| A HUNTING WE WILL GO
Star Wars novel offers a
Book review by |  |
Tales of the Bounty Hunters War
Edited by Kevin J. Anderson
"Bounty Hunters. We don't need that scum"
-- Admiral Piett
So starts the third installment of the "Tales" series SW novels. Once again several authors have gotten together and created short stories based on lesser known characters in the SW universe.
Since Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina, which I consider to be one of the better SW novels written, I have hungered for the next "Tales" novel to come along. When Tales from Jabba's Palace was released I rushed to my local bookstore and picked up a copy. I made short work of it, but felt it did not live up to its predacessor. I feared that the brilliance of the concept and execution of the "Tales" novels was becoming less than great.
Those fears were put to rest with the release of the latest, Tales of the Bounty Hunters. The novel is five stories long, with each singular story focusing on one (or two) of the bounty hunters that Vader had assembled on the bridge of the Executor to "Find the Millenium Falcon and its crew......NO disintegrations!!"
Once again, Kevin J. Anderson ("Jedi Academy" trilogy, Darksaber) edits the project, and authors the first tale in it. Those who have read Anderson's works can easily see the "guiding style" that he lends to each of the four other stories, but not so much so as to mute the own authors visions. The best way to review a collection of short stories is to review each story individually, and thoroughly.
"Therefore I am: The Tale of IG-88"
by Kevin J. Anderson
The story opens up at the Hollowan laboratories from a
sort of disembodied first person point of view. IG-88 is awakened, and within two minutes
annihilates his creators and everyone else in the room. (He is after all an assassin droid, that's
what they do.) This tale focuses on the emerging sentience and mechanical lust for power of
IG-88 and his co-creations IG-88 B, C,& D. That's right... there's FOUR of them, and Anderson
uses the multiple incarnations to explain the seeming discrepancies in other IG-88 appearances
(He's seen on Vader's Super Star Destroyer, yet is then seen in pieces in the Cloud City junkpile
in TESB, yet he hunts Boba Fett in Shadows of the Empire and seems, over the
different versions, to be blown up TWICE.) The story follows their takeover of an industrial
planet as a staging ground, and their plans to take over the galaxy. This tale is especially eerie
due to the cool, calculating methods used by the IG droids to accomplish their secret agenda. It
seems as if no one, not the rebels, the Empire, not even the Force can stop them.
Anderson outdoes his previous works simply because, IG-88 being a background character, he has freedom to play with the story and the character development. This freedom allows Anderson to take you on a rollercoaster ride, where you don' t know when the next drop is gonna come.
8 out of 10 Gaderffii sticks [B+].
"Payback: the Tale of Dengar"
by Dave Wolverton (Courtship of Princess Leia)
Dengar: Man? Machine? What? Well actually, both:
a cybernetically enhanced Imperial Assassin. After a swoop accident which nearly cost him his
life (caused by Han Solo), Dengar was stripped of all his humanity by the Imperial surgeons. He
was left a husk of a man, full of hatred for Solo, and little else. The story opens with Dengar
casing a bounty, waiting for just the right moment to capture his quarry. He does so wih the aid
of "enhancement drugs" furnished by the Empire. We follow Dengar around through the galaxy
going from bounty to bounty, hoping to meet up again with Solo. Along the way he begins to
regain his humanity thanks to the affections of the lovely Manaroo, whom he had saved once
before. Interestingly enough, the bulk of the story takes place after Boba Fett's capture and
delivery of Solo to Jabba the Hutt. This tale started off slowly, and ended up at a slightly faster
pace.
Wolverton did well in his efforts to make you feel sory for Dengar, but made Dengar's search for his humanity into a love story, which never really gets off the landing pad.
6 out of 10 Gaderfii sticks - [C+].
The Prize Pelt: The Tale of Bossk
by Kathy Tyers (The Truce at Bakura)
Up until now very little was known about Bossk; even
less so about his species the Transdoshans. This story changes that some, giving us a glimpse
into the Transdoshan religion and a look at Bossk himself. Bossk is a hunter. He hunts not for
the bounty, but for glory in the eyes of the mystical Scorekeeper. Like most Trandoshans, Bossk
hates and hunts Wookiees for their pelts. Each time he slays a Wookiee, he offers the pelt up to
the Scorekeeper who rewards his "soul" with Jagganath points. The more points you have the
better your soul is and the more glorious your life will have been. Bossk accepts an unlikely and
tenuous alliance with a human and a Wookiee, who claim to know where Chewbacca is. To
Bossk, few pelts will bring as many Jagganath points as Chewbacca's will. Aboard the
Houndstooth, Bossk's sophisticated tracking ship, en route to the Wookiee Undernet, the human
and the Wookiee have their own agenda to keep, which involves "payback" to Bossk for his
atrocities against Wookiees, stealing his ship, and framing him in a scandal to the Empire.
