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Reviews Books The JC Lit Reviews Special: MILLENNIUM FALCON (Spoilers)

Discussion in 'Literature' started by Havac , Oct 20, 2008.

  1. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    Average score: 282.52/39 = 7.24
     
  2. hist

    hist Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Feb 28, 2006
    I just posted my review on Epinions, and I'd have to give it a 4.0 at most. I haven't read Legacy yet, but this book just bored me for the most part. It seemed pretty inconsequential, and the "bridge" scenes between Legacy and the upcoming series (Luke being arrested, Seff, etc) just seemed tacked on.
     
  3. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    Average score: 286.52/40 = 7.16
     
  4. Jedi-Sith

    Jedi-Sith Jedi Grand Master star 3

    Registered:
    Aug 4, 2001
    I enjoyed this book for what it was, an Indiana Jones/National Treasure style treasure hunt book. It was fun and quirky for very different reasons to why someone would normally read a Star Wars book, and thats ok for me.

    I really enjoyed the expansive time span of the story, getting to read so many different eras in the book really tested your knowledge with so many references and troubles people dealt with.

    Allana is a wonderful character and obviously as powerful as any Skywalker blooded Jedi. It was nice to see she picked up Jacen's talent with animals too. Seeing her using the pets to defend herself against her would be kidnappers was great. I look forward to reading more about Anakin Skywalker's first great grandchild. In the generation that is most likely going to include the daddys of Nat & Kol Skywalker, as well as Roan Fel and Mohrgan Fel, Allana is a breath of fresh air after what happened in Jacen/Jaina/Anakin/Ben's generation.

    Han and Leia were perfectly in character, and it was good to them dealing with their grief over Jacen. We didn't really get to see enough of them in LOTF, so they came of as harsh authorizing Jacen's death warrant. We got to see the real grief this caused in MF.

    The set ups for FOTJ were interesting as well, Luke being charged, Mandalorian enforcers for Daala and the random Dark Jedi. Oh btw did he use Force Stasis on those kidnappers? As in KOTOR Force Stasis? It certainly sounded like it. I don't think I've ever seen that power used in the current timeline books. I guess that was the point, it must have been a lost technique Jacen learnt on his travels. Except wasn't Stasis a light side technique? I got a bit confused there.

    Final rating 8/10


    P.S. Did anyone else notice the Phantom of the Opera reference? In the auction scene, a restored Chandalier? Please tell me I wasn't the only one who spotted this reference? The wording of it was so similar to the musical it jumped out at me, I laughed.
     
  5. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    Average score: 294.52/41 = 7.18
     
  6. Liliedhe

    Liliedhe Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Feb 22, 2009
    I just got this book because it promised to link back to the Old Republic. I'm not that much of a Falcon fan, and I'm also not that much of an Han and Leia fan... Just got it for completeness, without expecting much. And I was extremely pleasantly surprised. A supremely entertaining, funny, exhilarating book. Starting with the text on the backover "the ship that launched a thousand fates" which had me giggle helplessly for quite a while, Millennium Falcon was simply a treat.

    I loved the "Indiana Jones" treasure hunt feel - with the obligatory "and the chase continues" ending of an old serial. I loved Allana, who finally was a convincing kid, after all the moody teenagers^^. A lot of the Star Wars charm is the sense of wonder, this window into another world. And what better way to make the reader feel this than to let him look through the eyes of a kid? Maybe it dragged a little in the middle, where the kidnapping and blackmail plot felt a little shoved in. Maybe we could have done without one or two of the old owners... But it wasn't really bad. And then there was Jadak. :) Reading his parts of the book was wonderful, because in essence, I feel like him - I've read all of the novels set during the prequels, and not much else, so like him, I just jumped from Revenge of the Sith into this book and all the chaos, and weirdness, took me as much by surprise as him.^^ In a way, he was the ultimate collector's item for Oxic: A genuine citizen of the old republic^^, a pity he didn't get this. ;)

    But the book wasn't just a tour through the history of the Falcon, seen through very different eyes, in a way it was also a journey through the history of Star Wars - from the pall of doom of the meeting in the Senate Annex, over the very, very weird setting of the Lando Calrissian Adventures, to the 'Planet of Hats' phase with the lawyer and the comedian planets, to finally, the devastation and grim darkness of the present storylines. In essence, it was also a condensed version of how many facets this universe has shown to us, the readers, over the decades.

