be read and get fans into this new literary Star Trek: Deep Space Nine series? Sure. But it is so specific and referential to aspects of the television show, that it will be much more appreciated by fans of the television series than by general readers.

There is a lot to like, as well, within the character of Kira, whose position as commander of Deep Space Nine was a long time coming and is well-presented here. In fact, the only troubling aspect to the Kira aspect of Avatar, Book One (outside the relationship with Ro) is that Kira HAS been here before. In fact, Kira commanded Deep Space Nine for about the same amount of time during the Dominion War when Sisko went AWOL after Jadzia's death. So, why she is so harried seems a little annoying to careful fans (like why she needs someone to coordinate with StarFleet when presumably she was doing that before a year prior - one fails to believe Worf was much of a help to her during that time!) but outside that, Nerys works and her exhausted self is well-characterized here.

In other words, there is a lot of potential here and the story is clearly just beginning . . .

For the first major portion of the eighth season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, be sure to check out Twist Of Faith, reviewed here, which includes this book and three others!

6/10

For other Star Trek books, be sure to visit my Star Trek Book Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season Eight Opens With The Omnibus Twist Of Faith!

The Good: Interesting new characters, A strong sense of history and future concept
The Bad: Not exceptional writing, A bit of repetition from the series.
The Basics: With a strong concept of the universe painted in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,Twist Of Faith collects the new novels to reboot the series as if it were the start of Season Eight!


My love of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (reviewed here!) leaves me with a strong desire to get some reading done and having just finished the omnibus Twist Of Faith, I find myself pleased to put in my two cents on it.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was arguably the least commercial of the "modern" Star Trek series and also the most adult. As the show progressed, it became more serialized and the emphasis was strongly on characters as opposed to plots. Actions had consequences and characters rose and fell as they struggled to overcome their issues and the circumstances they found themselves in. It was pretty much guaranteed that the series would not see the light of day on the big screen and as a result, it was pretty much assumed that it was a dead little corner of the Star Trek universe.

But Star Trek: Deep Space Nine had something the rest of the franchise didn't have; a core of rabid, adult fans who had both a limited disposable income and the desire to see the story progress following the series finale, "What You Leave Behind" (reviewed here!). Designed for the fans, then, Pocket Books picked up the story of space station Deep Space Nine three months after the loss of Captain Benjamin Sisko. The concept of Twist Of Faith is to present a Season Eight of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine that tells the story of the station and its vital characters following all of the cataclysmic changes that were depicted in the series finale. This mandated the presence of several new characters.

This is an omnibus edition, collecting the novels which rebooted the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine storyline and it is a simple collection of the previously-released novels:
Avatar Volume 1
Avatar Volume 2
Abyss
Demons Of Air And Darkness
and the novella "Horn And Ivory"

In Avatar (Part 1), Jake Sisko is working at the archaeological excavation of B'Hala when a Prylar hands him an ancient prophecy concerning him and the Emissary (Captain Sisko). Eager to see his father again, Jake abandons the dig and makes plans to make a journey that will allow the prophecy to come true. Elsewhere, in the Badlands, the U.S.S. Enterprise-E is hunting rogue Breen ships that have been sighted following the war. Instead, they come across an old Cardassian vessel that is housing a secret of its own, a secret that will call the 101 year-old Elias Vaughn to change his life.

Unfortunately, it is at this time that space station Deep Space Nine is running a complete and total retrofit of the station and the Defiant and it is at its most vulnerable. Protected by a lone ship, the new command staff of Deep Space Nine - made up of familiar faces like Colonel Kira Nerys (now the commander of the space station), Dr. Bashir, Lieutenant Nog (Chief of Operations), and Lieutenant Ezri Dax (ship's counselor) and characters entirely new or new to this context, like Security Chief Lieutenant Ro Laren, Ensign Thirishar ch'Thane (Andorian science officer), and Commander Jast (first officer) - is overrun with mechanical problems when Prylar Istani Reyla arrives on the station and is killed in an apparent robbery which also results in the death of her assailant. As Ro and Kira square off over the new security chief's handling of the situation, the station comes under attack by three Jem'Hadar attack ships. Normally this would not be a problem, but with the station and Defiant in the middle of complete overhauls . . .

