mickb's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
geraldine's review against another edition
4.0
iconic, iconic book
jizz music. ladies with six boobs. boba fett gets vored
what else can i say
(how am i supposed to remember how many times I read this and when. it was at least five times fully)
jizz music. ladies with six boobs. boba fett gets vored
what else can i say
(how am i supposed to remember how many times I read this and when. it was at least five times fully)
twilliamson's review against another edition
3.0
Tales from Jabba's Palace is the second collection of short fiction set in the Star Wars expanded universe, and as its title suggests, all of the stories contained in this volume have to do with the side characters seen in Jabba's Palace during the events of Return of the Jedi.
I've always been a pretty big fan of Return of the Jedi, and some of that love comes from the sequence featuring the Hutt and his weird palace. Nevertheless, like the issues I had with Tales of the Mos Eisley Cantina, this book isn't perfect. Having to read or reread the summarized events of Leia's rescue of Han or Luke Skywalker's ultimatum to Jabba, the killing of the rancor, or blowing up Jabba's sail barge becomes pretty exhausting one after the other.
In spite of the repetition, the stories are very tightly plotted around one another, with a pretty consistent set of story beats gradually uncovered through the lenses of all the myriad characters of this volume. Some mysteries introduced in a particular story don't get answered until another story coincides with events, and it really is a marvel that it is so tightly edited for continuity. Hats off to Kevin J. Anderson in this respect; he really does a great job pulling all these stories together.
But many of the stories, in spite of being very humorous or tightly paced, just don't quite do enough to flesh out Jabba or his entourage. Because the book's events focus a little too tightly on the days leading up to and then following up after Jabba's death at the hands of Leia and Luke, there's little done to get a good sense of where Jabba's criminal empire came from, or even what power vacuum was left on Tatooine (or the Outer Rim) as a result of Jabba's death.
There were some takeaways I genuinely did love: a Gamorrean (rightfully) solves some murders in a sendup of detective novels like Agatha Christie's; a group of Weequay thugs consult their Magic 8-Ball god as they search for an assassination attempt on Jabba's life; Boba Fett escapes the (psychic?) Sarlacc on account of his pure, unadulterated hatred; and the rancor's handler mourns the loss of his pet. There's a lot of stuff in here that, individually, is really interesting, but the repetition of story beats and events just tends to drag, making this book feel much longer than it needs to be.
All of that said, this is still a pretty decent gem for '90s Star Wars. It's not perfect, but no book in this series really is, and the good still outweighs the bad.
I've always been a pretty big fan of Return of the Jedi, and some of that love comes from the sequence featuring the Hutt and his weird palace. Nevertheless, like the issues I had with Tales of the Mos Eisley Cantina, this book isn't perfect. Having to read or reread the summarized events of Leia's rescue of Han or Luke Skywalker's ultimatum to Jabba, the killing of the rancor, or blowing up Jabba's sail barge becomes pretty exhausting one after the other.
In spite of the repetition, the stories are very tightly plotted around one another, with a pretty consistent set of story beats gradually uncovered through the lenses of all the myriad characters of this volume. Some mysteries introduced in a particular story don't get answered until another story coincides with events, and it really is a marvel that it is so tightly edited for continuity. Hats off to Kevin J. Anderson in this respect; he really does a great job pulling all these stories together.
But many of the stories, in spite of being very humorous or tightly paced, just don't quite do enough to flesh out Jabba or his entourage. Because the book's events focus a little too tightly on the days leading up to and then following up after Jabba's death at the hands of Leia and Luke, there's little done to get a good sense of where Jabba's criminal empire came from, or even what power vacuum was left on Tatooine (or the Outer Rim) as a result of Jabba's death.
There were some takeaways I genuinely did love: a Gamorrean (rightfully) solves some murders in a sendup of detective novels like Agatha Christie's; a group of Weequay thugs consult their Magic 8-Ball god as they search for an assassination attempt on Jabba's life; Boba Fett escapes the (psychic?) Sarlacc on account of his pure, unadulterated hatred; and the rancor's handler mourns the loss of his pet. There's a lot of stuff in here that, individually, is really interesting, but the repetition of story beats and events just tends to drag, making this book feel much longer than it needs to be.
