Wow, that's convenient Mr Luceno
May 2010
A review of Millennium Falcon
I was eagerly anticipating this book. Not only is James Luceno one of my favourite authors but he was writing a book based on one of the most iconic machines of the 20th century: The Millennium Falcon.This would be a nice little story about the Solos taking a break from the day to day monotony of saving the galaxy from yet another evil force sensitive or whatever new flimsy villain could be thought up next. There would no doubt be a few little adventures along the way and some Solo-esque comedy too.
This is exactly what it was. Sadly, however, the overall story contained far too many implausible conveniences for my liking. Firstly, a man waking up from a 62 year coma sounds like something more suited to an American soap opera. And really, what are the chances of Han Solo finding a hidden device on his ship – despite having never found it in half a century of ownership – and deciding to trace the previous owners of the ship just as coma guy wakes up and decides he needs to find all subsequent owners of the ship. When the story finally unravels and all the book reaches its climax, I found myself wondering how convenient it was that all the players get to where they need to go just as the planet is about to implode. The ending itself was also very week and anti-climatic.
Also, I know that the Millennium Falcon is as much a part of Star Wars as Han, Leia, Luke et all but I couldn’t help thinking what the chances really are of anyone keeping a ship that is over 100 years old. To put it into perspective it would be like me driving round in a model T Ford or, in keeping with the ship analogy, like the government sending a World War I dreadnaught into battle… think about it.
Still, the occasional reference to the old Han Solo trilogies and Lando Calrissian trilogy was a nice touch and I do like Luceno’s writing style. He has a nice, fluid, easy-to-read way of telling a story and manages to convey excitement in a story that has a very simple plot. The fact that it took me less than a week to read suggests that I enjoyed it more than this review may suggest.
