Han made a sour face. “I happen to like to shoot first. As opposed to shooting second.”Taking my niece and nephew to Walt Disney’s Star Wars weekend gave me the itch for a bit more of George Lucas’s universe and, eschewing the more modern material (much of which I have already read), I decided to dip back to 1979’s Han Solo at Stars’ End by Brian Daley. Somehow I just never had the chance to read Daley’s trilogy before -- which admittedly occupies a rather unique space in the Star Wars fictional canon -- as one of just a handful of books written contemporaneously with the release of the original movie. Without knowing the plot for the latter two movies and bereft of the rich cast of characters of the current Star Wars Expanded Universe, I was a bit worried about where this book would go. I pretty much expected it to fall somewhere between “dated” and “train wreck.”But thankfully, Daley’s contribution to the Star Wars saga remains just as good today as it was when it was originally penned. The author nails Han Solo’s personality – perhaps (I daresay) even a bit better than the creator himself, George Lucas, did in the latter part of his career. To many fans’ chagrin, Lucas rather unceremoniously retconned Han taking the first shot against the bounty hunter Greedo from the original film, subtly changing (to many) a bit of Han’s personality.Daley doesn’t fall into that trap. Daley’s Han is quite true to the character of the original films – one that certainly would have fired the first shot inside that Cantina. Daley’s Han shows a bitterness. In doing the right thing -- rescuing Chewbacca from the Empire for example –- he’s paid a very high price, losing his career, commission, and ending up an outlaw. Hurt, Han copes through a bit of reverse psychology, rather clumsily trying to convince others (and himself) that from here on out his concern is only for himself – while simultaneously proceeding to risk life and limb principally for others.Conflicted heroes have long been the grist of fiction, but Daley also shows us the simmering anger that lies within Han. He may have been pushed around a bit by unfairness – but Han is also the type who pushes back. There’s a self-righteousness and impetuousness to Han that makes his blood boil when he sees injustice – and forces him to point a blaster at it. I imagine Han is the type of guy who if he were driving a car on a real world Interstate and saw some joker flush with road rage bully the driver of another car – Han would run that offender right off the road even if the driver never came near his vehicle. And while this sense of righteous may be laudable, it can also be a bit disconcerting. Daley does a good job at capturing this dichotomy as Han goes (rather believably) Greedo-style in this book on a traitor and murderer in his midst.Aside from adeptly capturing Han’s character, Daley also manages to do an admirable job of filling in a corner of the Star Wars universe even though he doesn't have access to the majority of the most familiar props. The villains of the book, the Corporate Sector, make fine fill-ins for the Empire – who substitute industrial domination for the Empire’s militaristic approach – and it’s enough of a difference to make me wish these foes where a bit more prominent even in the later Star Wars novels. And while Daley adds quite a few interesting supporting characters – like the outlaw mechanic Jessa and the Trianii Ranger Atuarre – it is the droids Bullox and Blue Max who steal the show. Bullox, in particular, serves as a great foil for Han as the aging robot struggles to avoid the purposelessness that comes with obsolesce while Han seems intent on stubbornly avoiding a larger destiny. Bullox’s conversation in the lounge of the Millennium Falcon about the meaning of life for a robot is vintage sci-fi and is one of the few places Daley risks a plunge into deeper, philosophical waters.I do, however, wish that Daley had avoided the one trope (broadcasted on the book jacket) of Chewie’s kidnapping – which like Lois Lane in old Superman stories – primarily seems to occur only to help motivate the hero to the climax of the novel. Poor Chewbacca deserves a bit better than the damsel-in-distress role, but that’s a minor quibble given all this book gets right and its ability (despite its age) to effectively channel the spirit of the Star Wars universe –- particularly at a moment in time when much of story was still unwritten. But Han Solo at Stars’ End is more than just nostalgia; it remains entertaining its own right and a read that any Star Wars fan can appreciate.
