Chapter By Chapter> Star Wars: Shadows Of The Empire final chapter!

Adding something in here, because they just released the title of the next Abrams wing of the Star Wars Universe. “Episode 8” will be called The Last Jedi. I prefer the EU idea where Luke has already rebuilt the Jedi order, hopefully bypassing some of their mistakes in the process. Well, since he was married back then I guess he already did. Just thought it should be mentioned. Carry on.

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.

Here we are, the last chapter, and epilogue, of Star Wars: Shadows Of The Empire! I started this when The Force Awakens (which I’m STILL writing as The Force Unleashed, which was a video game I haven’t played) was in theaters, and thanks to…well, you know by now…not only have I still not seen it, but I’m finishing it when Rogue One is in theaters, which I also have yet to see. (I’m still not catching the last member of our triumvirate to see when we can get together to go, before a certain someone asks.) And the next book is also sci-fi but not tying-in to another property. But we’ll get to that in February.

When last we saw our intrepid band they were trying to escape a collapsing fortress. They got away, but now they have to get out of enemy territory despite at least three of them being on the Most Wanted list. Will they succeed? Well, duh, this takes place between movies.

Xizor reaches his skyhook (here’s an example), alerting his people on the way up to hunt for the Falcon. He accidentally mentions Skywalker before shutting off the comlink, which is intercepted by Vader’s people, giving Darth what he needs to finally deal with his adversary. Dash gets to his own ship, the Outrider, before Xizor’s ships attack, even destroying civilian transport in the attempt to get them. Even with the arrival of Rogue Squadron (no connection to Rogue One…I think; remember, still haven’t seen it), they’re outnumbered. It’s an intense battle.

And then Vader’s personal Star Destroyer shows up, and tells Xizor to stand down or he’ll blow them up, since Vader and the Emperor have plans for Luke. Xizor doesn’t respond in time, so they blow up Xizor’s skyhook (as seen in the image linked to above), presumably with Xizor inside, but there’s actually an out if Perry or someone else wanted to use him again. Not sure how, since losing the palace meant losing so much info and a power base, meaning Black Sun was in a bad state, but there was an opening. I don’t think he ever was, though, and frankly good riddance to the pheromone-rapist. Heck, the Emperor has more redeeming qualities than Xizor.

However, Perry also has Dash’s ship seemingly collide with a piece of the Skyhook, and I have to wonder why? We see Dash show up again at the end of his comic sequel, Shadows Of The Empire – Evolutions, which the beginning of a Dash/Guri team-up in later-produced stories. Imagine him as a recurring character in later stories set after Return Of The Jedi, or his own spin-off stories set in the Star Wars Universe. Although I guess they can do that retroactively now. Or could had Disney officially end the EU in favor of their own Expanded Universe (EU2? EU Disney?)

The epilogue makes the transition between this and Return Of The Jedi as our heroes prepare for their rescue of Han Solo from Jabba The Hutt, as well as Darth Vader and the Emperor finalizing their trap for the Rebels on Endor.

This was a real good ending to the book. All the important stuff is resolved but with openings in case Perry or other writers were looking to bring some character back. The final battle was fantastic, with a lot of action that for the most part you could see in your head. It’s a good close to a real good book. What did I think of the book overall? Check out The Clutter Reports this weekend as I’ll be posting my full book report there. And in February I unveil my next Chapter By Chapter book review and I’m curious if anybody out there has read it. It will be slightly difficult to review. Let’s just say it’ll hit close to home, but not in the way you might be thinking.