Title: The Han Solo Adventures
Author: Brian Daley
Pages: 564
Time: 1 BBY

Introduction
After reading "The Lando Calrissian Adventures" I have to say that I was not looking forward to reading another ultra-light and weak trilogy of stories. One plus was that it was about Han Solo and Chewbacca this time, a lot more interesting characters than Lando Calrissian. Still, I did not have very high expectations when I started to read. As you'll read I was positively surprised by this novel. It did a lot more than I expected it to do.

Novel quality
First of you need to realize that this novel was initially three novels (Han Solo at Star's End, Han Solo's Revenge and Han Solo and the Lost Legacy). Since they are more or less meant as simple entertainment however and all take place about back to back they have been put in one (relatively large) novel. I agree with this completely and will therefore review these stories as one big story. In the beginning of the first novel things start out a bit gravely. You will need to get into the story and you will need to get used to the fact that the main ruling body is the Corporate Authority and not the Empire. At least in the part of the galaxy where the story takes place. This may feel odd in the beginning but luckily it doesn't conflict (too much) with the regular Star Wars continuity. Once you get intro the story a bit it starts to grow on you. Next to the obvious characters Han and Chewie we are introduced to a couple of interesting droid side-kicks named Bollux (really!) and Blue Max. They stay in the story until the very end and make for some entertaining reading. The story itself is very straightforward and revolves about a giant prison named Star's End. The way the story has been told however makes it an enjoyable read and will have you smiling from time to time.

Once you get to the second story, things go on just the way you would expect. The difference being that there a lot of plotting and pretending involved this time and that give the story just that bit extra. Like in the first story the writer surprised me with some very fun and interesting side characters. They really spice up the story and their natural behavior and talents are described pretty well. The most interesting of the side characters is undoubtedly Gallandro. I It is one of the more interesting and lovable low profile-villains I have read about in a long time. Mr. Daley really did an excellent job here, one of the highpoints from the entire trilogy for me.

The third and final novel is the strongest story-wise. The setting is quite nice and the supporting characters and situations are actually better than you would expect from a quick-fun novel like this. We also see Han and his friends meet Gallandro again and this time the confrontation reaches a climax. The end of the story was a bit too predicable for my taste, but the way it has been written makes up for that. All in all it was a good end to a nice trilogy.

Overall it is easy to conclude that Mr. Daley has delivered a solid trilogy and that he does very little wrong. It is simply a very entertaining read and it is definitely worth your time if you are looking for more about Han Solo and Chewbacca. However, the stories are also pretty predictable and the characters are usually thinner than a piece of paper. The fun-factor however helps to overcome that. Anyone interested in some casual entertainment without having to think all that much should definitely give this novel a try. Just don't expect anything groundbreaking, that's not the purpose of this novel.
Rating: 70/100

Personal tilt
This novel surprised me in such a positive way that it's hard for me to say anything negative about it. Sure the stories and characters are thin and sure nothing extremely interesting happens. But the novel is just a fun read and will have you smiling every now and then. You could say that it feels a bit outside of Star Wars continuity, the Corporate Authority seems a bit too powerful to be able to exist alongside the Empire. This never goes to far however and with a bit of good will you could fit it into the continuity. My advise: Just give this novel a try, it is really a great read and just the supporting characters alone are interesting enough to make it worth your while.
Rating: 80/100


Overall rating: 76.0/100

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