"Handoff" Discussion

(I didn't really search far back to find a pre-existing similar thread...sorry)

Hopefully, you've read Timothy Zahn's "Handoff" from the Star Wars Gamer #10. What did you think?

First off, who do you think Markko is?

And what is it that Karrde finds in Mara's hotel room?

What did you think of the story? The art?

-Mazz

 

Well, haven't read the story yet, but I have looked at the "art" (all one frame of it, opposite the first page of the story). Dorman, who usually is incredible, and has done dozens of awesome paintings (both in the SW universe, and in the Aliens universe) let me down this time. Mara Jade looked pretty crappy, IMHO, and at first glance, I didn't realize it was a Dorman painting.

 

Scan please.

 

If only my scanner worked.

 

I read it, I'll discuss when Ig et back from class.

 

Can someone please post a brief summary of the story!

 

Yeah, please! I can't really get Gamer in the UK so you'd be doing me a huge kindness.

 

I'd apprecate that too. Only because I don't feel right tearing open plastic at book stores and I'm too poor to buy it right now

 

Mara's about to move on to a new world, but decides on a whim to stay for a concert. While there, she seems some people setting up a kid by slipping something into his backpack. Again on a whim, she rescues him and takes him back to her hotel room where she finds out he's a helluva slicer named Ghent. She goes back out and tracks down the guy who was giving Ghent a hard time, and finds out that he's an unofficial "friend" of local Imperial governer, and that he's captured a computer of the local Rebel cell that they need to crack into, hence the need for Ghent. She (using the name Arica) acts as Ghent's agent and agrees that he'll do the job for a hefty fee. On the way back, she notices that she's being followed, then hides and follows the followers back home - to find that the governor's "friend" is in fact a member of the Rebel Alliance. Still, a deal's a deal so she takes Ghent to the governor's palace to hack into the computer -- but she notices as he's doing it that it's not a Rebel Computer -- it's a Star Destroyer computer. The IMperial governor, realizing how galactic politics are shifting, is in it with the Rebels to get the Imperial military stuff in the computer. Mara isn't about to allow that. She has Ghent set up a distraction, and she pretty much tears the building down with her lightsaber. She can't go back to her hotel room for her stuff in case the rebels are waiting for her, so she gives Ghent pretty much all the money she has for a ticket home, and then sets off to get on a ship out of there. Ghent is approached by Talon Karrde -- who as it turns out is in need of a good slicer and offers him a job.

Overall, this story was a fun read but it really stretches credibility, both in that Mara had already saved Ghent's life before either of them joined up with Karrde, and also the fact that she was able to walk around a room slicing up the walls without anyone noticing.

 

lol, thanks.

 

Oh, and the art sucked.

 

Up

 

They name Ghent sounds awfully familiar. Wasn't he a slicer in the JA books??

Dantana

 

Yes, but he was in the THrawn Trilogy more prominently

 

He's gotta be OLD!

Dantana

 

He was young in the Thrawn trilogy- eighteen, I think. That would mean that by YJK, he's still only in his early thirties.

 

Yeah, there's the review.

Personally, I loved the story. It was a great Mara episode that didn't "fix" things other authors had written about - much to Zahn haters' dismay, I'm sure. The art...wasn't the best I've ever seen though. In fact...it appears Dorman messed up on her head and re-did it...only to mess it up even more.

More later...

-Mazz

 

I read it just now. I really liked it. Lots of Zahn's traditional plot twists. I was intrigued by Markko's character too. His comments to Mara make him seem to be a highly trained rebel operative. I mean, during the course of the story he gets the drop on her twice! I wonder if he's actually more familiar than we think.

 

Handoff was a fun story, but confusing at parts. And "The Force was no longer with her" got old quickly.

 

Where can I find these stories in the Journal? I really want to read Mist Encoutner and this one, but don't know where to find them.

 

Isn't it "First Encounter"? (the one where Quelev Tapper dies, and Karrde first meets Mara?) That's in 'Tales of the Empire', I think. There's also a Mara Jade tale in 'Tales from Jabba's Palace', and 'Tales of the New Republic'.

 

Sleight of Hand = Tales from Jabba's Palace
First Contact = Tales from the Empire

 

That's the title, 'First Contact'. I can't recall the one from TfNR, though... (and I'm too lazy to go check. )

 

Well, I just reread "Handoff" to get a better feel for it. I definitely like it, as I'm a fan of all things Zahn when it comes to Star Wars. To me, Zahn is the only one who can truly write Mara Jade: no one else comes close.

There was one part of it, however, that I found disappointing, and that was the very end with Talon Karrde. It felt too forced and broke up the momentum of the story (hard to do at the denouement but...) Karrde is my favorite expanded universe character, but I have to say I would have preferred he didn't make an appearance in this story.

Oh well, still a good read.

 

"Personally, I loved the story. It was a great Mara episode that didn't "fix" things other authors had written about - much to Zahn haters' dismay, "

Dismay? Zahn haters hate zahn cause he tries to fix things. They don't want him trying o fix anymore things in the SWs universe.


So,as long as she's not fixing stuff I'm happy.