talyseon's Full Review: Troy Denning - Star Wars Tatooine Ghost
Tatooine Ghost By Troy Denning.
Fan books are a dangerous proposition; they come in several flavors, truly good, truly horrid, and ‘has enough “emotional hot buttons” to hide the flaws…for awhile.’ That last one is the worst, because it sucks you into wasting more time with a few extra chapters.
That said, I will tell you now, this is a good book. It also is a Star Wars book. So now we know where we stand.
This book takes place six years after the events in Star Wars Episode VI Return of the Jedi. Han Solo and Princess Leia have been married for a few months, but a mission has pulled them off their more usual duties, and sent them to Tatooine. There, they must obtain a priceless moss painting, Killek’s Twilight, a lost national treasure of the dead world Alderaan. Making this even more poignant is the fact that hidden in the moisture controls of the painting is a secret code that activates the Shadow Network, a hidden underground resistance movement within Imperial Space. Though out dated, the information could be used to compromise hundreds of Rebellion assets.
On Tatooine, Leia finds herself haunted by the ghosts of Anakin Skywalker. Here, that is a name to conjure with, a local hero, like Davey Crockett. He was the Human Podracer who won the Boonta Eve Classic. He was a kind and generous boy who brought hope to the slaves of Tatooine, and helped many of them better their lots in life. Anakin Skywalker was a source of hope.
Leia finds a holocrom of him for sale at the auction, sold by a friend of his, Kitster Banai. You remember Kitster, he was the dark headed child that assured Ani that he would finish the race this time…Wald was the little Rodian. They were Anakin’s best friends. The image of Darth Vader as a kid, with friends, horrifies Leia. Her memories of her father involve her being tortured by the interrogation droid at his command aboard the first Death Star. Yet here is a cute freckle faced kid…it does not gel.
But Leia has to pull her attention back to the business at hand. Though disguised as a Twi’lek, and Han is impersonating a Devonian male, complete with horns, she decides to bid on the painting by proxy, and hires a trio of Squibs to do it for her.
But just when it looks like the painting is in the bag, there is another interested party; the Empire. Now Leia must be ready to destroy the equivalent of the Mona Lisa of her lost homeworld. To bad when she goes to do it, Killek’s Twilight is stolen, by Kitster Banai!
So now Leia, Han, Chewbacca and C3PO are on a race across the inhospitable wastes of Tatooine to retrieve the moss painting before the Imperials can get it, with Storm Troopers hot on their tails, Tusken Raiders waiting in ambush, greedy Squibs and Jawas complicating things by turns, and facing the most dangerous enemy of all…Tatooine herself.
In the course of their adventures, she comes face to face with many reminders of her father, both in the hearts and minds of the people who knew him, and the places where he visited. And, in an act prompted by the Force, she uncovers the Diary of Shmi Skywalker, her grandmother.
Like the Ghost of her father, this memory of her grandmother gives her insight, not only into the man who was Anakin Skywalker, but into the family that raised her twin Luke, and into the very soul of Tatooine, and how she sculpts the folk who walk her.
Also important to the story is Han Solo’s sudden interest in Art. Han wants to save the painting. Leia would like to save the painting, but she must destroy that chip. But Han wants the painting for the painting, not because it is incredibly valuable (and it is) but because of what it represents. Not to Leia, not to Alderaan, but what it in itself represents. The half-witted, conceited, scruffy looking nerf herder argues Art appreciation with a Princess…and wins.
Han: “What are the Killeks doing there?” Leia: “They’re glancing back at what they are about to lose.” --- Han: “Not to me. They aren’t looking. They’re turning. Look at the way their bodies are twisting at the waist.”----“They know it’s coming, and they’re turning to face it. Khoddor isn’t trying to warn anyone about the cost of surrendering to darkness. He’s talking about how you meet it. You turn and look into it.”
And that is what Leia has to do. She has to face the fact that her father was not born a monster. That there are those who remember him fondly, who were enriched by his life. That his turn to the Dark Side was not inevitable, nor genetically predisposed.
And that means that she must revisit her views on remaining childless. She has never wanted children for the fear they might be strong in the Force, and drawn to the Dark Side. But now Han wants children…and she has to learn to look at her past, and their future in a new way.
There is also the wonderful Diary of Shmi Skywalker, detailing her courtship by Cleigg Lars, and her relationship with her Master, Watto. I have always thought that a good mother would not just cut off contact with her son…she did not. The Jedi did not let her communicate with Anakin, but that did not stop Shmi. She recorded a holodiary for her son, a quick note every day, so that someday, he might know he was always in her thoughts. Anakin may have never found the Diary, but his daughter did, and thus, across the gap of time and tragedy, Shmi became known to her granddaughter.
This is a wonderful story; not only a gripping adventure yarn, but a tender story about newly weds growing into their new roles, facing their fears, and moving beyond them. Han gains some valuable discernment that makes him a better match for his aristocratic wife, and Leia begins to trust her burgeoning Force abilities.
This story is great for a first time reader; it is not dependant on any other story to make sense. It is whole and complete in itself, well written, with excellent pacing, and a gripping story line that will keep the pages turning. It’s not Shakespeare, but that is not necessarily a con. Check it out, and may the Force be with you.
On a crucial mission, Han and Leia Solo face fortune-hunting marauders, Imperial enemies, and dark secrets about the past and Leia s father.More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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