All of that said, this is still a pretty decent gem for '90s Star Wars. It's not perfect, but no book in this series really is, and the good still outweighs the bad.
ofclumsywords's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
A very strange collection of stories. Some are good, a lot are not, and a select few were amazing.
grayreader's review against another edition
4.0
Honestly, this is one of my favorite books. All the stories intersect to make a complete, familiar scene, and each story has its own unique flavor. Each character- some better known than others- lends a distinct perspective. Perhaps only enjoyable for Star Wars fans- Perhaps. Slight nostalgia factors involved, sure, but an impressive example of collaboration regardless. Mostly, though, it's just a lot of fun to read.
srreid's review against another edition
3.0
The first few stories in this were a little on the dull side (for me anyway) so i sort of put this book aside for a while, but when i picked it back up again i finished it off in just a few sittings as the stories got much better. Still has that element of repetition where almost every story had to include the scene with Luke and the Rancor, although this petered out towards the end and moved more towards the Sarlac. Good intermixing of stories where events in one are mentioned or have consequences in another. The more interesting stories are the ones that seemed to move further away from the scenes we are all familiar with from the films. Especially interesting to read how Boba Fett escaped from the Sarlac.
bloodravenlib's review against another edition
4.0
See my blog post on it:
http://gypsylibrarian.blogspot.com/2005/06/booknote-tales-from-jabbas-palace-star.html
http://gypsylibrarian.blogspot.com/2005/06/booknote-tales-from-jabbas-palace-star.html
tmarso's review against another edition
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
It's all over in quality. Some writers bite, while others create fun characters.
kcmg224's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.5
blancwene's review against another edition
2.0
For 2020, I decided to reread (in publication order) all the Bantam-era Star Wars books that were released between 1991 and 1999; that shakes out to 38 adult novels and 5 anthologies of short stories & novellas.
This week’s focus: Tales from Jabba’s Palace, edited by Kevin J. Anderson.
SOME HISTORY:
After [b:Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina|353479|Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina (Star Wars)|Kevin J. Anderson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1383261295l/353479._SY75_.jpg|343687] took the approach of quantity over quality (I'm not afraid to say it!), Tales from Jabba’s Palace arrived with a whopping nineteen stories. There seems to be some confusion online about the release date, though: Wikipedia says December 1995, while my book and Wookieepedia both say January 1996. And as I found with the first Tales collection, it didn’t seem to make it into the top 15 on the New York Times paperback bestseller list, because I can’t find any data on it.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
I thought that the Anzat assassin story was the only thing I remembered from Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina, but I actually think I was remembering the Anzat assassin story from THIS collection… Mara Jade’s story and Yarna’s story also felt familiar to me, but I had forgotten the rest of them.
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
Jump into the lives of the guards, slaves, and all around schemers of Jabba’s Palace denizens in these nineteen stories.
THE STORIES:
“A Boy and His Monster: The Rancor Keeper's Tale” by Kevin J. Anderson
Malakili, the rancor keeper, really loves that rancor. The rancor seems more vicious than the ones we met in [b:The Courtship of Princess Leia|161540|The Courtship of Princess Leia (Star Wars)|Dave Wolverton|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1326717007l/161540._SY75_.jpg|806845], but that might be a consequence of it being a juvenile confined to a pit, as Wolverton suggested. Right off the bat, this also introduces the first occurrence of someone scheming against Jabba—Malakili visits Lady Valarian so she can arrange for the rancor and him to escape, but we know how that ends…
“Taster's Choice: The Tale of Jabba's Chef” by Barbara Hambly
Porcellus is terrified that someone is trying to poison Jabba and frame him for the act, and at the same time he keeps finding dead bodies in his kitchen. We have another description of Leia’s hair as “dark-red” (Hambly explain?), and the food seems a bit too Earth-centric. But how to describe food in an intelligible manner without using terms like beignet or doughnut?
“That's Entertainment: The Tale of Salacious Crumb” by Esther M. Friesner
This one was OK. We have an outsider POV from a visiting academic, and Crumb comes across as rather more intelligent than he appears in RotJ. We aren’t familiar with this unknown academic, though, so the ending fell a little flat for me.
“A Time to Mourn, a Time to Dance: Oola's Tale” by Kathy Tyers
I thought Tyers, meanwhile, fleshed out Oola in a believable, sympathetic way. She’s proud of her dancing skills, to the point that she hesitates during Luke’s rescue attempt. His message to Jabba brings her some hope, but too late—we all know what happens to her. Poor Oola.
