REBEL WITH A CAUSE
Review by Jody Reeves
Author Ann Crispin brings flyboy Han Solo full circle in the last of the last book of her trilogy
Rebel Dawn
By A.C. Crispin
Published by Bantam Spectra.
Author Ann Crispin had to know she would be walking through a minefield while writing Rebel Dawn, the third in the series of "young" Han Solo books.
Now that she was chronicling Han's life just prior to his meeting of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker in Chalmun’s Cantina in Mos Eisley (Star Wars: A New Hope), she was going through plot territory that was already partially developed. A quick glance through Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Characters shows how much had been already written about this time in Han's life, from multiple entries by West End Games, to background created for Dark Empire - there were even three entire novels written by Brian Daley of Han's Adventures during this time.
Yet somehow, Crispin manages to make the retelling of the existing stories compelling, as well as wrapping them around the new material she has added to the Star Wars universe. Yes, Han wins the Millennium Falcon from Lando - and yes, he is involved in events that anger Lando to the point that Han would later mutter to Chewie in The Empire Strikes Back "I'm sure he's forgotten about that by now." But its fascinating watching things fall into place.
WHEN LAST WE LEFT OUR HEROES...
Rebel Dawn kicks in pretty much where The
Hutt Gambit left off - it is soon after the Battle of
Nar Shadda and now that the Smugglers' Moon is safe from
Imperial attack, Han is ready to get back to business.
However, he has one problem: he's a pilot without a ship.
By scraping together some money, Han enters the sabacc
tournament on Bespin, hoping to win enough credits to buy
a ship. With some skill and even more of the famous Solo
luck, Han finds himself in the finals against his friend,
Lando Calrissian - and you know where that part of the
story leads.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Han, he has a cheering section
during the tournament - ex-flame and love-of-his-life
Bria Tharen, now a commander in Correllia’s
resistance movement against the Empire. Bria's appearance
on Bespin was a coincidence, however, as she was
attending a meeting in the hopes of creating an alliance
among the various dissident rebel operations in the
galaxy. Sound familiar?
Once he has won his beloved Millennium Falcon, Han returns to Nar Shadda to pick up Chewie and return to work. Things are fine until Han’s current girlfriend, Salla Zend, loses her ship during a smuggling run. Even though Han is there to rescue her, Salla is overcome by the experience and suddenly develops a nesting instinct. She announces to Han that she’s ready to get married and has already put a deposit on a reception hall. Even though Han violently protests that he’s not a marrying-kind of guy, Salla writes his reaction off as having cold feet and proceeds with the wedding plans. Han then feels compelled to leave Nar Shadda for the time being, and with Chewie in tow, heads off to the Corporate Sector.
If you read any of Brian Daley’s "Han Solo" books, you know that the Corporate Sector Authority controls a section of space thanks to a charter from the Empire. Rebel Dawn gets tricky at this point, as its main character becomes absent for several chapters, during which he has the adventures described in Daley's books. While Han is away, however, the Hutts continue to play. A rivalry has pitched the Desilijic clan, led by Jabba and his aunt Jiliac, against the Besadii clan, headed by Durga. There’s enough backstabbing, intrigue and deceit played out by the Hutts to make Washington, DC look like the minor leagues in comparison.
Eventually, Han’s run in the Corporate Sector comes to an end, and he returns to Nar Shadda looking to work again for Jabba. Meanwhile, Bria Tharen, on behalf of the new Rebel Alliance, has organized a rescue raid on Ylesia, the planet where she and thousands of others lived as slaves in the Besadii clan’s spice-processing plant. She approaches Jabba and his aunt, hoping they’ll finance the operation and manages to run into Han. Bria explains to Han that the Rebels need experienced pilots to lead the raid, and if Han could muster up a contingent of smugglers, she would see that they all receive a cut of the spice that is stored in Ylesia’s warehouses. Han agrees to help and the raid is carried out, but ends with a twist that Han and his smuggler companions didn’t count on, leading to Lando's disenfranchisement with Solo.
Afterwards, we see heroic and tragic rebel heroism, and Han heads toward his destiny and picks up the infamous load of spice from Moruth Doole on Kessel that leads to his eventual troubles with Jabba the Hutt..
FLYING SOLO
Once more, A.C. Crispin blends a backstory that is
familiar to many serious fans with tantalizing glimpses
of events and characters that play a part in the
storyline from the films and other novels. Thanks to Rebel
Dawn, we see the amazing Kessel Run accomplished in
under 12 parsecs, we learn how Han lost his spice cargo,
and the rebel spies who beamed the Death Star plans to
Leia.
By its nature, Rebel Dawn, like the two books prior, was inevitably going to contain a cameo appearance or two: Dash Rendar, Winter, Chewbacca's wife Mallotobuck and the debut of son Lumpawarrump (from the ill-conceived Holiday Special), and Prince Xizor's right hand Guri lead the pack. Crispin managed to achieve a lot with focus on the supporting cast, especially during Han's absence in the middle of the book. Boba Fett is actually treated as a character with personal motivations instead of a Star Wars version of a bounty-hunting Terminator, and Lando Calrissian fares much better here than in novels written about our heroes' adventures after the movies.
Ms. Crispin’s writing and storytelling are right on the mark. Even though I knew what was going to happen, I still found it hard to put the book down. Yes, it was obvious that Han was going to win the Falcon, but the tension that was written into the tournament scene had me holding my breath thinking, "Han’s got to win this one!" A.C. Crispin knows Han Solo, she anticipates his reactions and also has a good grasp of the characters around him. Rebel Dawn is fast-paced, compelling and detailed without getting mired in the muck. The entire "Young Han Solo" series has been a shiny gift to Han fans, and Rebel Dawn is the best of the lot.
ECHO STATION Grade: A+
(When not busy explaining Star Wars to friends and co-workers (no one else in the US Senate has a Darth Vader action figure on their desk), Jody Reeves spends time listening to Goth, alternative, and classical music, and reading about politics and Celtic mythology.)