Lit Young Han Solo trilogy

Paradise Snare, Hutt Gambit, Rebel Dawn. Due to that fact that certain story elements in these books are about to be irreconcilably bulldozed in 2 years, now would be a good time to get them (and the Han Solo at Stars End trilogy) out and enjoy them before it's too late. So, I started reading them from the beginning and I was curious if anyone else is thinking of or doing the same thing?

 

I loved Paradise Snare, Hutt Gambit, and Rebel Dawn. I Have not read any of Brian Daley's books.

I plan to read all Legend EU bantams books later and write a NJO AU in a couple of years.

 

This is one of my most favorite trilogies in SW.

 

I read the HSA for the first time recently and reread the HST for the first time in a very long time. I definitely love both trilogies a lot.

 

I don't think there's a particular rush to get them "before it's too late" and they're "bulldozed". If anything, I betcha they'll definitely do a big reprint of the Brian Dalley and A.C.Crispin Legends books with fancy new covers and everything (like how the Thrawn trilogy got a fancy new cover reprint when Thrawn showed up in Rebels). So the books aren't going anywhere and aren't going to disappear.

I've read them all, the Crispin books I don't really remember much but I read it as a teenager and I do remember being particularly affected by the finale. The Dalley ones are great and, to be fair, I personally think they can still fit in canon as they're simply "Adventures Han and Chewie Had Before ANH" nebulous time period. The Cripsin books are probably the ones most directly due to being invalidated by the Solo movie.

But I think the core backstory of Han from the Cripsin books, and what was established probably before then, that Han is an Imp cadet, sees Chewie being harmed by Imperials, gets run out of the academy and Chewie gives him a life debt and they become partners in crime, sounds like a very good story structure to hang the movie on. And since I believe this backstory is something that actually pre-dates the Crispin books, I would think it's Lucas-sourced backstory that Kasadan was in on (I think early EU stuff like Stormtroopers being clones which eventually became Clonetroopers probably came from Lucas). I'd be very surprised if the movie didn't follow that basic structure as to how Han and Chewie became partners.

 

Since I already read them "A long time ago", I'll see if there are audiobooks out there and listen to them while I do other things. But was definitely thinking of doing that as I probably forgot more than I remember about the trilogy.

 

The first Daley book, Han Solo at Star's End, had Han alluding to it - "a friend" is clearly him:


"As I live and breathe," she scoffed. "Have we finally seen Han Solo do something unselfish? Are you going soft? Who knows, you may even pick up a little morality one day, if you ever wake up and get wise to yourself."

He stopped, his leer gone. He glared at her for a moment, then said, "I already know all about morality, Jess. A friend of mine made a decision once, thought he was doing the moral thing. Hell, he was. But he'd been conned. He lost his career, his girl, everything. This friend of mine, he ended up standing there while they ripped the rank and insignia off his tunic. The people who didn't want him put up against a wall and shot were laughing at him. A whole planet. He shipped out of there and never went back."

She watched his face become ugly. "Wouldn't anyone testify for - your friend?" she asked softly.

He sniggered. "His commanding officer committed perjury against him. There was only one witness in his defense, and who's going to believe a Wookiee?"

 

I don't get the mentality expressed here at all. I don't, actually, particularly love the Crispin trilogy, but I do love the Daley books, and my reading of them isn't contingent at all on what the Han Solo film does or does not do with them.

 

Well, remember, if the New Canon tries to do anything in the same time period as something from Legends, those books are rounded up and burned by the roaming Disney Disposal Units.

 

Crispin did a great job intertwining Daley's books with her own. Every once in a while there's a reference of Han having gone on one of those adventures off-screen, or thinking of a character from that series.

I like both the Daley and Crispin books about the same, but not for the same reasons, and I can get why a lot of people disliked the Crispin ones. I don't know your reason per se, but I remember a lot of people on the boards were really miffed about Bria. For me it wasn't Bria, but they were pretty dark. I loved the parts with the Hutts, and the T'landa Till plot was pretty inspired, but Han's fallout with Lando and the other smugglers was a massive trainwreck -- after that I couldn't imagine why Han would even consider approaching Lando in ESB. Their friendship wasn't established well enough to cover Han's (presumed) "betrayal".

(granted, when Zahn made "Scoundrels", based between Rebel Dawn and ESB, he tried to address that point directly and even mentioned it in the interviews, but it still didn't make sense because I'd still think Lando wouldn't dream of working with Han again - much less on a fun wild caper - and Han once again screwed Lando over, making his thought process to hide on Bespin in ESB seem really bizarre)

 

I have all...I love the Brian Daley books (and the books about Lando and Splinter of The Mind's Eye). The young Han Solo books on the other hand I could have done without. It was basically telling every minute of Han's life and then having to weave all the little tidbits we had been given over the years into the story...sometimes in too forced a manner.

 

I didn't care for the Crispin books; they lacked the sense of fun that I got from Daley's (which are more canon than the PT in my head.)

 

I love the way the Crispin trilogy uses characters from other sources, especially Dark Empire(Salla Zend, Mako Spince, Shug Ninx).

