Title:
Han Solo's Revenge
Author: Brian Daley
Han Solo's Revenge, first published in 1979, is the second of Brian Daley's
The Han Solo Adventures trilogy. My review of the first book,
Han Solo at Star's End, can be found
here. In this second installment, Han and Chewie mistakenly get caught up in a slave trade run. After they free the slaves and slay their captors, they follow the money trail for revenge upon and a paycheck from those who duped them.
Apart from Han Solo and Chewbacca, the two mainstay characters of
The Han Solo Adventures are their droid companions: BLX-5 (aka Bollux) and Blue Max. One can hardly have a
Star Wars story without a goofy pair of droids on board. The relationship between the two is a bit different from Artoo/Threepio, though. Both are conversant with humanoids - none of the Jay and Silent Bob act here. Also, Blue Max spends much of his time inside of Bollux's chest cavity. The two met Han and Chewie when the droids were lent to our friends by Jaesa, an outlaw tech, in
Star's End. After helping to rescue Jaesa's father Doc, the droids were given their freedom and chose to stay on as crew for the Millenium Falcon.
Bollux is a BLX labor droid. In British editions of the books, he is called Zollux as
Bollux sounds way too much like
bollocks to be taken seriously in the UK. Humanoid in form, Bollux had wandered the galaxy from job to job, continuously outmoded by newer machines but always volunteering for upgrades to keep himself useful.
Blue Max is a slicer droid, the first appearance of his kind in the
Star Wars universe. A slicer is used to hack computer systems. Blue Max began as an Imperial droid but came to Doc by way of a bounty hunter. Doc's techs made the modifications in Bollux so he could carry Blue Max in his chest.
One enterprising fan, identified as Kambei, even created an action figure of the two:
As with the first book,
Han Solo's Revenge is a lot of fun. Chewbacca gets some nice development, too, particularly in an admittedly bizarre episode in which he constructs a glider out of a pterodactyl carcass. Jedi Knights and the Force are mentioned only in passing, suggesting there's plenty of room in the
Star Wars universe for an old-fashioned adventure tale.
Man, you're making me want to read these again, but I definitely don't want to read them again.
ReplyDeletebah!
They are fun - not re-read material but they're fun.
DeleteI haven't ever read these. I actually don't remember hearing about them before. Sound fun! Glad you are enjoying them. :)
ReplyDelete~Jess
I ignored them back in the day - not enough like the Star Wars stories I knew and loved. Now, it's a fun way to see new perspectives on a universe that has been a part of my life for nearly forty years.
Delete