Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor

For the most part, this is a great book. Not only is the story rather gripping and thrilling, it includes some disgusting and unnerving imagery, which is always a plus for me as a horror fan.

Luke Skywalker is characterised spectacularly, and generally, all returning characters almost always feel especially well-written.

Leia especially, as she takes the initiative to chase after Han to go after Luke, rather than being left to face the ‘diplomatic duties' she is often strangely resigned to in these novels - not a snide comment, it is often done well and for good reason.

There is some really fun ideas thrown around in this novel, like the holothrillers that contain meta references, e.g. ‘Luke Skywalker and the Jedi's Revenge'.

Where it falters for me is the comedy that doesn't personally hit so hard, often the lines feel a little awkward to me like so many characters saying “flipping” made me cringe so hard, lmao.

But also, the insane language/terminology often used almost expects me to be living in the Star Wars universe to begin to understand. This is a genuine line from the book, “18cm aKraB clip-point vibrodaggers that could cut Mark III armour like rendered gorgan blubber.” What the fuck does any of this mean?

Also, this book has a lot of ‘dogfights' or bits in space. I know it is commonly said that these are hard to visualise, and I completely agree. But that's not even it for me. I don't like them. These moments are when my brain shuts off in the movies. It is when I am bored. So I hate reading them in the books, and that drags it down for me.

Overall, it's quite an engrossing story, that I could see myself reading all in one go if I was in the mood. But I did read it over quite a few days, I took my time with it.