Customer Reviews

Tales from Jabba's Palace (Star Wars) (Book 2)

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(0)
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I've read this book a few times now. It is essentially a collection of stories coming from the various residents of Jabba's palace. I would not recommend this to everyone, but instead those of you who want to explore every detail, in which case you are probably a big fan (such as myself) and don't want to miss out on anything.

Stories come from Oola the Dancer, Gartogg the Gamorrean Guard, Bib Fortuna, Salacious Crumb, Mara Jade and Boba Fett amongst many others (19 in total). It may be surprising to some that there is no tale from Jabba himself.

A lot of the stories detail many of the same events, such as Oola being fed to the rancor and Jabba being strangled by Princess Leia. A murder mystery (which Gartogg sets out to solve) also surfaces in a few tales. While it is interesting to see these events from other characters' point of views, it does make the book repetitive at times, as you feel like you're reading the same events happen all over again. This, for me, is about the only flaw with this book (and it probably is to be expected given that this is an anthology of tales from characters who were at the same place at the same time).

Other than that, there is some really good stuff here. The tale of Malakili the rancor keeper is one of the highlights. You also learn of how Boba Fett escapes the Sarlacc and, less importantly in the grand scheme of things, how the B'omarr monks overtake Jabba's palace (well it did belong to them originally). A few stories end with someone's brain being put into a jar...

If you're interested in learning more about the residents of Jabba's palace then I'd definitely recommend this. Even if you're not all that keen, you'll probably still find enjoyment in this. Learning about Boba Fett's escape may be worth the price tag alone for some people.

Hope you find this useful ... 4/5

Tales From Jabba's Palace is one of several anthologies of short stories set in George Lucas' "galaxy far, far away" that delve into the cast of supporting characters that were seen in specific scenes of Classic Trilogy Episodes IV, V, and VI. Edited by prolific Star Wars author Kevin J. Anderson (Darksaber, The Jedi Academy Trilogy, and various Dark Horse comic book series), this volume contains 19 entertaining stories set within the walled palace of Tatooine crime boss Jabba the Hutt.

Although (curiously) none of the stories are about Jabba the Hutt per se, the slug-like gangster's presence is evident in most of the tales. Almost all the members of Jabba's court -- majordomo Bib Fortuna, Oola (the ill-fated dancing girl fed to the rancor), Salacious Crumb (Jabba's annoying pet monkey-lizard), and Boba Fett, the galaxy's most infamous bounty hunter -- are described vividly not only by such noted Star Wars writers as Dave Wolverton, Timothy Zahn, Kathy Tyers, and editor Anderson (who contributed "A Boy and His Monster: The Rancor Keeper's Tale"), but also by prominent Star Trek authors A. C. Crispin and Judith and Garfield Reeves Stevens.

The overall tone of this anthology can be best described as a combination of Rashomon and The Godfather set in the Star Wars galaxy. Although a few of the characters are innocent victims of Jabba's huge appetite for wealth and shady deals (see Kathy Tyers' "A Time to Mourn, A Time to Dance: Oola's Tale") or antiheroes such as Mara Jade ("Sleight of Hand: The Tale of Mara Jade" by Timothy Zahn), most are underhanded and venal mob underlings whose desire to topple Jabba from his throne is matched only by their fear of the ruthless Hutt crime lord. And while the rescue of Han Solo by Luke Skywalker and his friends is dealt with as well, the focus isn't on the heroes for a change; after all, we saw what they did in Return of the Jedi. No, the fun here is in discovering the untold stories from behind the fortress-like walls of Jabba's Palace, and believe me, this anthology is well-written and enjoyable for both the die-hard and casual Star Wars fan alike.