    In a way, the book was obviously filler, bridging the gap from one storyline to the next. But it did so in a very charming, entertaining way, bringing a new reader up to speed, hinting at things to come, and finally, bringing together the different times of the prequels and the OT by uniting protagonists from both timeframes and having them reflect on what happened in between. I hope this will not be the last thing we saw of Jadak and Oxic. And the Symbol of Unity.

    9/10 points.
     
  7. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    Average score: 303.52/42 = 7.23
     
  8. Valin__Kenobi

    Valin__Kenobi Author: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Praji star 4 VIP

    Registered:
    Mar 30, 2004
    8.75/10. Luceno delivers another winner. Frankly I wasn't dying to learn this much about the Falcon's history--beyond a few tantalizing hints, I figured it would remain one of those mysteries like Palpatine's past--but damned if it wasn't a fun read and a good solid adventure story. I haven't read LOTF but I know what you guys are talking about after the NJO, Outcast, and all those pessimistic and Jedi-saturated prequel books.

    Like most of you, I was strongly reminded of the old Lando/Daley books or an Indiana Jones adventure--especially the gunpoint confrontation with Oxic at the climax, which gave me very strong Belloq vibes. I even liked that the quest turned out to be pointless, rather than yet another vault full of lost Holocrons or whatever (although I guess that could have helped retcon why Luke's order is getting forced further and further into the prequel/OJO mold, but I digress). It even sets up the supporting cast as a springboard to another quest, and I wouldn't mind seeing the trio pop up again.

    Also, the book provides handy links to what came before (LOTF) and after (FOTJ) without letting it derail the main plot. I didn't have the problems with the FOTJ tie-ins that others did, perhaps because I'd already read Outcast before this.

    The continuity laundry-lists were less smoothly integrated than in Luceno's other books since Agents of Chaos (where, as his first foray into SW, the namedrops were heavy-handed beyond belief). But it's almost inevitable when trying to condense 103 years of GFFA history, and I suspect these would have been ironed out with another round of edits if the release hadn't been moved up by two months.

    I usually hate kid sidekicks: not necessarily stories about kids, since I enjoyed, for example, YJK and JJK and even the Solo kids sections of The Crystal Star, but ones where a an adorable sidekick is shoehorned into a blatantly "grownup" plot. Yet here Luceno was even able to make Allana an interesting and genuinely likable character--no small feat.

    Overall verdict: entertaining as hell and it definitely leaves me looking forward to Luceno's next entry into the GFFA.
     
  9. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    Average score: 312.27/43 = 7.26
     
  10. ezekiel22x

    ezekiel22x Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Aug 9, 2002
    So went the litany of testimonials and denunciations, with each instance of malfunction ending in makeshift repairs and retrofits, almost as if everyone had agreed to make the ship the subject of an ongoing experiment in improvised engineering.

    Here Luceno is referring to the development of the Millennium Falcon under the guidance of its various stewards, of course, but as I read it I was immediately struck with the impression that this might be a good way of describing the ongoing existence of the EU at large. If this is the case, one could (and often does both inside and outside of Star Wars fandom} question if this experiment's results warrant attention.

    After finishing Millennium Falcon, I have to say that, yes, the book contains a fair bit of interesting Falcon history, heavy doses of charm and adventure, all capped off with just the faintest hint of foreboding that can't help but remind readers that this decidedly more lighthearted Big Three-era novel might only be a diversion from the "grimmer" style that Del Rey has adopted for the Big Three era since the launching of the New Jedi Order. Again, though, whether you call it a diversion, semi-standalone or trend-bucker, the key to this book's success can be found in its charm and fun.

