Customer Reviews

Star Wars: The Han Solo Trilogy: The Hutt Gambit

5 star:		(53)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Kudos to A. C. Crispin for a superb trilogy that, in my opinion, ranks right up there with 'heavy-hitters' like Zahn and Stackpole's books. An amazing feat has been accomplished in tying together dozens of tidbits of Han's life from numerous books and comics in one coherent, smooth, and effective storyline. The book itself is interesting on its own, but its historical value is incredible. Han's relationships with Lando, Boba Fett, Jabba, Shug Ninx, Salla Zend, Mako Spince, and others are given vibrant backgrounds and realistic beginnings. Granted, some stuff from the Academy would be nice, but I'm sure Lucas wanted it restricted. Heck, they even worked around it in the 'Chewbacca' comic. And besides, Han in the Empire would have nothing to do with the rest of the story. This is about Han picking himself up after being kicked out of the Empire and forming a new life on Nar Shaddaa.

Ah, the slums of the galaxy. Never before has the Galactic underworld been so vividly pictures. Black Sun from Steve Perry's 'Shadows' hardly seemed like an underground criminal syndicate. More like a mini-Empire that worked with the real one. Here we have the dirt of it all- Hutts, gang wars, and all of that nice stuff. Truly impressive and interesting. This is a side of Star Wars never before depicted. The Empire still is there, of course, and we get the great, dramatic Battle of Nar Shaddaa. The use of Baron Fel directly ties into Stackpole's 'The Making of Baron Fel', which is also a very nice touch. See what you people miss when you read only the books?

The huge, varied cast is prefectly done and balanced. All of the people from Nar Shadda in 'Dark Empire' get their backgrounds adeptly crafted here, and a huge amount of Han's life is revealed to us. Simply put, this is a highly, highly reccomended book for fans of Han Solo and the numerous books which this ties into.

The Hutt Gambit begins a short period after The Paradise Snare ends. The book opens with a very drunk Han Solo seated in a tap-cafe with a furry alien creature as he mulls over his unfortunate past. Joining the Imperial Academy had been one of the most important events of his life. Receiving his first commission had made him proud. But watching the Imperials and the cruelties dealt their alien slaves proved to be more than Han could stomach. He was drummed out of the Imperial Navy for rescuing one such slave - the Wookie seated next to him known as Chewbacca, who, as payback for the rescue has sworn a life debt to Solo. At first Han considers this annoying, but then he realizes how advantageous it is to have a Wookie around - especially when you have a price on your head. Han's former employer, a t'landa Til, has not taken kindly to being robbed and played the fool by Han Solo and has offered a considerable bounty for Han. While dodging bounty hunters, Han and Chewie become partners, trying to push their way into the smuggling trade and eventually applying for work with the Desilijic, a Hutt-run syndicate. But, when the Hutt's homeworld comes under the notice of a greedy Imperial Moff, Han and his smuggler friends must think fast and devise a plan to save their world.
This book has something for everyone: a peek into Han's past, plenty of action - including some dogfights, some romance, and appearances by favorites like Lando Calrissian, Boba Fett, Jabba the Hutt, Durga the Hutt, Darth Vader, and more! The book is a quick read and thoroughly enjoyable for any Star Wars fan. This book deals heavily with Han's involvement with the Hutts, giving us clues as to how past encounters may have affected Jabba's dealings with Han in A New Hope and Return of the Jedi. We also gain some insight into the Hutt world. most notably Jabba - I now know why Jabba was so fearful of being poisoned. Fast-paced and action-filled, it's a terrific follow-up to The Paradise Snare! I can't wait to read the final installment in the trilogy: Rebel Dawn!

A very exciting book by a great author for Han Solo and Chewie fans. The Hutt Gambit explains how Han Solo is thrown out of the Imperial academy, his life of crime, and how he met Chewbacca. I think that the most action packed scene of the book was the battle of Nar Shadd. Overall, I think that all people who like Han Solo should read this book to find out what he was like before the The New Hope.

