3. Han Solo At Stars' End by Brian Daley (1979)

 Han Solo at Star's End

Summary: ~2 years BBY (before the Battle of Yavin/pre-ANH) Han Solo is doing normal Han Solo smuggling things, but the Falcon can't pass emissions/inspection. He goes to meet with an outlaw tech to repair it, but finds out THE CORPORATE SECTOR AUTHORITY (the tenuous connecting thread of this trilogy) has him in space Alcatraz. He goes to rescue him.

What it introduces: There's a lot of minor/name drop introductions here. Marauder Corvettes, the Corporate Sector, and who knows how many pieces of terminology. I think this is the first public-narrative appearance of the word bowcaster for Chewbacca's weapon. We get the first appearance of a "Victory" class, but it's probably not the Star Destroyer we'll get to know and love in later books.

Most importantly, we get the first appearance of my favorite snubfighter, the humble Z-95 Headhunter

Look at that sexy little number (thanks, as always, to Wookiepedia for images)

It's basically half an X-Wing, and was already old at this point, but the various EU authors and video game designers seem to have latched onto it. You still see them (heavily modified, as everything in Star Wars always is) out past ROTJ.

The description is a bit off:

They were early production snubships; Z-95 Headhunters; compact, twin-engined swing-wing craft. Their fuselages, wings and forked tails were daubed with the drab spots, smears, and spray-splotches of general camouflage coats. Their external hardpoints, where rockets and bomb pylons had once been mounted, were now bare.

but we're getting there. 

Commentary: Originally, I thought I'd probably cover this whole trilogy in one entry, but I'm short on time (out of town for a wedding this week), At Stars' End probably has about as much to talk about as the other two books put together. As we continue through EU firsts it has the distinction of being the first novel that wasn't in any way really related to a movie, and the first not to feature The Force. In a lot of ways, this establishes the prototype of what defines the best later EU novels. Take a character without much development (Han and Chewie, as of ANH), find a time outside of the movies for them to do something, and send them on an adventure.

Daley is a far better Star Wars writer than Alan Dean Foster. While Foster is technically more competent (Daley has some serious pacing issues), Dale gets that Star Wars is swashbuckling in space in a way that he doesn't. Gladiator droids, disguises, prison breaks, questionable physics, the outline is perfect. Also got a half decent newspaper comic adaptation.

 The "slight out of focus" weirdness that was so prevalent in the ANH adaptation is minimized here. The biggest standout as a bit odd is the dialogue. "Yo, there you are now." doesn't really sound like Star Wars dialogue (which leans towards coastal US for the good guys and faux-British for the baddies), but there's nothing wrong with it per-se. There are some questionable attempts to invent new lingo like "wozzle" for surprise. He likes to repeat himself, "offices dormitories, worker housing[...]" in a way that an edit should've caught. Star War's weird space physics are starting to resolve themselves, as control surfaces fail to work in space (don't think too hard about why closing the S-foils is faster in space).

Daley does a good job of teasing little details that other books could fill in if they wanted (a key of good Star Wars writing as far back as the first movie) like mentioning previous break outs of Stars' End.

The biggest weakness of this book is Daley's weak grasp on the plot. Events just sort of tumble out of each other, and Han is never really in much trouble for more than a page or so at a time before the solution (sometimes too conveniently appears). It's especially bad in the final shoot out when the crew is trapped, but a boarding shuttle attacks the section of the (flying through the air after a power overload!) prison they're on, providing a convenient escape vessel.

Review: 2/5 I waffled on this a lot. In the end, it's kind of the opposite of the previous two books. Foster's novels are bad Star Wars books, but passable cheap SF overall. Daley's put together a decent Star Wars book, but his basic plotting and writing drags it down. Who knows what (if any) editing was happening at this time, but I think another draft or two could've left this one in great shape. As is, it's a passable recommend for anyone who wants to check out old (almost to the beginning) Star Wars novels, but an easy pass for general SF readers.

Edit, here's the cover: