Shadow Games (Star Wars Legends) - Sci-Fi Adventure Novel | Perfect for Star Wars Fans & Sci-Fi Book Collectors | Great for Reading, Gifts & Display

I'll admit, its been awhile since Star Wars deviated from the Jedi Order and their Force powered, lightsaber driven storylines. And yes, they're interesting, but sometimes the fact that there are billions of other beings in the galaxy is forgotten. This is one of the stories that leave the Jedi and Sith completely out of it and instead focus on smugglers, divas, and droids.Dash Rendar will be remembered from the Shadows of the Empire (Star Wars) media extravaganza that hammered us with comics, toys, a book, and a game with all featuring the new character to fill in for the rogue while Han was frozen in carbonite. Unfortunately, true to this statement he was basically a carbon(ite) copy of our favorite scoundrel and was left forgotten for the most part until now. He and his ship, the Outrider, and his droid companion Leebo vanished and deserved another shot. This is it.Star Wars: Shadow Games opens with a down on his luck Dash who is offered a job protecting spoiled starlet Javul Charn after introducing his partner Eaden Vrill and showing him having a brief confrontation with Han Solo, his foil and contrast for the story. Dash is impulsive (though not stupid) and wears his emotions like a brightly colored jacket for everyone to see, allowing us to see him as a unique character for the first time. Accepting the job brings him into contact with Charn and her crew, and honestly most of her crew is ignored but it is Charn who steals the show among the secondary characters as a character who is nothing like what she seems. The story sports a 'whodunit' style plot and delves into a crime noir story bordering on a thriller. Han is even reintroduced to the plot as a more calm, collected version of Dash that hides his true emotions better, only allowing them to truly be seen once in a reference to the character Bria Tharen of The Paradise Snare (Star Wars, The Han Solo Trilogy #1) (Book 1) and Rebel Dawn (Star Wars: The Han Solo Trilogy, Book 3) fame. Dash, along with his co-pilot and his droid partners, delve into the mystery and strip away layer by layer discovering that among the characters they are the only ones no hiding things, and even that is called into question. The book seemingly ends with a baffling 40 pages to go only to reveal more and more.My one complaint with this book can be seen as both a good thing or a bad thing depending on who you are and how you like your self-referencing. This book contains, in my opinion, a few too many jokes that are meant to foreshadow Han's involvement in the Original Trilogy. Things like "Han would be frozen in carbonite before joining with the Rebel Alliance" or statements about how he would never get involved in something over a woman are all too frequent (though maybe some might enjoy them). These are not too excessive though, and take away absolutely nothing from the enjoyment of the story.Eaden Vrill is a wonderful new character of the same species as Kit Fisto, who was featured in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (Widescreen Edition) during the battle of Geonosis and again in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (Widescreen Edition) where he perished in Palpatine's office (sorry for the spoiler but you should have seen it by now). This is an excellent new look at this species as Kit Fisto is so far one of our only representations and he is presented as a joker, a Jedi who takes nothing as seriously as it perhaps should be. While this is fine I get bored when a species acts the same and lives with entirely the same personality in each individual member (Star Wars: Darth Plagueis clears this up for the Muun species) and this new character really gives Nautolans a deeper representation.Overall this is a fun book that will keep you guessing right up until the last 20 pages or so and is enjoyable for anyone looking to take a break from Jedi-heavy stories. I have the feeling that a sequel will appear for Dash Rendar soon due to the popularity this book has already seen and most likely will continue to see. I recommend picking it up.