Book 1 - 'Han Solo at Star's End' by Brian Daley  

Del Rey 1979  

Set 1-2 years before ANH 

 book cover
Story -- Han and Chewie are in the Millennium Falcon, and up to their ears in trouble. Short of money, they take on a smuggling job in a dodgy area of the galaxy controlled by the Corporate Sector Authority. After damaging and 'repairing' the Falcon as only they can, they get dragged into a rescue mission (sound familiar??).

Original characters from the movies -- Han and Chewie only, as it's set before 'Star Wars - A New Hope'. The characterisations are pretty good, and you soon get used to no Luke, Leia, etc.

New characters -- Jessa is the 'lady' of the book, but the real stars are Bollux and Blue Max, a droid duo that I reckon are funnier than R2-D2 and C3PO.
 
Cover art -- the cover I've shown is the new re-release one, and not the lurid 1970s effort.

Chicks -- Jessa is a 'tech' that can take care of herself. She and Han have a 'past'. ;-)

Any good? -- Hoo, yes! There's heaps of action (dogfights, shoot-outs, and an excellent jail-break), as well as several humerous moments, some great one-liners, and smart-ass remarks. The baddies are the CSA and not the Empire - made a pleasant change for me. And the ending is excellent.

Read it? -- yeah, especially if you're a Han-fan. Ann Crispin's 'Han Solo Trilogy' was published 18 years after this, but still takes it into account (in 'Rebel Dawn'). Incidentally, Daley created the Z-95 Headhunters, later used by Zahn and other authors.

Rating -- 6 out of 10
 

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