THEN:
It’s one of the galaxy’s most dangerous secrets: a mysterious transmitter with unknown power and a reward for its discovery that most could only dream of claiming. But those who fly the Millennium Falcon throughout its infamous history aren’t your average scoundrels. Not once, but twice, the crew of the Falcon tries to claim the elusive prize—first, Lando Calrissian and the droid L3-37 at the dawn of an ambitious career, and later, a young and hungry Han Solo with the help of his copilot, Chewbacca. But the device’s creator, the volatile criminal Fyzen Gor, isn’t interested in sharing. And Gor knows how to hold a grudge. . . .
NOW:
It’s been ten years since the rebel hero Han Solo last encountered Fyzen Gor. After mounting a successful rebellion against the Empire and starting a family with an Alderaanian princess, Han hasn’t given much thought to the mad inventor. But when Lando turns up at Han’s doorstep in the middle of the night, it’s Fyzen’s assassins that he’s running from. And without Han’s help, Lando—and all life on Cloud City—will be annihilated.
With the assistance of a young hotshot pilot, an Ewok slicer prodigy, the woman who might be the love of Lando’s life, and Han’s best and furriest friend, the two most notorious scoundrels in the New Republic are working together once more. They’ll have to journey across the stars—and into the past—before Gor uses the device’s power to reshape the galaxy.
Author: Daniel José Older
Cover artist: Scott Biel
Publisher: Del Rey
Release date: April 17, 2018
Page Count: 368
ISBN: 9780525622130
Released just ahead of Solo: A Star Wars Story, Last Shot by Daniel José Older was aimed to give some additional back story to the relationship between Han and Lando, but ends up giving readers so much more.
In order to recount the story the author moves between several timelines and locations – which can prove a little confusing, especially given the similar threads of some of the plotlines and if you return the book mid-chapter as I did on a few occasions.
The ‘established’ characters of Han, Lando, Chewie and Leia are portrayed really well – Han is written both as the cynical old smuggler we see in The Force Awakens and the more naive but enthusiastic character we see in Solo, and both incarnations of the character come through in their respective actions and dialogue. Lando meanwhile shows all of the charm and charisma we’ve come to expect from both Billy Dee Williams’ and latterly Donald Glover’s portrayal – but are the days of Lando the ladies man drawing to a close as he seeks to settle down?
Equally, the new characters introduced in the book also get the ‘multiple time line’ treatment to help establish their background. Fyzen Gor develops throughout the book into an true evil megalomaniac by the climax of the story, and Lando’s co-pilot L3-37 is every bit as revolutionary as she was in Solo – although this book maybe gives us a hint of why she seeks to free the droids when they reach Kessel in the movie.
Overall it’s a good story, although I did feel it was a little confusing at times with the jumping around from “present day” to various points in the preceding years, and the story could quite easily have been a classic era Marvel or Legends/EU book, in that ultimately has no bearing on the characters as we have seen them since The Force Awakens. Maybe some of that will change with Lando being part of the cast for Episode 9 if some of the threads from this book are referred to and maybe shape his life between the book and the film.