Book Review - Star Wars: Shattered Empire

Shattered EmpireShattered Empire by Greg Rucka
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A very brief, quick introduction to Poe Dameron's parents, mostly his mum Shara Bey - an ace pilot (now we know where Poe gets his skills from) in the Rebellion, who is part of the fleet that takes down the Empire in the climactic battle of Return of the Jedi. Her excellent skills give her the chance to work with all the main characters and also gives the author, Rucka, an excellent excuse to include our favourites in the series.

Despite the fall of the Emperor, the Imperial fleet are happy to delude themselves that the war is still being fought. There's no rest for the weary Rebels, as they must combat insurgents across the galaxy. Shara assists Han Solo's ground team in securing Endor; then escorts Princess Leia on a diplomatic mission to Naboo. What should have been an easy task turns into a life and death situation as the Princess, Shara and the Naboo Queen must join forces to destroy an Imperial fleet orbiting the planet.

Shara's final mission entails being a spy and bodyguard fir Luke Skywalker, as he attempts to rescue some... Force trees. I'm sure there's some significance to these trees in the wider canon, but it escapes me.

It's a compact, action-packed series that is plenty of fun to read. I love that the writers purposely inserted a number of badass and intelligent female characters in the story, it just made it that much better. The basic plot mattered little - the series is more of a celebration of the characters we love, and some new characters we will hopefully get to know better.

The art is good, though they didn't get Leia right, and even Lando was a bit iffy. But otherwise, it was crisp, clean and coherent. Fun foray into the Star Wars universe.

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