I can’t remember exactly why I picked up Tales From Jabba’s Palace the first time. I had sworn off movie and tv tie ins. And with good reason. I’d tried a Quantum Leap tie in, and a couple of Star Trek novels and they were dreadful. But somehow, when shelving the sci fi section of my store I chanced to open Tales from Jabba’s Palace and my opinion of tie ins changed (for a while.)

Tales From Jabba’s Palace concerns that time period between Han Solo’s carbonite encased form’s arrival at Jabba’s palace on Tatooine and the destruction of the sail barge on the Dune Sea. Each story is told from the point of view of a different denizen of the palace. You may not have wondered during the movie how Jabba’s death would affect his many toadies, but maybe you should. Did you wonder why the Rancor keeper actually burst into tears when Luke killed the Rancor? Did you ponder how the droid who was torturing the other droids got to be so sadistic? Or maybe you spared a thought as to whether Boba Fett ever escaped the Sarlacc? Wonder no more, all questions are answered. Tales From Jabba’s Palace details the many petty plots and less than brilliant schemes that swirled around Jabba day in and day out until the day he died.

It does seem strange that these stories would be so entertaining. After all, they cover the same time period. You know before you read the first line that the good guys are going to get away leaving a path of destruction. But somehow every one of these tales is a wonderful side trip into the underworld of the Star Wars galaxy. My personal favorite is the Gamorrean guard’s tale. By the time you reach it you know of a couple of the plots boiling in the palace and Gartogg is so charmingly stupid that he doesn't see the obvious in his quest to find out who murdered the kitchen boy.

If you liked Star Wars enough to crave a little more, I encourage to read this book and there are precious few tie ins that I would recommend. You really don’t even have to be geeky enough to know the names of all the aliens in the cantina to enjoy it.


Recommended: Yes