Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu: Smith, L. Neil: 9780345311580: Amazon.com: Books

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Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu Mass Market Paperback – June 12, 1983

by L. Neil Smith (Author)

12

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On a gambling trip to Oseon, the wealthy resort star system, Lando discovers that accidents that nearly destroyed his ship were actually murder attempts by an unknown enemy

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Print length

182 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Del Rey
Publication date

June 12, 1983
ISBN-10

0345311582
ISBN-13

978-0345311580
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Del Rey; First Edition (June 12, 1983)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 182 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0345311582
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0345311580
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 4 ounces

Best Sellers Rank: #1,903,724 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews:
12

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L. Neil Smith

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Customer reviews

3.8 out of 5

12 global ratings

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Entertaining Portrait of Pre-Trilogy Lando

Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2015

Verified Purchase

- Why I Read This Book

I came across L. Neil Smith when I was searching for Libertarian science fiction writers, and I had been searching for more good Star Wars novels ever since reading Timothy Zahn's books.

- Positives

The dialogue is often humorous and light-hearted - to a degree that you often would not see in a franchise which takes itself so seriously.

Smith does a great job at portraying the inner workings of the mind of a gambler (Lando), and the droid was also a well-developed character. He also does a convincing portrayal of a mind lapsing into insanity.

There are a few nice jabs at bureaucrats, without making the story political.

- Negatives

While Lando and the droid are both well-developed, I sometimes found their relationship a little thin.

And while the plot has some fantastically strange turns - almost to the point of being psychedelic - there are times when the developments seem inconsequential.

A few times I had to reread a short passage to figure out what the author was trying to convey.

While this will not bother most readers, the author supports the evolution hypothesis.

- Final Thoughts

This was a better book than I was expecting, and I look forward to reading the other two in this trilogy - Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon and Lando Calrissian and the StarCave of ThonBoka - as well as some of Smith's other books.

2 people found this helpful

KOLODZIEJCZYK GREGORY

NOT FOR AN AVERAGE STAR WARS READER, DEEPER KNOWLEDGE ...

Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2014

Verified Purchase

NOT FOR AN AVERAGE STAR WARS READER, DEEPER KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE EPIC SERIES IS REQUIRED. MIGHT SEEM MORE FOR YOUNGER READERS FOR THE NOT SO WELL VERSED FANS.

One person found this helpful

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... went in with low expectations I was still very disappointed by this book

Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2016

I have to say while I went in with low expectations I was still very disappointed by this book. This was one of the earlier Star Wars novels, before there was an Expanded Universe. It felt like a mediocre science fiction story that had some small changes made to it to make it a Star Wars novel. Just change the name from Lando to any scifi sounding name, the name of his ship and the name of the card game and you have an okay story. But trying to make it Star Wars failed on so many levels. The first indication that I was going to have a hard time with this novel came within the first couple of pages during a Sabacc game Lando refers to a rival players "poker face". Shouldn't it be "Sabacc face"? There were a lot of small things like that. Lando would say and reference things that sounded I guess to down to Earth. Not something that a person who lives a long time ago in a galaxy far far away would say or know. This book was a no no for me. The only reason I didn't stop reading was the fact that it was very short. Will I read the other to books in the series? As of now, probably yes, but not right away. Hopefully they will get better. For now a will read something a can enjoy.

One person found this helpful

Lando is in trouble --arrested under false charges

Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2013

Lando Calrissian wins a droid in a game of sabacc and travels to Rafa IV to claim it. There he is arrested on false charges and forced to find an ancient artifact--the Mindharp of Sharu. It is said this instrument-when played correctly--can control the minds of everyone in the system. There are some crazy adventures along the way, but will Lando do the right thing in the end?

Sara Phillips (ejphill@root.indstate.edu)

A quirky and hilarious look at the young Lando Calrissian

Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 1998

Lando has just one the Millenium Falcon in a card game and, against his will, also finds himself the owner of a brand new droid named Vuffi Raa. Their adventure is strange and confusing, but highly entertaining. The mystery of an ancient and highly intelligent race of beings who leave no trace of their existance except giant and impenetrable monuments has only one clue. Guess who gets to play detective.

4 people found this helpful

Reviewed in the United States on July 10, 2010

Turns out this is the first book in the Lando trilogy. Lando's recently won the Falcon, can't fly or navigate or land. How far they come to becoming a rebel general in charge of a fleet. Basically, the young gambler and "con artiste" gets conned into going to Rafa to pick up a droid he "won" in a card game. The Toku, barely sentient savages of the Rafa system, have a myth about a Key Bearer w/ dark skin and a metalloid Emissary taking the Key to the Mindharp and freeing the oppressed or something. The Sharu were an ancient people on Rafa before the Toku and the current colonists. The Mindharp allegedly has powers over the mind. So what is the Mindharp? What happened to the Sharu? How'd the Toku take over when they're barely sentient? And how can Lando regenerate toes?

These and other questions get answered. I found the story hard to read. The young impatient Lando was funny and hard to place with the cynical and hard nosed administrator of Cloud City. But you can see how he and Han would be friends.

2 people found this helpful

Raisuli the Magnificent

An oddball Star Wars' trilogy.

Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2017

Unlike the Han Solo trilogy this book is fairly dry and strangely unpredictable in the story department. The author has little knowledge of engineering, calling what everyone in the mechanical and engineering world calls hydraulics, the author refers to as "fluidics".

One of the criteria of writing good science fiction is that you be familiar with your world or aspects of your world, and L. Smith didn't appear to have a good grasp of either as I read this trilogy. Star Wars is fairly basic, but this man treats a high concept space opera theatre as traditional scifi, and even adds an oddball robot character that resembles R2D2 with tentacles coming out of his dome. Very strange--Vuffi Ra or somesuch.

And, further, unlike the Han Solo trilogy, which was a fun set of books to breeze through written by a man who knew not only law enforcement but also the practicalities of s hard scifi universe, L. Smith simply lacks enough data and wisdom to present a Star Wars tale, and given the finale at the end of the trilogy, and the strange planet to which he takes Lando and his robot companion, one wonders what the criteria was to write for the Star Wars' universe (and no, it's not something that I would do).

Not the best series of books ever written, but if you're a die hard Star Wars fan, then there might be something here for you.

Read at your own risk.

One person found this helpful

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