Shadow of the Sith Review [SPOILERS]

Shadow of the Sith is one of the most anticipated Star Wars books of recent years, with a lot of pressure put upon it by many to explain events in the sequel trilogy. So did it live up to expectations?

For me it does, not that I expected it to explain everything - we have plenty of time to explore and fill in the intervening years between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. Let’s not forget that it took  9 years for us to learn why the Clones turned on the Jedi so easily (season 6 of the Clone Wars in 2014).

There are two main threads to the story, Lando trying to save Rey’s family from Ochi of Bestoon and Luke’s discovery of a mysterious dark side user.

The book is littered with connections to all parts of Star Wars canon, the Acolytes of Beyond first mentioned in the Aftermath trilogy play an important part, Luke goes to Tython which we saw in the Mandalorian, a young Enric Pryde (TROS) makes an appearance as does Shriv Suurgav who first appeared in Battlefront II. These are just a few examples, there are SO many connections and Easter eggs.

There is *A LOT* in this book, which is why I’m writing this as a blog, but it also means I’m not sure where to begin so you’ll have to forgive me if this is a bit all over the place.

The biggest links are understandably to the sequel trilogy with the story opening with Luke training Ben on Ossus and the few scenes we get between them are both heartwarming and show the complex nature your padawan being a family member. Ben just wants a relationship with his uncle, where as Luke has treat him like his other students - it’s easy to see how resentment could build through no-one’s fault.

Luke for his part in the story is running his temple on Ossus as well as working with Lor San Tekka to collect Jedi & Sith artifacts, he is troubled by visions of a dark side user, and it is these along with a discovery by Beaumont Kin’s archeological team that lead him to Kiza, a former Acolyte of the Beyond who is possessed by the mask of an ancient Sith Lord named Exim Panshard. Kiza and Panshard are clearly a vehicle to show us how Palpatine survived the events of Return of the Jedi, the spirit of a Sith can survive in an object and then possess a willing body. 

This plays out alongside the Sith Eternal being shown to be quietly building in the Unknown regions, sending emissaries to task Ochi of Bestoon with locating Rey and modeling her parents. Ochi has been given quite the backstory, having previously been to Exegol with Darth Vader in the comics, here he is both a real threat and something of a pathetic drunk, desperate to return to Exegol and be healed. The Sith Eternal give him the blade we see in the Rise of Skywalker, another dark side artifact which influences his mind craving murder and blood which it absorbs. Ochi is a great villain of the piece, ruthless unredeemable, not to mention mean to D-0 (and I really hope we get some figures of him). 

Which brings us to Dathan and Miramir, Rey’s parents, they are great probably my favorite part of the story. An all time great Star Wars couple who much like Owen and Beru do everything in service of protecting their child, my only complaint about the book is that there is not enough of them, I wanted more. Adam Christopher is clearly as big a fan of Jodie Comer as I am, as I could see and hear her in every scene with Miramir, who is a total badass. 

One of the most difficult things the book has to deal with is how we know how some things must end, Rey survives but hidden and unknown, her parents must die as must Ochi, the Sith Eternal must remain undiscovered. In many ways the story is a long chase with no real end, and this is summed up most of all in Lando Calrissian’s part of the tale, Lando is desperate to help the mysterious couple and their child in the hope it will give him new impetus in his search for his own missing daughter, Kadara. Ultimately Lando feels they failed with Dathan and Miramir dead and their child’s safety unknown, Ochi’s death unknown to them also, it is truly heartbreaking (although Luke tries to reassure him that he senses the child survived). I was really hoping there would be an epilogue set after The Rise of Skywalker where Lando would discover that Rey was the child he’d tried to save, but you never know maybe we will get that one day.

This novel must juggle many things but Adam Christopher miraculously manages to pull it off, weaving together not only the entire saga, but canon books and tv shows as well, into an excellent book. It’s not going to change anyone’s opinions on the Sequels but if you like the films as I do it will really enhance your experience.

🌕🌕🌕🌕🌘/5

Jonny O