5. Han Solo and the Lost Legacy by Brian Daley (1980)
Summary: Han Solo races against a rival crew of treasure hunters in search of (eventually worthless) treasure, guarded by an army of war droids. The Falcon gets ship jacked, and Blue Max does a proto version of the C3PO fake robot god thing.
What it introduces:
The a prototype of the Standard Star Wars Novel Cover. It comprises the following:
1.Title of the book in big letters center top (no Star Wars yet!)
2. A big thing central to the plot in the middle
3. Partial portraits of characters (bonus points if it's not quite a match for a real life actor) flanking it
4. Related "stuff" at the bottom.
Star Wars hardly invented this style (I'm going to assume it's an evolution of pulp novel/magazine covers) but we're going to see a lot of it through the 90s and 00s.
We get a name drop for the piping on Han's pants (THE CORELLIAN BLOODSTRIPE) and I believe this is the first time Chewbacca's "life debt" with Han is explicitly mentioned, if not explained.
There's a first pass at what will later be known as a "refresher" which uses sound as part of a shower.
Ruurians (caterpillar people) show up a couple more times.
The first lost fleet/army plot, which shows up a bunch more times (most prominently the Katana fleet in the Thrawn trilogy).
There's a reference to a shared galactic language called "Standard" which would later be called "Basic" as well as a weird alphabet that doesn't sound like Aurebesh.
Xim's warbots don't show up much more, but they are the first military "battle droid" and also the first taste we get of ancient pre-blaster energy weapons.
All in all, this is short on concrete details and tall on little hooks and outlines that'll become more standardized later.
Commentary: Technically the Empire Strikes Back novelization came out between Revenge and Lost Legacy, but I don't feel like breaking up the trilogy, so we'll circle back there later. This is definitely the high-note of the trilogy, and while it doesn't do a ton for developing the overall Star Wars universe, I think it's the first book that really feels like a strong EU outing, and it lays down a lot of tropes and structures that'll start showing up regularly in another 15 or 20 years.
Han and Chewie are, once again, broke. They go to meet an old friend. He tells them about a treasure. Same as the last two books, just swap treasure for slaves or ship registration. Chewbacca steals a hat and they have a car chase. After the questionable, "What do you mean your ship has fluidics?" running gag in the last book, the hat is much funnier, and avoids overstaying its welcome.
Like the rest of the trilogy, we get some disposable side characters, but out token one shot alien for the book, the Ruurian Skynx, is a bit more interesting. He's basically a giant caterpillar anthropologist who needs to complete all his research before he turns into a mindlessly horny butterfly. That's way more creative than cat people, at least.
There's a plesiosaur boat race/fight, and of course the treasure isn't as valuable as its supposed to be when they do find it. In the end, Han decides to go work for someone named "Jabba the Hut."
There's some speculation online that the release of Empire gave Daley a lot more wiggle room. Unlike the first two books, which take place in the largely forgotten Corporate Sector and exist in a bubble, this one gets to intersect more with the Republic and Empire, and generally feel more like a Star Wars book.
Review: 3/5 Congratulations to Brian Daley for writing the first "good" Star Wars spin off novel. (The Empire novel is also good, but not a spin-off) This is the first one I can safely recommend to most people. Like Star Wars and want to read one of the early books from when the Original Trilogy was still out? Knock yourself out. Like wacky old-school space treasure hunt adventure? Sure, dig in. Just want an easy read while you're between great works of the western canon? Take a load off and crack it.
Like I said above, there are rumors that Lucasfilm gave Daley a longer leash on this one, and he makes good use of it. The jokes are funny, the aliens are weird, the action is exciting. He's not breaking a ton of new ground or winning any awards for artful prose, but he doesn't need to. He's having fun, it finally feels like Star Wars, and we're having fun with him.
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