One of the most memorable scenes from the first Star Wars film is inarguably the Mos Eisley Cantina. It features a vast array of strange alien creatures and several key character moments, including the introduction of Han Solo and Chewbacca. The Empire Strikes Back stayed away from alien background characters as eye-candy, instead keeping a tight focus on our main heroes and villains. For Return of the Jedi, George Lucas introduced a locale absolutely dripping with fascinatingly bizarre critters and new species. This was Jabba's Palace, a dank and dangerous place indeed. Of course, the most memorable character introduced here (besides the RANCOR!!!) was Jabba the Hutt himself, but many of his unsavory crew of toadies, supplicants, and bodyguards left a sufficient visual impact to make fans thirsty for more information.

The format of this novel is quite similar to Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina in that all the stories contained within revolve around the events we are familiar with from the film. In this case, everything from C-3PO and R2-D2 arriving at Jabba's Palace to the fight at the Sarlacc pit is used as source material to build upon for tales for many of Jabba's goons. The stories range from the darkly serious to the excessively comical, and I found the tone of the book to vary a bit much to make for a consistent read. In terms of story, Kevin J. Anderson does a good job of editing the disparate threads in the many stories into a fairly coherent whole.

One of the standout stories of this collection is Anderson's "A Boy and His Monster: The Rancor Keeper's Tale." This story is a good kickoff and certainly manages to make the rancor's keeper, Malakili (the bane of my childhood toy box), a more interesting figure. From there we are presented with eighteen more tales, plus an epilogue that does some wrap-up on various loose ends left throughout the stories.

A few of the best stories in the collection are Timothy Zahn's "Sleight of Hand: The Tale of Mara Jade," "Old Friends: Ephant Mon's Tale" by Kenneth C. Flint, and A. C. Crispin's "Skin Deep: The Fat Dancer's Tale." Zahn uses his short story to add to the mythology of Mara Jade, telling us of her first attempt to assassinate Luke Skywalker. Flint's first-person story of Ephant Mon, Jabba's only true friend, is a nice change of pace from the parade of tales dealing with courtiers seeking to double-cross Jabba. Crispin's story of Yarna d'al' Gargan concludes the book and manages to wring some real emotion out of a character who gets about three seconds of screentime in Return of the Jedi. Like Ephant Mon's story, it's good to have a few characters who are not shallowly and stereotypically evil living in Jabba's Palace.

The majority of the other tales are entertaining and decently well-written, but there are a few that did nothing for me: "That's Entertainment: The Tale of Salacious Crumb" by Esther M. Friesner, George Alec Effinger's "The Great God Quay: The Tale of Barada and the Weequays," and "Out of the Closet: The Assassin's Tale" by Jennifer Roberson. The Salacious Crumb story is written in a lightly farcical manner and features a foolhardy academic who dreams of interviewing Jabba the Hutt. This one stretches my credulity too far, even in a novel populated by elements such as mechanical spiders controlled by monks' brains in jars, a Gamorrean guard becoming best friends with two corpses, and the "frog-dog" on the stairs to the throne room being part of an assassination plot. My concern with Effinger's story about the Weequay guards also centers around its almost goofy tone. The Great God Quay is literally a magic eight-ball which answers supplicants' questions with silliness such as "Very doubtful" and "Concentrate and ask again." Roberson's story is a continuation of the annoying Anzati Dannik Jerriko from Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina; like its predecessor, the goal here seems to be able to use the word "soup" as many times as humanly possible.

Overall, this collection is more of a mixed bag than the Mos Eisley book, but still well worth a read for anyone looking for a break from the main film characters or anyone who would like more background information on the wild menagerie of characters that lurk in Jabba's Palace.

Ok, ok, ok. I might not be the biggest Star Wars fan out there. For example, I have done little more than watch the movies. That is why I thought I would give this book a try because it seemed like a reasonable foray into a galaxy far, far away. I think I picked this one because the cover look cool. So to say that I am not a star war fanatic is not an understatement. What I found in this book is a collection of good stories. Some were a little boring and childish, but the bulk of the collection was worth while. Those stories did a great job of creating a very good visual image of the world that was comprised by Jabba's Palace. Get this and enjoy a trip to another world.

