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Review Summary: Three of the First and Very Best Star Wars Novels |
Date: 2008-11-17 |
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Details: The other reviews here tell the stories well, so I'll just focus on why this book is so worth your time.
First, Daley's Star Wars credentials are superb - he wrote all three of the radio scripts that are now considered canon. (And well worth checking out - 12-hr versions of Star Wars, Empire, and Jedi as broadcast on NPR: Star Wars: The Original Radio Drama.) Daley was also a Vietnam veteran from the 11th Armored Cavalry, so his novels carry plenty of authentic combat details and dialogue.
This gives his writing a wonderful texture that puts you right there, seeing through Solo's eyes. Here, in the first chapter of the first book, Han steps out of the Falcon to make a delivery to a band of rebel aliens.
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Han wore his side arm, a custom-model blaster with rear-fitted macroscope, its front sight blade filed off to facilitate the speed draw. His holster was worn low, tied down at the thigh, cut so that it exposed the weapon's trigger and trigger guard.
...He also made certain that the interrupter-templates had automatically slid into place along the servo-guides for the belly turret, so that the quad-mounted guns wouldn't accidentally blow away the landing gear or ramp if he had to fire them while the ship was grounded.
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As a kid I ate that up. Now I simply admire the care Daley put into his writing and research.
Lucas must've been impressed by these books as well, for he not only had Daley write all three Star Wars radio series, but he took at least two scenes from Daley's first book and used them in "The Empire Strikes Back." First there's the one where Han sets the Falcon down on an asteroid, and then this one, from the opening chapter, where Han tips the Falcon on its side to fly through a narrow mountain pass:
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Han tightened his grip on the controls, feeling the press of his flying gloves against them. "Pass, nothing - that thing's a slot! Hold your breath, Chewie, we'll have to skin through."
He killed all shields, since they'd have struck rock and overloaded, and wrenched his controls, standing the Millennium Falcon on her portside. Sheer crags closed in on either side, so that the roar of the freighter's engines rebounded from the cliffs... There was a slight jar, and the shriek of metal torn away as easily as paper. The long-range sensors winked out; the dish had been ripped off the upper hull by a protrusion of rock. Then the needle's eye was threaded sideways, and the Falcon was through the mountains.
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Han is fleshed-out well here, and it adds much to his character. There's not only his cocky attitude (mostly for show), shrewd business dealings, and sharp military experience, but also a hint of his compassion for the underdog, as when he gives advice to the rebel aliens about using the weapons he just dropped off.
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"Now, the Security Police here use those riot guns, right? Sawed-off, two-handers? They're real fond of using constant fire, because they can afford to waste power, just hosing it around. You can't. What you do is, lock all your carbines on single shot. And if you get into a firefight at night or in the deep jungle where visibility's poor, shoot at the constant-fire sources."
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Finally, knowing the Authority ship is waiting for him to reappear, Han makes a quick getaway:
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He fired her up, stood her on her tail, and opened main thrusters wide. The starship screeched away into the sky, leaving the river steaming and the jungle smoldering. Duroon fell away quickly, and Han began to think they had the problem licked.
Then the tractor beam hit.
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To escape, Han aims directly at the Authority ship (again, just as Lucas did in "Empire") and narrowly escapes.
All that, and all in the first chapter of the first book. In the next chapter Han's buying something like a cross between a skunk and a badger to repay a bad debt, and ends up in a shoot-out in a bar. Later on there's infiltrating an enemy prison base, dealing with a hired gun, and a stunning ten-page aerial battle over an outlaw spaceport.
There's a density to Daley's writing, a perfect weight/mass ratio, that makes every page worth your time. He also has a great ear for authentic, engaging dialogue, which at times sounds like Elmore Leonard or Tarantino: "I'm tapped out, Doc. Get yourself some machinery; we'll play them one last chorus."
Alan Dean Foster's "Splinter of the Mind's Eye," the only Star Wars spin-off before this one, is also a great adventure, focusing on Luke and Leia, and Timothy Zahn's "Heir to the Empire" trilogy is excellent in terms of a grand epic with intricate plotting, politics, and space battles (including the Z-95 Headhunters Daley created). But of all the Star Wars books I've read, these are the most true to the original film - the action, gadgetry, aliens, humor, and edge-of-your-seat adventure.
