5/5 Rancors - A. C. Crispin brings the Han Solo Trilogy to a terrifically entertaining conclusion in Rebel Dawn. The many plot threads she began in the first two volumes are neatly sewn together. By the end, we have gained a much deeper understanding of what motivates Han and how he became the wary smuggler we met in the Mos Eisley Cantina in A New Hope. In addition to concluding her own plots tidily, Crispin weaves in many entertaining elements of the Expanded Universe from both other novels and comic books.
Rebel Dawn gets underway with the story of how Han won the Millennium Falcon from Lando. The two meet up unintentionally in a sabacc tournament held on Cloud City (nicely tied to The Empire Strikes Back). Han is overjoyed at his victory and surprisingly, this is not the event that caused the bad blood we see between Lando and Han in the films - that happens in the novel's climax and wasn't something Han could have easily prevented.
From Bespin the story carries on to a variety of locales much like the first two books. One interesting challenge Crispin faced in this story, which literally takes Han all the way to his entrance in A New Hope, is she had to work in the three vintage-era Han Solo novels in some capacity, since their events would have to take place somewhere in this part of the timeline. She chose to use short interludes to summarize Han's absence from the main storyline and to recap his adventures in the Corporate Sector. These interludes are smart in that they do not make for any significant redundancy between the Han Solo Trilogy and the old Han Solo Adventures.
Many key elements of Han's character that weren't tackled in the first two books make an appearance here. From the installation of the Falcon's smuggling compartments to how Han made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs to the circumstances surrounding the infamous shipment of Jabba's spice Han was forced to dump, Crispin leaves almost no detail untouched. I also enjoyed the numerous cameos and EU tie-ins, such as Xizor and Guri's appearances (along with a somewhat superfluous "dash" of another Shadows of the Empire character), the final connections to the Nar Shaddaa crowd we meet in Dark Empire, and the raid on the Imperial planet of Toprawa to secure the Death Star plans.
Rebel Dawn cruises to an exciting and gripping climax, in which key characters we haven't seen since The Paradise Snare return and the final pieces all fall into place for Episode IV. Crispin did an excellent job with the Han Solo Trilogy, taking a beloved character and adding to his backstory in many memorable and provocative ways.
1 comments:
For me, Rebel Dawn was the least satisfactory of the novels in this trilogy. I was disappointed that Han really only cameos in a book that is supposed to be about his character! But as I went through the book, I was staggered at how many of the chapters were devoted to Bria Tharen, Jabba the Hutt, Durga the Hutt and his double-crossing minion Teroenza, the t'landa Til "High Priest" of the Ylesian Colonies. It annoyed me that Bria Tharen was using her Rebel connections to basically wage a one-woman war against the Ylesian colonies. I fully appreciated that "overdosed" pilgrims were eventually shipped to the slave mines of Kessel - but how that benefitted the Empire was tenuous at best. I think the Ylesian operation basically supported the criminal elements of the galaxy - slavers, the Hutts and Black Sun. Tharen's justification that some of the rescued pilgrims would join the Rebellion seemed like a pretty poor veil for her desire for revenge. I appreciate that joining the Rebellion is a tough sell - but this form of recruitment seemed a bit extreme to me. Crispin once again shows a tremendous respect for continuity and weaves in many elements and aspects from the Brian Daley Corporate Sector Trilogy and Episode IV - A New Hope. To do all of this and draft a climactic conclusion to the trilogy would be a tough challenge for anyone. But overall, I found this to be a disappointing conclusion to the entire series - but it feels somewhat flat compared to the Hutt Gambit. Certainly worth a read if you enjoyed the first two books in the series. I would suggest that you read Brian Daley's "Han Solo Adventures" - Corporate Sector Trilogy before you tackle this book.
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