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3.71 AVERAGE
3.71 AVERAGE
good light read, great action, interaction, plot twists. very enjoyable
4 Stars
Despite this being published 10 years ago, the spirit of this fictional universe remains true!
Taking place right after the movie Star Wars, Han finds himself trying to find a lucrative job to get Jabba off his back. When he’s approached to put together a team to retrieve stolen goods, the lure of equally splitting over 160 million credits is too strong to pass up despite the fact that Han’s not actually an expert in thievery.
This is mission impossible to the max as Han and his team of scoundrels (so called experts in people skills, tech, explosives, surveillance, and specialty item “acquirement”) must breach an impenetrable fortress. To up the ante, they discover an extra lure to the job - a set of data cards that holds a plethora of blackmail material that many parties would be interested in. However, it soon becomes apparent that they’re not dealing with just another rote criminal but the notorious all powerful Black Sun crime syndicate. Toss in the Empire who also has a huge stake in acquiring the data cards, and this job just got potentially deadly real fast.
Reassuredly, in Zahn’s capable hands, multiple plot threads are going at once. The Star Wars world building and layering is impressive as twists, turns, enemies and friends, all become interchangeable. This works best by showcasing Han’s fly by the seat of his pants bravado that seems to consistently come out on the winning side and is always highly entertaining. It doesn't hurt that his entire team is impressive with their skills and ingenuity with great shoutouts to Lando and Chewie!
So, if you want a fun high stakes heist set in the Star Wars universe, then this should not disappoint!
Despite this being published 10 years ago, the spirit of this fictional universe remains true!
Taking place right after the movie Star Wars, Han finds himself trying to find a lucrative job to get Jabba off his back. When he’s approached to put together a team to retrieve stolen goods, the lure of equally splitting over 160 million credits is too strong to pass up despite the fact that Han’s not actually an expert in thievery.
This is mission impossible to the max as Han and his team of scoundrels (so called experts in people skills, tech, explosives, surveillance, and specialty item “acquirement”) must breach an impenetrable fortress. To up the ante, they discover an extra lure to the job - a set of data cards that holds a plethora of blackmail material that many parties would be interested in. However, it soon becomes apparent that they’re not dealing with just another rote criminal but the notorious all powerful Black Sun crime syndicate. Toss in the Empire who also has a huge stake in acquiring the data cards, and this job just got potentially deadly real fast.
Reassuredly, in Zahn’s capable hands, multiple plot threads are going at once. The Star Wars world building and layering is impressive as twists, turns, enemies and friends, all become interchangeable. This works best by showcasing Han’s fly by the seat of his pants bravado that seems to consistently come out on the winning side and is always highly entertaining. It doesn't hurt that his entire team is impressive with their skills and ingenuity with great shoutouts to Lando and Chewie!
So, if you want a fun high stakes heist set in the Star Wars universe, then this should not disappoint!
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Timothy Zahn was never my favorite Star Wars author, but this one's decent and a tad complicated to keep track of various characters at times.
adventurous
challenging
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
I can't believe I'm even bothering to review this, but, hell. I picked it up at the library on a whim as an impulse "buy". It was likely due to my horrendous sinus infection and the need for something cozy and comfortable.
It was ok. That's the best I can do. It's barely a Star Wars novel. As other reviewers have said, it's more "Ocean's Eleven" than anything else. I remember reading Zahn's initial trilogy with so much excitement and wonder, but I was, uh, twelve. Not sure if it would stand up to my current level of snobbery and scrutiny.
It was a fun read and it did what I needed it to do.
It was ok. That's the best I can do. It's barely a Star Wars novel. As other reviewers have said, it's more "Ocean's Eleven" than anything else. I remember reading Zahn's initial trilogy with so much excitement and wonder, but I was, uh, twelve. Not sure if it would stand up to my current level of snobbery and scrutiny.
It was a fun read and it did what I needed it to do.
This was a lot of fun. I got surprisingly invested in all the new characters, especially Bink and Winter. All the twists and turns and ridiculous technobabble were highly entertaining. And the bad guys bite it in the end. A good fun read. Pretty sure there was an extended Indiana Jones joke in there, too, but as I haven't seen the specific movie it's a riff off of I'm not quite sure.
Anyway, pretty fun, and lots of emotions between Han and Lando too, even if those are "Does he hate me??" Heh.
Anyway, pretty fun, and lots of emotions between Han and Lando too, even if those are "Does he hate me??" Heh.
Ocean's 11 in space? With Han freaking Solo filling the Clooney role? Set in the past where Chewie is still alive? Written by Timothy Zahn? IT HAS TO BE FIVE STARS. But sadly, it's not.
What does work for Zahn in this volume is a brilliantly unexploited idea within the EU. Seems like everybody is applying the layered heist plot to great success across genre lately and really, with characters like Han Solo and Lando Calrissian, I'm surprised it wasn't thought of sooner. Zahn places it in that murky region between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back that has never really been subject to story-telling. What did Han do with the buckets of credits he received as reward after the Battle of Yavin and rescuing Leia? What happened with the bounty hunter on Ord Mantell that has him thinking of leaving the alliance to go pay off Jabba as they're abandoning Hoth? What is Lando referring to when he greets Han on Bespin with, "You got a lot of nerve showing up here. After the stunt you pulled..."? Zahn's answers, with a completely original, intricate and finely woven tale that is pure page-turner. There are certain tropes establishing themselves within this budding genre that warrant obligatory inclusion, but even with some of the more obvious plot twists, the cast is so nostalgically lovable you can't help but enjoy the experience.
