Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition

I embarked on a journey to read all the current Star Wars canon books starting with The Phantom Menace through The Last Jedi. And honestly this is probably my favorite so far. It really added an all new depth to the already fantastic movie. I didn't really like L3-37 in the movie. She felt like a knock off of K2-S0 from Rogue One. But in the book I grew to love her. You learn a lot more about Beckett, Val, and Rio, and gain some insight into their adventures prior to the movie. But probably the best part is going into great detail of Han and Chewie's relationship, and how they are the most iconic duo of all time.My only problem with this book would have to be that I wanted another hundred or more pages.

Mur Lafferty’s novelization of Ron Howard’s “Solo: A Star Wars Story” continues the tradition of Del Rey’s adaptations of the new films by including scenes deleted from the theatrical cuts of the film. In this case, Lafferty not only tells the story itself, but shows how Han went from enlisting in the Imperial Navy to working in the infantry on Mimban: he was a good pilot, but his innovative flying style and unwillingness to blindly follow orders led to his demotion. This scene also includes a fun cameo from Kevin Rubio and Lucas Marangon’s characters, Tag Greenley and Bink Otauna, the Rosencrantz and Guildenstern of the “Star Wars” universe, whom screenwriters Jon Kasdan and Toby Hefferman were to portray in the film until the scene was cut (pgs. 58-59).Lafferty’s adaptation works so well because the plot of the film was always better suited to a novel, like Brian Daley’s “Han Solo Adventures” or A.C. Crispin’s “Han Solo Trilogy”. The story, focusing on Han Solo escaping his life as a scrumrat on Corellia, joining and then washing out of the Imperial Navy, and becoming a smuggler to take on a major heist, all while facing ethical dilemmas that challenge his self-image as an independent and aloof scoundrel is a fun one and Lafferty tells it well. The various “Easter Eggs” from the film –including references to Bossk and Aurra Sing, the role of Crimson Dawn, the martial art Teräs Käsi, the planets Glee Anselm and Dathomir, and more – all work best as the kinds of references found in the “Star Wars” novels that most successfully integrate themselves into the larger canon. The scene of Lando Calrissian dictating his memoirs, specifically referencing L. Neil Smith’s 1983 novel, “Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu”, works just as well in this novel as it does in the film, helping to explain Neil’s unique tone that didn’t match much of the Ballantine-era of “Star Wars” novels.Beyond the Tag and Bink reference, Lafferty also uses the crew’s trip to Kessel to include scenes building up the friendship between Chewbacca and Lando, thereby foreshadowing their easy banter in “The Empire Strikes Back” (pg. 159), and, perhaps most importantly, Lafferty helps to explain Qi’ra’s backstory and motivations, helping to establish her character in a more significant way than the film did (pg. 162). This backstory, and the conversation with L3-37, later plays a key role in Qi’ra’s actions, helping to add depth to her actions beyond being the token tragic love interest (pg. 264). Finally, Lafferty’s epilogue hints at what could have been a connected series of “Star Wars Stories” had Lucasfilm not decided to halt production of the standalone films following Solo’s poor box-office performance. Lafferty tells an engaging and entertaining story, just not one that necessarily needed to be a feature film.

"Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition" is the novelization of the 2018 film of the same name, directed by Ron Howard. The "expanded edition" tag refers to the inclusion of content not included in the film, namely scenes that have been added to or expanded upon from the film.I much enjoyed the "Solo" film, and also enjoyed its novel version. Author Mur Lafferty (a newcomer to Star Wars literature) does an excellent job of capturing the fun and lighthearted feel of the film, and the book feels basically like you are watching the film, because Lafferty emulates the style so well.Characterization is one the novel's primary strengths. Lafferty expertly delves into each character's psyche and paints a much more complete portrait of the characters than does the film. I better understood the backgrounds, attitudes, and motivations of the characters after having read the book. For instance, I was rather confused by Qi'ra's actions at the end of the film, but the novelization made perfectly clear her reasons for doing what she did.While I appreciated the expanded content of "Solo," and found the added and expanded scenes to be informative and interesting, I feel that they did not go far enough. Frankly, the novel would be much more able to stand on its own--and not feel like an add-on to the film--had more of the ideas been expanded upon. For instance, the book refers to Han's parents, but the readers are given no scenes with his parents or any kind of scenes of Han's early life on Corellia. The same goes for Han's time at the Imperial Academy. The reader is given but a small taste--less than one chapter--of Han's time there. These formative experiences are supposed to be important in Han's life, but are given minimal attention in the novel.One small thing I did appreciate in the novel was a reference to the 1983 L. Neil Smith novel, "Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu." I am always glad to see newer authors integrating story ideas from old canon novels.If you enjoyed the "Solo" film, and would like a novelization that adds a little more depth to the experience, give the book a shot. It's a fun and well-written read, but will ultimately leave you hungry for a more complete experience.

I read the Kindle edition of this book.I'd love to take a step back and review this as an adventure book, i.e. not as a Star Wars book, but I can't. I had high hopes for Solo (both the book and the movie) and I think they weren't bad, but not great either.As far as origin stories goes, this one hits a lot of the right points, I just have a hard time connecting this Han Solo with the one we know and love from the OT. It answers a lot of the questions, and the book includes a couple that are missing from the movie. Notedly missing is the stories around Han's blood stripes. The previous stories about their award don't work with this narrative.The book itself is decently written, but nothing fantastic.If you liked the Solo movie, definitely read the book, because it adds a number of scenes which add to the story. If you didn't like the Solo movie, you probably aren't reading this review anyway.

