Prince Xizor, the largest trader in the galaxy, wants Skywalker dead. And Skywalker, along with Leia, Chewbacca, and the droids, have a goal of their own: rescue Han Solo. But Solo has been encased in carbonite and taken by the most notorious mercenary in the galaxy, Boba Fett, who intends to deliver him to Jabba the Hutt. It's a clash of good against evil, of right against wrong, and it comes to a head in the Shadows of the Empire . . . Featuring all your favorite characters from the Star Wars motion picture trilogy and a score of new ones, Shadows of the Empire is everything a Star Wars fan could hope for.

    Pictures, this novelization retells the story of animated feature film set during the period between "Episode II" and "Episode III." Original.

    But back at the Rebel base, the celebration is over. The Alliance has intercepted a coded transmission, indicating that the Empire is determined to discover which pilot was responsible for the destruction of the Death Star. New security protocol is in effect: The details of the Death Star mission are now top secret, and no one is to know that Luke fired the decisive shot. But that's hardly the Alliance's only problem. Almost all their finances were lost with the destruction of Alderaan -- and they are out of money. Their last hope is to access the secret accounts on Muunilinst, the former home of the InterGalactic Banking Clan, and the financial heart of the galaxy. So Luke, Leia, Han, Chewbacca, and the droids head for Muunilinst. The Empire's top assassin will be waiting for them.

    But he wouldn't forfeit his father's life, and that's what the Empire has taken. Kyle is willing to do anything to avenge his father's death -- anything from selling classified information to a suicide run. And that's just what the Rebel Alliance has in mind for him. Soldier for the Empire is the first in a series of graphic-story albums featuring characters and situations based on the popular Star Wars: Dark Forces interactive games. Like Dark Horse's first graphic- story album, Aliens: Tribes, this novella-length prose story is accentuated by 25 full-page, painted illustrations.

    Featuring the adventures of Luke, Leia, and Han during the time between the first and second movies, these strips are science-fiction adventure at its best. Dark Horse has reformatted the strips to make them work as a continuous story in Classic Star Wars, with Al Williamson himself redrawing and extending many panels for the new format.

    And at the feet of its wise Masters, Lanoree Brock learned the mysteries and methods of the Force—and found her calling as one of its most powerful disciples. But as strongly as the Force flowed within Lanoree and her parents, it remained absent in her brother, who grew to despise and shun the Je’daii, and whose training in its ancient ways ended in tragedy. Now, from her solitary life as a Ranger keeping order across the galaxy, Lanoree has been summoned by the Je’daii Council on a matter of utmost urgency. The leader of a fanatical cult, obsessed with traveling beyond the reaches of known space, is bent on opening a cosmic gateway using dreaded dark matter as the key—risking a cataclysmic reaction that will consume the entire star system. But more shocking to Lanoree than even the prospect of total galactic annihilation, is the decision of her Je’daii Masters to task her with the mission of preventing it. Until a staggering revelation makes clear why she was chosen: The brilliant, dangerous madman she must track down and stop at any cost is the brother whose death she has long grieved—and whose life she must now fear.

    Han Solo, frozen in carbonite, is being taken to the vile gangster Jabba the Hutt. As Princess Leia mounts a rescue mission including Luke Skywalker, Lando Calrissian, and a brilliant young pilot, Darth Vader pits himself against a cunning and ruthless rival. Xizor is the leader of a powerful crime syndicate who seeks to supplant Vader for the favor of their mutual master, the dreaded Emperor. Their target: Luke Skywalker. Suddenly Luke finds himself the potential prize of the two most evil entities in the galaxy--one who wants him alive...and one who wants him dead.