“Let Us Prey: The Whiphid's Tale” by Mark Budz and Marina Fitch
J’Quille is in the employ of Lady Valarian, Jabba’s rival in Mos Eisley, and he’s here to kill Jabba! This was the point in the book where I realized that pretty much everyone was going to be scheming against Jabba and trying to kill him. I just wish they were better at it?
“Sleight of Hand: The Tale of Mara Jade” by Timothy Zahn
The Thrawn trilogy introduced the idea that Mara Jade was present in Jabba’s Palace. Here Zahn shows us how it all went down. Mara is confident in her abilities, she’s a proficient Force user, but she can’t influence Jabba—as Luke obviously found out. We also get her first interaction with Melina Carniss, who will show up again (working for Karrde, but spying for Isard) in [b:The Bacta War|513201|The Bacta War (Star Wars X-Wing, #4)|Michael A. Stackpole|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327941683l/513201._SY75_.jpg|501178].
“And Then There Were Some: The Gamorrean Guard's Tale” by William F. Wu
Do you want a mystery tale in which the detective is an idiot? Gartogg is trying to figure out who keeps killing people in the Palace, but he’s not particularly good at investigating--he is, after all, only a Gamorrean.
“Old Friends: Ephant Mon's Tale” by Kenneth C. Flint
I was glad to see another story from Flint! This worked for me a lot better than his Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina story. This story has a film noir vibe, which was fun. Ephant Mon isn’t involved in any plots, and is completely loyal to Jabba. An interaction with Luke alters his viewpoint, though, and he never makes it on the sail barge. He’s also perhaps Jabba’s only friend, which makes the ending bittersweet: Mon thinks that he was constantly in Jabba’s debt, while Jabba didn’t seem to feel the same way.
“Goatgrass: The Tale of Ree-Yees” by Deborah Wheeler
Ree-Yees is a Gran, which means he looks like a three-eyed goat. He’s always drunk, and he’s also scheming against Jabba. His story has a weird twist, because apparently Jabba implanted a bomb in his chest and tries (unsuccessfully) to trigger it when Leia’s choking him.
“And the Band Played On: The Band's Tale” by John Gregory Betancourt
I liked that this story didn’t just cover the canon events from the movie. We got to learn how the band came to Tatooine, how Max Rebo became the bandleader, and how Sy Snootles is really the brains of the operation. Of course, the Special Edition of Return of the Jedi in 1997 added nine more members to the Max Rebo band, so the canonicity of this backstory is questionable.
“Of the Day's Annoyances: Bib Fortuna's Tale” by M. Shayne Bell
M. Shayne Bell wrote one of my favorite stories in Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina, but this story didn’t hold up as well for me. Bib Fortuna is another schemer who wants to oust Jabba, and he’s teamed up with the B’omarr Monks to do so. I don’t find the Monks especially interesting; their brain spiders look cool in the movie, but their general situation is not intriguing to me. This also introduces a running plot point, which is the sheer number of people who gets their brains removed by the end.
“The Great God Quay: The Tale of Barada and the Weequays” by George Alec Effinger
I don’t remember Barada from the movie (he’s a Klatoonian and Jabba’s mechanic), and the Weequays are the reptilian-looking guys on the skiffs. It’s silly, but the Weequays and their magic eight ball-like god made me laugh. Just not sure how Barada fits in here.
“A Bad Feeling: The Tale of EV-9D9” by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
EV-9D9 is a weird torturer droid, and she apparently has past history with Lando Calrissian. After R2-D2 and C-3PO are taken into Jabba’s service, 9D9 realizes that something is up and recognizes that Lando is undercover. She’s ultimately taken out, though, by a Cloud City droid. There was a lot of droid jargon here, which I didn’t enjoy, and the concept of a droid who torturers other droids for fun is a bit beyond me.
“A Free Quarren in the Palace: Tessek's Tale” by Dave Wolverton
Tessek is Jabba’s accountant, and he’s also scheming! Is anyone in Jabba’s employ not planning to kill him? Tessek also meets his fate at the hands of the Monks--their body count grows.
“Tongue-tied: Bubo's Tale” by Daryl F. Mallett
Bubo is Jabba’s frog-dog: you see him on the wide angle shot of the outside of the Palace. Apparently he’s also an assassin and a spy and he talks to the Monks a lot. Not a fan of Bubo. And Bubo also gets debrainified in the end.