The Daley books are fun, but I prefer the Crispin trilogy. I also never had a problem with Bria.

 

Han outright says in ESB that he and Lando go way back... You're right in that the Han Solo book trilogy didn't establish their friendship well enough and 5 BBY (I think this is when Han met Lando in Legends, unless I misremember) isn't exactly way back from my point of view.

I'm hoping Lando gets a military background in the new canon (to justify why the Alliance would give him an Endor command--not just the Taanab battle); maybe Han and Lando could be childhood friends who join the Imperial academy together or something.

 

If I'm not mistaken Han meets Lando in Hutt Gambit for the first time, and Han is a teenager as Crispin's trilogy begins. It has been reported that the Han Solo movie will have Han and Lando's first meeting in it. There are bound to be probably other contradictions which is why I'm choosing to enjoy them again, while I can. Simply stated when two or more stories contradict each other in a continuity ( and reckoning them becomes impossible) it almost forces your mind to go with one and ignore the other. Either way, after we see the film it will make these novels feel like fan fiction to us, hopefully that explains my meaning. Another reason to read them over before the movie is so you can decide which one you think was better.

 

About 18 or 19 - though it's a little fuzzy.

Han spends nearly 5 years at the Academy between The Paradise Snare and the start of The Hutt Gambit.

Given that the new movie is supposed to be 10 years before ANH - same as The Paradise Snare - it appears Han and Lando will now have known each other for longer than in the EU.

 

I do sort of wish that the new EU had kept Han's background to longer forms of fiction--novel series, comic book series, a Han Solo tv show, even computer games. There's only so much you can cram into 2 hours, and they'll try to probably fit in as much there as possible (Kessel Run, losing the Falcon, freeing Chewie, etc.). Perhaps there will be add-on material to the movie to give more room, but I doubt it--the new canon EU is much more reserved in handling material for fear of overwriting movies.

I do feel the story of the prequels suffered from being crammed into 3 movies, and it only felt more organic once the Clone Wars series came along. As much as I loved Rogue One, the new story of the Death Star plan theft is now a convergence of contrived incidents scripted to create drama (rogue general bent on killing Galen, Alliance council is clueless on how to handle the Death Star until Jyn goes rogue, etc.) than what was a coordinated military/spy operation in the EU. I can't help but feel that Han Solo's background will also be a lot less complex than in the EU...

 

Yeah the Han Solo movie is definitely going to be skipping across the years, I think it's even been confirmed. Which could be interesting because, aside from Padme's pregnancy in ROTS and the space in ESB where they're travelling to Bespin, most Star Wars movies happen in about a few days. Heck, Rogue One almost seems to unfold in real-time once Jyn shows up at Yavin.

I'm totally okay with that, the years-hopping time spanning is one of my favourite details of the Star Wars universe and now we can see it all in one movie.

 

There is a reason why I didn't mention Death Star plans stolen plots, contradicted by Rogue One. Unlike what contradictions the Han Solo movie will cause, the stolen Death Star plan plot has been done over enough times that it is very easy to retconn Rogue One, now. This probably belongs in Sinrebirth's One Canon thread, but anyhow, here goes. If you noticed when Jynn Erso gives her speech on Yavin and suggests the plans are on Scariff and they should send a fleet there, Bail and Mon exchange glances. They do this because they had tried to retrieve the plans twice before but failed, once a jail break aboard the Death Star (Xbox's and PS2's Battlefront 2) and two, a certain rebel agent sent to Danuta (Dark Forces). In both places, the intel was bad, the plans were fake and deteriorated by the time they had made it back to the Alliance.

 

Still not sure whether I want to see the film because of the points brought up here. Rogue One was different, because there never really was a definitive "steal the Death Star plans" story, other than most of the material agreeing that something happened on Toprawa. And considering there's different stories, adding one more doesn't really hurt any.

But Han's backstory is different. It's a lot more consistent than the Death Star plans story. I read Crispin's books and Daley's books at the same time in chronological order, reading the Daley books before their epilogues in Rebel Dawn, and it was a wonderful Han-filled several months. I felt like I really knew him afterwards, and these six books are the entire reason I like Han as a character.

tl;dr i'm a whiny legends fangirl

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Is that how you justify your five bathroom breaks?

 

For my this trilogy is canon in my head like the Darth Plagueis book and i dont care what Disney and Lucasflims says

 

I'll always remember the last thread that was devoted to this trilogy, and in particular the rather...dedicated Han/Leia shipper who repeatedly hijacked the thread to vitriolically attack A.C. Crispin for giving Han a love interest who wasn't Leia. I've often wondered if she was still part of the fandom during that period when the "Han Solo is MARRIED??" subplot featured in the second arc of the Marvel comic was big news, and if so what her opinion of that storyline was.

 

AC Crispin would never be able to come here to defend herself against these bashers

Have they no decency? I mean, just google AC Crispin.

 

We know she's dead, people here paid their respect when she passed.

Death doesn't make one's work immune from simple criticism. There's no "bashing" going on here. There's hardly even any criticism. Relax.