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Rating:  -
The first and second books were excellent I can't wait for the third one to arrive in January.
Rating:  -
Street of Shadows by Michael Reaves is the second book in the Coruscant Nights trilogy, set in the months after Order 66 changes the galaxy forever. It follows the continuing adventures of private investigator Jax Pavan and his oddly-assorted band of sidekicks. This trilogy is not as tightly interwoven as the usual Star Wars offerings: there are links and some sense of progression between the first two books but the main plotlines are almost completely independent of one another. The main arc that so far is tying these books together is the various discoveries concerning Pavan's past and ultimately it looks like it will morph into his connections to Darth Vader as the final narrative thrust.
The main storyline of Street of Shadows concerns the murder of renowned Caasmasi light sculptor Ves Volette. The almost total destruction of Ves' homeworld Caamas (an event with echoes explored much further down the timeline in the Star Wars Expanded Universe) spurs him to create a piece in protest of the Empire and its ignoble actions. Almost immediately after, he is destroyed, and his partner, the beautiful Zeltron Dejah Duare, employs Jax to solve the mystery. Jax gathers his friends, including recurring Reaves' characters I-Five and Den Dhur, along with a couple introduced in Jedi Twilight, and they set off through both the lofty heights and lightless depths of Coruscant to see what they can find.
Concurrently, Captain Typho, Padme's chief of security from Episodes II and III, sets off for Coruscant in an attempt to solve the mystery surrounding Padme's death and thereby due justice to his unrequited love for her. This love is a surprising development, to say the least, and although the Typho scenes are entertaining, he does feel somewhat shoe-horned into the storyline. However, he has the single best scene in the book, a riotously funny sequence in which he exchanges insults with a Jenet bureaucrat named Losh. The Jenet culture thrives on rude exchanges instead of meek shows of respect and their banter is priceless.
This trilogy is developing an interesting pattern of fleshing out a wide array of both movie and EU characters. Prince Xizor and Nick Rostu come to mind from the first volume, whereas Street of Shadows utilizes the aforementioned Typho plus blink-and-you-miss-her Phantom Menace bounty hunter Aurra Sing. Aurra has appeared in a variety of comics and a couple of books, but Reaves does fill in intriguing parts of her background that had not been revealed before. She brings a sense of menace to the story, one that the reader is aware of long before the protagonists. It's not clear if she'll return in the third book, Patterns of Force, or not: I'm hoping so, as the end of her story here is a tad unfulfilling.
Overall this is an entertaining second entry in the series, although not quite as novel and fresh as Jedi Twilight was. The continuing ties back to Reaves' earlier story Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter are interesting, exploring Jax's reactions to his increasing knowledge of his past and also his associate Haninum Tyk Rhinann's developing plans to make his own devious use of this information about the Jedi and Sith. The stage is set for a third volume with a final showdown between Jax and Vader, who Reaves writes very well.
Rating: -
In short, this is a well-written book that helps to evolve the three-book series and develop the protagonists. But the story and some of the events leave the reader wanting.
I found the first book much more interesting, with a good amount of excitement through the well-written action sequences. The second book, however felt like reading a regular novel, but that WASN'T set in the Star Wars universe.
I'll have to wait and see how things turn out once the third, and final, book in the series debuts to see whether or not it was worth it.
Rating: -
This is a worthy sequel to the first book in the "Coruscant Nights" series, "Jedi Twilight". This time the life of Jedi on the run Jax Pavan is a bit closer to the back of the book blurb claim that he is a private investigator.
Actually he and his motley crew are working with Whiplash, the embryo of what will become the Rebel Alliance (and in one memorable scene there is a woman who may be Mon Mothma, the eventual leader of the alliance). They try to help a woman discover who killed her artist lover, while Darth Vader continues to weave his plot to capture his one-time friend Jax (who, like everyone else, has no idea Vader is Anakin Skywalker). (And we're still wondering what is this thing that Pax has that Vader wants so much.)
Even having been brought up celibate from an early age in the Jedi temple, Pax does seem a bit naive in missing the obvious feelings his Jedi sidekick Laranth Tarak has for him, as well as her jealousy over the artist's attractive ex-lover.
As in the first book, there is a walk-in from the Star Wars film galaxy, in this case Padme's former head of security Captain Typho. This book is lots of fun, and I look forward to the third volume.
Rating:  -
I'm really enjoying this series - this book is just as good as the first in the series - so keep reading! As I said in my review of "Jedi Twilight" I am just thrilled to see a whole new cast of characters in the Star Wars universe and I really am glad to see their further development in this book.
In this book you have the main core of characters really dealing with a few unrelated plot lines at the same time. In one plot line you have Jax Pavan and his comrades trying to solve a murder mystery in order to clear their own names - since they are under suspicion for it. In another they are acting as agents of the secret organization "Whiplash" - which is a resistance movement to the Empire and having to deal with an assasin hired by Darth Vader. A third plot line has Padame's old security chief, Typho trying to avenge her death - and in the process he crosses paths with our main characters.
For a just a 300 page book a whole heck of a lot happens - but Reaves gets the story telling done very nicely. All of the different aspects of the story are fit together very nicely and without any overkill. I was very impressed at how well every jived together.
Although it is still there - there wasn't as much "large" vocabularly as there was in the first book in the series - which seemed to be a complaint of some readers.
Also - Reaves really does a good job in his descriptive telling of the light-saber and laser fights in this story. There is absolutely no equal to R. A. Salvatore in writing fight scenes - but I would consider Reaves of the same caliber when it comes to churning out hand-to-hand, close quarters combat on the written page.
Best Star Wars to hit the stands recently (though the other stuff is good) - and these characters and stories are better than those from the latest "Force Unleashed" craze!
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