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A review by a_reader_obsessed
Star Wars: Scoundrels by Timothy Zahn
4.0
4 Stars
Despite this being published 10 years ago, the spirit of this fictional universe remains true!
Taking place right after the movie Star Wars, Han finds himself trying to find a lucrative job to get Jabba off his back. When he’s approached to put together a team to retrieve stolen goods, the lure of equally splitting over 160 million credits is too strong to pass up despite the fact that Han’s not actually an expert in thievery.
This is mission impossible to the max as Han and his team of scoundrels (so called experts in people skills, tech, explosives, surveillance, and specialty item “acquirement”) must breach an impenetrable fortress. To up the ante, they discover an extra lure to the job - a set of data cards that holds a plethora of blackmail material that many parties would be interested in. However, it soon becomes apparent that they’re not dealing with just another rote criminal but the notorious all powerful Black Sun crime syndicate. Toss in the Empire who also has a huge stake in acquiring the data cards, and this job just got potentially deadly real fast.
Reassuredly, in Zahn’s capable hands, multiple plot threads are going at once. The Star Wars world building and layering is impressive as twists, turns, enemies and friends, all become interchangeable. This works best by showcasing Han’s fly by the seat of his pants bravado that seems to consistently come out on the winning side and is always highly entertaining. It doesn't hurt that his entire team is impressive with their skills and ingenuity with great shoutouts to Lando and Chewie!
So, if you want a fun high stakes heist set in the Star Wars universe, then this should not disappoint!
Despite this being published 10 years ago, the spirit of this fictional universe remains true!
Taking place right after the movie Star Wars, Han finds himself trying to find a lucrative job to get Jabba off his back. When he’s approached to put together a team to retrieve stolen goods, the lure of equally splitting over 160 million credits is too strong to pass up despite the fact that Han’s not actually an expert in thievery.
This is mission impossible to the max as Han and his team of scoundrels (so called experts in people skills, tech, explosives, surveillance, and specialty item “acquirement”) must breach an impenetrable fortress. To up the ante, they discover an extra lure to the job - a set of data cards that holds a plethora of blackmail material that many parties would be interested in. However, it soon becomes apparent that they’re not dealing with just another rote criminal but the notorious all powerful Black Sun crime syndicate. Toss in the Empire who also has a huge stake in acquiring the data cards, and this job just got potentially deadly real fast.
Reassuredly, in Zahn’s capable hands, multiple plot threads are going at once. The Star Wars world building and layering is impressive as twists, turns, enemies and friends, all become interchangeable. This works best by showcasing Han’s fly by the seat of his pants bravado that seems to consistently come out on the winning side and is always highly entertaining. It doesn't hurt that his entire team is impressive with their skills and ingenuity with great shoutouts to Lando and Chewie!
So, if you want a fun high stakes heist set in the Star Wars universe, then this should not disappoint!