© 1998 A.C. Crispin
400 pages
Rebel Dawn is the final volume in the "Han Solo" trilogy, a volume that stands more as an immediate prequel to the original Star Wars movie than a novel solely about Han. At its beginning, Solo is on top of the world; his new ship has him ahead of the other smugglers, he can't walk into a room without gathering female attention, and he's raking in the cash. At its end, Solo has been betrayed and unwittingly duped, made into an outcast with a bounty on his head, desperate for anything that will pay off his enemies and keep him alive. And in the middle...well, that's mostly someone else's story. Rebel Dawn takes side trails in previous novels and brings them front and center here - -chiefly, competition between two major Hutt clans that threatens to turn into civil war, and Han's old flame uniting disparate groups into one Rebellion -- one whose seed money can be had by sacking the place where she was once a slave, the place where she and Solo's love was as they fought an insidious slave racket, one that used ecstatic drugs and religion to keep captives working of their own free will. But Brea loves the fight more than she loves Han, and that will put him into a seedy cantina looking for fares.
Rebel Dawn conlcudes a series which is mostly light-adventure, not to be taken too seriously. The writing definitely had weaknesses in the form of awkward dialogue. I enjoyed the character of Brea -- Han's old flame and the leader of the rebellion -- the most, and Crispin's treatment of the Hutts and Boba Fett were also appealing. Imagine Jabba the Hutt as a sympathetic character!
stimulating post... and i hope to get around to it... but the Destiny trilogy first... i gave mrs. M the cold equations trilogy and now all she does is read...
ReplyDeleteThis and Destiny are worlds apart -- I only gave these Solo books 3 stars (out of 5) on goodreads. I'm glad that Mrs. Mudpuddle seems to be enjoying the Trek reads, too!
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