Star Wars: Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter [Mass Market Paperback]

One of the Neimoidians who was instrumental in setting up the Naboo blockade has gone missing. Nate Gunray suspects that Hath Monchar is betraying the other Neimoidians and Darth Sidious knows that there is a betrayal even though Gunray has said nothing about this. To track down Monchar, Darth Sidious has sent his apprentice Darth Maul to find Monchar, kill him and kill anybody Monchar has spoken to about the upcoming blockade. Monchar has contacted a criminal named Lorn Pavan about selling this information. With Pavan we meet his droid, I-Five.

While this is going on Jedi Padawan Darsha Assant is sent on her final test before becoming a Jedi. She must escort someone back to the Jedi Temple, but while her mission initially seems unrelated to the other storyline in the novel the mission becomes complicated and eventually intertwines with the lives of Darth Maul and Lorn Pavan.

This is a very fast paced novel, and one in which we get to see a different side of the Star Wars universe: namely, the Sith. Darth Maul becomes a more interesting character as we learn a little bit more about his background and that of the Sith and part of a reason why there are only two Sith at a time. After the exposition, "Shadow Hunter" is non-stop and everything is constantly moving, driving the story forward. I was pleasantly surprised with this Star Wars novel. It was a well told story (as far as Star Wars goes) with lots of action, some light saber action and a deeper look at the Sith. It was good enough that it made me want to continue on with the Star Wars novels. This isn't a great book, but I found it entertaining and I finished it in a couple of days.

Because the prequels cover a much longer span of time than the Classic Trilogy and focus mostly on Anakin, his stormy apprenticeship with Obi-Wan, and his forbidden romance with Padme Amidala -- with Palpatine's rise to power as the backdrop -- there are always "untold stories" about the mysterious Sith and the soon-to-be-vanquished Jedi Order. A few details are divulged in the films, such as the Sith being limited to two members -- "a master, and an apprentice." But inevitably running time and other considerations preclude more detailed explanations about Darth Sidious (Palpatine's Sith alter ego) and his sly machinations to defeat the Jedi and take over the decaying Galactic Republic.

Some novelists -- Alan Dean Foster, James Luceno, Greg Bear, and Michael Reeves -- have written an Expanded Universe series of novels that seek to fill in some of the blanks about the prequel era. Bear and Foster, for instance, chronicle some of the events in the decade between The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones in Rogue Planet and The Approaching Storm. Luceno and Reeves' novels, on the other hand, are "pre-prequels" set shortly before the events depicted in Episode I.

Whereas Luceno's Star Wars: Cloak of Deception focuses on the political machinations of Palpatine and sets up the downfall of Supreme Chancellor Valorum, Reeve's Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter is a Star Wars film noir-styled mystery set shortly before The Phantom Menace. Darth Sidious and his greedy but none-too-brave Neimoidian allies are planning to blockade the small planet of Naboo to express the Trade Federation's objection to the taxation of trade routes. Everything is going according to plan: the Federation's fleet is preparing to head to the Outer Rim and the Naboo system, the battle droids are hidden in the doughnut-shaped starships' holds, and Sidious' sly maneuvers have thrown the Galactic Senate into a political maelstrom.

But when one of the four Neimoidian conspirators, Hath Monchar, reverts to his species' cowardly nature and flees to the city world of Coruscant, Sidious realizes that he must take decisive steps to prevent the Republic from discovering the Naboo scheme prematurely. Fortunately, he has a powerful asset: Darth Maul, his young, well trained, and formidable apprentice. The horned and tattooed Dark Lord and his double-bladed lightsaber should not have too much trouble finding one scared and desperate Neimoidian, even one hidden among Coruscant's teeming billions.

Reeves, of course, can't change the Star Wars galaxy's destiny and having Maul fail in his mission. He -- and the audience -- knows that the rise of the Sith and the Empire is set in celluloid and print, yet somehow he manages to write a suspenseful tale pitting the relentless Maul (who really got very little screen time in a movie that was heavily promoted with his likeness) against a strange alliance between the cynical rogue Lorn Pavan, a ne'er do well former employee of the Jedi Temple who lives in the fringes of Coruscant society, and Darsha Assant, a young Jedi Padawan on her first mission without her Master's direct supervision. Thrown together by circumstance and pursued by the relentless Darth Maul, these two characters -- and Lorn's sarcastic droid companion I-Five -- prove to be an unexpected challenge to the Jedi-hating Sith Lord.

Reeves' style and tone are similar to Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer stories, albeit set in George Lucas' "galaxy far, far away." The characters are vividly described and are, for a space/fantasy genre novel, engaging and even believable. And even though -- like its film source -- the ending is not a surprise, Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter is a fast-paced and entertaining read.

Shadow Hunter is full of heart-pounding action, daring pursuits and escapes, and vividly stunning lightsaber duels. Follow the characters as they travel through such varied settings as the darkness of Coruscant's seedy alleyways and the breathtaking magnificance of the Jedi Temple on a mission to thwart the evil intentions of a Sith apprentice skilled in the darker arts of the Force. Although Darth Sidious calls the shots, Darth Maul is a formidable foe with lightning fast reflexes aided by the Force with a penchant for pleasing his master. Will the Jedi be successful in their effort? Star Wars fans will be begging for more dark revelations!