Scan barcode
gossamerwingedgazelle's review against another edition
4.0
Badly written but with a very enjoyable plot.
bradland's review against another edition
3.0
I've heard so much praise of this book and its two sequels, but I don't know, it wasn't as great as I thought it would be. I guess I've read too many other Star Wars books to put it into context, as it was one of the first EU books published. I think my main problem was the isolationist approach the author is forced to adopt as George Lucas still hadn't completed ESB and ROTJ and given a bigger picture of the Star Wars galaxy at large. However, Brian Daley certainly makes a fast paced book and knows how to write Han Solo (something most EU authors have real problems with). I did like Daley's writing style and some of the dialogue is great but can't shake off the feeling I didn't read a story of significance, that it doesn't matter if it existed or not. I felt Splinter of the Mind's Eye was significant despite the restrictions.
amuelan's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
goodverbsonly's review against another edition
4.0
4 seems fair for an easy read,paced well good tension Han Solo likability et cetera. Also the highly technical battle scenes are INCRECIBLE
jaredkwheeler's review against another edition
4.0
Star Wars Legends Project #211
Background: Han Solo at Stars' End was written by [a:Brian Daley|105184|Brian Daley|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1208193939p2/105184.jpg], and published in April 1979. It is the first of three "Han Solo Adventures" written by Daley, who also adapted the Original Trilogy of Star Wars films for the radio.
Han Solo at Stars' End takes place about 2 years before the battle of Yavin. The main characters are Han Solo and Chewbacca. The story takes place on various planets in the Corporate Sector.
Summary: Facing expulsion from the black-market profits to be had on the margins of the totalitarian Corporate Sector, Han Solo looks to Doc, a skilled outlaw mechanic, for a workaround. Unfortunately, Doc has been vanished by Corporate Sector authorities, and if Han wants his upgrade, he'll have to stick his own neck out to infiltrate an impregnable secret prison.
Review: The first time I read this book, it suffered somewhat by comparison to A. C. Crispin's spectacular Han Solo Trilogy (this series takes place during book 3 of that series). There are a few reasons the comparison isn't fair, but the most important one is this: One of the best things about Crispin's trilogy is the way it fleshes out and pieces together a vast array of established lore about Han Solo to tell a compelling "origin story" for the character. One of the best things about this trilogy is that it's just about the first piece of the Expanded Universe ever, published even before the release of The Empire Strikes Back. Daley was playing a vast, open sandbox, and there's just something really fun about that.
What this book gets most right is Han Solo as a character. This is the Han Solo of the original Star Wars, a cocky anti-hero who doesn't do favors and acts in his own self-interest. This Han always shoots first. This sets up a lot of fun plot dynamics for getting Han involved in something resembling a heroic role without any of the usual heroic motivations, and Daley is good at writing Han into a really tight corner and then writing him back out of it in ways you don't see coming. It gets a bit goofy in spots (particularly an extended sequence at the climax involving something that goes up and then takes a hard-to-believe stretch of time to come back down), but nothing too over-the-top.
At times it may seem unfamiliar because the EU evolved so much in later years, and the pacing is very different from the Star Wars novels of later decades, but this is a really enjoyable nostalgia trip that's well-worth checking out.
B
Background: Han Solo at Stars' End was written by [a:Brian Daley|105184|Brian Daley|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1208193939p2/105184.jpg], and published in April 1979. It is the first of three "Han Solo Adventures" written by Daley, who also adapted the Original Trilogy of Star Wars films for the radio.
Han Solo at Stars' End takes place about 2 years before the battle of Yavin. The main characters are Han Solo and Chewbacca. The story takes place on various planets in the Corporate Sector.
Summary: Facing expulsion from the black-market profits to be had on the margins of the totalitarian Corporate Sector, Han Solo looks to Doc, a skilled outlaw mechanic, for a workaround. Unfortunately, Doc has been vanished by Corporate Sector authorities, and if Han wants his upgrade, he'll have to stick his own neck out to infiltrate an impregnable secret prison.
