Review by Jody Reeves

The Paradise Snare - The Han Solo Trilogy: Volume 1
by A.C. Crispin
published by Bantam Books

Finally, the story Han Solo fans have been waiting for:  his early life and career, before the events in Star Wars: A New Hope.  Brian Daley, in his marvelous trilogy of Han Solo stories published in the late 70s, touched on the immediate year or two preceding Han’s fateful meeting with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker on Tatooine.  This new trilogy of books, written by A.C. Crispin, goes back even further in time to when Han was a child on Corellia.

     The Paradise Snare introduces us to a 19-year-old Han Solo!  In a series of flashbacks, we first see Han at five years old, an orphan begging on the streets of Corellia’s capital city.  He is picked up by Garris Shrike, who (with a system reminiscent of Oliver Twist’s Fagin), picks up street kids and teaches them to beg and pick pockets for profit.  Shrike lives aboard a ship docked in orbit above Corellia, where he keeps and trains these children.  But Shrike is not into just petty theft; by enrolling the kids in prestigious schools under assumed names, he is able to gain entrance into Corellian high society and lure rich folks into devastating financial schemes, often wiping out entire family fortunes.  Han is one of those kids used, but when Han grows older, his talent for swoop racing also earns money for Shrike.

     Now an adult, Han wants out.  But no one ever leaves Shrike’s enterprise - not in a vertical position, anyway.  With the help of Dewlanna, the elderly female Wookiee cook, Han devises a scheme to escape.  He will sneak out on a robot transport to Ylesia, a religious retreat world whose leaders had advertised their need for a pilot.  The attempt is flubbed and Dewlanna is killed by Shrike; however, Han manages to escape. Arriving on Ylesia under one of many assumed names, he gets the piloting job.  Soon Han hopes to earn enough money to enroll at the Imperial Academy on Coruscant and become a naval officer.

HERE'S WHERE THE FUN BEGINS...
     However, there is more to the operation on Ylesia than initially meets the eye.  Not the pilgrim’s paradise Han believes it to be, Ylesia is actually a processing planet for various types of illicit spice.  Shipments of raw spice, including glitterstim, are shipped to Ylesia for processing by pilgrims who have come for spiritual salvation but end up working as slave labor.  Han already dislikes slavery, and that feeling grows when he meets one of the pilgrims, a beautiful Corellian girl named Bria.  Through Bria, Han slowly begins to understand how the slaves are kept docile:  the leaders use a type of emotional manipulation that gives each pilgrim an addictive feeling of euphoria. 

     Quickly enamored, Han plays a game of romantic cat and mouse with Bria - she resists him at first, not wanting to sacrifice her religious addiction in exchange for him.  Eventually, Han discovers that the slaves do not remain on Ylesia forever, but are shipped to Kessel to mine spice (an often fatal job) as new pilgrims come in.  Determined now to rescue Bria and escape his contract, Han has to think fast as he faces the classic blunders that often accompany one of his rescue attempts. If he survives, then he'll need to figure a way to get to Coruscant, enroll in the Academy, and find a way to support himself and Bria.

     A.C. Crispin introduces several continuity touches that mesh this story well with other stories in the Star Wars universe.  During his childhood, Han wants to learn more about his family and meets up with his cousin, Thrackan Sal-Solo, who first appeared in Roger MacBride Allen's Corellian Trilogy.  We see the time Han earns the notice of Timothy Zahn’s Senator Garm Bel-Iblis.  And during a trip to Alderaan, Han gets to watch a video of Bail Organa welcoming interstellar visitors with his young daughter sitting on his lap.  But the best surprise of all was Ms. Crispin’s grasp of Han’s character:  overly confident, self-assured, but with a tender streak he desperately tries to hide. 

     The Paradise Snare is definitely worth the read.  If the second and third books live up to the standards set here, Crispin’s trilogy will rank up there with the works of Brian Daley, Timothy Zahn, and Michael P. Kube-McDowell.

ECHO STATION Grade: A

(When not serving her boss in the (Imperial) Senate, Jody Reeves discusses Star Wars and jealously guards her Harrison Ford collection.)