In Avatar (Part 2), space station Deep Space Nine is in disarray following the Jem'Hadar attack and the revelation to Kira of a prophecy that tells of ten thousand deaths to bring a new age of enlightenment to Bajor. Kira begins to question her faith, though she believes in the strength of the Bajoran people and the wisdom of the Prophets. While she seeks for proof that the supposedly pacifistic Jem'Hadar, Kitana'klan, is telling the truth about his mission from Odo, Vedek Yevir arrives on the station to recover the heretical text that her friend apparently died for. Kassidy Yates and Lieutenant Ro rail against the prophecy, but Kira suddenly finds Yevir's playing religious politics strangely familiar.

No sooner has Kira become resolved to a course of action than the U.S.S. Enterprise arrives with Commander Elias Vaughn, preparing to meet with a fleet for an impending invasion of the Gamma Quadrant to retaliate for the breaking of the treaty. Vaughn and Picard return the Orb of Memory to the Bajoran people when Kitana'klan shows his true colors and Deep Space Nine is sabotaged and hovers on the brink of destruction.

In Abyss, Nog and his engineering crews haul Empok Nor to Deep Space Nine to salvage the station's reactor. As a result of the repair efforts, Colonel Kira orders all nonessential personnel to get lost for a little while. This includes the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Julian Bashir and the station's counselor Lieutenant Ezri Dax, who has now transferred to the command track. Eager to take a trip to Earth together, Bashir is frustrated when moments before his departure from the station he is intercepted by a Section 31 operative named Cole. Cole explains that the Federation's most covert organization needs Bashir's assistance. It seems in the Badlands there is a world called Sindorin where a genetically enhanced human - Dr. Ethan Locken - has taken over an abandoned Jem'Hadar production facility. Utilizing his medical training, Locken is breeding a new strain of Jem'Hadar soldiers who are loyal to him and will help him to take over the Alpha Quadrant for the genetically enhanced as the new Khan.

Eager to stop Locken from bringing his army to a truly menacing strength - whatwith the fragile peace between the Klingons and Romulans to maintain - Bashir agrees to attempt to stop Locken and thwart his ambitions on Sindorin. To accomplish his mission, Bashir and Ezri take Ro and the new Jem'Hadar attache, Taran'atar, to Sindorin. En route, they discover Locken's handiwork in the form of a derelict Romulan ship complete with corpses showing evidence of torture and when approaching Sindorin, the runabout is shot down. As a result, Taran'atar and Ro find themselves meeting with a diminutive race Ro recognizes to raise and army to attack Locken's facility. And inside the facility, Bashir becomes tempted by his madman "brother" in his quest to take over the galaxy.

In Demons Of Air And Darkness By Keith R.A. DeCandido, Commander Vaughn and the Defiant are recalled immediately after getting the new communications array in the Gamma Quadrant online. StarFleet has gone to a fleet-wide yellow alert when the mysterious Iconians return after two hundred thousand years of being absent from the Alpha Quadrant. They activate all of their gateways and the potential represented by the appearance and activation of the space and planet-bound gateways is astonishing to the leading governments of the Alpha Quadrant. While Quark goes on a mission to represent the Orion Syndicate's interests in acquiring the gateways, Kira, Vaughn, Taran'atar and Tenmei head to Europa Nova to deal with an environmental crisis while Nog and Shar try to figure out why there are no gateways near Bajor.

Quark is soon faced with a serious problem; he is negotiating against his cousin Gaila, a Ferengi who absolutely hates him. While Ezri remains in command of Deep Space Nine, Nog and Shar reason that the Denorios Belt might be responsible for the lack of gateways in the Bajoran system, before Shar is waylaid by his politician mother with additional pressures to return home. But the situation at New Europa is the crisis that seems most devastating. As Bashir works to save lives by evacuating colonists using a small fleet of ships, Kira and Taran'atar pass through the Iconian gateway to try to disable the Malon freighter that is dumping antimatter waste into New Europa's atmosphere. Unfortunately, the Malon themselves are dead, fallen prey to a Hirogen, whose hunt may cost more than just Kira and Taran'atar's lives!

