You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
berenikeasteria 's review for:
Star Wars The Lando Calrissian Adventures
by L. Neil Smith
Before Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire trilogy opened up the floodgates of Star Wars books and created the Expanded Universe there were a few novels which were written and published contemporary with the original movies. There are the well-known novelisations of the films, of course, but Splinter of the Mind’s Eye by Alan Dean Foster, published 1978, The Han Solo Adventures by Brian Daley, published 1979-80, and The Lando Calrissian Adventures by L. Neil Smith, published 1983, were the first pioneers of the Expanded Universe with fresh stories to tell. It’s no secret that I’m a bit of an old school fan - I don't enjoy the Disney-verse, and to be honest I preferred the EU’s vision of the Clone Wars before the prequel films came out - but the aforementioned books truly are relics. It’s fascinating to look at what vision they had for the wider world of Star Wars before Zahn’s ground-breaking trilogy. Splinter was set just after A New Hope, but the Han Solo and Lando Calrissian Adventures were set a couple of years beforehand, originally as three separate novellas which were later collected into one book.
What I found most jarring was how the author’s contemporary world creeps into the writing here. Lando being a man of style, some time is spent on scrutinising his wardrobe and that of other characters, and we’re subjected to a torrent of “satyn”, “velvoid”, and “denym”. I'm not the only one to complain about real world equivalents in Star Wars – I know that Timothy Zahn’s “caf” drives some people nuts – but for me “denym” is a step too far. The other shocker was how almost every character engaged in smoking cigarettes or cigars across all three stories with the compulsive need of addicts. This story really feels like a product of a time when airlines still allowed people to light up on planes, but to me it feels incongruous with a futuristic sci fi (and before you ask, yes, I thought the “deathsticks” in Attack of the Clones were equally out of place).
Aside from intrusions of the real world, there was a surprising streak of fantasy, particularly in the first story, Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu, but present in all three. Star Wars has always been a blend of sci fi and fantasy, of course, with the mystical Force and its themes of good versus evil and redemption – but for me the sci fi has always been the dominant element, and certain inclusions both in films and novels felt like a fantastical step too far. Anakin’s immaculate conception referenced in the prequel films, for example, was too on the nose and ecclesiastical for my tastes. Sith alchemy, which shows up in some of the graphic novels, struck me as not adhering to established rules about the Force and felt too much like pulling deus ex machinae out of thin air. The Lando Calrissian Adventures have perhaps a little more fantasy than I'd like in their mix. One of the characters in Mindharp of Sharu speaks in faux medieval English, which seems deeply out of place. And Lando’s primary antagonist across all three adventures is a Sorcerer of Tund, with a bag of tricks reminiscent of the aforementioned Sith alchemy.
Barring these two outliers, however, I still found plenty to enjoy. Maybe this is just because Lando is our main character and he’s more of a wandering charmer than a fighter (judging by his adventures in the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy, which now makes a lot more sense in light of this book), or maybe this is just because this book hearkens back to an earlier time in Star Wars novels when the vision for the universe was somewhat different, but this story is much less about starfighter dogfights or lightsabre duels, key battles against the Empire or epic ethical struggles, and much more about what I could describe as pure or old school sci fi – exploration of alien civilisations and grappling with their mind-bending technologies. This is certainly at the core of Mindharp of Sharu, where Lando encounters crystalline flora with both life and knowledge draining and enhancing properties, and the ruins of an extinct species with strange matter manipulation capabilities including teleportation and size alteration. It’s also true of The StarCave of ThonBoka, where a space-dwelling species communicates through radio waves and is capable of making faster than light hops as part of their biology, and struggles to grasp the notion of technology. The Flamewind of Oseon is perhaps a little misleading as a title. Whereas the mindharp is the core subject of the first tale, the flamewind of the Oseon system is merely the setting, the environmental conditions amidst which Lando finds himself struggling to survive against numerous adversaries. The flamewind has some curious effects which are not fully explored, but this story as a whole is much more conventional, with the showdown between protagonist and antagonist the main point of the plot.
L. Neil Smith certainly never lets things get boring and never lets Lando have an easy time of it. All three stories are chock full of obstacles, rivals, and sudden reversals. I was initially concerned that the stories would come off dull, since Lando can charm his way out of some tight spots and his extraordinary skill at sabacc means he has few problems making money. I needn’t have worried. Lando’s problem is holding on to his credits. Ship maintenance is shocking, import fees are impressive, and there are hostile beings everywhere, both within the Empire and independent systems. Our hero has to rely on every bit of his smooth talking to scrape by, and when that runs out, his wits, companions, and plain old luck; and luck seems to hate Lando as much as it loves him. As a result the stories are entertaining and unpredictable.
All in all, this book was a pleasant surprise. I attempted to read the Han Solo Adventures many years ago and gave up on them – I have a vague memory of the style just not gelling with me – so I didn’t pick up the Lando Calrissian Adventures after that, figuring it’d be more of the same. The only other time Lando gets remotely this much page space is in the Black Fleet Crisis. He makes for an interesting and compelling hero. What puts me off, honestly, is the jarring out of place elements, and the high flown fantasy. I don't think I'm going to re-read this one, although I must say I don't regret the time I spent reading this book at least once to see what it was all about.
5 out of 10.