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publius 's review for:
Star Wars: Scoundrels
by Timothy Zahn
If, like Princess Leia, there aren't enough scoundrels in your life, then Timothy Zahn's Star War's heist novel might be for you.
I'm a sucker for Star Wars, but after gobbling up The Thrawn Trilogy as a teenager, I somehow lost track of Star Wars fiction. I don't know if it was disappointment with the Prequel films or because I got distracted by other books, but somehow I didn't read many other Star Wars novels. For a lot of years, I didn't read anything in the Star Wars Universe.
Then, I discovered John Jackson Miller's Kenobi, which I listened to an audio production of. The reading was fantastically produced, full of sound, music, voice actors, and sound effects, and I loved it. It didn't hurt that the writing was good, the plot gripping, and the characters sympathetic. Never was life on Tatooine so colorful and alive, even in A New Hope. Obi Wan Kenobi was already one of my favorites of the many Star Wars characters (let's be honest: the Prequels are as much about him as they are about Anakin's fall to the Dark Side). After Miller's novel, I was sold: Kenobi was a paragon of the Jedi, an archetypal hero.
I was still relishing the savor of Miller's Kenobi when a friend recommended Timothy Zahn's Scoundrels, noting how much he had enjoyed the audio version. I found a copy of the audio book, and I was not disappointed. Like Kenobi, the reading integrates occasional sound effects, music, and adept voice changes. Star Wars audio books, I am coming to realize, are full productions and worthy entertainment.
As a story, Scoundrels isn't too shabby, either. In contrast to Kenobi--and largely, the Star Wars movies--it is a heist type plot instead of a hero's journey. Initially, it was a rough shift for me. I'm a sucker for the hero's journey, and putting the characters I already knew into a heist setting was a shift. Once I realized what I was dealing with, however, I began to enjoy Scoundrels.
The events of Scoundrels take place some time after A New Hope and before The Empire Strikes Back and provide the back story for Lando Calrissian's chilly welcome when the Millennium Falcon lands on Cloud City after Han, Chewbacca, Leia and the droids escape from Hoth. Han and Lando already have a rocky relationship, but when an opportunity to steal a massive fortune from a corrupt member of the Dark Sun crime syndicate, the two erstwhile friends find themselves in cahoots, along with a bevy of colorful and shady characters, some heroes, some shady, and almost all hiding a secret.
Zahn's Star Wars heist Scoundrels is enjoyable, well paced, and if his characters are less sympathetic than the white knights of the Rebellion, it's only because this is a heist novel and almost everyone is working an angle to their own advantage. Still, heist novels are fun, and Zahn weaves the disparate plots and subplots with a deft hand, and each twist and surprise is a satisfying reveal
I'm a sucker for Star Wars, but after gobbling up The Thrawn Trilogy as a teenager, I somehow lost track of Star Wars fiction. I don't know if it was disappointment with the Prequel films or because I got distracted by other books, but somehow I didn't read many other Star Wars novels. For a lot of years, I didn't read anything in the Star Wars Universe.
Then, I discovered John Jackson Miller's Kenobi, which I listened to an audio production of. The reading was fantastically produced, full of sound, music, voice actors, and sound effects, and I loved it. It didn't hurt that the writing was good, the plot gripping, and the characters sympathetic. Never was life on Tatooine so colorful and alive, even in A New Hope. Obi Wan Kenobi was already one of my favorites of the many Star Wars characters (let's be honest: the Prequels are as much about him as they are about Anakin's fall to the Dark Side). After Miller's novel, I was sold: Kenobi was a paragon of the Jedi, an archetypal hero.
I was still relishing the savor of Miller's Kenobi when a friend recommended Timothy Zahn's Scoundrels, noting how much he had enjoyed the audio version. I found a copy of the audio book, and I was not disappointed. Like Kenobi, the reading integrates occasional sound effects, music, and adept voice changes. Star Wars audio books, I am coming to realize, are full productions and worthy entertainment.
As a story, Scoundrels isn't too shabby, either. In contrast to Kenobi--and largely, the Star Wars movies--it is a heist type plot instead of a hero's journey. Initially, it was a rough shift for me. I'm a sucker for the hero's journey, and putting the characters I already knew into a heist setting was a shift. Once I realized what I was dealing with, however, I began to enjoy Scoundrels.
The events of Scoundrels take place some time after A New Hope and before The Empire Strikes Back and provide the back story for Lando Calrissian's chilly welcome when the Millennium Falcon lands on Cloud City after Han, Chewbacca, Leia and the droids escape from Hoth. Han and Lando already have a rocky relationship, but when an opportunity to steal a massive fortune from a corrupt member of the Dark Sun crime syndicate, the two erstwhile friends find themselves in cahoots, along with a bevy of colorful and shady characters, some heroes, some shady, and almost all hiding a secret.
Zahn's Star Wars heist Scoundrels is enjoyable, well paced, and if his characters are less sympathetic than the white knights of the Rebellion, it's only because this is a heist novel and almost everyone is working an angle to their own advantage. Still, heist novels are fun, and Zahn weaves the disparate plots and subplots with a deft hand, and each twist and surprise is a satisfying reveal