Review: The first time I read this book, it suffered somewhat by comparison to A. C. Crispin's spectacular Han Solo Trilogy (this series takes place during book 3 of that series). There are a few reasons the comparison isn't fair, but the most important one is this: One of the best things about Crispin's trilogy is the way it fleshes out and pieces together a vast array of established lore about Han Solo to tell a compelling "origin story" for the character. One of the best things about this trilogy is that it's just about the first piece of the Expanded Universe ever, published even before the release of The Empire Strikes Back. Daley was playing a vast, open sandbox, and there's just something really fun about that.
What this book gets most right is Han Solo as a character. This is the Han Solo of the original Star Wars, a cocky anti-hero who doesn't do favors and acts in his own self-interest. This Han always shoots first. This sets up a lot of fun plot dynamics for getting Han involved in something resembling a heroic role without any of the usual heroic motivations, and Daley is good at writing Han into a really tight corner and then writing him back out of it in ways you don't see coming. It gets a bit goofy in spots (particularly an extended sequence at the climax involving something that goes up and then takes a hard-to-believe stretch of time to come back down), but nothing too over-the-top.
At times it may seem unfamiliar because the EU evolved so much in later years, and the pacing is very different from the Star Wars novels of later decades, but this is a really enjoyable nostalgia trip that's well-worth checking out.
B
colls's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
3.0
This book gives us a good unfiltered look at the origins of Han Solo - and I don't mean the character's origins, but the origins of the character. This book was written in 1979 when only the first movie existed and brings back to us the "Solo" part of a man who is primarily concerned with looking out for himself (and, by extension, his ship and his friend).
I feel it's a good story for Han Solo fans who are seeking more material, he's brash and cocky here in ways that appeal to those that preferred his smuggling and criminal work before the events of RotJ.
The writing style doesn't appeal to me and I skimmed over the mechanics of space battle in several places.
I feel it's a good story for Han Solo fans who are seeking more material, he's brash and cocky here in ways that appeal to those that preferred his smuggling and criminal work before the events of RotJ.
The writing style doesn't appeal to me and I skimmed over the mechanics of space battle in several places.
twilliamson's review against another edition
4.0
Back in 1979, with Star Wars still hot in theaters, Brian Daley embarked on a project to expand Han Solo's backstory--but with editorial edicts that he couldn't use the Empire and stormtroopers or Darth Vader or make reference to the Force or the Jedi. With these conscriptions around what he could and could not write, it's no real surprise that Daley dug into the tropes of science fiction, fantasy, and western pulp fiction to fill out his stories.
As a result, the novel delivers some pretty hilarious incongruities with the established films in later years, and the novel feels tonally goofy even as it hits all of the beats appropriate to a genre novel. The tropes Daley uses are so familiar that it can often feel like we've seen everything before--because we have, and that's the point. His Han Solo may not speak in the literal words of the Han Solo we all know and love, but he speaks in the same voice, a spirit that resonates with the character.
Han Solo at Stars' End is not great Star Wars, but it is great pulp fiction in the serial adventure sense--the kind of literature written by a working writer whose craft is less important than the paycheck at the end. While it may not be overly complicated, it's still a lot of fun and an interesting insight to the early development of the Star Wars expanded universe.
As a result, the novel delivers some pretty hilarious incongruities with the established films in later years, and the novel feels tonally goofy even as it hits all of the beats appropriate to a genre novel. The tropes Daley uses are so familiar that it can often feel like we've seen everything before--because we have, and that's the point. His Han Solo may not speak in the literal words of the Han Solo we all know and love, but he speaks in the same voice, a spirit that resonates with the character.
Han Solo at Stars' End is not great Star Wars, but it is great pulp fiction in the serial adventure sense--the kind of literature written by a working writer whose craft is less important than the paycheck at the end. While it may not be overly complicated, it's still a lot of fun and an interesting insight to the early development of the Star Wars expanded universe.
jmschomers's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75