"To make the big money, you gotta be willing to take those risks."
Han has just been dishonorably discharged from the Imperial Navy for intervening on behalf of Chewbacca, a Wookiee slave. Now, he is unemployed and burdened with a Wookiee, insistent on staying at his side due to a "Life Debt". But Han is clever. He pulls himself up and begins to hone his piloting craft by working for the Hutts, keeping just ahead of the bounty hunters, and meeting people who will influence his life in the future. Oh, and finding the ship that he has his heart set on: the Millennium Falcon.
NOTE: Based on the actual novel (read years ago) and the audiobook.

I Liked:
Having Han team up with Chewie really makes this novel better than its predecessor (which had him team up with Muurgh, a Togorian, and Bria, his Corellian love interest). We get to go with them through their journey, to watch as Han improves his skill, learns his trade, makes an impression on those around him, and meet up with people we know from other novels.
I adored how Crispin really put effort into the continuity of this book. We have Xaverri from The Crystal Star, Salla Zend from Dark Empire, Vuffi Rah from the Lando Adventures, Smuggler's Run, the works. I was particularly impressed with how Crispin intertwined her story with Brian Daley's The Han Solo Adventures (seen even better in the next book, Rebel Dawn. This is true dedication, to work around another author's creation, to spend time paying homage and referencing it. And I applaud Crispin for it.
The novel is definitely more episodic, with not so much of a single emphasis, other than the Ylesia plot you might remember from The Paradise Snare. This works to the story's advantage. Han's life wouldn't be dictated like a "normal" story, and I appreciate the "lack of a plot".
As for the Ylesia plot and the Hutts, I really enjoyed it. It is impressive for her to take the task of making the Hutts interesting, and Crispin succeeded. I felt they were very much like the Corleone's from the Godfather while without being a complete ripoff.
One of my absolute favorite moments in the book was where Boba Fett nearly captures Han Solo and Lando Calrissian comes to the rescue. I love the introduction to Fett, I love how Calrissian was able to get the jump on him, and I love how it set up Fett's grudge against Han Solo. It really showed Fett being a human and not just a flat robot.

I Didn't Like:
The segment near the beginning where Han meets a fortune teller that basically relates how he will become in the movies was unnecessary and only made for a "wink-wink" to what happens to him.
I didn't care how "Hoth" was mentioned. I like continuity, but do so many people have to be aware of these "out of the way" worlds? With the way things go, Tatooine is more central to the galaxy than Coruscant (makes Luke's statement in A New Hope kinda absurd now), Endor is a by-word, and Bespin is as popular as our Disney World. Get real. Make up some new planets!
I wasn't too fond of the time hopping. This may be in part because of the editing of the audiobook (they always cut out stuff from them), but I still felt a little jerked around.
My last big complaint: how the heck did Vader not sense Han in the Imperial governor's office? Han should not have survived that incident.

Overall:
This novel is really clever. While The Paradise Snare had a mediocre romance and a plot heavily borrowed from Oliver Twist, this one was clever and showed that Crispin was good at producing her own story and integrating someone else's. This is the one of the best "middle trilogy" books I've read in Star Wars.

Brought to you by:
*C.S. Light*

In this second book of the Han Solo trilogy, Ms Crispin takes us on Han's journey from his days as a cadet at the Imperial Space Academy through a number of adventures working as a pilot for the Hutts and ending up fending off an attack by Imperial forces. At the Academy, Cadet Solo spends four years preparing for a career in the Imperial Navy and developing his skills as a pilot. He graduates and spends four years as an officer before his career is cut short when he rescues a Wookie slave from ill treatment at the hands of a superior officer. The result is a dishonorable discharge. However, the Wookie, who turns out to be our old friend Chewbacca, swears a life debt to Han and promises to follow him everywhere. Obviously the entire Star Wars experience is much richer because of this incident.

Han and Chewie then move on to Nar Shaddaa, the Smugglers' Moon, where they smuggle shipments of spice to designated locations and make various runs for the Hutts, including Jabba. It is also during this period that the High Priest on Ylesia realizes that Han Solo was in fact the individual who caused them so much trouble several years earlier. He contracts with the galaxy's best bounty hunter, who else but Boba Fett, to capture Solo and return him to Ylesia to be killed. Fett's efforts to capture Han are stymied by a new character, a charming rogue named Lando Calrissian. Such introductions are the most fascinating part of learning Han Solo's backstory. Han, Chewie, Lando, Boba, Jabba - they're all here.

