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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
one of the few chances to travel with a young Han,
By
This review is from: The Han Solo Adventures: Han Solo at Stars' End / Han Solo's Revenge / Han Solo and the Lost Legacy (A Del Rey book) (Mass Market Paperback)
"The Han Solo Adventures" is a Three-in-One novel that takes three novels about Han Solo and brings them together in one volume. These novels are set before "Star Wars: A New Hope" and feature a younger Han Solo than we see in the movies. While these books were written before the Original Trilogy had even finished, they fit in very well into the Extended Universe, mostly because nothing that happens in these books has any bearing on the rest of the Star Wars story. The title for this collection is perfect, these are just three Han Solo Adventures.
Unlike most of the other Star Wars novels, the main villain here is not the Empire but rather a completely unrelated entity called the Corporate Sector Authority. Being short on credits again, Han and Chewie take on a job to find a missing mechanic. That sounds simple enough, but this mechanic is one that made many of the major modifications to the Falcon and he operates outside of the law like many smugglers. This search for the mechanic takes Han into the Corporate Sector, an uninhabited section of the galaxy which is used for mining and is controlled by the Corporate Sector Authority. "Han Solo at Star's End" covers this story. Han fights the Espos (the military/police force of the Corporate Authority), rescues prisoners, and gets into tight situations. "Han Solo's Revenge" has Han and Chewie taking on a smuggling mission, but the cargo ends up being slaves. Since Han refuses to have anything to do with the slave trade, what follows is double-crosses by the slavers and then by Han as he tries to fight back and get himself out of this mess. This is also a bit of a revenge novel with Han's grudge against slavers of all kinds. The final novel in this collection is "Han Solo and the Lost Legacy". This novel takes Han and Chewie on an adventure to find a mythical treasure hidden on a new planet. Comparing this to Indiana Jones would not be out of the question as this is the type of adventure it is, even set in the Star Wars Universe. At times, this novel seemed to be just a bit too silly because of the treasure hunting aspect of it. Brian Daley did a good job writing these stories. This was before there was an Extended Universe (except for "Splinter of the Mind's Eye") and we get to see Han and Chewie go on three new adventures. We seldom get to see a younger Han except as he relates to Luke and Leia, so these books are nice for that reason. They are also fairly well written (especially compared to the 3-in-1 Lando Calrissian book). My biggest problem is just that these aren't connected to anything else in Star Wars. The Corporate Sector, while a good villain and a change of pace from the Empire, is never re-visited again (though I understand that the New Jedi Order series finally mentions it), and while the stakes are high for the characters, we know that the two important characters are going to make it. A.C. Crispin does a very good job tying these three books into her Han trilogy (which she wrote some 15 years after Daley), but does a better job at telling an interesting story and explaining Han Solo. Brian Daley just has Han being Han. These are well written, but not quite as interesting or exciting as I had hoped. The first book is best and the quality drops throughout each story. Still, there are only 6 books that deal with a younger Han Solo, so if that is an era you are interested in, this is one of your only chances to visit with a younger Han and go on an adventure. -Joe Sherry
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Another Time and Another Place.,
By
This review is from: The Han Solo Adventures: Han Solo at Stars' End / Han Solo's Revenge / Han Solo and the Lost Legacy (A Del Rey book) (Mass Market Paperback)
Long before Timothy Zahn wrote the the book that started the Star Wars book craze (HEIR TO THE EMPIRE), long before fans knew anything about the Star Wars Expanded Universe, before THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and RETURN OF THE JEDI, and just a few years after the release of STAR WARS, Brian Daley wrote a trilogy of books dealing with some of Han Solo's escapades several years before STAR WARS. The books were some of the first and at the time very few items items that people could buy to learn more about two of their favorite Star Wars characters: Han Solo and Chewbacca. These books: HAN SOLO AT STAR' END; HAN SOLO'S REVENGE; and HAN SOLO AND THE LOST LEGACY were eventually collected together and sold in one volume as THE HAN SOLO ADVENTURES. These stories take place a few years before STAR WARS and are rarely mentioned in the Star Wars canon. The bad guys aren't Stormtroopers from the Empire, but are soldiers of the Corporate Sector (the real reason behind this is because Lucas didn't have things figured out yet and didn't want anyone tinkering with the Stormtroopers from STAR WARS; you can't really blame him, I mean THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK hadn't even been made, yet). The Corporate Sector isn't mentioned very often in the new books, either. But it is on the maps and every once in awhile there are references to some of the things that take place in THE HAN SOLO ADVENTURES.In HAN SOLO AT STAR'S END, Han and Chewie track down an infamous ship rebuilder for a reward and because they need some repairs. Their quest ends up leading them to the prison planet of the Authority known as Stars' End. In HAN SOLO'S REVENGE, Han discovers that some special cargo he was supposed to transport turns out to be a group of slaves. Han hates slavery and anyone caught transporting slaves can receive an instant death sentence. Han forms a plan to foil the slavers and free the slaves. Once accomplished, he sets out to get revenge on the people who set him up. Finally, in HAN SOLO AND THE LOST LEGACY, Han and Chewie set out to a legendary treasure planet. But there's a bounty on Han's head and once he and Chewie arrive, the Millennium Falcon is stolen and they find themselves being tracked and hunted by a group of assassins and killer droids. Never tell this man the odds. THE HAN SOLO ADVENTURES aren't deep and don't add much characterization to what we know about Han Solo. Yet, like the dime novels of long ago, the books are fun to read and are full of action. They're worth owning for anyone interested in classic Star Wars history, anyone who likes Han Solo, and anyone who is tired of reading the usual Star Wars novels that are currently available.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Planet-hopping pulp encounters!,
By
This review is from: The Han Solo Adventures: Han Solo at Stars' End / Han Solo's Revenge / Han Solo and the Lost Legacy (A Del Rey book) (Mass Market Paperback)
I first read this when I was 10. Still a pleasure. What can I say about Brian Daley's Han Solo material?
Daley's style is all action, with some fairly challenging visual descriptions, that give your imagination a brief workout. The pages-long fighter duel in _Star's End_ a is a perfect example, you should be prepared to hear the swooshes. There's not a lot of invention, just variations on a planet-hopping Star Wars formula of getting out of one jam after another, while rescuing your friends or picking up new ones. It's more believable than fantasy, because Daley obliges the laws of physics more often than some we can mention, and there's no weird Force stuff. There's very little theme at all here, and in fact it's quite squarely in the pulp tradition of science fiction/fantasy action that Star Wars takes after. If you have an appetite for a little more pulp, try Leigh Brackett's _Starmen of Llyrdis_, _Sword of Rhiannon_, or the Skaith planetary trilogy. George Lucas read her Skaith trilogy and hired her to write The Empire Strikes Back.
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