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

by K.W. Jeter (Author)

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 the Audio Cassette edition.

Review
A ruthless enemy threatens Boba Fett with a fate worse than death. . .

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Spectra (June 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553578855
• ISBN-13: 978-0553578850
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (170 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #65,277 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 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 (REAL NAME)

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.

4 of 4 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

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.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Digestion and the Art of Denying Sarlaccs, March 17, 2003

By	TastyBabySyndrome "T(to the)B(to the)S" ("Daddy Dagon's Daycare" - Proud Sponsor of the Little Tendril Baseball Team, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

Dancing one's way into a Sarlacc can invoke some bodily problems in anyone, including the most dangerous bounty hunter to grace the universe's ballrooms, and can leave them reliant on the aid of another in these times of trouble. Such is the case for Boba Fett, stricken by the misfortune of working for a Hutt and sticking around a desert planet a little too long, as well as the Dengar that finds him after he's blasted his way out of that eating machine. So, what does one do with a bounty hunter that would be worth a fortune dead and more if he were allowed to live and keep his promise to make you a partner? This is a tough question considering he knows some of the past that has led to the mystique of the universe's most loved bounty hunter and that many a person would try to [destroy] him if they knew that he was in a weakened condition and you, too, if you were to allow yourself to get in the way of their whims.

In this installation, I personally found myself liking the story as it wandered through the Bounty Hunter's Guild and the fall of such an esteemed organization, enjoying the scheme that Kud'ar Mub'at and his arachnid-like portions has birthed into being - not to mention the character itself and the oddities invoked within, like the fact that a piece of himself would one day arise and consume him and take his place. I also liked looking into the mindset of Bossk and his partner-in-crime, Zuckuss, as they bumbled about and ended up picking up Boba's scraps. The series also builds on other things that I liked as well, including some rather odd Hutts that are always enjoyable (bigger is better, especially when you have suits that can defy gravity) and are always trying to stay one step ahead of the game, plus the fact that Boba throws some plans into action that are actually high caliber assaults upon the playing field. Unfortunately, I've read the entire series and can say that this book was good but that the second installation was a painful trek into the mindset of redundancy and hurts the groundwork laid herein, making it hard to continue onward. There are times when the repetition of ideas is ground into the reader's mind over and over again as the works progress, making it an annoyance as you are given a person's mindset three times too many or when there is an event that has been [repeated over and over] and is still being dredged up.

If you can stand the fact that the book isn't exactly iron-on idealism to the Lucas empire and that Boba gets to crawl his way out of the Sarlacc ... then the first book herein is a pretty interesting read. It does like to play a bit and the series continuation hurts me as I recall reading onward, but this installation - graded by itself - births an interesting array of characters and ideas as it moves toward galactic [plan]. You simply have to bear in mind that one portion of the story might be the only piece you ever really want to read from cover to cover.