3/5 Rancors

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 so far that 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 do 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.