This is a reasonable novelisation that, for the most part, captures the tone and style of the original. Like the film, therefore, it is a fairly light-hearted, pacey adventure that doesn’t concern itself with too much depth. As such it works quite well as a quickish, entertaining read.The novelisations of the Star Wars films of recent years have used the claim of possessing extra material to promote them. This one is entitled ‘Expanded Edition’, but there’s not a great deal more than what you might expect from a novelisation; such as coming from different perspectives, more character background, some elaboration on story aspects, etc. That all occurs here but often doesn’t add anything meaningful as such to the story (Lando cleaning the shower probably being the most pointless inclusion).The treatment of Qira and L3 are exceptions to this, though. Once the novelisation reaches the part where the two of them have a conversation within the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon their personal storylines substantially develop from that contained in the film.Thus, through flashbacks and Qira thinking back we learn what happened to her after she and Han were separated and how she came to work Drydon Vos and gain her position in Crimson Dawn. This continues to develop into why she decides to take the actions she does in the closing stages of the story.The extra material regarding L3 is essentially more forward looking as her personal story continues after she effectively ‘dies’. Her amalgamation into the semi-consciousness of the Falcon was little more than a passing reference in the film that wasn’t readily explained. The novelisation explores this area a lot more and L3 effectively remains part of the story until close to its end. Droid consciousness isn’t something usually elaborated upon in Star Wars so this transition in L3’s life is quite interesting.The increased focus upon Enfys Nest is also worthwhile in that it elaborates her role in the developing Rebel alliance and links ‘Solo’ with ‘Rogue One’.

I was slightly disappointing with this book. In fairness it did get better towards the end, but it was a bit too little too late. This is the third Han Solo book to come out since Disney took over the Star Wars franchise. I hated Last Shot, and Love Most Wanted. This book is somewhere between two.I am a little disappointing with the way such a legend has been treated, like in Last Shot I felt Han was over shadowed by the side characters in the story. I know why Disney is doing this it is so they can develop their own characters, however I do feel such an important character should be given a proper moment of glory especially since his death in the series. In this book Han comes across as more of a lucky bumbling loser, relying on other to save him. Though he does show the beginning of becoming the of who he is to become towards the end of the book. I did also like the little twist on the debate of "who Shot first".An okay book, that has a good links from the other books, and with some interesting revelations that I hope will be explored later in other movies or series, but I really wish this book was more about Han learning his trade rather then stumbling his was through it or being upstaged by side characters.

This is a decent adaptation of a great film, it pretty much follows the script and story line - the 'expanded' parts are fun but don't really add a lot. Thankfully it doesn't fall into the trap that most SW books do, of adding far too much 'everyday' detail and trying to retro-fit modern reality into the SW galaxy.Couple of glaring errors that should have been picked up in edit - Han calls his new Wookiee comrade ' Chewie' before he knows his full name. And Enfys Nest is revealed as a young girl in her very first appearance in the book - something which the film / marketing went to great lengths to hide.It's such a shame that the late great Brian Daley isn't still around, his Han Solo Trilogy from 1979-80 perfectly captured Han and Chewie's character from the original film and he would have done a great job on this book - thankfully his books still fit into the new Solo canon from this film (bar a few 'from a certain point of view' tweaks!) and there are more than a few easter eggs in Solo from his trilogy.

This is the novelisation of the Star Wars spin-off film on the early life of Han Solo, which I was inspired to read after watching the Rise of Skywalker film just before Christmas. I remembered less about the detail of the film (which I have watched only once, on its cinematic release in May 2018) than about most of the others, but this well written novelisation brought a lot of it back. By virtue of its unique status among Star Wars films as being effectively a spin-off rather than a (more or less) direct prequel or sequel to another film, it feels like the action has more room to breathe and create original characters and situations than is often the case. This novel expands on the relationships between Han and Qi'ra, and between Lando and his droid co-pilot, and also makes most of the characters seem fairly three dimensional. An enjoyable read and a real feel for what made Han Solo the cocky and arrogant character we met in A New Hope.

If you really liked the movie and think it's terribly underrated (like me), then you're gonna enjoy this novelisation.Even though the front cover says it's an "Expanded Edition", there aren't THAT many differences between 'Solo' the film, and 'Solo' the novel. Characters are the same, the plot is the same, and deleted scenes are few and far between. By far, the most interesting additions are a sequence featuring L3 (as we read a particular situation from her point of view), and an epilogue that connects this story to one of the most popular Disney films. The former is shocking, emotional, and really interesting, and the latter makes one of the characters seem more important to the overall story of the saga. The book would have definitely benefited from more scenes like this!Which doesn't mean it's a bad novel --far from it. It's well written, it's fast paced, and it does a good job with all thee characterisations. Yes, it mentions Teräs Käsi much more frequently than the film, for some reason, and yes, like said before, it doesn't really expand that much from it, but if you start reading it KNOWING that it's not gonna be anything more than a slightly more detailed adaptation of the movie, then you're gonna have fun while reading 'Solo'. I certainly did!