October 1, 2013
This outstanding Star Wars novel arose from the author's concept of a Star Wars comic series using the elements of a classic western. So we have a not-too-habitable frontier setting (Tatooine); a wealthy rancher with a hidden agenda (marrying a virtuous widow, among other things); the children of the widow and those of the rancher (mostly with more guts than sense); a bandit chieftain (Jabba the Hutt); marauding Indians (the Tuskan Raiders, very fully brought to life); the technology of farming in an environment that makes the Mojave Desert seem lush; and a host of life-forms ranging from krayt dragons to the pit-dwelling sarlaccs. Oh, and there is a drifter named Ben who wanders into town in the middle of all the conflicts and befriends the widow, though not as much as she would have liked. Deserves very high ranking among Star Wars fiction.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)