New excerpt teases Luke’s dark journey to Exegol in Star Wars: Shadow of the Sith

Star Wars book fans are just a couple of months away from reading possibly one of the darkest novels the fandom has seen in years. The first excerpt and cover reveal of Star Wars: Shadow of the Sith is here, and it teases Luke Skywalker’s nightmarish journey to Exegol.

Shadow of the Sith is an adult novel by Adam Christopher arriving June 28. The story is set between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, nearly 20 years after the galaxy-changing Battle of Endor.

This is the time of the New Republic – the Empire is no more and the galaxy’s leaders are trying to keep and build upon the hard-won peace. But as fans know with the sequel trilogy, somehow, Emperor Palpatine’s dark side legacy survived.

The synopsis for the book reads, in part:

"Jedi Master Luke Skywalker is haunted by visions of the dark side, foretelling an ominous secret growing somewhere in the depths of space, on a dead world called Exegol. The disturbance in the Force is undeniable . . . and Luke’s worst fears are confirmed when his old friend Lando Calrissian comes to him with reports of a new Sith menace."

StarWars.com said Shadow of the Sith follows Luke and Lando’s journey to find Exegol and learn why the dead planet keeps haunting Luke’s dreams.

Revealed in the film The Rise of Skywalker, Exegol was a dark, desert planet in the Unknown Regions of the galaxy. It was also the hideout for the ancient Sith Eternal and former Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious. In the final piece of the sequel trilogy, Rey and Ben Solo discover Sidious had survived the destruction of the second Death Star and had created Snoke and the Final Order on Exegol.

In the excerpt, Luke Skywalker is transported to Exegol when he’s meditating on Tython – basically the light side/Jedi version of what the Sith had on Exegol.

"He knew immediately where he was. He had been here many times recently, this nightmare landscape of his visions.Only now he knew its name.This was Exegol, the hidden world of Sith only whispered about in ancient texts. A place reachable only with a wayfinder."

The rest of the excerpt is a chilling battle between Luke and nine corporeal wraiths, who are wielding black or colorless lightsabers. And just when Luke braces himself to fend off nine lightsabers at once, a blue light appears along with the Force ghost of someone Luke hasn’t seen since the celebrations on Endor.

"It couldn’t be.It couldn’t be.The blue figure lifted his hood back to reveal the strong, sharp face of a young man, his gaze intense beneath a furrowed brow that was bisected by straight, vertical scar. His thick hair was shoulder-length and had a slight wave to it.Anakin Skywalker reached out his hand.Luke took it, and everything went white."

Read the full, epic excerpt over at StarWars.com.

Star Wars: Shadow of the Sith releases June 28 and is now available for preorder.