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kb_208's review against another edition
3.0
A decent collection of short stories that sort of tie into one another. A few of them I thought were pretty interesting and worth reading, while others fell a little short.
jaredkwheeler's review against another edition
3.0
Star Wars Legends Project #226
Background: Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina was edited by [a:Kevin J. Anderson|4845|Kevin J. Anderson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1215310030p2/4845.jpg] and published in July 1995. It is an anthology of 16 short stories featuring the characters seen in Cantina scene in Star Wars. Just under half of the stories are written by authors who also produced at least one Star Wars novel of their own. All of them feature the events that take place in Chalmun's Cantina in Mos Eisley during the movie, and most take place during the few days before and after that scene. Greedo's story begins several years earlier, and the Wolfman and the Lamproid's story stretches all the way to the Battle of Endor.
Review: As you might expect, the execution in this collection is kind of all over the place, but the idea that every scene in Star Wars is packed with characters who are the stars of their own great stories, all just waiting to be told, was the thing that really drew me to the Star Wars universe in the first place. I'd never encountered world-building like that before. So for that alone, this anthology holds a special place for me, and I was surprised, re-reading it over 20 years later, how vividly most of these stories came rushing back to me as I read. Here's my ranking and a few words about each:
Hammertong: The Tale of the "Tonnika Sisters" by Timothy Zahn
Big surprise, Zahn's story is the best of the bunch. But leave it to him to spin such an intricate web based on the conceit that the characters we see in the movie aren't really the people they're supposed to have been (hence the quotes in the title). I would absolutely read an entire series of novels about the group he introduces in this story. Fantastic.
Drawing the Maps of Peace: The Moisture Farmer's Tale by M. Shayne Bell
I wonder how much John Jackson Miller's excellent Kenobi was inspired by this story. Bell puts in a lot of work fleshing out the dynamics between the various factions in rural Tatooine, and this story is a real emotional rollercoaster.
The Sand Tender: The Hammerhead's Tale by Dave Wolverton
Wolverton tells a really interesting story within some pretty strict constraints about the Ithorians. His protagonist is one of the best characters we meet in this collection.
When the Desert Wind Turns: The Stormtrooper's Tale by Doug Beason
There's a bit of a contrived element when we learn that the same stormtrooper popped up in just about every scene during the first hour of Star Wars, but nevertheless this is a fun little journey through the first half of the movie from the perspective of The Enemy.
Empire Blues: The Devaronian's Tale by Daniel Keys Moran
An interesting main character mostly saves an otherwise mediocre story. There's not a whole lot to this one, but it's bolstered by its connection to some of the other tales.
We Don't Do Weddings: The Band's Tale by Kathy Tyers
Guys, it will never not be hilarious that some genius decided to name the Cantina Band's style of music "jizz." Just some really lazy naming there, and it really came back to bite them. Nevertheless, if you can keep a straight face through a story that mentions "jizz" a couple hundred times, this story isn't half bad.
Trade Wins: The Ranat's Tale by Rebecca Moesta
This story is extremely short but delivers the punchline twist of the story that precedes it (and is also better).
Swap Meet: The Jawa's Tale by Kevin J. Anderson
This is the story that precedes the Ranat's Tale. It's fine. Really, they're basically one story told in 2 parts, and together they make for one decent tale.
Doctor Death: The Tale of Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba by Kenneth C. Flint
I could see a lot of people deeply hating this story, and I get that. I kind of enjoyed it for it's deep B-movie horror/sci-fi weirdness. There's no getting around how utterly bizarre it is, and you'll either embrace that or . . . not.
Play It Again, Figrin D'an: The Tale of Muftak and Kabe by A. C. Crispin
I wanted to like this story more than I did, and in particular I wanted to like the main characters more than I did. I think either of them might have been better solo than they were in a story together.
A Hunter's Fate: Greedo's Tale by Tom & Martha Veitch
These two went big with a whole biography of Greedo, the canonicity of which is dubious at best. The result is almost certainly too long, but it has a certain fascination nonetheless. Not half bad, really.
Be Still My Heart: The Bartender's Tale by David Bischoff
The bartender is a pretty unpleasant character and his motivations aren't that interesting. I didn't feel like this story really made a lot of sense.
At the Crossroads: The Spacer's Tale by Jerry Oltion
With this many authors in play, it was inevitable that at least one of them would try something corny with a Force-sensitive character. This one's pretty thin even by those low standards. Totally forgettable.
Soup's On: The Pipe Smoker's Tale by Jennifer Roberson
I actually kind of admire the way this story really goes for it in putting us inside the the point of view of a totally disgusting character, and it is not badly done . . . but that doesn't make it pleasant or fun to read.