So check them out. Three of the earliest Star Wars novels ever printed, they're still some of the very best out there. |
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Review Summary: Good Early SW Book |
Date: 2007-05-20 |
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Details: This book was released in 1979, soon after the first movie had come out.It is much better that it's contemporary "Adventures Of Lando Calarissian" because the author evidently learned a bit about Han Solo before writing it. Han Solo and Chewie have a string of adventures,and like in the Lando books they are in an obscure section of the SW Galaxy.Strangly, the Empire is almost totally missing from these tales. Star's End seemed to me to be a little bit weak but not bad, the other two stories were fun. They are full of action, some interesting characters, and an interesting glimpse into a lost Pre-Republic civilisation that will interest the serious fans. Skynx was a good character, and I liked that whole scene when Chewie sets out to impress the local ladies by telling them *he's* the Captian of the Falcon and Solo is his First Mate, much to Han's amusement.And the rediclous coach he rented to further the image was funny. Purists will find 75% fewer so- called "Anachronisms" in this book than in other early SW books. |
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Review Summary: A Trilogy of Han and Chewie's Adventures |
Date: 2007-05-20 |
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Details: Han Solo at Stars' End is the first tale in The Han Solo Adventures. I found Stars' End to be an extremely enjoyable tale of adventure with Han, Chewie, and assorted other characters. The bad guys in this story are the Corporate Sector Authority, a semi-independent group that seems to be interested solely in profit. Any means of gathering profits are acceptable to them.
The CSA has constructed the Star Ends' prison complex on the desolate rock Mytus VII. Dissidents and other troublemakers are quietly being rounded up and held at Stars' End in stasis cells. In one of the frequent bouts of trouble that they run into, Chewie is captured by the CSA and taken to Stars' End. Han, of course, mounts a rescue effort with the help of Bollux, a labor droid, and Blue Max, a positronic processor hidden in Bollux's chest cavity. They are joined in this mission by two Trianii- Atuarre and Pakka. This team manages to get to Stars' End, destroy the prison, and rescue many of the prisoners.
The book is a real treat in many ways. The familiar byplay between Han and Chewie is wonderful, and Chewie's methods of expressing his emotions through honking and roaring are just great to imagine. This is a real Star Wars adventure with familiar characters doing adventurous things. Don't miss it.
Han Solo's Revenge is the second tale in The Han Solo Adventures. Unfortunately, I found this one to be a real step down from the previous story, Han Solo at Stars' End. The synopsis of the story sounds good. Han and Chewie are tricked into an attempt to transport a shipload of slaves. Since anything associated with slavery is anathema to our heroes, we know they will fight against the attempt. They do exactly that and manage to free the slaves. However, from there on, the tale goes downhill. Han and Chewie take off in the Falcon in an effort to collect the fee they were promised as part of the deal. Things get complicated. They run into Fiolla, an Assistant Auditor-General for the Corporate Sector Authority, and Spray, a licensed collections agent who is charged with the responsibility of claiming the Falcon as payment for Han's unpaid debts. These two characters stay with us until the end of the tale at which point Spray turns out to be someone completely different.
The tale just did not hold my attention. The most interesting character to turn up is a hired gun named Gallandro who has the reputation of being the fastest gun in the galaxy. He and Han are involved in a showdown in which Gallandro backs down, but you just know that he will turn up in future stories. The story travels to the planets Bonadan and Ammuud, and in the end Han and Chewie make a slick maneuver to escape with Fiolla and Spray (actually Odumin, the CSA territorial manager) held hostage and their ten-thousand credit fee safely tucked away. So all ends well, but it could have ended equally well in about thirty fewer pages.
Now it's on to the third tale in Han's adventures. I am more optimistic about Han Solo and the Lost Legacy.
Han Solo and the Lost Legacy is the third tale in The Han Solo Adventures and the best of the three. All of the stories give us an idea of how Han came to be the lovable rogue that we know from the films and how his relationship with Chewbacca developed over the years. The stories are packed with action and with a lot of humor. The first tale, Han Solo at Stars' End, was good. The second, Han Solo's Revenge, was vastly disappointing, so I was glad to read this third one and let Han's adventures from this book finish on a high note.
