Andrew's Review of Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon

2/5 Rancors - Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon is the second book in L. Neil Smith's Lando Calrissian Adventures series. It picks up fairly closely on where the first volume left off, with Lando finding that prosperity is not all he dreamed it would be. Seems he and Vuffi Raa made have made some enemies on their way to the top, including a certain nefarious Sorcerer of Tund.

Much like the first book, Lando is forced into a mission by mysterious conspirators. This time he and Vuffi must transport two officers of the law through the beautiful but deadly Flamewind of Oseon (a gigantic stellar storm impacting the Oseon system annually) to arrest the richest man in the universe, Bohhuah Mutdah. Of course, all is not as it seems, especially with the mysterious assailants who are stalking our dynamic duo and the fate that awaits them on Mutdah's personal asteroid.

Like the first book, Flamewind of Oseon is a short and easy read. There really isn't too much to the plot, as most of the pages are either concerned with setting up the story or simply getting Lando and Vuffi to the asteroid for the final confrontation. Also like the first book, there is virtually nothing to tie this to Star Wars beyond Lando and the Falcon. Smith does attempt a casual link between Rokur Gepta and the Empire, but there's not much to substantiate it.

Speaking of Gepta, he must be one of the most stereotypical, virtual-mustache-twirling villains in the Star Wars universe. He is purely EVIL and delights in the destruction he causes. Like a classic Bond villain, he also delights in spelling out his EVIL plots to his victims to showcase his incredible cleverness. In a completely ridiculous sequence, he uses his new method of "torture-by-chagrin" on Lando, which forces the recipient to relive bad memories (but they are enhanced to be much worse). This is just silly.

This book and the first one have a large amount of Earth-based terminology sprinkled through them, such as cigarettes, rabbits, and Doppler radar. Of course, Marvel gave us a six-foot tall rabbit in Jaxxon as a main character for a few issues and The Phantom Menace even gave us ducks, but it seems a little too frequent in this book to keep that "galaxy far, far away" feel.

Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon is very much like the first book Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu in style and feel. Since the novelty value is gone for this volume, I'm giving it the two stars I considered giving to book one.