Star Wars(r) Jedi Twilight Coruscant Nights I (Star Wars) | 
 enlarge | Author: Michael Reaves
Publisher: Del Rey
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 11101
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 368
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 0345477502
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780345477507
ASIN: 0345477502
Publication Date: July 1, 2006
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Product Description
With the dark ascension of the Empire, and the Jedi Knights virtually wiped out, one Jedi who escaped the massacre is slated for a date with destiny–and a confrontation with Darth Vader.
Jax Pavan is one of the few Jedi Knights who miraculously survived the slaughter that followed Palpatine’s ruthless Order 66. Now, deep in Coruscant’s Blackpit Slums, Jax ekes out a living as a private investigator, trying to help people in need while concealing his Jedi identity and staying one step ahead of the killers out for Jedi blood. And they’re not the only ones in search of the elusive Jax. Hard-boiled reporter Den Dhur and his buddy, the highly unorthodox droid I-5YQ, have shocking news to bring Jax–about the father he never knew.
But when Jax learns that his old Jedi Master has been killed, leaving behind the request that Jax finish a mission critical to the resistance, Jax has no choice but to emerge from hiding–and risk detection by Darth Vader–to fulfill his Master’s dying wish.
Don’t miss the continuing adventures in the Coruscant Nights series, coming this Fall!
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
Jedi Noir August 17, 2008
First of all, the blurb on the back of the book (and repeated in the official synopsis) is incorrect. Jax Pavan is not eking out a living as a private investigator, at least not in book one of this series. The blurb probably is trying to evoke a sense of film noir, which on the other hand is correct. This series definately seems to be an attempt at Star Wars cyberpunk (or at least Jedi noir).
Following the virtual extinction of the Jedi with Order 66, Jax Pavan is one of the survivors, dwelling in the slum levels of the capital planet-city Coruscant. He is slowly joined by a motley collection of allies, including another Jedi, an unusual droid and a former investigative reporter. Driving them together is Darth Vader's unexplained desire to capture or kill Pavan, who like virtually everyone else, has no idea Vader is Jax's old friend Anakin Skywalker.
Vader is the only primary Star Wars character in the first book of this new trilogy. But there's also the significant presence of a character from the Star Wars book universe, Prince Xizor, on his path to taking over the Black Sun criminal organization. Everyone else is a new character, and one of the book's strengths is that their adventures are fascinating enough to make you look forward to the next volume.
There's also a passing reference to a couple of droids who can only be C-3P0 and R2-D2, which is kind of cute.
Decent Start to the Series August 7, 2008
I was a little bit disappointed by the title of the book compared to the actual story, but the story was effective at sucking me in, and keeping me wanting more.
With a title like "Jedi Twilight," I was hoping that the book would focus more on Darth Vader's efforts to remove the last of the Jedi from the galaxy, but instead, this book is focused on a period where the Jedi are really not much of a threat to the Dark Side.
With all of that being said, it is easy for the reader to find an attachment to the main character Jax Pavan. It will be interesting to see where Michael Reaves takes the rest of the story. Jax will clearly have to confront (or be confronted by) Vader. He obviously dies before Episode IV begins, but I'm very intrigued to see how this turns out.
 Star Wars Coruscant Nights I August 4, 2008
Interesting storyline based on characters known and unknown in the Star Wars Universe. It expands the universe with characters you can care about, yet only gives you the one book to wrap up the tale in. Am looking foreward to more in this new series.
Adventurous romp set in the early Dark Times August 1, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
The aptly-named Jedi Twilight, the first book of the Coruscant Nights trilogy by Michael Reaves, is an adventurous, fast-paced romp of a tale that skillfully weaves in many characters and story elements of the larger Expanded Universe. The setting is the largely untapped Dark Times, the eighteen years between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. The Jedi have been decimated by the infamous Order 66, Emperor Palpatine is consolidating his grasp on the galaxy and building his new Empire, and Darth Vader is growing comfortable in his position at his master's side.
Reaves brings a very intriguing cast of characters to this story. Referencing his own earlier works, the main character is Jax Pavan, son of Lorn Pavan who had the limelight in Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter. Happily, Lorn's sarcastic and self-aware droid sidekick I-5YQ returns, bringing along his closest friend, Sullustan reporter Den Dhur. Den was first featured in another Reaves work, the Medstar duology, as was rising Black Sun vigo Kaird, also returning here. More surprisingly, Reaves also grabs Prince Xizor of Steve Perry's Shadows of the Empire fame and tosses in Nick Rostu from the superb Shatterpoint by Matthew Stover. It's definitely an interesting brew of characters.
