Welcome back to Go/No-Go, Tosche Station’s regular feature where we offer our spoiler-free opinion as to whether or not you should spend your hard-earned money on a book, film, or other entertainment. Today on the launch pad: Star Wars: Last Shot. Star Wars fans were first introduced to Daniel José Older via his delightful sandtrooper in From a Certain Point of View but what do we think of his take on Han Solo and Lando Calrissian? To mission control for the verdict!
Bria: I was somewhat familiar with Daniel José Older prior to this book but admittedly, I didn’t entirely know what to expect. Once I did start reading the book over my lunch break, I found it almost impossible to put down. (Seriously: I finally had to shame myself into doing so after I finished the first 90ish pages and was seriously considering shutting my office door and reading the rest.) Older has a very humorous and engaging style of writing, something that’s a perfect fit for Han Solo and Lando Calrissian; two characters whose voices he has down pat. Taking place over three time periods, the story weaves together and would be far less rich without the Lando/L3 and the Han/Sana plot lines. Older also makes sure to put forward a diverse cast of which my favorites are probably Peekpa the ewok and Taka the pilot. At the end of the day though, what you really need to know is that Last Shot is fun as hell, will make you laugh a lot, and is incredibly difficult to put down. We can only hope that Older gets to write more Star Wars novels given what a delight this one was. Needless to say, Last Shot gets a GO from me.
Nanci: Last Shot reminds me of a Bantam era book. If you know me, you know that’s some of the highest praise I can give a Star Wars book. How does it compare to Bantam, you may ask? Well, it’s a one-off story with personal as well as galactic stakes. It features some well-known film characters like Han, Lando, Leia, and Chewie, but also introduces a wide variety of new characters I’d love to read about in the future. (Taka Jamoreesa was my surprise favorite. Peekpa the Ewok is also delightful.) Last Shot also features Sana Starros, a character from the Marvel comics, in a great bit of synergy. (There’s another cameo from a book character that made me run around the house with glee.) One of the best parts about the Bantam era books was “checking in” with characters that had been previously introduced in other books and seeing what they were up to, or using them in stories when the plot called for certain character types. Like Aaron Allston’s X-Wing novels, Last Shot is deeply funny, and cares more about telling an entertaining story than adding to lore or “expanding” the universe. Not that there’s anything wrong with those types of stories, but sometimes it’s nice to just sit back and enjoy a book with no repercussions to the galaxy at large, even if the characters go through deep changes. (This is how I feel about Solo: A Star Wars Story in general, as a matter of fact.) Given that this book is a tie-in to Solo, I was surprised, but thrilled, to find that the majority of the story takes place two years after the Battle of Jakku; anything that takes place post-Endor is my jam. The flashbacks with Han, Chewie, and Sana as well as Lando and L3-37 succeeded in getting me very excited fro the film. Finally, one of my favorite things Last Shot does is prove there are plenty of stories to tell during the period of peacetime between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. Just because the Empire is gone and the First Order hasn’t risen to prominence yet, doesn’t mean our heroes did not have any adventures. I hope Del Rey, Disney Lucasfilm Press, and Marvel continue telling those stories. For those and many other reasons, Last Shot gets a GO from me.
Amanda: I am always dubious when an author I’m unfamiliar with gets their hands on Han Solo. But having read the excerpt in the Del Rey Sampler, I was cautiously optimistic when I embarked on reading Last Shot. Let me tell you: I was so much more than satisfied. Older does a fantastic job of giving us ever-growing but still recognizable versions of our favorite scoundrels. In addition, we find new characters to love (Taka has my heart forever) and see glimpses of favorites from the Star Wars comics and previous novels. The villain made me shudder, the action made my heart race, and the relationships felt real, honest, deep, and important. I got everything I wanted out of this book and a bunch of things I didn’t even know I needed until after I had them. This book was a delight from beginning to end, weaving together multiple time periods and interconnected plot threads with finesse and facility. It was well done from start to finish. I adored it and hope to see more from D.J. Older on my Star Wars shelf in the future. Last Shot absolutely gets a GO from me.
Flight Director’s Ruling: Last Shot is a GO for launch!
What do you get when you take Daniel José Older, toss him into the Star Wars universe, and let him play with two of the most famous scoundrels in the galaxy? A goddamn delight. You get a goddamn delight. Okay, fine: it’s actually called Last Shot but that doesn’t mean it’s not also a delight. Set two years after the Battle of Jakku, Last Shot follows Han and Lando on a mission with an eclectic team as choices they made over a decade before rear their ugly heads to bite them in the rear. What could possibly go wrong?
Among Star Wars fans, there seems to be a consensus regarding the best novelizations: Revenge of the Sith by Matthew Stover and Rogue One by Alexander Freed. I have read neither. *ducks from thrown tomatoes* To be honest, novelizations are usually not my thing. I don’t have as much time to read as I’d like, and when I do, I prefer to read brand new stories rather than adaptations of films or TV shows. However, when I learned that Jason Fry was writing The Last Jedi novelization, I almost jumped for joy. I love Fry’s work, both in Star Wars (Servants of the Empire, The Weapon of a Jedi), and in his own universe (The Jupiter Pirates). I’ve been waiting for him to write a Del Rey novel for ages. To have him write about Luke Skywalker made me so excited. After I saw The Last Jedi, my first thought was “I can’t wait to read the novelization,” because I knew Fry would be writing the death of Luke Skywalker, and I knew he’d do something spectacular with it. I was not disappointed.