Title: Last Shot
Author: Daniel José Older
Series: n/a
Just my overall thoughts. If you want to avoid spoilers for the book, there are minor ones here, so beware.
I liked this book more than I thought I would, but it wasn’t perfect.
My favorite aspect: two-year-old Ben Solo, of course, as well as Han’s awkward, uncomfortable approach to parenting, marriage, and overall commitment. He loves his family but he just doesn’t know what the hell to do with them. I loved exploring him as a character; it’s fascinating to watch someone so insecure pretend to be utterly confident. Did he have an arc? Not really, but Older didn’t have a whole lot of room to give him one. It’s not like Han could have an epiphany and become more comfortable as a father, or the next 25 years of his life and Episodes VII and VIII would have been very different. Older was constrained by continuity.
I loved the character Taka. It took me a while to figure out that they were a non-binary individual (not necessarily male or female). I’d never heard of that kind of identification before and was really turned around by the use of “them” and “they” to refer to the character, but I eventually googled it and figured it out. The editor in me wants to demand a singular pronoun be used for a singular subject/object—my eye is still twitching—but I guess “it” has a bad connotation? I don’t know; apparently I’m not as woke as I like to think I am. I, personally, imagined a college-age male human. But regardless of all that, they were easily my favorite character behind wittle Benny. Taka was a wonderful mix of charm, vulnerability, youth, wisdom, and confidence, rather like a young Han Solo, as Han himself mused. A major difference between the two, however, was that Taka had a very good family life growing up, whereas it’s implied that Han did not, so—I guess, when you consider it from a certain angle, Taka could be the version of Han Solo that wouldn’t have alienated Ben. Theoretically. Interesting, interesting.
While I’ve never really given two shits about Lando, I liked him here, too. His romance with Kaasha Bateen was touching, but the store he set in his outfits induced impatient eye rolls from me—but then I’m a non-fussy t-shirt-and-jeans type. I read some negative reviews saying Lando and his oversexedness was creepy. I wouldn’t say that—horny, sure, and he laid the charm on really thick at times, but I didn’t find him creepy. Exasperating, perhaps. I don’t have much tolerance for that kind of guy. I liked who he was with Kaasha—more down-to-earth and vulnerable.
I liked Kaasha, too, though I wish I’d gotten to know her a little better. Her only reason for being there, really, was Lando, and she didn’t contribute much except to blast some enemies here and there. Chewie was also just kind of there, I thought; neither an exciting addition to the crew nor a drag. Peekpa the Ewok slicer (aka hacker) was pretty cute. I loved Aro the Gungan; he was nothing like Jar Jar, which was the point. I didn’t like Sana Starros; I found her selfish and manipulative. I was rather disgusted that we were teased in regards to her—when she was first mentioned, Leia was like, “Ah, your other wife,” and Lando insinuated that Han married Sana (years ago, BBY) as part of a con to gain land or something. I figured that was foreshadowing and waited for them to get married, but they never did, and indeed land ownership wasn’t part of their con here, so that must have been a completely different situation. I don’t overly appreciate being teased, just like I completely and thoroughly loathe cliffhangers.
I think I covered everyone. Well, Leia, but she was either in meetings or halfway across the galaxy for 99% of the book, so there wasn’t much of her to enjoy. There was more Ben than there was Leia. But she did provide a little deus-ex-machina, and what there was of her I did immensely enjoy. Oh, and Taka had a not-so-adorable pet worrt named Korrg who I would also say provided deus-ex-machina except his help was foreshadowed, so I’m not sure it applies. Debatable.
And, of course, there’s the villain, who’s named Fyzen Gor, but honestly…I don’t know what to think about him. I’m not sure his cause/plot made a whole lot of sense to me, but he was insane, so arguing logistics is futile. To Older’s credit, he did try to make us care about Gor with some flashbacks from his POV, but other than some fear, there wasn’t much for us to sympathize with, because Gor quickly wrote off any emotional connections he had—his best friend, his parents.
Let’s see… The writing was quite humorous, though it was serious when it needed to be, and transitions in tone weren’t at all jarring. It was fun to listen to all the characters bantering with one another. I’m not sure the banter was witty, but it wasn’t grating. One thing that did become annoying, though, was the laughter made into dialogue. You know, “Hehehe” and “Ah-hahaha!” On the written page, I much prefer just a cue like “he chuckled,” or “she laughed.” Trying to make myself hear the precise way the character was laughing thoroughly distracted me and I got sick of it.