The Empire begins to move against the Hutts' lawless territory by authorizing Moff Sarn Shild to blockade Nal Hutta and turn the Smugglers' moon into molten slag. Through a combination of bribes, devious machinations by the Empire, and heroic deeds by Han and his fellow smugglers, the Empire's forces are thwarted. At the end of the story, Han is trying to figure out how to make money and go on with the rest of his life. His plans include coming up with enough money to go to Bespin and participate in an extremely high-stakes sabacc game. I suspect there in the third book we will run in to Lando again and learn of the acquisition of the Millennium Falcon. All of this is simply great fun as we continue to understand the forces in Han Solo's life that got him to the character he was when we first met him in A New Hope. On to the third book of the trilogy.

The story of Han Solo's life prior to Episode IV: A New Hope continues in Volume Two of the Han Solo Trilogy, The Hutt Gambit. Author A.C. Crispin's second book in the trilogy is a seamless stylistic successor to The Paradise Snare. This book picks up several years after the first one, omitting any real-time recounting of Han's time in the service of the Empire at the Imperial Academy. We garner some glimpses of this time through flashbacks, enough to understand where the experience left Han and probably sparing the reader a fairly cut-and-dried military academy story.

This book takes a major leap toward A New Hope with the introduction of Chewbacca in the second paragraph. Chewbacca's vocalizations are always a challenge for a Star Wars author to recreate, and Crispin uses the approach of having Han paraphrase aloud most of what Chewbacca says to him (essentially how Chewie was handled in the films). Han's initial interactions with Chewie are quite entertaining, and Crispin deftly handles how he quickly grows to accept Chewie as an-almost constant companion while still illustrating Han's growing wariness of relationships with the opposite sex.

Han is still struggling with losing Bria Tharen prior to his entry to the Imperial Academy. He finds solace in the arms of Xaverri, a beautiful traveling illusionist with a deep-seated hatred of the Empire. Sadly, this relationship is doomed to follow the trajectory of his affair with Bria, its failure acting as reinforcement of Han's "every man for himself" attitude he strives to project to the world. Bria herself periodically pops in and out of the book, rapidly rising through the ranks of the Rebellion; her role in The Hutt Gambit feels primarily like a setup for a payoff in the third volume, Rebel Dawn.

In an interesting turn of events, Han is introduced to Boba Fett and Lando Calrissian virtually simultaneously. There's a terrific start to the relationships between the three that were alluded to in The Empire Strikes Back and have later been fleshed out by various novels and comics. Kudos to Crispin for interweaving elements of The Lando Calrissian Adventures into this trilogy, including everyone's favorite starship-shaped droid Vuffi Raa. Fett and Jabba the Hutt also have their first meeting here. There are a couple of minor continuity problems with the Fett descriptions, which use the pre-prequel Jaster Mereel story that was overwritten by Attack of the Clones, but this is inevitable in novels written before Episodes I-III and is easily forgiven.

Much of The Hutt Gambit is set on the Smuggler's Moon, Nar Shaddaa, which orbits the pestilent Hutt homeworld Nal Hutta. Several characters from the excellent Dark Empire comic series, including Mako Spince, Salla Zend, and Shug Ninx, make substantial appearances, and the reader learns far more about them than the comics had room to provide. Nar Shaddaa is presented as a sort of criminal version of Coruscant. It's easy to visualize and provides a compelling setting for the story, including the major climatic battle sequence.

The Hutt Gambit is a compelling continuation of the multiple storylines kicked off in The Paradise Snare. While it's not entirely clear dramatically where volume three, Rebel Dawn, will go, Crispin has done a fine job of laying essential groundwork for the character of Han Solo thus far in the trilogy. The writing is remarkably engaging for a series of books that act entirely as backstory to a character 99% of readers will already feel they know quite well.

"The Hutt Gambit" by A. C. Crispin, volume 2 of "The Han Solo Trilogy"

After a daring escape from Y'lesia, he finally reaches his goal of becoming an Imperial officer......only to have it quickly fall apart because of his hatred of slavery. Han couldn't bear to see his superior destroy an enslaved Wookie so Han intervenes and saves the Wookies life at the cost of his hard earned Imperial career and in return he gains a Wookie life debt from Chewbacca. Han tries to piece his life back together after his failed career and lands on his feet smuggling for the Hutts.......