"Tales From Jabba's Palace" is a short story collection edited by author Kevin Anderson. As can be gleamed from the title, all of the stories are set in the palace of Jabba the Hutt on Tatooine. The timeline we are looking at is near the beginning of "The Return of the Jedi" where Luke Skywalker tries to bargain with Jabba for the release of Han Solo and Leia, in the end, kills Jabba. But the main heroes of the Star Wars Universe are only on the periphery here. There are 19 separate tales here and each one of them deals with a minor character who was at Jabba's Palace at that fateful time. The character profiled range from Boba Fett to Bib Fortuna (Jabba's Majordomo) to that creepy laughing little creature Salacious Crumb to the trainer of the Ranco to Mara Jade (she will become important later in the series) to Jabba's chef. The dancer Oola gets a tale, as does the band. So, as you can see this is fairly complete collection of stories.

Various science fiction and fantasy authors have contributed stories to the collection. Many are Star Wars veterans including A.C. Crispin, Kevin Anderson, Kathy Tyers, Timothy Zahn, Barbara Hambly, and Dave Wolverton. Another, Jennifer Roberson (Chronicles of the Cheysuli) is one I am familiar with from her other works (as I am with Hambly). For the Star Wars fan, this is a talented gathering of authors.

Some of the tales are quite good and are very interesting such as Zahn's tale of Mara Jade and Crispin's story of the "fat dancer". But overall the collection is forgettable and it is only those of the characters I most recognize (Fett, Mara Jade, the band) that I really remember only several days after finishing the book. The paperback is a good sized 427 pages, and I imagine it is essential reading for the Star Wars fan looking to devour every book in the Extended Universe, but nothing is missed if this book isn't read. The story of Fett's escape from the Sarlacc is probably the only thing that has true value (especially since K.W. Jeter's trilogy on Fett is so bad). I'll recommend the reader pass on this collection, or perhaps only read a couple of the stories before returning it to the library.

-Joe Sherry

Out of all the Star Wars movies, Return of the Jedi has always been my favorite, so it was especially interesting to me to learn about all those side characters I barely paid attention to in the movies. Though this book doesn't require any vast Star Wars knowledge or brain cells to read and understand, it's actually quite a good book. I thought it was organized a little better than the others too, since they all seemed to have something to do with each other, and flowed along as a full story better than the others.

Anyway the stories are: A Boy and His Monster: The Rancor Keepers Tale, an interesting story that tells of Malakili, the guy who took care of the rancor.

Taster's Choice: The Tale of Jabba's Chef, the story of Jabba's nervous cook.

That's Entertainment: The Tale of Salacious Crumb, the story of the annoying little pet thing Jabba has.

A Time to Mourn, A Time to Dance: Oola's Tale, finally we get to find out was up with the dancing girl Jabba fed to his rancor.

Let us Prey: The Whiphid's Tale, a spy in Jabba's palace...

Sleight of Hand: The Tale of Mara Jade, my favorite story in the book, about my favorite Star Wars character! Mara's adventures as she poses as a dancing girl in Jabba's palace, and waits for her chance to fulfil the Emperor's command and kill Luke Skywalker...

And Then There were Some: The Gammorrean Gaurd's Tale, a kind of sad story about one of the gaurds.

Old Friends: Ephant Mon's Tale, does Jabba have any true friends?

Goatgrass: The Tale of Ree-Yees, a disgusting story about the three eyed guy.

And the Band Played On: The Band's Tale, title says it all.

Of The Day's Annoyances: Bib Fortuna's Tale, What really goes on in Bib Fortuna's brain?

The Great God Quay: The Tale of Barada and the Weequays, short but interesting.

A Bad Feeling: The Tale of EV-9D9, The droid down in Jabba's dungeon was actually a programmed phyco with a dislike for Lando.

A Free Quarren in the Palace: Tessek's Tale, I could never figure out which alien this ones about, but it's good.

Tongue Tied: Bubo's Tale, story of the frog thing.