Other negatives – the third act dragged, took forever to conclude, and the slow pace dulled the urgency and diminished the satisfaction of the resolution. I’ve also decided I didn’t like how four different timelines were mixed in together. The “Now” timeline mattered most, and the others showed the chain of events that brought us to the “now” situation. I cared least for the Gor/Cli Pastayra thread and had an equal amount of disinterest in the Lando/L3 and Han timelines. Switching back and forth from “now” to flashback segments was disorienting to the point that I lost track of what was going on and began to just skim the flashbacks, and eventually I just skipped them altogether. I understand the purpose of them, but I don’t like how they were executed. I’m not surprised I feel this way; mingling four timelines is damn ambitious.
It seems the TLJ backlash is spilling over onto this book and, unfortunately, will probably affect Solo’s reception as well. I saw some negative reviews whining that Last Shot didn’t “feel” like Star Wars and that Disney was ruining the franchise with the new canon. I’m a recent fan of Star Wars, so I can’t claim to know whether the new installments “feel” like the previous ones or like Legends, but I personally thought this book was very Star Wars-y. The technical jargon and sci-fi aspects weren’t as overwhelming and inaccessible as in the TLJ novel, but Older definitely included details that gave me the feeling he knew the Star Wars universe intimately, that he knew what he was talking about. He described outlandish things in a way that I could wrap my head around them and imagine them.
As for how this ties into Solo, I’m not sure it does all that much. It mostly prepares us to see a younger version of Han, I think, and I do admit at times I pictured Alden Ehrenreich instead of Harrison Ford. In the “ten years ago” flashbacks, which are supposed to take place between Solo and IV, Han’s moping over a girl who was never given a name or explanation, so I’m assuming that was Qi’ra, which means she either betrays him or dies in Solo, but most people already guessed that. What else could happen that explains why there’s no evidence of her whatsoever going forward? I’m not sure they were a couple; I think I read somewhere they grew up together and were childhood friends, so I’m calling now that she was a spark of light in his dismal childhood, and when she dies, his already dim outlook darkens considerably and doesn’t brighten back up until he meets Leia. Maybe she reminds him of Qi’ra. But I don’t think he and Qi’ra were a couple because if he had romantic feelings for her, he probably wouldn’t have joked around in Last Shot that Sana loved him. He wouldn’t have been able to joke about love at that point. But I could be 100% wrong.
Also, Lando’s droid L3-37 in the “fifteen years ago” timeline will be the droid with him in Solo, voiced by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Last Shot introduced us to her and let us get familiar with her personality. Since she’s not in the “now” timeline—I got the feeling she was dead, however that happens for a droid—and we’re given no explanation as to what happened to her—which we honestly should have been given, because she played a big-ish part and I, for one, wondered where the hell she was—I’m going to assume something happens to her, too, in Solo. I’d put money on a sacrifice to save Lando somehow.
As far as I can tell, the only other full-length adult Star Wars novel coming out this year is a sequel to the novel Thrawn, the sequel being titled Thrawn: Alliances. There’s a YA novel about Han and Qi’ra, though, called Most Wanted. Teenage Han might be interesting. I didn’t notice a Solo novelization on the docket, which baffles me a little; there was a Rogue One novelization.
I realize I never commented here, and now that I’ve seen Solo this book is more meaningful so I came back to say some things.
I liked the book well enough. It was fun and definitely “Star Wars-y” for me. Haters gonna hate. I was really bothered about it shortly after TLJ came out, but as time has gone on and they keep throwing shade at every new SW thing that comes out, I’ve become more amused than annoyed.
The timelines were a bit much. I think it was easier to follow in the audiobook because each timeline had a very distinct narrator. “Now” was AMAZING with the character voices. I think I said this before in another post. He sounded a lot like the actors from the original. And the way he voiced Taka made me very much buy into the non-binary thing because it was just ambiguous enough to go either way. The “Han/10 Years ago” was a young guy who maybe sounded black. He had a fun, laid-back way of narrating that suited Han’s character at the time. I guess that sequence was necessary, to show Han’s history with the device, but…I dunno. The story probably wouldn’t have suffered without it. I wouldn’t have suffered without it. It got kind of long and tedious, even though I enjoyed going back to Maz’s castle.