One Last Night in the Mos Eisley Cantina: The Tale of the Wolfman and the Lamproid by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
This is for sure the dumbest of the bunch, and also one of the dumbest Star Wars stories I've ever read. It's going for something big and profound and sweepingly-epic and it's just so spectacularly stupid. I hate everything about it and the entire concept.
Nightlily: The Lovers' Tale by Barbara Hambly
This somehow still squeaks into the bottom spot on my list by virtue of having the most hatable main character. I assume this was done in order to generate some sort of catharsis from the twist conclusion, but the whole thing is just weird and gross and it doesn't land at all. And it goes on so long and foreshadows so heavily that you're unlikely to be surprised.
B-
Background: Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina was edited by [a:Kevin J. Anderson|4845|Kevin J. Anderson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1215310030p2/4845.jpg] and published in July 1995. It is an anthology of 16 short stories featuring the characters seen in Cantina scene in Star Wars. Just under half of the stories are written by authors who also produced at least one Star Wars novel of their own. All of them feature the events that take place in Chalmun's Cantina in Mos Eisley during the movie, and most take place during the few days before and after that scene. Greedo's story begins several years earlier, and the Wolfman and the Lamproid's story stretches all the way to the Battle of Endor.
Review: As you might expect, the execution in this collection is kind of all over the place, but the idea that every scene in Star Wars is packed with characters who are the stars of their own great stories, all just waiting to be told, was the thing that really drew me to the Star Wars universe in the first place. I'd never encountered world-building like that before. So for that alone, this anthology holds a special place for me, and I was surprised, re-reading it over 20 years later, how vividly most of these stories came rushing back to me as I read. Here's my ranking and a few words about each:
Hammertong: The Tale of the "Tonnika Sisters" by Timothy Zahn
Big surprise, Zahn's story is the best of the bunch. But leave it to him to spin such an intricate web based on the conceit that the characters we see in the movie aren't really the people they're supposed to have been (hence the quotes in the title). I would absolutely read an entire series of novels about the group he introduces in this story. Fantastic.
Drawing the Maps of Peace: The Moisture Farmer's Tale by M. Shayne Bell
I wonder how much John Jackson Miller's excellent Kenobi was inspired by this story. Bell puts in a lot of work fleshing out the dynamics between the various factions in rural Tatooine, and this story is a real emotional rollercoaster.
The Sand Tender: The Hammerhead's Tale by Dave Wolverton
Wolverton tells a really interesting story within some pretty strict constraints about the Ithorians. His protagonist is one of the best characters we meet in this collection.
When the Desert Wind Turns: The Stormtrooper's Tale by Doug Beason
There's a bit of a contrived element when we learn that the same stormtrooper popped up in just about every scene during the first hour of Star Wars, but nevertheless this is a fun little journey through the first half of the movie from the perspective of The Enemy.
Empire Blues: The Devaronian's Tale by Daniel Keys Moran
An interesting main character mostly saves an otherwise mediocre story. There's not a whole lot to this one, but it's bolstered by its connection to some of the other tales.
We Don't Do Weddings: The Band's Tale by Kathy Tyers
Guys, it will never not be hilarious that some genius decided to name the Cantina Band's style of music "jizz." Just some really lazy naming there, and it really came back to bite them. Nevertheless, if you can keep a straight face through a story that mentions "jizz" a couple hundred times, this story isn't half bad.
Trade Wins: The Ranat's Tale by Rebecca Moesta
This story is extremely short but delivers the punchline twist of the story that precedes it (and is also better).
Swap Meet: The Jawa's Tale by Kevin J. Anderson
This is the story that precedes the Ranat's Tale. It's fine. Really, they're basically one story told in 2 parts, and together they make for one decent tale.
Doctor Death: The Tale of Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba by Kenneth C. Flint
I could see a lot of people deeply hating this story, and I get that. I kind of enjoyed it for it's deep B-movie horror/sci-fi weirdness. There's no getting around how utterly bizarre it is, and you'll either embrace that or . . . not.
Play It Again, Figrin D'an: The Tale of Muftak and Kabe by A. C. Crispin
I wanted to like this story more than I did, and in particular I wanted to like the main characters more than I did. I think either of them might have been better solo than they were in a story together.
A Hunter's Fate: Greedo's Tale by Tom & Martha Veitch
These two went big with a whole biography of Greedo, the canonicity of which is dubious at best. The result is almost certainly too long, but it has a certain fascination nonetheless. Not half bad, really.