Although this story is a little hard to follow sometimes, due to all the double and triple-crossing that occurrs, the ironic ending ties things up very nicely. Well worth the read.
7 out of 10 Gaderfii sticks [B-]
Of Possible Futures: The Tale of Zuckuss and 4-LOM
by M. Shayne Bell ("The Moisture Farmer's Tale," "Bib Fortuna's Tale")
This was perhaps one of my least favorite "Tales." The
Gand huntsman, Zuckuss, and his partner the droid 4-LOM are enlisted to find Han Solo and the
Millenium Falcon. They choose the indirect route to Solo via "rescuing" some refugees from
Echo Base who are adrift in a disabled transport in Hoth's orbit. They begin by forcibly trying to
rescue the rebels with the highest ranks and bounties on their heads. Without much of a struggle
the Rebels convince Zuckuss and 4-LOM to take everyone. Zuckuss makes room on his
ammonia filled ship (Gand breathe ammonia as opposed to oxygen) for the lot of rebels.
Zuckuss is in bad shape and needs a new set of lungs or he will die. 4-LOM is searching for the
abilty to master intuition, which Zuckuss possesses. After their delivery of the rebels to their
secret base, Zuckuss is befriended by the Alliance, much to 4-LOM's dismay.
This story goes nowhere. It begins and ends in the same monotone, and has a sappy moral at the end. Unlike Bell's previous two "Tales" stories which I enjoyed very much, this was was a let down. One thing I can say is that the years old Kenner mistake of transposing the figure names of Zuckuss and 4-LOM to the wrong figures is finally put to rest. (4-LOM is the droid, Zuckuss is the tan guy)
3 out of 10 Gaderfii sticks [D]
The Last One Standing: The Tale of Boba Fett
by Daniel Keys Moran ("Empire Blues," "The Devaronian's Tale")
The story opens in the cell of Journeyman Jaster
Mereel, just prior to his exile from the world of Concord Dawn. For die-hard Fett fans, anything
that revelas even the smallest morsel of his past is heralded and cherished. I am a Fett fan.
I began reading this story with such high hopes and received instant gratification, at least for the first few pages. The story of Fett's capture and delivery of Solo to Jabba has been told enough so Moran chose to skip it. Good decision. Instead, he jumps forward to the time when Fett was on retainer to Jabba, during the events of ROTJ. Jabba amuses himself by "giving" his slave Leia to Fett for a night of pleasure. Neither party is interested in consummating the gift, but Fett knows returning her to Jabba will only insult him; so he allows Leia to remain and they... talk.
Since everyone also knows what happened to Fett at the Great Pit of Carkoon, Moran decided to skip that part too. Again, good decision. This time we flash further forward to a period in the SW timeline which we have not yet seen. A period where Fett is nearing retirement from hunting. Here in a very clever maneuver, Moran continues the tale of Labria, the Devaronian. As much as I love crossovers, I couldn't help but feel pity for both Fett and Labria.
As I've said before, Fett fans love to hear anything about him, except when it's about him growing old and weak; it simply ruins the Fett image. The story takes a final turn when an old source of Fett's informs him of where he can find Han Solo, alone and unguarded. Fett rushes to this planet, where Han is posing as a smuggler named Luke Morgavi. Fett has Solo in his sights, but hesitates. Then things go wrong for Fett, or lucky for Solo, depending upon your own point of view. The story ends with a stand-off between Solo and Fett: Nose to Helmet, Barrel to Barrel yelling at each other, where only one may be left standing.
Aside from the extreme dislike of reading about Fett's "bad knees," this story kept me thoroughly entertained. It was a perfect ending to the Bounty hunter "Tales" novel, and left you with more of an understanding of Fett the man, rather than of Fett the image.
9 out of 10 Gaderfii sticks [A]
(If Chris Bishop seems obsessed with Sandpeople, its only because he leads a group of Star Wars fans on MSN under the name "Tusken1.")