They paid off the Sana thing in a canon comic a couple years ago. Before Han and Leia are married, Sana shows up demanding her husband and Leia’s like “whaaaaaat?” and shenanigans go down when Leia learns about the scam marriage. They could have handled that a little better in this book, instead of vaguely teasing it, but I’m noticing more than the SW stuff coming out these days kind of assumes a lot of people will be up to date on all the extra published materials. (Which is a shame because I really don’t want to read the Aftermath series, but I’m thinking it’s in my future.)
The Lando/L3 story was narrated by a woman who did a fabulous job. She made L3 very empathetic, just through her voice. I liked her a lot, and I liked L3 best in the last flashback. And like I said before, it made me like her better in Solo. Lando being oversexed didn’t bother me. He was hella oversexed in ESB, so I don’t know what people are griping about.
Baby Ben was my favorite. “Wanwo” was unbearable, but I was so… moved? affected? full of the feels? every time tiny Ben bursts into big heartbroken tears whenever he receives the smallest reproach. It does a great job setting the groundwork for this deeply sensitive man who has had a hard time dealing with the various rejections his harsh life has thrown at him.
Taka was great, Han was great, and Leia was great. I didn’t care a whole lot about anyone else, though Lando/Kaasha was sweet and I think some of their stuff at the end could be taken as laying the groundwork for Ben’s redemption. Lando saying how he’s always gonna be both sides of himself, that kind of stuff. And that whole cut-in-half thing by Taka? I think now it was mostly teasing Maul’s twist in Solo, but I’m also worried about Snoke. I don’t THINK they would do that again…but honestly I don’t know.
Anyway, check out the audiobook someday! It helps — because instead of reading “Ah hahaha” you just hear really convincing, in-character laughter. And the alien languages are crazy. The Wookiee sounds weren’t very convincing, but I would hate to have to replicate that for a narration so I’m sympathetic. The music is superb and really sets the mood.
This is a really excellent review, Danielle, and I agree with all your points.
First, about the backlash and whining affecting this book. The whole “not my Star Wars” crew is getting on my nerves, frankly. I’d call them a vocal minority, but they sure do like to ruin everyone else’s fun. This book doesn’t feel any less “Star Wars” than any of the other canon or legend books I’ve read. (Some of those legend books are, uh, not great.) I actually appreciate how well and thoughtfully Disney, Lucas, and Del Rey have controlled continuity in the canon materials. The SW galaxy is huge and the properties span films, TV, books, comics, and games. It’s a tremendous undertaking to keep all that from conflicting (which is a problem that occurred in the legends material). I see nothing to complain about from a longtime-fan POV with this book.
Overall, I enjoyed getting into the heads of these characters and watching the interaction between Han and Lando as young men and as their lives are changing. And I really enjoyed getting a little peek at Baby Ben and seeing Han attempt to figure out fatherhood.
Baby Ben was my favorite character, too, though I enjoyed awkward Han almost as much. Admittedly, his discomfort as a father made me sad; he spent so much time believing he wasn’t a good enough father, which led to Ben believing he wasn’t a good enough son. I also hated seeing Ben being raised by droids so much. It made me think of Harlow’s psychology experiments with rhesus monkeys and their wire-frame mothers. No wonder Ben grew up believing he wasn’t important to his parents. It’s obvious they loved him, but I suspect that as he got older (and moodier), it became easier to let the droids raise him, which, of course, made him feel more inadequate, more monstrous, more rejected and unlovable.
I liked Taka, too. I didn’t have any trouble with their non-binary status and the use of “they/their,” but I know a fair number of non-binary people, so I recognized the usage immediately. (I understand why it might be jarring, though.) I really appreciate the greater inclusion of LGBTQA and non-white, non-male characters that we’re seeing in the new canon Star Wars galaxy. I know not everyone agrees, but I like seeing a better representation of our world reflected in the SWG. (One of my daughter’s and my favorite new canon characters is Sinjir Rath Velus from Chuck Wendig’s Star Wars: Aftermath series. He’s a former Imperial loyalty officer, a sodding drunk, homosexual, brilliant, capable of astonishing violence, and incredibly sweet. His sexual orientation is just one aspect of his character and handled perfectly by Wendig. But, I digress…)
Like you, Danielle, I didn’t much care about Gor. The attempt to humanize him seemed a bit weak and he turned too easily and quickly away from the people he cared about. I would’ve preferred to see more emotional struggle from him during his early chapters. That or just let him be a flat bad guy. What we got seemed half-assed, IMO.