AC Crispin does herself no favours in my estimation in Han Solo: Rebel Dawn. Her books were just fine up until Interlude One, where she suddenly offers up a shitty encapsulation of Brian Daley's Han Solo at Star's End.I am not sure why she couldn't simply have finished her story before the Star's End adventure happened (but I haven't finished her book either. I paused my reading so that I could read Daley's book, so I will return to her book tonight), but since I had the Daley books handy, she nudged me into reading the source of the interlude, and it would have been better for Crispin's Han Solo if I hadn't been diverted. See my Han Solo love runs deep. It burst out fully formed in 1977 when I watched him blow away Greedo, then nonchalnatly toss a credit to the barkeep, saying, "Sorry about the mess." My Han Solo was a genuine criminal. A drug running, pragmatic, mercenary S.O.B., whose only redeeming qualities were charm, skill and loyalty. And it was the latter which would lead him into becoming the only Star Wars character with a genuine arc. Come Empire Strikes Back, Han Solo found himself sucked into the Rebellion with a burgeoning love for Leia and a feeling of responsibility for Luke. Once there his other natural gifts flourished, and he began to change in a logical, believable way. He slowly became a "good man."Unfortunately, much of that was undermined in Return of the Jedi when Solo began to make decisions that made no sense at all -- like giving Lando, his betrayer, the Falcon, behaving like an idiot schoolboy in his relationship with Leia, and behaving like a knob everywhen else (and it didn't help at all that Lucas had Solo dispatch Boba Fett through sheer luck rather than ruthlessness or skill). The message of Return of the Jedi (particularly when coupled with Lucas's later decision to have Greedo shoot first) was that Han Solo was weak, and he'd always been a good man. He just hadn't been surrounded by the right people. And that's the Han that AC Crispin loves and embraces. Don't get me wrong. That Han's okay, and I was enjoying reading about him. And Crispin genuinely loves that Han. But that Han is not my Solo, and I miss the character I fell in love with as a kid. Crispin led me back to him, though. He is fully present in Daley's Han Solo at Star's End. A little more hard SciFi than contemporary Star Wars books, along with clunkier dialogue and a heavy reliance on space tech, the first in Daley's trilogy was published in 1979 -- one year before Empire Strikes Back appeared on screens -- and it breathes freely without the density of the now massive Star Wars canon. So Daley's Han Solo is the original Han Solo. His Han Solo is still the Han Solo who would publicly execute a bounty hunter without remorse, and go charging after a pack of stormtroopers at the heart of the Empire's ulimate weapon.And what does this original Han Solo do in Daley's book? Well, he cares first and foremost about his ship, which is right and proper; he cares next about Chewbacca; and these loyalties, the Falcon and Chewie, embroil him in the Star's End adventure -- not some bullshit, post-Empire apologetic idealism. And while he's busy improving the Falcon and saving Chewie from some nasty torture, he vents a traitor into space with brutal pragmatism. He kills anyone who gets in the way of his goals, and aids anyone who can help him achieve the same. He slaughters hundreds, maybe thousands of prisoners with a split second decision that is good only for him and his closest friends, then saves a droid to which he's suddenly become loyal over the course of his adventure. He does what is good for Solo, and everything else can suck his vapour trail.This isn't just Daley's Han Solo. This is my Han Solo, and it was nice to have him back, even if it was only for one hundred and eighty pages. But now I am faced with the prospect of returning to George Lucas' butchered Han Solo in the hands of AC Crispin. A Han Solo who is heroic on an epic scale, a Han Solo who takes in stray street kids, loathes slavery, and is already busy working for the Rebellion without even knowing it, and I am pretty sure it isn't going to be anywhere near as fun as it was before I was sent off to read Han Solo at Star's End. Nice job, Crispin. Whatever star rating you receive for Rebel Dawn will be all your fault.
What do You think about Han Solo At Stars' End (1979)?
I'll admit: this book and its two successors have sat on my shelf surrounded by skepticism for a long time. They were yard sale finds (I think) that were really cheap, vintage curiosities at first. After having read some of the better Expanded Universe novels, it seemed dubious to me that these very old-school novels would "hold up" or be an enjoyable, believable read...As if there was a worse cliche to use on this site: don't judge a book by its cover. Additionally, don't take a book like this too seriously...This was a surprisingly fun, believable read, particularly given that the author only had the character development from the original Star Wars to go on. (Although there was far more character nuance, depth and development in that movie alone than the entire prequel disasters, that is another review for another time.)Yes, there are plot points that seem like a retooling of "A New Hope," but I would also assume that Lucas kept the author on a short leash, knowing there would be future movie installments, so I can look past that and enjoy it nonetheless. It was an interesting choice, whether or not dictated by Lucas, to use very little reference to the Empire, the Jedi, etc., and yet, it was still very believable that it was in the same universe.Clearly, many of the later EU novelists venerated this series of books, as they drew ideas and names from it rather than shunt it off to a corner. Any self-respecting Star Wars fan looking for a unique, quick, fun read should avail themselves of this book, without self-cannibalizing the experience fretting over the minutiae of trivia which is often the bread-and-butter of their enjoyment.
—John
I'm rereading this book for the first time in 30 years and the cool thing is that I am reading the same copy I've owned since 1979.The best thing about this and the rest of the original Solo series, as well as Alan Dean Foster's Splinter of the Mind's Eye, is that the Star Wars universe was new and largely undefined. Brian Daley and Foster took the Star Wars charcters and, with no backstory baggage, put them into hard science fiction universes. These are real sci-fi novels, as opposed to the later Star Wars novels, which put the SW charcters into the continuiity laden (or bogged down) Star Wars universe and are often little more than silly Jedi pseudo-philosophy. Han Solo at Star's End is a better and more enjoyable book than any Star Wars book written in the last three decades.
—Bmj2k
I've heard so much praise of this book and its two sequels, but I don't know, it wasn't as great as I thought it would be. I guess I've read too many other Star Wars books to put it into context, as it was one of the first EU books published. I think my main problem was the isolationist approach the author is forced to adopt as George Lucas still hadn't completed ESB and ROTJ and given a bigger picture of the Star Wars galaxy at large. However, Brian Daley certainly makes a fast paced book and knows how to write Han Solo (something most EU authors have real problems with). I did like Daley's writing style and some of the dialogue is great but can't shake off the feeling I didn't read a story of significance, that it doesn't matter if it existed or not. I felt Splinter of the Mind's Eye was significant despite the restrictions.
—Bradley
