Chapter by Chapter features me reading one chapter of the selected book at the time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as read-along book club.
The first chapter gave us a proper introduction to our special guest-villain for this story, Prince Xizor of Black Sun, and his human replica assassin droid, Guri, and some new recruits, as well as seeing what Leia was doing (precious little) and what Luke was doing (training mostly) and setting up that they’re on Tatooine to get ready for Return Of The Jedi. Let’s see if we have more setup or if things are starting to happen yet.
We start this chapter at our favorite cantina, unless there’s another at Mos Eisley, but I’m assuming that had this been a movie they’d try to reuse the old set. We know this place and…they have the set. After a cute moment of various males in various states of sobriety trying to pick Leia up, before noticing her Wookie bodyguard, we learn about Chewbacca’s life debt to Han, which leads him to follow his last “command” to protect Leia. That explains why he stays so close to her in this story. Lando happens to know the owner, and a contact of his has a lead on Boba Fett’s ship. The contact’s name is Dash Rendar and he would be welcomed by the fans into the Star Wars Universe, until the recent changes knocked this story sadly out of continuity. It may not matter anymore but it’s still a story worth checking out. The books and comic and stuff is rarely considered in continuity anyway.
Our other segment deals with Xizor meeting with Vader to discuss the use of his legitimate cargo business, which was enough to make him wealthy without Black Sun. Perhaps we’ll learn why he bothers when wealth means little to him, but we do learn that Vader is more than a rival for the Emperor’s approval. Vader had conducted a biological agent test on the Falleen homeworld when something went wrong. Vader was forced to sterilize the area, including the city where Xizor’s family lived, killing them all. Xizor has been working on a plan to kill Vader out of revenge but has gone to great lengths to hide that fact. It does add an interesting wrinkle that may not have been necessary but gives a little more depth to Xizor than just going overboard to take out a rival.
Thus ends chapter two. I don’t know what’s coming in chapter three but we seem to be moving the story along now, and with a better pace than our last science fiction adaptation. I’m looking forward to the next installment.
Chapter By Chapter> Star Wars: Shadows Of The Empire ch. 1
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