Keith R.A. DeCandido also wrote "Horn And Ivory" a novella that concludes the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine portion of the Gateway saga by returning Kira to Deep Space Nine. Last seen lost on an arid planet in the Delta Quadrant, dying of theta radiation poisoning, Kira leapt through a newly discovered gateway. She awakens in Bajor's past, some thirty thousand years in the past, where she struggles alongside a local general, Torrna, for the freedom of a peninsula.

In the process of liberating the peninsula, establishing a local government, fighting off pirates and becoming besieged for the newly valuable port that the peninsula contains, Kira draws parallels with events in her own life and in Bajor's larger history. She ultimately finds the strength to go on and is returned to both the present and Deep Space Nine.

Twist Of Faith actually works a little bit better than the books on their own, because it establishes well the new characters, like Elias Vaughn, ch'Thane, Taran'atar and introduces the less vital newbies, like Bowers and Prynn. As well, it creates a larger sense of the Star Trek universe by bringing Ro Laren into "Deep Space Nine" as well as Jean-Luc Picard and the Enterprise-E. The arc of the overall story works well in an omnibus form.

For example, Kira has a decent arc as the new commander of Deep Space Nine between assuming more the mantle of leadership and her conflicts with the religious hierarchy of Bajor. Those who just pick up the latter two books as opposed to this omnibus are likely to be confused about the circumstances surrounding Kira's becoming Attainted.

Still, this is not exceptional literature and there is a lot that a reader would need to know from the series. This, unfortunately, runs smack into the writing problem: those who were attentive to the television series will wonder why Kira is so beleaguered when she spent about the same amount of time in command of Deep Space Nine under arguably worse circumstances between the sixth season finale and the seventh season premiere. The stress she seems to be under is dramatically disproportionate to her experience.

But there is enough here for science fiction and certainly Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fans to enjoy and celebrate. And it is a decent start to a new vision for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the underdog Star Trek series. So, in this case, the sum is greater than its individual parts. This is a good way to get back into Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and save some shelf space!

7/10

For other novel reviews, be sure to visit my Book Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the fiction books I have read.

© 2012, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Return To Shadows Of The Empire! The Novel Tells A Different Star Wars Story!

The Good: Some interesting concepts, Fills in the gaps adequately
The Bad: Character and plot issues that are repetitive or redundant, Simple read
The Basics: More average than extraordinary, Shadows Of The Empire, the novel, fills in a Star Wars gap, mostly by recycling characters and ideas.


A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a space adventure took place that was one of the greatest films of all time. That film was The Empire Strikes Back (reviewed here!) and it was such a magnificent movie that when the film series it was a part of returned for the next installment, the plot was a natural continuation, but the characters were anything but. Indeed, if one objectively watches Return Of The Jedi (reviewed here!), vital characters like Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Lando Calrissian and even Darth Vader have very little in common with who they were prior to that film. So, how did the characters get from the end of the one film to the beginning of the other? The answer is Shadows Of The Empire!

It might seem like I have already milked this particular cow, whatwith writing a review of the graphic novel of Shadows Of The Empire but herein lies the genius of George Lucas and the creative people working under him; they created a multimedia experience with various parts under the same name and it is only through experiencing all of those parts that one gets the entire story. So the graphic novel Shadows Of The Empire tells the story arc of Boba Fett working to get Han Solo to Jabba the Hutt and Luke Skywalker's tribulations when he reaches Tatooine. But Shadows Of The Empire, the novel by Steve Perry fills in the same timeframe in a different way, focusing on Leia, Lando and Chewbacca's efforts to recover Han and a fiendish plan by a new alien to thwart Darth Vader and become the Emperor's new right hand. As well, there was a video game and it is when one uses all three mediums that one fills in the story of the missing months between Han Solo's freezing in carbonite and the rescue we witnessed at the beginning of Return Of The Jedi! But for the novel, Shadows Of The Empire is a good, but not great or truly original story in the Star Wars universe.

Darth Vader, troubled by his inability to turn Luke to his cause, recuperates from his wounds while trying to restore his place of favor with the Emperor. However, Vader has serious competition, in the form of Prince Xizor, a ruthless crime boss who runs Black Sun. Xizor has the ear of the Emperor and seeks to become his right hand, using organized crime the way Vader utilizes the Imperial military. Xizor and his assistant, Guri, hatch a plan to kill Luke Skywalker, to curry favor and revenge himself upon Vader for the genocide Vader ordered upon his homeworld some time before.

