Review: Star Wars - Honor Among Thieves

Honor Among Thieves: Star Wars (Empire and Rebellion)Honor Among Thieves: Star Wars by James S.A. Corey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 stars.

I received a free eARC copy of this book from NetGalley.

When I saw that James S.A. Corey was doing a Star Wars novel, I was excited. I'd read Leviathan Wakes and liked it a bunch. So how would that translate to the Star Wars universe?

Very well, as it turned out. Abraham and Franck (the duo behind the Corey pseudonym) do well with crafting characters in a complex, yet easy to grasp setting. This is told from Han Solo's viewpoint, and they were able to give us a nice look inside his head to see what makes him tick. And yet, they stayed very true to the character as seen in the original trilogy. They also perfectly describe the movements, actions, dialogue, and mannerisms of the other characters we'd seen in the movies.

The world building was here too. Of course, the Star Wars universe is very much in place already, but they added rich detail to scenes that would have flown by on the screen. What I like about this is that there is plenty of room for them to explore while staying true to Lucas's original vision.

The negative points were minor. Aside from Scarlet Hark, I didn't care much for the new characters added to this story. I did like her, and would love to get more on her at some point. Also on the negative, some of the descriptions of scenery got just a tad long. While they added richness to the work, they did sway from the expected pace of a Star Wars story. That's very minor though, and one might argue that it's an improvement.

Back to the positive though, I think that my favorite aspect of this story is the way it fits into the original movie sequence. It takes place between Episodes IV and V, and fits perfectly there. It helps us to understand why Han Solo stuck around after the Battle of Yavin, and it helps to show the early development of his relationship with Princess Leia. We also get to see how Han and Chewbacca were developing a solid friendship with Luke Skywalker as well. It made great sense, filling in that gap of years between "I'm saving your ass for the money" and "I care enough about you to go out in subzero temperatures and slice open a Tauntaun to keep you warm".

All in all, an enjoyable experience. I hope to see future installments in the Star Wars universe from Corey.

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