Mandalorian Armor (Star Wars Bounty Hunter Wars) [Paperback]

K W Jeter (Author)

Book Description

Series: Star Wars Bounty Hunter Wars | Publication Date: July 2, 1998

The first volume in a trilogy set in the underworld of "Shadows of the Empire". Just at the time of Prince Xizor's fall, bounty hunters like Bobba Fett, Bossk and Dengar, begin a war for control of the underworld beneath the evil empire.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This story, book 1 of the Bounty Hunter Wars trilogy, intercuts between the time just after Star Wars and events that take place during Return of the Jedi. It's an intricate tapestry of deceit and backstabbing villainy among those scum of the galaxy, the bounty hunters. Principal scum include: Prince Xizor, a Darth Vader wannabe and leader of the ultrasecret crime syndicate Black Sun; reptilian Cradossk, leader of the Bounty Hunters Guild; his son, Bossk, who makes Oedipus look like an underachiever; and finally Boba Fett--faceless, ruthless, and impossible to kill. Thought the Sarlacc consumed him in Return of the Jedi? Guess again.

This first novel only kicks off the trilogy's story, so while there is some action, there's also much talking and scheming, and the overall plot is only beginning to become clear by the book's end. Curiously, since everyone is so wretchedly evil, there's really no hero to root for--a marked contrast to the usually quite romantic Star Wars tales. This explains, perhaps, why K.W. Jeter was chosen to author the trilogy. Jeter, once Philip K. Dick's protégé, tends to avoid anything upbeat or uplifting.

Tony Award nominee Anthony Heald doesn't just read the book, he performs it, using countless different voices. He's backed up by music and sound effects that make The Mandalorian Armor into a full-fledged audio drama. Fans of Star Wars fiction and Boba Fett in particular will be pleased with this further exploration of Lucas's rich universe. Newcomers, though, might want to start with something more traditional. --Brooks Peck --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

A ruthless enemy threatens Boba Fett with a fate worse than death. . . --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (July 2, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553506013
• ISBN-13: 978-0553506013
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (179 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,508,671 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars So bad, it was painful, May 30, 2001

By 

V. M. Vaglio "somewhere in the rainforest" (San José, Costa Rica) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Mandalorian Armor (Star Wars: The Bounty Hunter Wars, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

This could be one of the worst books in the SW Universe. The plotline tries to be complicated and interesting, but it continues falling in a very deep pit, and the author does not know how to bring it back. While the author tries to give you some insight on the characters what he really does are boring and endless introspectives, that even make you hate some characters since they are so dull and boring. The plot pace gets stuck from time to time and I found myself rereading some paragraphs as Jeter made them extremely complicated and so boring that my attention wandered away. Just one more thing, I am not saying that the author has to read EVERY Star Wars book, but he should have had the consideration of keeping some characters as they were developed in previous masterpieces, not putting them as dumbfools just to uplift his own, newly-introduced, puny feeble bantha-fodder characters. There are a lot of SW books out there, and I bet 90% of them are better than this yarn, so better spend your money in something else.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Boba Fett Fans May Find This Disappointing, June 3, 2002

By 

"wildkarrde3" (Bronx, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mandalorian Armor (Star Wars: The Bounty Hunter Wars, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

I bought this book because I read every Star Wars book that I can get my hands on. I actually thought that this would give me further insight into the minds of the mysterious bounty hunters that we all wondered about in The Empire Strikes Back. In this, I was not disappointed. I got to learn more about Dengar and Bossk and how the Bounty Hunter's Guild was disbanded. However, if you were looking for insight into the character of Boba Fett, look somewhere else. The only info about Boba Fett that you'll come away from this book with is: 1. Boba Fett is ruthless, 2. He has no friends, 3. He's as tough as nails. These things true Boba Fett fans already know. I thought maybe we would learn a little about his past, but all we learn is that Boba Fett likes to erase all ties (human or alien) to his past. As for Jeter's portrayal of the bounty hunter, Zuckuss, I found it to be lacking. Zuckuss is supposed to be a findsman - a warrior. In this book, he's nothing but a sniveling coward, mostly hiding behind Bossk. Once in a while, he may show some intelligence, but those moments are few and far between. If you like Prince Xizor, you may be pleased with HIS portrayal - as power hungry and obnoxious as ever. He's the only character that has ever made me want to root for Darth Vader. The most intriguing storyline is that of Neelah, an escapee from Jabba's Palace who's searching for clues about her past. This is why I rated this book with 3 stars instead of 2. I'm actually looking forward to finding out what her tie with Boba Fett is. As for Dengar, another disappointment. After reading Tales of the Bounty Hunters, I had the feeling that Dengar was tougher than he's portrayed in this novel. And there seem to be a couple of discrepencies with other expanded universe novels. If you're a diehard Star Wars fan like me, you struggle through this series. Otherwise I suggest you skip it - You aren't missing much.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Stay far, far away, July 29, 2004

By 

Handsome Jack (Sioux Falls, SD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Mandalorian Armor (Star Wars: The Bounty Hunter Wars, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)

Bobba Fett is a lone wolf; cold, intimidating, and of unparalleled skill. Bossk is angry, bloodthirsty and lives for killing and the hunt. Dengar loves his fiance and wants one last big score so he can live happily ever after. Neelah wants to know who she is and is determined and impatient to get answers. Prince Xizor is devious and cunning in his quest for power and revenge... While these characters may sound like a great foundation for a great story the author feels the need to keep reiterating the descriptions I gave over and over again in a truly annoying writing style in which he drops us in the head of a dozen or more characters, even those where indepth knowledge of their thought processes isn't really necessary for the telling of the story. 2 lines of dialogue will be interrupted by a page of exposition. Action will be suspended so the characters can tell us about what we just read. It makes just about every page seem to drag on and never get anywhere. Good authors know when to show and not just tell and in this book the author doesn't seem to grasp that.

I read Star Wars books to be entertained but this book (and the others in the series) bored me so much with their fragmented style that I had to force myself to finish them. Even the good action sequences are too few and far between to salvage a lackluster story. The story might have been salvaged if Boba Fett lived up to the character that so intrigued us on the big screen but he doesn't. The action he is involved in is adequate but his little comments and comebacks are more befitting of a dim-witted high school jock wanna be tough guy full of bravado and an over-inflated ego (and just to clarify I was one of those guys so I know how we sound) then one of the most dangerous men in the galaxy.

If you are a die-hard Star Wars fan and have read Tales of the Bounty Hunters you will be horribly disappointed in Dengar's character. In that book he is 'Payback' a complex, dangerous, surgically enhanced killing machine, but in this book he is almost pathetic and barely competant and it is obvious the author didn't read, wasn't privy to, or just decided to ignore that other story. Continuity is ever a problem in Star Wars books and that is no more evident than here. Also, with the release of Attack of the Clones, the part of the book concerning the design of Slave I just doesn't mesh, which to be fair can't be blamed on the author.