At the same time, Lando and Chewbacca's attempts to prevent Boba Fett from delivering the frozen Han Solo to Jabba the Hutt fail and Leia joins them. While the Rebellion works to steal the plans for the second Death Star, Leia decides to try to negotiate with Xizor for Solo's life and she and Chewbacca accompany Xizor's assistant, Guri, to Coruscant. There, Leia attempts to not be seduced by Xizor, get Han back and survive, all the while Xizor uses her as bait to lure Luke to Coruscant so he can be easier killed for the Emperor!

Shadows Of The Empire does what it needs to do, but Perry takes some serious liberties, especially with the character of Princess Leia. Leia, so much of a prude in the first two Star Wars movies that it seems Han Solo never has a fair shake at her, is suddenly happy to get busy with a reptilian crime boss far more repulsive than Han ever was. This is a bit of a stretch and readers who are attentive to character details are more likely to read this and roll their eyes than say "oh, that's cool." Conceits like this make the reader wonder why Perry and Lucasfilm bothered.

But there is no conceit - not even Leia getting captured by Xizor and needing to be rescued (wasn't there a movie that involved pretty much that?!) - that is as contrived and terrible as that of Dash Rendar. Rendar is a scoundrel who pretty much takes Han's place for Shadows Of The Empire. Instead of fully developing a redemptive arc for Lando Calrissian, Dash Rendar, who has done some work for the Rebellion since the Battle Of Hoth, pops in, annoys Leia much the way Han did and buddies up with Luke . . . much the way Han Solo once did. In addition to offering momentary confusion for Leia about her feelings for scoundrels, Rendar essentially wisecracks and is cynical the entire time and when Shadows Of The Empire is over, the reader truly is left without a care as to whether or not they shall ever see or hear from him again.

But what Perry and Shadows Of The Empire - in this medium, at least - do well are the characters of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Skywalker is both adapting to his new hand and dealing with the emotional ramifications of learning that Darth Vader might well be his father. Because he cannot confront the spirit of Obi-Wan Kenobi or Yoda with that information (given that those conversations happen on-screen in Return Of The Jedi), Luke is on his own and is given a brief arc to wrestle with the implications while training more in the Force. This, naturally, gives him a decent chance to wrestle with controlling his anger and the book does a good job of exploring that.

As well, Perry is given the opportunity to explore both Darth Vader and the Emperor in a way that makes both more consistent and interesting. Vader, on Bespin, pretty much gambled everything by appealing to Luke to join him and crush the Emperor. Palpatine, knowing this, is looking for his replacement and Xizor offers him a decent chance to replace Vader. Palpatine playing Xizor and Vader off one another works quite well because it establishes what the prequel trilogies illustrate: there can only be two Sith at a time, a master and apprentice or else the apprentice will seek to overthrow the master.

Darth Vader, though, is given the chance to do two things that he never was in the original Star Wars films: he sets in motion the idea that it is reasonable and more than just to save his son that he would turn against the Emperor and that he is not all-powerful and can be outmaneuvered. The joy of the Vader arc in Shadows Of The Empire is that try as both might, the Emperor and Vader end up stuck with one another and Perry captures that sense that both are disappointed by that well.

The novel Shadows Of The Empire is filled with space battles, double crosses and intrigue to be expected from the best science fiction and they are adequate in that regard. Given that most of the space battles happen in regards to rescuing Leia from the Empire, there is more of a feeling of "we've done this before" to it. There is some comedy - C-3P0 flying the Millennium Falcon - but it is definitely sublimated to the overwhelming sense that the Empire might be moving towards its definitive end game and that makes for good reading!

Shadows Of The Empire is remarkably simply written, such that a young adult might be able to read it without any trouble. Perry's diction is unchallenging and the story reads like a pulp novel most of the time. Still, it does what it sets out to do, which is to bridge the gap between The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi. It does that, but some of us were hoping it would do that and more . . . or just a little better.

For other science fiction novels, please check out my reviews of:
Imzadi By Peter David
Neuromancer By William Gibson
Revenge Of The Sith By Matthew Stover

6/10

For other book reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.


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