Star Wars: Shadow of the Sith – Review

Since The Force Awakens was released in December of 2015, which kicked off the Sequel Trilogy of Star Wars, fans have had questions. In many ways, each subsequent film added more questions than they answered. The literature around the series created even more questions, as they were always dancing around the upcoming films and diverging storylines of different directors, never able to give the answers fans craved. Thankfully, first time Star Wars author Adam Christopher has been tasked with taking the dangling threads from the films and the literature and working to bring some of them together into a more cohesive tapestry.

Shadow of the Sith tells a three strand story. First is the story of Rey and her parents, their background, how they fled from Ochi of Bestoon, hid Rey on Jakku and end up dead at the hands of the old Jedi hunter. The second is about Luke and Lando. Lando continues the hunt for his kidnapped daughter which leads him to overhear something that brings him to Luke. Luke, teaching at his temple on Ossus, has been having nightmares about a planet and a shadow growing in the dark side. The third strand is Ochi and his quest to find the planet of Exegal so that he might be reborn whole.

As each of these three stories comes together, Christopher is able to many weave in strands from the films, books and comics to give readers a clearer foundation to the story of the Sequel Trilogy, especially its finale. The book works overtime to make things fit together, with as much solidarity as possible.

Regardless the question of whether or not a book like this should have been needed, Christopher is up to the challenge. The characters feel wonderful as Luke especially shines in the story. He’s everything you could want from Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. For fans longing for answers to the Sequel Trilogy era, this book delivers. Hopefully this will not be the last fans see of Adam Christopher in Star Wars literature. Shadow of the Sith is rated 4 out of 5 stars.

This review was completed using a copy of Shadow of the Sith provided by Del Rey Press.

Author: Matt Rushing

Matthew Rushing is the host of Trek.fm‘s The 602 Club and co-host of TheNerdParty.com‘s AggressiveNegotiations: A Star Wars Podcast. He can be found on Twitter @mattrushing02.