Solo: A Star Wars Story is a romp; an underappreciated, criminally overlooked slab of popular cinema that warranted a far broader audience than the one it got. A thrilling blast through the early days of Han soon-to-be-Solo, Mur Lafferty imbues her adaptation with the same light, zippy touch. Where the two versions of the story diverge is her to bravely face head-on the Dickensian horror of our young heroes’ lives. As Tobias Beckett warned Han, you’re in this life for good, and even though the criminal underworld of the Star Wars galaxy is challenging and dangerous, it’s a far better existence than the one Han left behind on Corellia. Qi’ra didn’t escape, sucked into a glamorous servitude to criminal overlord Dryden Vos, and that is highlighted in a number of sequences that imbue this adventure story with a desperate edge. It may be the Raiders of the Lost Ark of the Star Wars series – the train heist as written by Lafferty is almost as gripping as its onscreen counterpart – but it never lets you forget what’s at stake. The galaxy has been thrown into the abyss, but this is people’s lives, close-up, and done right that’s every ounce as compelling.
There are hidden depths in the book, layered on as more information is delivered. We see much more of L3-37 and her intentions and relationships. An expended cockpit scene with Qi’ra illuminates not only her own motivations, but also those of Qi’ra as she looks back to her sale on Corellia into the arms of Crimson Dawn and the fickle temper of Vos. Han Solo may have seen the galaxy, service in the Empire and years of aching loss for Qi’ra, but there’s little doubt who has seen the most of life and been scarred by it the most.
Filled with longing and regret, the novel does a compelling job of describing the era, linking up with existing storylines that ultimately lead to the Mos Eisley Cantina a decade down the line, or 40 years ago depending on how you view such things. Being an Extended Edition, it also gives us a scene that screams to be filmed, the meeting of Enfys Nest and Rogue One’s Saw Gerrera and Jyn Erso. When you read it, you’ll wish they’d put it to celluloid.
It’s a rare adaptation that adds so much to the viewing experience, especially a film that sent you out of the multiplex with a spring in your step, but Lafferty’s book does just that. It’s insightful, brisk in the best sense and moves as smoothly as that Conveyex on Vandor through Lawrence and Jon Kasdan’s screenplay. Buy it, you must.
SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY (EXTENDED EDITION) / AUTHOR: MUR LAFFERY / PUBLISHER: CENTURY / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