“Out of the Closet: The Assassin's Tale” by Jennifer Roberson
Another story about Dannik Jerriko, the Anzat assassin. He wants to drink Han Solo’s soup, and Jabba’s soup, but instead kills lesser people and then never even makes it on the sail barge. I guess he goes crazy in the end? This is also the first of two tales about characters that can’t be spotted in the movie.
“Shaara and the Sarlacc: The Skiff Guard's Tale” by Dan’l Danehy-Oakes
A first person narrative from one of the skiff guards to Boba Fett. Very colloquial in style, and very short. I think it’s meant to foreshadow how quickly Fett escapes from the Sarlacc.
“A Barve Like That: The Tale of Boba Fett” by J.D. Montgomery
J.D. Montgomery is Daniel Keys Moran: his initial outline of the story wasn’t approved, and even further changes were made to his story, and since he wasn’t happy with the final story, he used a pseudonym. Moran wanted Fett to stay in the Sarlacc for a long time, and he wanted the Sarlacc to be sentient. Instead, Fett busts out after one or two days, and a previous being long consumed by the Sarlacc converses with Fett. It’s hard for me to accept that the Sarlacc could really take thousands of years to digest someone, but Moran makes a valiant attempt to explain things.
“Skin Deep: The Fat Dancer's Tale” by A.C. Crispin
Yarna takes advantage of the chaos after Jabba’s death to head out to Mos Eisley with Sergeant Doallyn (the helmeted guy that Chewbacca shoved down the stairs), hopefully to buy back her children. Like Tyers did with Oola, Crispin took a very minor character (the Fat Dancer) and really did a deep dive into what drives her. Yarna is maligned by pretty much everyone in the Palace, and you’re really rooting for her to get her family back and be free again.
ISSUES:
The stories in this collection interplay and fit together much better than in the previous collection, but there are still some quibbles. Dannik Jerriko kills the chef’s assistant, but I thought that was Porcellus? It’s hard to keep track of who actually placed a bomb on the sail barge. Jerriko lets Yarna see his tendril things but she’s saved by either Sergeant Doallyn (in Roberson’s story) or a Gamorrean guard (in Crispin’s story).
There also seemed to be a lot of repetition of ideas and plot points. Did we really need to have so many people plotting against Jabba, especially because they were ultimately so bad at it? DId we also need to have five people undergo brain removal: Nat Secura, Bib Fortuna, Tessek, Bubo, and J’Quille? (So many brain spiders…)
IN CONCLUSION:
Don’t do what I did, and read two stories a day until you panicked and tore through ten stories in one twelve-hour period. Pick the stories that look most interesting to you, and only read those! My top three stories were probably Oola, Mara Jade, and Yarna; my bottom three were the ones about Salacious Crumb, Bubo, and Rees-Yees. Be prepared, though, for a lot of people to have their brains removed.
Next up: [b:Rogue Squadron|513176|Rogue Squadron (Star Wars X-Wing, #1)|Michael A. Stackpole|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327860341l/513176._SY75_.jpg|987443] by Michael A. Stackpole
My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/jS-eTzUyhFQ
This week’s focus: Tales from Jabba’s Palace, edited by Kevin J. Anderson.
SOME HISTORY:
After [b:Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina|353479|Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina (Star Wars)|Kevin J. Anderson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1383261295l/353479._SY75_.jpg|343687] took the approach of quantity over quality (I'm not afraid to say it!), Tales from Jabba’s Palace arrived with a whopping nineteen stories. There seems to be some confusion online about the release date, though: Wikipedia says December 1995, while my book and Wookieepedia both say January 1996. And as I found with the first Tales collection, it didn’t seem to make it into the top 15 on the New York Times paperback bestseller list, because I can’t find any data on it.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
I thought that the Anzat assassin story was the only thing I remembered from Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina, but I actually think I was remembering the Anzat assassin story from THIS collection… Mara Jade’s story and Yarna’s story also felt familiar to me, but I had forgotten the rest of them.
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
Jump into the lives of the guards, slaves, and all around schemers of Jabba’s Palace denizens in these nineteen stories.
