Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.41 AVERAGE
3.41 AVERAGE
Continuing my Star Wars audiobook obsession with this novel, set later in the piece with Han and Leia married and parenting a toddler. I adore these books on audio, the sound effects and voices are all so true to the movies, and this one particularly was entertaining: it had 3 separate narrators and one in particular had me snort-laughing in several places. The dynamics of the characters were highly entertaining: Han and Chewie and Leia, also Han and Lando, grating against each other, but also Lando’s love interest, a feisty young pilot and a Ewok slicer. I found the plot confusing at first as it switches between 3 or 4 different time periods, but it didn’t take long for me to be hooked. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I enjoyed Solo quite a bit. Picturing flash backs featuring young Han and Lando was pretty awesome. This book moved quickly. I'm curious what happens next!
Han and Lando save the galaxy and there is an Ewok no one understands who loves Chewie and Leia and little Ben Solo and a funny cooking droid.
But this, like many Star Wars books at the moment, was jumping around the timeline and that is beginning to drive me mad, though it usually doesn’t annoy me. It’s just becoming a bit too frequent.
But this, like many Star Wars books at the moment, was jumping around the timeline and that is beginning to drive me mad, though it usually doesn’t annoy me. It’s just becoming a bit too frequent.
I really enjoyed this, it manages to both build on and be simultaneously much better than the "Solo" film. It also fits really well with Chuck Wendig's Aftermath series and whilst I know there are many morons on the internet who disagree I'm really enjoying the new canon novels!
I enjoyed the current-day storyline with the Solo family. But the 'Unco Wanwo' cuteness couldn't keep me reading through the boring/uncomfortable past-Han and past-Lando POVs.
I was surprised by the amount of creepy horror and also humor in this story. It was a nice balance.
But the five words that made me click preorder immediately were “two year old Ben Solo” 😂 Lucasfilm knows what they’re doing threading little bits of his backstory in to different publications 😏 Most of these passages are so adorable (“Unca Wanwo!”), but of course something terrible almost happens to him (Ben is nothing if not tragic) and it's described in gruesome detail. You see what kind of parents Leia and Han are when he’s little (very loving and well meaning, but geez, if you’re that busy, set the little guy up in a posh daycare rather than leave him with the kitchen droid!)
Oh, and the Phylanx redux transmitter is totally a metaphor for Ben: “We evolve. Takes time. And when we do make those sudden, seemingly out-of-the-blue changes, usually it turns out the seeds have been there all along, it’s just no one saw them.”
“You mean, when someone makes what appears to be a major change, it may be that it’s really them revealing who they’ve truly been all along- their original programming, so to speak?” “Something like that, sure.”
But the five words that made me click preorder immediately were “two year old Ben Solo” 😂 Lucasfilm knows what they’re doing threading little bits of his backstory in to different publications 😏 Most of these passages are so adorable (“Unca Wanwo!”), but of course something terrible almost happens to him (Ben is nothing if not tragic) and it's described in gruesome detail. You see what kind of parents Leia and Han are when he’s little (very loving and well meaning, but geez, if you’re that busy, set the little guy up in a posh daycare rather than leave him with the kitchen droid!)
Oh, and the Phylanx redux transmitter is totally a metaphor for Ben: “We evolve. Takes time. And when we do make those sudden, seemingly out-of-the-blue changes, usually it turns out the seeds have been there all along, it’s just no one saw them.”
“You mean, when someone makes what appears to be a major change, it may be that it’s really them revealing who they’ve truly been all along- their original programming, so to speak?” “Something like that, sure.”
If it wasn’t for me trying to read all of the SW canon, I wouldn’t have finished this book
I wanted to love this book. Daniel José Older's short story and narration was the standout for me in "A Certain Point of View" and I really hoped he could do a lot with Lando especially in this novel.
Unfortunately, Last Shot is okay to good, not great. While he Older had me at "Ewok Slicer" it just feels like the book dragged on throughout. You could almost ditch part I completely for example and give us even more Lando & L3. It takes a while but the plot does get going eventually and it's a nice smuggler anthology in a way.
One thing is clear though: Lando > Han in almost every respect. I think part of this is that canon really hems Han in now with both Solo and the OT+Force Awakens movies. Stuff happens to Han whereas Lando is still an intriguing mover and shaker who's allowed to develop outside movie canon. This may be what contributes to the sense of a lost opportunity to do even more with the two scoundrels than Older was allowed to.
As an aside, the audiobook itself is great. Three narrators, including Older himself and they all do a very good good job. I just love how you can practically feel Older grinning through the spoken word and it went a long way towards enjoying the overall story.
Unfortunately, Last Shot is okay to good, not great. While he Older had me at "Ewok Slicer" it just feels like the book dragged on throughout. You could almost ditch part I completely for example and give us even more Lando & L3. It takes a while but the plot does get going eventually and it's a nice smuggler anthology in a way.
One thing is clear though: Lando > Han in almost every respect. I think part of this is that canon really hems Han in now with both Solo and the OT+Force Awakens movies. Stuff happens to Han whereas Lando is still an intriguing mover and shaker who's allowed to develop outside movie canon. This may be what contributes to the sense of a lost opportunity to do even more with the two scoundrels than Older was allowed to.
As an aside, the audiobook itself is great. Three narrators, including Older himself and they all do a very good good job. I just love how you can practically feel Older grinning through the spoken word and it went a long way towards enjoying the overall story.
DNF @ 150
The writing is good it just turns out I don't care about Han's past that much. When Ben called Lando "Unca Wanwo" it did make me weepy tho so there's that. Definitely gonna read more of Daniel José Older's work though.
The writing is good it just turns out I don't care about Han's past that much. When Ben called Lando "Unca Wanwo" it did make me weepy tho so there's that. Definitely gonna read more of Daniel José Older's work though.
I love most Star Wars books I read, but this one just dragged for me. The skipping between time points and perspectives was a little hard to keep straight at first, and I didn’t feel a need to really keep up until halfway through the book. I think the overall story was good, just not for me and what I prefer.