3. Shadows Of The Empire
It's not clear when watching the movies, but "Return of the Jedi" did not take place directly after "Empire Strikes Back," but rather a year later. So what happened during that year? "Shadows of the Empire" happened. This was not just a book, but a huge multimedia campaign put together by Lucasfilm that also included a soundtrack, comic book, and Nintendo 64 video game. Don't worry, reading the book will tell you the overall story. In the story, Luke makes further progress on his Jedi training by building his own lightsaber. Princess Leia tries to find Boba Fett in hopes that he will lead him to Han Solo's carbonite encased body. We are also introduced to two new characters: Prince Xizor, head of the Black Sun criminal syndicate and hopeful to replace Darth Vader as the Emperor's right-hand man, and Dash Rendar, a Han Solo-type mercenary. It should be said that although he acted as Han's "replacement" in terms of being a suave rogue, he's way more of a dick than Han ever was. "Shadows of the Empire" is for those Star Wars fans who want a little expansion on the movies, but don't want to submerge themselves too far into the Expanded Universe. Rest assured, this book works great by itself and offers great background on the events surrounding Han's rescue from Jabba the Hutt. Still, if you are able to get your hands on the video game and comic, it might be worth trying all three.