Our heroes in this book have fallen on hard times in the beginning and are reduced to accepting whatever types of jobs will get them by, including serving as the pit crew for an aerial entertainer. When a real job turns up, they leave the insufferable entertainer in a memorable scene in which Han shows an audience what a real pilot can do. They are then off on a mission to earn credits, but this one does not work out. However, they do run into an old friend - Badure along with his associates Hasti and Skynx. Badure previously was a respected piloting instructor on Carida but had fallen on hard times. Hasti has taken up with Badure in a quest they are on for a treasure and also to avenge the death of her sister. Skynx was a Ruurian who was an expert on pre-Republic times. All of this crew along with our old friends the droids Bollux and Blue Max head off on a quest to find a legendary treasure from a ship called the Queen of Ranroon. According to legend, the treasure is stored in the vaults of Xim the Despot, a legendary conqueror of many worlds in ancient times. These vaults are located on Dellalt.
As you might expect, Han and Chewie are greatly attracted by the thought of treasure. Also, as you might expect, they are not the only ones interested in the treasure. The operators of a mining company on Dellalt are also after the riches and provide most of the bad guys in the tale. The bad guys are helped out by Gallandro, the noted gunman from earlier stories. The tale moves along rapidly through a number of harrowing situations and has a somewhat unexpected ending. A number of things that made the story great fun to read are listed below.
* The interaction between Han and Chewie reaches a new level.
* A chase scene with Han and Chewie and assorted company riding in a groundcoach that is decked out as if it were in a parade. Chewie's driving skills and reactions to situations are priceless.
* The sauropteriods who help our intrepid team to cross a major lake
* A ride down a huge snowfield on a large gong with all of them hanging on for dear life as the bad guys come after them
* The cleverness of Bollux and Blue Max as they help their friends get out of several scrapes
* The war-robots of Xim - huge robots intended only to search and destroy when called upon. Great characters. I felt as if Transformers had come to Star Wars.
This is a story not to be missed. |
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Review Summary: Han Solo and Chewbacca in their smuggling days of yore |
Date: 2007-02-19 |
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Details: Like the Lando Calrissian Adventures, Brian Daley's Han Solo Adventures are among the few books written while the original film trilogy was still being produced. In fact, Daley wrote these before The Empire Strikes Back was released, so he had to be very careful not to step on Lucas' toes creatively. Therefore you will find little that is familiar from the films in these three novels. They are set before A New Hope and are essentially three stand-alone episodes of Han Solo's life. A.C. Crispin's excellent Han Solo Trilogy encompasses a much broader span of time; she works these adventures into her third volume, Rebel Dawn.
Han Solo at Stars' End is set in the Corporate Sector Authority region of space, an area that appears to be largely free of the influence of the Empire. Han is living the typical smuggler's life, moving from job to job and situation to situation as he and Chewbacca try to make a living. An early predicament in this book throws them a curve: they desperately need some upgrades to the Millennium Falcon and they need them fast to stay a step ahead of the Espos, the regional security goons. There is only one man to turn to: Doc, the preeminent outlaw-tech who runs an illicit starship chop-shop.
Unfortunately, Doc has been captured by the Authority and has disappeared. Han and Chewbacca agree to attempt to track Doc down and attempt a rescue in exchange for ship upgrades. To aid them in getting data on Doc's location, they are assigned Bollux and Blue Max, a pair of droids who, much like Vuffi Raa in the Lando Calrissian Adventures, will start out as annoyances but grow to become trusted partners. Blue Max discerns that Doc has been taken to Stars' End, a wretched, isolated facility on the very edge of the Corporate Sector. The rest of the book deals with the rescue mission.
Daley is a descriptive and engaging writer. Han Solo at Stars' End, though set apart from most other Star Wars EU novels, does occasionally introduce an element that has been carried through to many other stories, such as Z-95 Headhunters and vibro-blades. Bollux and Blue Max prove to be entertaining additions to the story and I'm glad Daley chose to bring them along in his other two books. The feline Trianii mother and son Atuarre and Pakka and the wicked VicePrex Hirken are the other memorable characters introduced. There are a fair number of supporting characters who flit in and out of the story quite briefly, which seems realistic for a smuggler's tale.
The climatic events of the story are almost too over-the-top for my tastes. I found the ultimate fate of Stars' End rather hard to believe, although I will grant it certainly paints a vivid picture when you're reading it. Han is a rather two-dimensional character in this tale. Everything you learned of him from seeing him in the cantina in A New Hope is what you're given in this story. I was surprised by how cold-blooded he is in dealing with a traitor mid-book, but that probably fits well with the pre-Rebellion old-style Han Solo.
Although it doesn't add much to the overall characters of Han Solo and Chewbacca, Han Solo at Stars' End is an entertaining stand-alone chapter in the saga.
