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Star Wars: Most Wanted Book Review

“Star Wars: Most Wanted” is light on plot, but delivers in the character department.

Written by Rae Carson, “Star Wars: Most Wanted” is a Han Solo and Qi’ra centric novel that takes place before the beginning of “Solo: A Star Wars Story.” The story is primarily set on Corellia where Han and Qi’ra are members of the White Worms working for Lady Proxima. Although they are acquainted with one another at the start of this book, they are not yet close as they both work to eat and survive. Anyway, along with their Rodian pal Tsuulo and the hound owning Rebolt, Han and Qi’ra are vying for a big promotion. In order to try and get the promotion, Han and Qi’ra are both sent on separate but related missions by Lady Proxima, but they both wind up in trouble and on the run from, well, everyone. With the help of Tsuulo, Han and Qi’ra have to figure out what exactly is going on, what this mysterious object is that they have managed to snag, and why Lady Proxima, the Droid Gotra and the Kaldana want it so badly. Moreover, the creator of this object (known as the Engineer) has garnered an interest in the 3 scrumrats. Can Han, Qi’ra and Tsuulo patch things up or are they all doomed?

“Star Wars: Most Wanted” starts strong as author Rae Carson really digs into things that were touched upon in “Solo: A Star Wars Story.” Not only do we get to know more about Han and Qi’ra’s characters in this time period, but we also get more background on Lady Proxima (and her business), her right hand Moloch and the Grindalids. The lay of the land for Corellia is also greatly expanded upon as we get a bigger picture of cities and life on the industrial planet.

Where “Most Wanted” stumbles, however, is with the middle of the book. There’s a legitimate lag in this section of the novel and the book suffers as a result. It feels like Carson is biding time before the thankfully satisfying and intense final third of the book. Now, that’s not to say this portion isn’t without merit. It’s fun to learn about Han’s skepticism of the force, the Droid Gotra, Qi’ra’s past and so on, but there’s very little plot movement here.

Luckily, as I mentioned, the end comes together in a satisfying manner as conflicts are resolved, major things are foreshadowed, and Han and Qi’ra’s friendship and more begins to blossom.

Overall Thoughts: If you’re a fan of “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” you’ll want to check out “Star Wars: Most Wanted.” It’s an imperfect book to be sure, but there’s a lot of satisfying character moments that add context to what we see in the underrated film.

June 20, 2018 - Posted by nicklyons1 | Book review | Corellia, Han Solo, Qi'ra, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Star Wars: Most Wanted Book Review