The four timelines became confusing for me, too. I kept having to pause when the times jumped to remind myself who knew what about whom, and that took me out of the story, slowed the pace, and made it more difficult to follow the unfolding storyline. Older tried to speed things up with short chapters during the final act, but it didn’t fix the problem. Just too much jumping going on.
I did really enjoy the humor and liked Lando maybe a bit more than you did, primarily because Older really nailed Billy Dee Williams’ late-70s-player-Lando. The struggle he had between holding onto his reputation and wanting to change for Kaasha was sweet and, I thought, quite true to his character. It was interesting to see the contrasts and comparisons between him, Han, and Taka. I agree that Taka is a representation of what Han needed to be to connect with Ben. And Lando is the other side of Han, the scoundrel/player side that Han needed to outgrow but couldn’t (or wouldn’t) in order to be a successful father.
Three little personal peeves that still annoy me a week after finishing the book:
1) Taka impersonated Han to get work, yet faced no consequences for doing so; it seemed like the kind of thing Han wouldn’t dismiss, but he just dropped it after the worrt took his blaster. It seemed out of character to let the kid off so easily, IMO.
2) If a child is articulate enough to say “Dada,” he can say “Wando.” “Wanwo” annoyed the hell out of me. The hard “d” is one of the first consonant sounds children are able to consistently create.
3) There was a missed opportunity with Ben, BX, and the drill. I reeeeally wanted Baby Ben to turn around, see that droid coming, and stick the drill right into its chest or launch it across the room with a Force push. It was the perfect opportunity for Ben to use the Force instinctively as self-protection and a great chance to instill a little unease in his parents about their innocent little boy. Imagine Leia coming home to find her toddler gleefully disassembling the kitchen droid.
“Ben Solo! What have you done?”
“Bad droid, Mama! Bad!”
So, yeah, this reply ended up being longer than I expected, but you (and Older) gave me a lot to think about, Danielle! 😀
You made good points yourself! The haters are getting on my nerves, too. It’s kind of ruined the podcast I listen to every week (Collider Jedi Council). I love the hosts and love their other movie news content, but I’ve disagreed with almost everything they’ve said about TLJ. They don’t HATE it but they had a lot of problems with it. Well, Ken liked it quite a bit, but his opinions get drowned out by Kristian’s. Kristian’s ego is getting out of control. And not once have they ever had a Reylo on the panel, or even someone who really gives a damn about Ben. If I’m remembering correctly, they all think he’s evil and irredeemable and that he should die in IX. My respect for them falls more every time it comes up, but I keep listening hoping they’ll change their minds.
Sorry, bit of a rant there. It’s been stewing in me for months.
1) But was Taka actually using Han’s name to get work? I thought he was recruited by Leia because she wanted Han to choose Taka as their pilot, and it was her idea to have Taka impersonate Han because she knew that would get Han’s attention and he’d appreciate the ballsy move. I’m not sure Taka did it consistently; that’s kind of a weasly thing to do and Taka strikes me as too proud and confident in himself to do something like that. He’d want to get work on his own merit. Was he even an actual smuggler? I can’t remember how Leia knew him. Maybe because he, or at least his parents, were from Alderaan. I guess I’d have to reread those bits; maybe I misunderstood.
2) “WANWO” ANNOYED THE CRAP OUT OF ME, TOO! I had the same thought–if he can say, “Dada,” he should be able to pronounce the D in Lando. LOL It totally made my day to find out I wasn’t the only one who thought that.
3) 100% agree it was a missed opportunity. Leia could have come home to a broken droid and it could have been one of those moments when she thought the darkness in Ben had manifested. I mean, most people would find a toddler wrecking a droid funny, but if Leia’s already having doubts, she might have seen his violence from another angle. But yeah, now I wonder why Older even bothered including the power drill at all when he didn’t do anything with it. Guess he just thought it would be funny to have a toddler running around with something dangerous, and scissors was too cliche? But now that I’m thinking about it, how did Ben even lift that drill? Those things are fricken heavy. Maybe they’re different in space.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!