The storyline primarily focuses on weaving relationships between these disparate people, using a chase for a missing protocol droid named 10-4TO as its focal point. Reaves deftly depicts the grittiness and peril of the less desirable reaches of Coruscant, creating a vaguely film noir atmosphere with what really is a detective story at its core. The inclusion of Prince Xizor and the insights into his ascension up Black Sun's ladder are particularly compelling reading. The sections featuring Vader are brief, and some of his dialogue doesn't seem quite right tonally. Arguably, since this is so early into Anakin's career as Vader, he may indeed have spoken differently from the familiar dialogue we heard in the Original Trilogy. His actions, however, are very much in keeping with his characterization from the films.
Events weave into a gripping climax set in Coruscant's downtrodden Factory District. There is an illuminating foreshadowing of Xizor's humaniform creation Guri in his hidden facility, and Reaves brings an extremely entertaining new concept to the Star Wars universe in the form of feral droids. These regressed droids are the result of programming gone haywire and act as a thematic counterpoint to the heightened self-awareness of I-5.
Jedi Twilight is a fun, entertaining kickoff to a promising trilogy. Reaves does a good job with managing an unusual cast and setting up future books while simultaneously creating a reasonably self-contained story. The book doesn't end with a particular cliffhanger, but through its strong character focus it creates excitement for the second volume in the series, Street of Shadows.
 Coruscant Confidential? Not. July 27, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
As should be evident from the cover artwork, JEDI TWILIGHT is being marketed as a hardboiled detective story, with former Jedi Jax Pavan as a sort of latter-day Philip Marlowe. The prototypical hardboiled detective is a man who, although a good egg (yep) and a smart guy, has been toughened up by encounters with corrupt institutions (like the police and politicians) on one hand, and the seedy underbelly of society, on the other hand. He is a flawed hero whose past fall from grace both limits and drives him. A Jedi like Pavan, who was a respected knight before the overthrow of the Republic, and who is now forced to live in the margins of society, might plausibly make a hardboiled detective.
But he's not; he's too young, he's not really a detective, there's nary a femme fatale in sight, and, in any event, this novel is not really his story--rather, it is a story Pavan shares in equal measure with an underworld assassin, an aide to Darth Vader, and an ex-reporter and his droid companion. Aside from reveling in the seediness and decay of the lower levels of Coruscant -- you didn't think that the glitz at the top of the skyscrapers was all there was to the capital planet, did you? -- this isn't much like a hardboiled detective story, either. On the surface there are some resemblances to THE MALTESE FALCON, with an elusive droid playing the part of the MacGuffin (an object whose main purpose is to drive the plot), but that's just on the surface. Like THE MALTESE FALCON, there are many subplots going on, but, alas, unlike in the MALTESE FALCON, none of them are very interesting. At the core, this is a Star Wars novel that serves as a vehicle for Star Warsy characters to do Star Warsy things like tricking a battle droid into colliding with a repulsor field in order to give a Jedi a chance to ram his light saber into something-or-other and make the droid explode.
One of the book's strong points is its exploration of the underside of life on Coruscant. In Reeves' reading, Coruscant is like a cross between Asimov's Trantor (from the Foundation Trilogy -- that's something to read before you pick up this book!), Ridley Scott's Los Angeles (from "Blade Runner"), and the stereotypical inner city you see on TV cop shows every day. It's a neglected world of 24-hour (26-hour?) twilight, where a Hutt and his gang or a horde of schizoid droids might be hiding around any given corner.
Another point of interest is the Reeves' treatment of droids. We know that Obi-Wan famously said "If droids could think, there'd be none of us here, would there?" in "Attack of the Clones," and I'm still not sure whether this was intended to show that Obi-Wan had a blind spot or was meant as a Lucasfilm policy statement on the issue of droid sentience. In any event, we are given every reason to think of R2D2 and C3PO as sentient beings. If they are sentient beings and they are owned by others, then they are slaves and the citizens of the Republic are slaveholders. Lucas et al. don't want to touch this, because they want droids to be both controllable pets and smart beings capable of independent thought. Reeves suggests that it is only rare droids that, like his I-5YQ, have somehow achieved self-awareness, but even the disposable, centrally controlled foot-soldier battledroids seem to have some self-awareness ("Uh-oh!"). I don't find I-5YQ particularly interesting as a character, but it will still be interesting to see how the Star Wars powers that be allow Reeves to develop the character and what he is allowed to say about droids in general.
In sum, while marketed as stylish sci-fi noir, this novel is pretty standard Star Wars fare. It's not great and it's not terrible, and if you're at the airport and need something to help pass the time, you could do worse.
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