Out of the Closet: The Assasin's Tale, The most disgusting story in the book.

Shaara and the Sarlaac: The Skiff Guards's tale, confusing but good.

A Barve Like That: The Tale of Boba Fett, another Fett story.

Skin Deep: The Fat Dancer's Tale, a surprisingly compelling story.

Anyway, I would most definitely recommend this book to any Star Wars fan, especially those obsessed with knowing every background detail.

Out of all the Star Wars movies, Return of the Jedi has always been my favorite, so it was especially interesting to me to learn about all those side characters I barely paid attention to in the movies. Though this book doesn't require any vast Star Wars knowledge or brain cells to read and understand, it's actually quite a good book. I thought it was organized a little better than the others too, since they all seemed to have something to do with each other, and flowed along as a full story better than the others. Anyway the stories are: A Boy and His Monster: The Rancor Keepers Tale, an interesting story that tells of Malakili, the guy who took care of the rancor.

Taster's Choice: The Tale of Jabba's Chef, the story of Jabba's nervous cook.

That's Entertainment: The Tale of Salacious Crumb, the story of the annoying little pet thing Jabba has.

A Time to Mourn, A Time to Dance: Oola's Tale, finally we get to find out was up with the dancing girl Jabba fed to his rancor.

Let us Prey: The Whiphid's Tale, a spy in Jabba's palace...

Sleight of Hand: The Tale of Mara Jade, my favorite story in the book, about my favorite Star Wars character! Mara's adventures as she poses as a dancing girl in Jabba's palace, and waits for her chance to fulfil the Emperor's command and kill Luke Skywalker...

And Then There were Some: The Gammorrean Gaurd's Tale, a kind of sad story about one of the gaurds.

Old Friends: Ephant Mon's Tale, does Jabba have any true friends?

Goatgrass: The Tale of Ree-Yees, a disgusting story about the three eyed guy.

And the Band Played On: The Band's Tale, title says it all.

Of The Day's Annoyances: Bib Fortuna's Tale, What really goes on in Bib Fortuna's brain?

The Great God Quay: The Tale of Barada and the Weequays, short but interesting.

A Bad Feeling: The Tale of EV-9D9, The droid down in Jabba's dungeon was actually a programmed phyco with a dislike for Lando.

A Free Quarren in the Palace: Tessek's Tale, I could never figure out which alien this ones about, but it's good.

Tongue Tied: Bubo's Tale, story of the frog thing.

Out of the Closet: The Assasin's Tale, The most disgusting story in the book.

Shaara and the Sarlaac: The Skiff Guards's tale, confusing but good.

A Barve Like That: The Tale of Boba Fett, another Fett story.

Skin Deep: The Fat Dancer's Tale, a surprisingly compelling story.

Anyway, I would most definitely recommend this book to any Star Wars fan, especially those obsessed with knowing every background detail.

Everyone Has A Tale- except Jabba. The only disapointment other than that is Boba's tale. I like Bubo's tale, especially siince I didn't even know he was intelligent. The Weequays who worshipped the magic 8 Ball was a trip, though it remained unclear what caused the sail barge to blow.

This book focuses mainly on the intrigue, plots and counterplots going on in Jabba's palace between the arrival of R2-D2 and C3PO to just after Jabba's demise in the Dune Sea at the pit of the Sarlacc. One prominent plan in some of the stories is the plans that the B'omarr monks have for some of Jabba's denizens. I enjoyed the book immensely and found myself routing when a bad guy like Bib Fortuna recieved an unexpected (for him) judgement; and saddened when a good guy was saddened such as for Malakili at the death of his charge. The book was hard to put down once picked up

This book had some great stories. I liked how the stories fit together. I think some of the best stories were: The Rancor Keeper's tale, Ephont Mon's tale, The Band's, Bib Fortuna, The Weequay's tale(funny),and of course Boba Fett's tale. The epilouge at the very end of the book was cool.