Han and Chewie have left the rebels in the wake of Yavin to look for work to get Jabba off their back. Drawn to the annual elemental festival on the planet of Wukkar, they're approached by a victim of Black Sun (YES, Zahn even weaves them into the tale!) who asks them for help stealing back 163 million credits fro the criminal organization. The problem: the cash is in the mansion of the local Black Sun sector chief in an appropriately impenetrable vault with ingenious sci-fi security measures. Han assembles the ultimate team of scoundrels - con men, ship boosters, thieves, explosive experts and droid security experts - for the ultimate payday. Along the way, we meet characters old and new as Zahn cleverly fills in the blanks between episodes IV and V the way Steve Perry did with episodes V and VI in [b:Shadows of the Empire|9549|Shadows of the Empire (Star Wars)|Steve Perry|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320513836s/9549.jpg|858558].
The large cast of new characters with niche skills are well thought-out and have tremendous potential for deep exploitation, but their very number, by default, sort of prevents that. Most upsetting of all for long-time readers of the EU who've suffered a spate of pretty miserable stories since the death of Chewbacca, there's distressingly little page time devoted to the big guy. About the only really good thing that EU authors have done since his death is add real emotional depth to Han, who struggled with alcoholism and distanced himself from his family after the death of his longtime friend. To finally have Chewie back, after we've suffered through so much and literally felt Han's pain putting the character into greater perspective, nothing is done with him at all. When I first heard the pitch for this book I expected it to give more time to their friendship as a sort of nostalgic throwback to the good old days, but it was anything but. Focused primarily with clever plotting, Zahn lets perhaps the most profound friendship in all of science fiction slip through his fingers and who knows how much longer we'll have to wait for a good story that involves the pair again.
I'm sorely tempted to think this book is actually four stars for its really superior plotting and twisty-clever plot especially when placed on the shelf next to the truly horrible writers and stories of the EU, but the disappointment at not seeing more Chewie is still too fresh to get over.
What does work for Zahn in this volume is a brilliantly unexploited idea within the EU. Seems like everybody is applying the layered heist plot to great success across genre lately and really, with characters like Han Solo and Lando Calrissian, I'm surprised it wasn't thought of sooner. Zahn places it in that murky region between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back that has never really been subject to story-telling. What did Han do with the buckets of credits he received as reward after the Battle of Yavin and rescuing Leia? What happened with the bounty hunter on Ord Mantell that has him thinking of leaving the alliance to go pay off Jabba as they're abandoning Hoth? What is Lando referring to when he greets Han on Bespin with, "You got a lot of nerve showing up here. After the stunt you pulled..."? Zahn's answers, with a completely original, intricate and finely woven tale that is pure page-turner. There are certain tropes establishing themselves within this budding genre that warrant obligatory inclusion, but even with some of the more obvious plot twists, the cast is so nostalgically lovable you can't help but enjoy the experience.
Han and Chewie have left the rebels in the wake of Yavin to look for work to get Jabba off their back. Drawn to the annual elemental festival on the planet of Wukkar, they're approached by a victim of Black Sun (YES, Zahn even weaves them into the tale!) who asks them for help stealing back 163 million credits fro the criminal organization. The problem: the cash is in the mansion of the local Black Sun sector chief in an appropriately impenetrable vault with ingenious sci-fi security measures. Han assembles the ultimate team of scoundrels - con men, ship boosters, thieves, explosive experts and droid security experts - for the ultimate payday. Along the way, we meet characters old and new as Zahn cleverly fills in the blanks between episodes IV and V the way Steve Perry did with episodes V and VI in [b:Shadows of the Empire|9549|Shadows of the Empire (Star Wars)|Steve Perry|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320513836s/9549.jpg|858558].
The large cast of new characters with niche skills are well thought-out and have tremendous potential for deep exploitation, but their very number, by default, sort of prevents that. Most upsetting of all for long-time readers of the EU who've suffered a spate of pretty miserable stories since the death of Chewbacca, there's distressingly little page time devoted to the big guy. About the only really good thing that EU authors have done since his death is add real emotional depth to Han, who struggled with alcoholism and distanced himself from his family after the death of his longtime friend. To finally have Chewie back, after we've suffered through so much and literally felt Han's pain putting the character into greater perspective, nothing is done with him at all. When I first heard the pitch for this book I expected it to give more time to their friendship as a sort of nostalgic throwback to the good old days, but it was anything but. Focused primarily with clever plotting, Zahn lets perhaps the most profound friendship in all of science fiction slip through his fingers and who knows how much longer we'll have to wait for a good story that involves the pair again.
I'm sorely tempted to think this book is actually four stars for its really superior plotting and twisty-clever plot especially when placed on the shelf next to the truly horrible writers and stories of the EU, but the disappointment at not seeing more Chewie is still too fresh to get over.