THE STORIES:
“A Boy and His Monster: The Rancor Keeper's Tale” by Kevin J. Anderson
Malakili, the rancor keeper, really loves that rancor. The rancor seems more vicious than the ones we met in [b:The Courtship of Princess Leia|161540|The Courtship of Princess Leia (Star Wars)|Dave Wolverton|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1326717007l/161540._SY75_.jpg|806845], but that might be a consequence of it being a juvenile confined to a pit, as Wolverton suggested. Right off the bat, this also introduces the first occurrence of someone scheming against Jabba—Malakili visits Lady Valarian so she can arrange for the rancor and him to escape, but we know how that ends…
“Taster's Choice: The Tale of Jabba's Chef” by Barbara Hambly
Porcellus is terrified that someone is trying to poison Jabba and frame him for the act, and at the same time he keeps finding dead bodies in his kitchen. We have another description of Leia’s hair as “dark-red” (Hambly explain?), and the food seems a bit too Earth-centric. But how to describe food in an intelligible manner without using terms like beignet or doughnut?
“That's Entertainment: The Tale of Salacious Crumb” by Esther M. Friesner
This one was OK. We have an outsider POV from a visiting academic, and Crumb comes across as rather more intelligent than he appears in RotJ. We aren’t familiar with this unknown academic, though, so the ending fell a little flat for me.
“A Time to Mourn, a Time to Dance: Oola's Tale” by Kathy Tyers
I thought Tyers, meanwhile, fleshed out Oola in a believable, sympathetic way. She’s proud of her dancing skills, to the point that she hesitates during Luke’s rescue attempt. His message to Jabba brings her some hope, but too late—we all know what happens to her. Poor Oola.
“Let Us Prey: The Whiphid's Tale” by Mark Budz and Marina Fitch
J’Quille is in the employ of Lady Valarian, Jabba’s rival in Mos Eisley, and he’s here to kill Jabba! This was the point in the book where I realized that pretty much everyone was going to be scheming against Jabba and trying to kill him. I just wish they were better at it?
“Sleight of Hand: The Tale of Mara Jade” by Timothy Zahn
The Thrawn trilogy introduced the idea that Mara Jade was present in Jabba’s Palace. Here Zahn shows us how it all went down. Mara is confident in her abilities, she’s a proficient Force user, but she can’t influence Jabba—as Luke obviously found out. We also get her first interaction with Melina Carniss, who will show up again (working for Karrde, but spying for Isard) in [b:The Bacta War|513201|The Bacta War (Star Wars X-Wing, #4)|Michael A. Stackpole|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327941683l/513201._SY75_.jpg|501178].
“And Then There Were Some: The Gamorrean Guard's Tale” by William F. Wu
Do you want a mystery tale in which the detective is an idiot? Gartogg is trying to figure out who keeps killing people in the Palace, but he’s not particularly good at investigating--he is, after all, only a Gamorrean.
“Old Friends: Ephant Mon's Tale” by Kenneth C. Flint
I was glad to see another story from Flint! This worked for me a lot better than his Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina story. This story has a film noir vibe, which was fun. Ephant Mon isn’t involved in any plots, and is completely loyal to Jabba. An interaction with Luke alters his viewpoint, though, and he never makes it on the sail barge. He’s also perhaps Jabba’s only friend, which makes the ending bittersweet: Mon thinks that he was constantly in Jabba’s debt, while Jabba didn’t seem to feel the same way.
“Goatgrass: The Tale of Ree-Yees” by Deborah Wheeler
Ree-Yees is a Gran, which means he looks like a three-eyed goat. He’s always drunk, and he’s also scheming against Jabba. His story has a weird twist, because apparently Jabba implanted a bomb in his chest and tries (unsuccessfully) to trigger it when Leia’s choking him.
“And the Band Played On: The Band's Tale” by John Gregory Betancourt
I liked that this story didn’t just cover the canon events from the movie. We got to learn how the band came to Tatooine, how Max Rebo became the bandleader, and how Sy Snootles is really the brains of the operation. Of course, the Special Edition of Return of the Jedi in 1997 added nine more members to the Max Rebo band, so the canonicity of this backstory is questionable.
“Of the Day's Annoyances: Bib Fortuna's Tale” by M. Shayne Bell
M. Shayne Bell wrote one of my favorite stories in Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina, but this story didn’t hold up as well for me. Bib Fortuna is another schemer who wants to oust Jabba, and he’s teamed up with the B’omarr Monks to do so. I don’t find the Monks especially interesting; their brain spiders look cool in the movie, but their general situation is not intriguing to me. This also introduces a running plot point, which is the sheer number of people who gets their brains removed by the end.