    The charm? Han and Leia act their age! They spend much of this novel simply traveling around and engaging in polite conversation meant to gain further insight into the history of a beloved antique. Yes, Han churns out a few DL-44 quick draws, but he's also said to have put on a few extra pounds, a bodily characteristic that is supported by his considerable interest in tackling a double stacker for lunch in a scene that brings to mind the obligatory grandpa you're guaranteed to see upon walking into a Wendy's. While a lot of times I am critical of forced humor in Star Wars ? especially within the bounds of more serious arcs like LOTF ? I was eating up the humor here like...ah, an old guy at Wendy's. One my favorite lines from the novel: "Bone-dry and fragrant." While I didn't quite laugh out loud, I came pretty close during the scene were Jadak and Poste pose as representatives of Desicare Deodorant. Like Han's double-stacker, this moment was pretty wacky, maybe even a bit tacky, and yet somehow fit perfectly with that certain style of Star Wars wonkiness that has at various times yielded such things as a 50s diner on Coruscant and Luke enjoying a hot chocolate. Perhaps the most charming moment of all, though, came near the very end of the book when Han Solo endearingly slaps 3PO on the shoulder and tells the droid to "sit in the front" and remain in the pilot's chair even after Han arrives in the cockpit. Han's playful teasing of 3PO has been a constant in Star Wars, something that seemingly every author has played with at one time or another, but here I have to give Luceno big props for the manner in which he used this brief scene to actually convey something between Han and 3PO beyond a working relationship. For the first time here, I actually got the impression that they were friends.

    As for the fun adventure aspect, I thought the novel captured a very nice balance between action and exposition. I mentioned before how this was a rather talky novel given the nature of Han and company's fact-finding quest, and I appreciate how Luceno let the action develop naturally around these histories. While some of the entanglements were the result of coincidences that were a bit too coincidental (Jadak wakes up when Han and Leia finally get around to looking into the Falcon's history, Leia happens to know Oxic by name, etc.), when the action rolled, it did so in a manner that remained true to the books overall tone. Indeed, fans who are critical of Del Rey style grit should take heart here, as the way things unfold it turns out that the no one, even the theives who steal the Falcon, can be described as bad or evil, and as such most of the action was accordingly low-key and thus naturalistic. When the action stopped in favor of the historical tale telling, I wa
     
  11. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    Average score: 320.27/44 = 7.28
     
  12. Todd the Jedi

    Todd the Jedi Mod and Loving Tyrant of SWTV, Lit, & Collecting star 6 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Oct 16, 2008
    Got around to reading the paperback. This was a very refreshing story after some of the darker elements of LOTF. It felt more like the Han Solo Adventures than the AoC duology, references aside. First off, I liked the two quests to discover the Falcon's history, one going back in time, the other forward. This was a clever way to cover the entire history of the ship without being too redundant or expository. I like that no matter who owned the Falcon they always got into some trouble that only the ship could get them out of. This story served to tell the adventures of the previous owners while at the same time tell a new adventure for the Solos. It doesn't matter that the MacGuffin ended up being pretty much worthless, the Solos, Jadak, Poste and Oxic all went for a ride that is worth remembering.

    I thought Han and Leia's interactions with Allana were well done, and I was glad to see C-3PO actually do something for the first time in a while. Overall I thought Luceno portrayed Han and Leia very well, and I liked the characters introduced, especially Jadak and some of the previous owners of the Falcon. I felt many of the various mentions of people places and events were well done and not too contrived; this being Luceno everything seemed appropriate and thought out. There were some nice tidbits alluding to FOTJ that fit in the story very nicely without taking away the main theme of the history/treasure hunt, like briefly introducing Seff Hellin, who I've heard is a major character in FOTJ.

    There wasn't anything really wrong with this novel. Even the absence of a villain was fine for me, all the better for a nice simple plot. It was pretty obvious to me from the start that Oxic was simply a man willing to take some drastic measures to get some treasure, but not someone who was bad. Also, sometimes I did get confused about who owned the Falcon when, but the only owners that really mattered were Han and Jadak. I did think the end felt a little rushed, but with its length and sufficient content this novel could afford it.

    I give this a 9 out of 10 for a book that reminds us that you can have a good story without a galaxy-shattering plot; it's just a fun small side adventure that contains the elements that the readers love to see in Star Wars.
     