Be Still My Heart: The Bartender's Tale by David Bischoff
The bartender is a pretty unpleasant character and his motivations aren't that interesting. I didn't feel like this story really made a lot of sense.
At the Crossroads: The Spacer's Tale by Jerry Oltion
With this many authors in play, it was inevitable that at least one of them would try something corny with a Force-sensitive character. This one's pretty thin even by those low standards. Totally forgettable.
Soup's On: The Pipe Smoker's Tale by Jennifer Roberson
I actually kind of admire the way this story really goes for it in putting us inside the the point of view of a totally disgusting character, and it is not badly done . . . but that doesn't make it pleasant or fun to read.
One Last Night in the Mos Eisley Cantina: The Tale of the Wolfman and the Lamproid by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
This is for sure the dumbest of the bunch, and also one of the dumbest Star Wars stories I've ever read. It's going for something big and profound and sweepingly-epic and it's just so spectacularly stupid. I hate everything about it and the entire concept.
Nightlily: The Lovers' Tale by Barbara Hambly
This somehow still squeaks into the bottom spot on my list by virtue of having the most hatable main character. I assume this was done in order to generate some sort of catharsis from the twist conclusion, but the whole thing is just weird and gross and it doesn't land at all. And it goes on so long and foreshadows so heavily that you're unlikely to be surprised.
B-
twilliamson's review against another edition
3.0
In 1995, Kevin J. Anderson edited the first anthology of Star Wars short fiction, featuring characters from the Mos Eisley Cantina scene from the original film. Here, a number of well-known science fiction authors--many of whom worked with Lucasfilm to craft their own novels set in the Star Wars universe--give life to the diasporic characters seen in the background. The stories are as varied as one might imagine, from atmospheric noir to unconventional time-warping science fiction.
The stories are all of fairly similar quality, with only one or two truly standout entries. My favorite two stories, "Drawing the Maps of Peace" (which is a remarkably good Western) and "One Last Night in the Mos Eisley Cantina" (which serves up a delectable slice of ethereal science-fiction), don't appear until the end of the anthology, but the stories are surprisingly interconnected and fit together well tonally.
Nevertheless, because this anthology is so heavily focused on one particular scene set in Mos Eisley, every single one of the narratives can feel like they start to slog when it comes to the cantina scene. Having to read the fight between Luke and Evazan and then see Ben Kenobi swing a lightsaber 16 times in one anthology is just too much. These narrative hiccups keep many of the stories from really ramping up into their own weird and exciting conclusions.
That said, there's a lot of richness to this first anthology, and I wish more Star Wars fiction focused on the regular folk inhabiting the greater universe of the franchise. Though I won't likely remember most of the stories in this anthology, I think the book still delivers some of my absolute favorite Star Wars to date.
Just... don't show me that fucking cantina scene ever again, please.
The stories are all of fairly similar quality, with only one or two truly standout entries. My favorite two stories, "Drawing the Maps of Peace" (which is a remarkably good Western) and "One Last Night in the Mos Eisley Cantina" (which serves up a delectable slice of ethereal science-fiction), don't appear until the end of the anthology, but the stories are surprisingly interconnected and fit together well tonally.
Nevertheless, because this anthology is so heavily focused on one particular scene set in Mos Eisley, every single one of the narratives can feel like they start to slog when it comes to the cantina scene. Having to read the fight between Luke and Evazan and then see Ben Kenobi swing a lightsaber 16 times in one anthology is just too much. These narrative hiccups keep many of the stories from really ramping up into their own weird and exciting conclusions.
That said, there's a lot of richness to this first anthology, and I wish more Star Wars fiction focused on the regular folk inhabiting the greater universe of the franchise. Though I won't likely remember most of the stories in this anthology, I think the book still delivers some of my absolute favorite Star Wars to date.
Just... don't show me that fucking cantina scene ever again, please.
mickb's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
kandicez's review against another edition
5.0
This is another one of those "gems" that put you right in Lucas' world, without advancing the saga at all. You get a better grasp of the settings, the people, aliens, cultures, everything that makes the galaxy far, far away, so accessible to us in this one!!!
jessisquirrel's review against another edition
Some of the stories were great but not all of them really hooked me.
geraldine's review against another edition
3.0
repetitive, but has its good moments. also has its bad moments.
malloc eating a dead rat while naked and sitting on the floor of his shower is iconic
if shada d'ukal isn't a lesbian, timothy zahn owes me $300,000
malloc eating a dead rat while naked and sitting on the floor of his shower is iconic
if shada d'ukal isn't a lesbian, timothy zahn owes me $300,000