“The Great God Quay: The Tale of Barada and the Weequays” by George Alec Effinger
I don’t remember Barada from the movie (he’s a Klatoonian and Jabba’s mechanic), and the Weequays are the reptilian-looking guys on the skiffs. It’s silly, but the Weequays and their magic eight ball-like god made me laugh. Just not sure how Barada fits in here.
“A Bad Feeling: The Tale of EV-9D9” by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens
EV-9D9 is a weird torturer droid, and she apparently has past history with Lando Calrissian. After R2-D2 and C-3PO are taken into Jabba’s service, 9D9 realizes that something is up and recognizes that Lando is undercover. She’s ultimately taken out, though, by a Cloud City droid. There was a lot of droid jargon here, which I didn’t enjoy, and the concept of a droid who torturers other droids for fun is a bit beyond me.
“A Free Quarren in the Palace: Tessek's Tale” by Dave Wolverton
Tessek is Jabba’s accountant, and he’s also scheming! Is anyone in Jabba’s employ not planning to kill him? Tessek also meets his fate at the hands of the Monks--their body count grows.
“Tongue-tied: Bubo's Tale” by Daryl F. Mallett
Bubo is Jabba’s frog-dog: you see him on the wide angle shot of the outside of the Palace. Apparently he’s also an assassin and a spy and he talks to the Monks a lot. Not a fan of Bubo. And Bubo also gets debrainified in the end.
“Out of the Closet: The Assassin's Tale” by Jennifer Roberson
Another story about Dannik Jerriko, the Anzat assassin. He wants to drink Han Solo’s soup, and Jabba’s soup, but instead kills lesser people and then never even makes it on the sail barge. I guess he goes crazy in the end? This is also the first of two tales about characters that can’t be spotted in the movie.
“Shaara and the Sarlacc: The Skiff Guard's Tale” by Dan’l Danehy-Oakes
A first person narrative from one of the skiff guards to Boba Fett. Very colloquial in style, and very short. I think it’s meant to foreshadow how quickly Fett escapes from the Sarlacc.
“A Barve Like That: The Tale of Boba Fett” by J.D. Montgomery
J.D. Montgomery is Daniel Keys Moran: his initial outline of the story wasn’t approved, and even further changes were made to his story, and since he wasn’t happy with the final story, he used a pseudonym. Moran wanted Fett to stay in the Sarlacc for a long time, and he wanted the Sarlacc to be sentient. Instead, Fett busts out after one or two days, and a previous being long consumed by the Sarlacc converses with Fett. It’s hard for me to accept that the Sarlacc could really take thousands of years to digest someone, but Moran makes a valiant attempt to explain things.
“Skin Deep: The Fat Dancer's Tale” by A.C. Crispin
Yarna takes advantage of the chaos after Jabba’s death to head out to Mos Eisley with Sergeant Doallyn (the helmeted guy that Chewbacca shoved down the stairs), hopefully to buy back her children. Like Tyers did with Oola, Crispin took a very minor character (the Fat Dancer) and really did a deep dive into what drives her. Yarna is maligned by pretty much everyone in the Palace, and you’re really rooting for her to get her family back and be free again.
ISSUES:
The stories in this collection interplay and fit together much better than in the previous collection, but there are still some quibbles. Dannik Jerriko kills the chef’s assistant, but I thought that was Porcellus? It’s hard to keep track of who actually placed a bomb on the sail barge. Jerriko lets Yarna see his tendril things but she’s saved by either Sergeant Doallyn (in Roberson’s story) or a Gamorrean guard (in Crispin’s story).
There also seemed to be a lot of repetition of ideas and plot points. Did we really need to have so many people plotting against Jabba, especially because they were ultimately so bad at it? DId we also need to have five people undergo brain removal: Nat Secura, Bib Fortuna, Tessek, Bubo, and J’Quille? (So many brain spiders…)
IN CONCLUSION:
Don’t do what I did, and read two stories a day until you panicked and tore through ten stories in one twelve-hour period. Pick the stories that look most interesting to you, and only read those! My top three stories were probably Oola, Mara Jade, and Yarna; my bottom three were the ones about Salacious Crumb, Bubo, and Rees-Yees. Be prepared, though, for a lot of people to have their brains removed.
Next up: [b:Rogue Squadron|513176|Rogue Squadron (Star Wars X-Wing, #1)|Michael A. Stackpole|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327860341l/513176._SY75_.jpg|987443] by Michael A. Stackpole
My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/jS-eTzUyhFQ