The second book in the Han Solo Adventures, Han Solo's Revenge, is not a sequel to Han Solo at Stars' End but rather its own distinct story. The only important elements that carries over from the first book besides Han, Chewie, and the Falcon are Bollux and Blue Max. In a funny opening sequence, Han and Chewie are embarked on a venture as somewhat honest businessmen, but a cultural misunderstanding quickly tosses them back into their usual one-step-ahead-of-the-law lifestyle.
The dominant theme of this story is Han's hatred of slavery. This characteristic of Han's, given a full backstory in Crispin's Han Solo Trilogy, has often been cited as the reason he rescued Chewbacca, sacrificing his career in the Empire as a result. Han and Chewie have blindly accepted a mission without knowing any details; when they discover it involves the transportation of slaves, they turn the tables, free the captives, and set out for revenge on the jokers who set them up.
I found this story somewhat disjointed compared to the more tightly-focused first novel. It seemed to move from one loosely-connected vignette to another without cleanly weaving the strands into a larger tapestry. After spending most of the story introducing new characters, locales, and plotline, I expected a bigger finish, but the climax depends rather heavily on exposition telling us how clever the various plots had been. Han has been used as a tool the whole story, and his revenge mostly consists of helping the Authority to disrupt the slavers and getting some money out of the whole deal. I expected something a little more primal from a book with Revenge in the title.
I enjoyed reading Han Solo's Revenge but not as much as the first Daley book. Despite having a fairly well-written mystery plot at its core, I never connected much with the characters or the storyline.
Han Solo and the Lost Legacy concludes Brian Daley's Han Solo Adventures, although like the first two books, it is a standalone tale. Bollux and Blue Max continue to be a part of the Millennium Falcon's crew, and the feared gunslinger Gallandro returns from Han Solo's Revenge, but otherwise you don't have to have read the prior volumes to enjoy this one. Daley also continues to mix up the style of adventures; we've had a prisoner rescue story and a tale of revenge, and now we have a quest for a legendary lost treasure hoard accumulated by Xim the Despot millenia earlier.
The first few chapters of Han Solo and the Lost Legacy focus on assembling our new cast of characters. As per the other two novels, the story kicks off with a deal of Han and Chewie's going bad. From there they find themselves on the run and in dire need of funds. The new characters include Badure, an old smuggler acquaintance of Han's; Hasti, a younger woman Badure has partnered with; and Skynx, a Ruurian academic interested in pursuing the lost treasure for the sake of adventure and knowledge rather than monetary gain.
Once this group has assembled, they head off to Dellalt to try and unlock the secret of Xim's vaults. The notion of huge empty vaults Xim left behind being dotted all over the galaxy is evocative, and I found it easy to picture Han being swept up in this sort of quest (maybe due to Harrison Ford having played a certain notable archeologist...). There are many action sequences occurring one after another on Dellalt, but the story largely maintains its energy and focus.
I was amused by a sequence mid-book that took place on a lake involving giant dinosaur-like creatures towing rafts of humans across for money. My visuals for this scene kept blending with the Doomworld arc of the Star Wars Marvel comics, in which Luke and Co. encounter large dinosaurs on a world of water. Not totally the same, but the goofy factor in this sequence in the book rivaled that of many of the Marvel tales.
The Gallandro arc draws to a satisfying conclusion in this book. It's hard to instill a sense of danger in these prequel stories, where we know perfectly well Han and Chewie will be OK, but there is a moment in their final confrontation that comes closes. The book ends well and the last page really feels like you're heading back into the events of A. C. Crispin's Han Solo Trilogy (which she gets credit for, as her books were written many years later).
Like the Lando Calrissian Adventures before them, all three of the Han Solo Adventures stand somewhat detached from the Star Wars universe as established in the films. A few elements are brought into each, but the Empire seems very far away throughout. Happily, there's plenty of room for side stories in such a large galaxy. If you are looking for a story closely tied to the films' primary thematic elements, these two series don't fit the bill and may feel more like a diversion. However, if you're interested in expanding your Star Wars universe and taking a break from the epic struggles of Jedi vs. Sith, give one of them a try.
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Review Summary: great read |
Date: 2006-06-26 |
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Details: if you have read the han solo trilogy and havent read this one yet, pick it up NOW!!! its all about his adventures in between the 2nd and 3rd book i think, lol been awhile since i read the other trilogy but its when he goes to the corperate sector and has more mods done to the falcon. pick it up now |
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out of 37 Reviews
