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Shadow Hunter

Star Wars Legends (Darth Maul)

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Shadow Hunter

By: Michael Reaves
Narrated by: Sam Witwer
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About this listen

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • For the infamous, power-hungry Sith, beholden to the dark side, the time has come to rise again.
“Full of lightsaber battles, the Jedi philosophy, and lots of new life-forms.”—Chicago Sun-Times

After years of waiting in the shadows, Darth Sidious is taking the first step in his master plan to bring the Republic to its knees. Key to his scheme are the Neimoidians of the Trade Federation. Then one of his Neimoidian contacts disappears, and Sidious does not need his Force-honed instincts to suspect betrayal. He orders his apprentice, Darth Maul, to hunt the traitor down.

But he is too late. The secret has already passed into the hands of information broker Lorn Pavan, which places him right at the top of Darth Maul’s hit list. Then, in the labyrinthine alleyways and sewers of Coruscant, capital city of the Republic, Lorn crosses paths with Darsha Assant, a Jedi Padawan on a mission to earn her Knighthood.

Now the future of the Republic depends on Darsha and Lorn. But how can an untried Jedi and an ordinary man, stranger to the powerful ways of the Force, hope to triumph over one of the deadliest killers in the galaxy?

 Adventure Fiction Science Fiction Space Opera Star Wars Interstellar Bounty Hunter

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Critic reviews

“Reaves writes with a creative flair, allowing readers to experience an almost cinematic sensation as they move through the story. The language is colorful, the action scenes are dynamic, and the dialogue is realistic. . . . Shadow Hunter is a very good Star Wars novel that reads as easily as a comic book. . . . Reaves does an excellent job.”—Winston-Salem Journal
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Incredible performance from Sam witwer as usual! Story wasnt the best of mauls story arc but loved the insight into mauls earlier apprentice life!

Sam witwer needs to narrate more!!

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Sam Wittwer delivered as always. His Voice acting is so good that it makes you feel like the shadow hunter himself is standing in the room with you.

Amazing!!!

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Possibly my favourite Star Wars novel. Sam is incredible as always so no surprise there. Author knows how to write action and the simplicity of the story is beautiful. Loved it.

10/10

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I almost never take the time to write a review but I was so thoroughly impressed by Witwer’s performance that I just had to. His ability to mimic the voices of Palpetine, Qui Gon Jin and even the neimoidian’s fully immerse you in the story. I wish he narrated more Star Wars audiobooks sadly this is the only one he did. I can recommend this audiobook to anyone who is into Star Wars books. You need to give this one try even if it’s just for Witwer’s narration of this book.

Sam Witwer knocked it out of the patch

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Maul: Shadow Hunter was a thrilling book, for sure. It contains just the right number of characters, not too few and not so many that they feel disposable like the dwarves in the film adaptation of The Hobbit.

The book attempts to put itself just before the beginning of The Phantom Menace, and I was excited to hear a suggestion as to what to place there.

Safe to say, I was not disappointed (mostly). The plot, briefly explained, contains a Han Solo like type, Lorn Pavan and his droid companion, I-Five that suddenly find themselves involved with returning a Holocron to the Jedi containing the Sith plan to blockade Naboo and destroy the Republic.
Alongside is padawan, Darsha Assant, who undertakes her trials to become a Jedi Knight.

Together, Pavan, I-Five and Assant flee Darth Maul as much as possible, except we all know how the story ends and unfolds in The Phantom Menace. The question in Shadow Hunter is just "how" does this book's end in relation to TPM besides "they all die".

The author, Michael Reeves, does an excellent job of writing a good story, creating tension and pacing all while staying true to the Star Wars universe, its species, describing Coruscant and never before heard aspects / parts thereof believably.

The narrator, Sam Witwer, delivers an excellent gallery of voices true to the new characters as well as well-loved, familiar faces to the fans, imitating the actual actors. However, at times over the course of the book, it became a bit overdone for my taste.
The name "Darth Maul" doesn't have to be pronounced menacingly in a deep, dark voice every time, or it is confusing to have a change of voice from Maul to Sidious in the middle of a Maul scene, just because Sidious' name is mentioned / thoughts are described, even though Sidious is nowhere present in the actual scene.

Apart from the above, the book was thoroughly enjoyable and succeeded with what it set out to do in the 10 hour runtime.

My only real criticism is three things:
1. that of a continuity issue - Sidious insists that Maul uses stealth so as to not reveal the existence of the Sith to anybody, least of all the Jedi, but the book also ends with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn leaving as ambassadors to visit the Trade Federation blockade. Any Star Wars fan will know that within two hours of film after this book, Darth Maul is dead.
2. Decapitations. Any murder Darth Maul commits in this book involves decapitation by his lightsaber. Apart from Jango Fett and Count Dooku, no heads are lost in Star Wars, so it seems unnecessarily gruesome for all these lives to be lost by decapitations.
3. How strong is Maul actually? Throughout the book, Darth Maul seems near invincible. He is described as incredibly powerful, a master force user and a master lightsaber combatant with a skill to match Anoon Bondara (Darsha's master) or Yoda, yet he is still an apprentice? He is called a Lord of the Sith? And Darsha gives him a run for his money? And he is killed by Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Jedi Padawan, not two hours of film after this book? That bit slightly annoyed me.

The only thing I could wish for is some more background on Darth Maul. He is constantly "fueled by his hatred for the Jedi" instilled by Sidious. Why? What does he hate about them? Has he had many encounters with the Jedi, suffered personal losses, or just plain brainwashed? Maul's motive becomes a bit thin due to this.

Any Star Wars fan will, despite knowing what unfolds after this book, NOT be disappointed.

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