When Dash Rendar finds that a run in with the Imperials has left his ship in need of repair and his cargo subcontracted to Hans Solo, his lack of credits convince him and his crew to take a job as bodyguards to Javul Charn, one of the most famous holo-star in the universe. But what seems like an easy gig soon turns sour when he discovers that Charn is under threat from one of the Black Sun criminal organisation...

Star Wars: Shadow Games is a standalone novel written by Michael Reaves and Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff.

Rendar is a character that grew out of both the Shadows of the Empire novel and video game, later appearing in comic strip form. He presents a nice combination of the old and the new, at the same time being associated with many of the characters in the films, without being part of the inner circle. This allows the author the freedom to drop in a big name if needed, but otherwise to tell different stories in a familiar universe.

The main thrust of the novel is a pretty linear detective novel, with Dash acting as detective trying to find out from his, less than forthcoming employer, who might want her dead, whilst at the same time trying to stay out of the line of fire.

I have no way of knowing how the writing was distributed between the two authors, but given that certain chapters seem to be written by someone with a better vocabulary than their companion, I guess they took a chapter each.

The characterisations are handled well with Dash’s crew exhibiting a nice mix of affection and dislike for each other. Javul Charn makes for a convincing well rounded character and one of the good things about the book is that the story is told from both Dash’s and Javul’s perspective, allowing each to achieve a great level of depth.

An easy read genre novel, well-constructed and generally well written even if the occasional word is likely to challenge their target audience.

6

Charles Packer