Millennium Falcon By; James Luceno

[Starkindler (The Naked Jedi)]

Finished this book over New Year's weekend.

www.randomhouse.com/images/dyn/cover/?source=9780345507006&height=300&maxwidth=170

Pros:
A fun trip through the history of one of Sci-Fi's most famous ships. From Shipyard vetting to the current storyline in the EU (setting up the new series "Fate of the Jedi"). Previous owners, missions, breakdowns, and teeth chattering escapes are plentiful. Lucerno weaves the ship's story artfully through events we already know about. Ever wondered why there was a Dejarik table aboard? Where the engine mods or smuggling compartments came from?
It's all covered...

Cons:
The ending was a bit abrupt after the investment in the story line. It left me feeling a bit like the whole story lacked any purpose other than detailing the Falcon's history. I wanted a bit more resolution to the story that was used to provide so much good background on the ship.

Rating:
3 1/2 out of 5

A fun and easy read and a must for Millennium Falcon fans. Young readers (teens) through adult.

[Schph Gochi]

I agree...
it had it's moments...
but as a whole..
I felt it a little bit of a let down...

[Granny-Wan]

I agree, the ending was a let down, mostly because there wasn't one.

I found the novel becoming tedious and was hoping for something special at the end, but it just kinda petered out...

[Larwi B'nu]

Wow! It's amazing that it struck so many people in the same exact way! I felt the end was a bit blah, too...I don't know, I mean, the Millenium Falcon was supposed to be the key to this whole thing, and that's the glory of the Republic?! The giant insignia?! Really?! According to the lawyer, Oxic, the materials it had been made of would have been worth millions of credits, no doubt, so I can understand that if the burgeoning Alliance recognized the end was near, then they would need to secure financing, certainly, at some future point. But then the stupid thing turns out to be a fake! And all they can do is speculate that maybe the architects had taken the original and replaced it with a copy...oh, please! Again, I say, really?! That's your resolution?! I don't know...the end was bad enough, but that middle part with Amelia's abduction at the pet show seemed just as random, like, seriously, out of the blue. I can see they were setting up for some future storyline, but they totally could have set this a lot earlier, perhaps between Episodes IV and V, and detailed the history just as well without that whole hokey treasure hunt going on in the foreground. I can even see them, perhaps, setting it during Episode V, at the Battle of Hoth....
Princess Leia and Han and Chewbacca had to spend a lot of time inside the Millenium Falcon, it wouldn't be much of a stretch for them to kill the time discussing the old bird, really. Or, the author could have detailed the history of the Falcon through nothing more than flashbacks...One scene set in the past as the Falcon is destroying the assembly line, then flash forward to the present when Chewie's trying to patch her up as they're preparing to blast off of Hoth...Next scene, flash back to Episode III, which I thought was the best part of the book, by the way; I think Luceno did a good job of conveying Jadak's and Reeze's love of the Stellar Envoy as much as Lucas and others convey Han Solo's love of the Millenium Falcon, plus the framing of the entire scene was nice, what with the opening battle scene of Revenge of the Sith as the backdrop...but I digress...Flash back to the Stellar Envoy, then flash forward to them Falcon as Han's getting them offplanet at Hoth, the princess and "Goldenrod" in tow...Flash back to the Nar Shadaa days as, I think it was Second Chance as dubbed by the crime boss...anyway, you get the idea. A narrative isn't even really necessary! One wouldn't need to have Han or Chewbacca or Lando telling the story, especially since they didn't even have the complete story of the Falcon's travels and previous owners; as the author, it's one's perogative to simply flash forward or backwards in time, using each chapter as a delineation line. I know it can be done because I just finished reading Death Star, and it framed the events of Episode IV all from the point of view of the Empire and its officers and enlisted personnel very nicely.
There were several major players in Death Star, not the least of which was Grand Moff Tarkin and Darth Vader. But in addition to them, there were several smaller players, our - the readers' - antagonists and protagonists. But everything that happened in A New Hope took place in this book, but it was all seen from the eyes and ears of a bunch of smaller players and persons. It was very well-written, and very well done. I highly recommend it! But I use it as an example for Millenium Falcon; The Empire Strikes Back could have been framed in the same way, maybe not utilizing a bunch of unknown, background characters that become intertwined in the final fates of the story's major players in the same as they did in Death Star, but it can be done. And if we're looking for a detailed history of the Millenium Falcon, why does it have to be perfectly chronological, for that matter? Since Episode V culminates in Cloud City, why couldn't the history of the ship parallel that progress, so that by the time the last chapters are reached, we know of every sentient and non-sentient being who has ever ladi hands or set foot in the Falcon up to Lando Calrissian? Start with the assembly line fiasco and end with the last person to fly her until Lando owned her?
...sigh....
Oh, well...not nearly as satisfying as it could have been, but, in the end, it did ultimately detail the history of the ship, which, I suppose, one could say was the point of the whole book, right?
Oy!

May the Force be with you, especially those who haven't read it yet...you'll need it....