  13. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    Average score: 329.27/45 = 7.32
     
  14. cdgodin

    cdgodin Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Oct 9, 2009
    9/10. It felt good to finally know where the Falcon came from. The part with Tobb Jadak trying to find out what happened to his ship was good, too.
     
  15. PadmeA_Panties

    PadmeA_Panties Jedi Youngling star 4

    Registered:
    Oct 25, 2003
    Its good for what it is. It has Luceno writing, so always a plus. The problems with the book is its entirely unplausible. From how Han/Leia/Allana act. From how little the galaxy knows of the most famous ship. From Jadak. From Aurra medical facility. From Oxic. From how the two track the Falcon. From the ending. Its so entirely unplausible its ridiculous. Comlinks now do whatever a cell phone in the year of the book writing can do + some Sci-Fi things. HoloNet is a super advanced Google.

    YET.... no one knows the entire history of the Falcon? How many other YT-1300f/p hybrid freighters are around, 103 years after their production line? And no one can pin-point this to that to this or that?

    Bah.

    And much of the novel is new Character Y give us a backstory of his love affair with the Falcon/insert name at X point that takes 4-6 pages that just gives us a brief history of what the Falcon did.

    The backstory of the Falcon also doesn't gel with me (personally). The timeline of events in the years from ROTS to whenever Han gets her is garbled up and how they have the story ties in and how long each person supposedly had the Falcon seems off to me. Maybe its just a feeling. But when they recount X, Y, Z having her, they each make it seem like years and years and years. Yet; there's only a maximum of 13 years to cover. Han has to get her at least at 5BBY, and Jadak crashes 18BBY. So at most thats 13 years to cover; and with some of the exploits - it doesn't personally gel for me.


    The premise is bad. The execution is bad. The writing is ok. So I give it a 4/10. Really a better story, a better timeframe to have done this (perhaps like during the Bantam era? - granted this would change a good bit of the novel, you'd have to insert Jacen/Jania/Anakin, drop Allana, add Chewie, drop some of the history, drop the Vong-world ending, etc.: I still think it'd be for the best), a better representation of how much people might know, stop trying to connect Prequel era to post-Yavin era, stop treating the readers/citizens of the GFFA like idiots, etc. and the novel would have 1) worked and 2) been alot better.

    So MF gets a 4/10 from me.
     
  16. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    Average score: 342.27/47 = 7.28
     
  17. Cindrollic

    Cindrollic Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    May 6, 2007
    Just now found the thread. :oops:

    I loved this book. It's been a little while, so I can't really give a Good/Bad list without going back and reading it. But all of the negatives and the less then engaging plot aside, this was just a fun SW novel, and a great standalone. And so far, in this "FOTJ Saga", this is the only novel I actually enjoyed. It brought back the adventure aspect that was in Episode IV, which was a nice shift from the darker tones of LOTF.

    8.9/10
     
  18. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    Average score: 351.17/48 = 7.32
     
  19. darthadimentsu

    darthadimentsu Jedi Master star 1

    Registered:
    Jan 24, 2007
    I only just finished this (as well as Crosscurrent, bought both with 21st birthday money to prove that I am now a grown-up, mature individual) and by comparison the the ongoing series that preceded them as well as that which follows them, these standalones are fantastic.

    Millennium Falcon did not rob the Falcon of its mystique, only added to it - built its character, Allana wasn't nauseating (which I thought was impossible, but Luceno managed it) and Luceno is still channelling Daley as powerfully as Agents of Chaos - given that Denning is often considered an expert of Han and Leia, it's good to have Luceno pointing out why that's incorrect... yes, the ending was a little anti-climatic (although more in an 'the adventure continues in... Millennium Falcon II: Millennium Falconer way). I enjoyed Bionic Man Tobb Jadak, the Nar Shaddaa not so changed from the Han Solo Trilogy despite the Vong, the aftermath of the Vong actually affecting a planet (Sacrasm: I mean, how implausible is that? Don't they know that on Coruscant, the New Jedi Order never happened?!) - and speaks to a philosopher that separates the standalones from the series - they don't have to focus on the main characters (but they can), they don't have to tell an epic tale, but still live, expanding the immersive epic universe.