The Good: Great first appearances, Chewy, Lando, Boba Fett, Jabba etc. Good story and the continued adventures of Han leading up to the star of the Star Wars movies.

The Bad: Nothing memorable

Overall: A good read that comes recommended to all Star Wars fans.

In the Paradise Snare, the first installment of the Han Solo Trilogy, it ended with Han being left by his love interest Bria and entering the Imperial Navy with a bright future ahead of him. Five years have past and we begin The Hutt Gambit with Solo freshly kicked out of the Navy and down on his luck. He was ousted because he spared the life of Chewbacca, who was going to be made a slave. He is now stuck with Chewie who has sworn a life debt to him.

Han travels to the Hutt moon of Nar Shadaa (also called the Smuggler's Moon) to look for work and restart his previous career. He comes under the employ of Jabba the Hutt and does some work on the side too. It's not all downhill for Han yet though, as he soon discovers that Teroenza, the High Priest of Ylesia, has put a bounty on his head for all the trouble he caused him. He has to constantly watch his back and ends up coming across the most famous bounty hunter of them all-Boba Fett.

Meanwhile, the entire Hutt system has drawn the negative attention of the Emperor and he orders for the destruction of Nar Shadaa to teach a lesson to the Hutts. Word gets back to the Smuggler's Moon in time, however, and the smugglers band together ready to fight for their home.

These are the main plot points of the book, but other subplots are happening as well, which I will not get into. More so than The Paradise Snare, I think casual Star Wars fans will enjoy The Hutt Gambit due to more familiar sights-Chewie, Jabba the Hutt, Boba Fett, Lando Calrissian, and the Millennium Falcon (the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy).

I also must say that Ann Crispin really outdid herself on this installment. If you liked the first book, you'll really like this one. There's more action, more subplots, and of course the constant evolution of Solo's persona is ever present. She has been one of my favorite authors so far and truly understands what a Star Wars fan looks for in a story. Once again, I highly recommend this book and give it a solid five stars. May the Force be with you!

With the notable exceptions of Brian Daley and T. Zahn, I've been disgusted by the supposed Star Wars novels. A.C. Crispin, however, obviously knows the universe and shows it with her on-target depictions of beloved characters. Fans of the Marvel comic series will be delighted to see some of those characters pop up from time to time, and Chrispin neatly ties in not only Lucas' work but also Brian Daley's. This is an excellent trilogy and I highly recommend it for real Star Wars fans. Even the most hardcore will find NO fault here. Neither does this critic, for what it's worth, and I quit counting the times I've watched Star Wars after it topped a hundred.

The 2nd book of the trilogy was better than the first as we are introduced to more familiar characters from the original Star Wars universe. This book has plenty of action as well. We find Han kicked out of the Imperial Academy for saving Chewie from being killed. Han hates slavery!

Well, Han and Chewie, find themselves looking for a ship on the Smuggler's Moon Nar Shaddaa, and Han volunteers to work for Jiliac and Jabba, both Hutt's. Meanwhile, the t'Landa til, Teroenza, wants Han's skin for what he did in the first book. The Besadii clan of the Hutt's who Teroenza works for, hire Boba Fett for to capture Han.

Han falls victim to Fett, but another familiar name in the SW Universe saves his hide, Lando. Afterwards, Fett does not have much of a role in this book.

While working for Jabba, the Desilijic clan of the Hutts, Han finds out that the Imperials are wanting to destroy Nar Shaddaa, and the smuggler's ways of life. Jabba does not want this and tries to bribe the local Moff, to no avail, then the Admiral of the ships, which works somewhat. The Imperials launch an attack on Nar Shaddaa, but the Smuggler's have tricks up their sleeves, and put up a good fight.

Finally, another acquaintence shows up toward the end, as Han is hiding on an Imperial vessel in a dark closet, he hears heavy breathing, as someone visits the admiral. Then a thump to the floor.

Welcome to the picture, Lord Vader! Great read.