    7.5/10
     
  20. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    Average score: 358.67/49 = 7.32
     
  21. Stymi

    Stymi Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 10, 2002
    I enjoyed this one. I liked the two converging plot-lines that eventually met "in the middle" while simultaneously telling the story of the Falcon.

    Really creative way of weaving in old continuity with new (although that is now the new norm, it seems).

    8
     
  22. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    Average score: 366.67/50 = 7.33
     
  23. Likewater

    Likewater Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 31, 2009
    This is a hard one for me.

    This book is the only book in recent memory I found where current time-line Han and Leia not only resonably written but acutally likable.

    They do not Act like teenagers which is a plus. While Han still has a bit of a temper he won't brainless dive into a situation that could probably end up with his entire family dead.

    It was nice to see Allana's break out book that estabilishes a bit of her character.


    But it was kind of hard to care. Its a treasure hunt, but really there is no reall motivation or passion behind it besides general curiosity. In Indiana Jones there were actual stakes behind finding an object, a consequnce for failure.


    For the Solo's there want any real consequnce for failure. No one villiage survival, one guy's freedom, or a humiliating task form a bet.


    For the Lawyer and the former captain...frankly I didn't care.

    It's sad, even though it read well, the characterizations were good, and set the ground work for Allana's character it was pretty inconsquensial.

    the Stakes of the Quest.
    The Red Harring mcguffin.
    the non-Solo characters, though family man Lando was cool.

    6.5 out of ten.

    Great Characterization dosent change the fact it was a Suped up Light-story. It was too light, the Protagonists had no real consequnce for sucess or failure. And that what really kills the book.



     
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  24. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    Average score: 373.17/51 = 7.32
     
  25. Malachi108

    Malachi108 Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Aug 8, 2009
    I finished it some two hours ago and it was of the best SW reads I ever had.

    Luceno pulled an awesome trick, telling the history of the galaxy across over a 100 years through the perspective of the Falcon. Just look at the events influencing its history: the consolidation of the Trade Federation, Iaco Stark's undertaking, Palpatine's tightening his grip on the Senate, Clone Wars, Battle of Coruscant, Early Imperial campaigns, Birth of the Rebellion, Galactic Civil War, Yuuzhan Wong War - all the way to the FOTJ.

    "Han Solo is... well, he's what you might call a certified hero. He's not only fought in every war since the Rebellion, he's played a major part in winning them. Understand? In winning them."

    And along the way we find a million of continuity references that will make the true geek re-joy. I totally see how the term Lucenopedia came to be: it's hard to appreciate them all without constantly checking the Wook, but still: Armand Isard's perspective! Guarlara! Fang Zar! Shug Ninx! Plo Koon piloting the Falcon! The Ferroans! Iaco Stark! That Cularin dude from the Living Force! Greater Javin and Tundra sectors! Zann FREAKING Consortium using Sullustan Slaves and absorbing Black Hole Pirates! Dal Perhi! Antarian Rangers! Open Circle Fleet! Rakata-related temples! Vongformed planets! Oseon system and the Centrality! Queen of the Empire! Sin Suub! Circus Horrificus! Xaverri! Bright Jewel Oversector! Troiken! Oh, and did I mention HAN'S DICE?

    Cheez, I could go on and one forever. Those things are way more than just randomly dropped names - they are what ties the galaxy together, makes EU one continuous story, a part of which we observer through Falcon's history as both Han and Jadak are putting the pieces together. Those aren't just stories set apart 3 or 5 years from another: they affect the present as they have affected the past, and Falcon's owners are slowly moving through it. It felt like re-introduction to EU for a newcomer, mirroring Jadak's own expierience after waking up:

    No one could have made up the catastrophic events the tutorial led him through.

    Yeah... Oh, and by the way, I couldn't care less about what people said about Daala in five random instances, how little mentions of Luke and Jaina set up the FOTJ and what's going on between Jag and whoever. The Solo adventure was awesome, it ended just like the quest on Dellalt, Jadak found some peace and I had a hell of a good time reading through it.

    17/10 Yes, that probably violates some rule. No, I don't care.