Crucible

The original Star Wars EU is apocrypha now, but there's still value in checking out these far reaching stories for old times sake. Han and Luke and Leia's adventures and struggles have continued long beyond the death of the Deathstar. I am renaming this book: Star Wars: Old People, but, while age and battle has taken its toll here and there, bacta tanks and the Force can still do wonders for our intrepid heroes. Maybe it's time for a little break. But first, let's save the galaxy, one more time!

The Sith are probably still lurking around somewhere, but the more pressing concern is the questionable dealings of a pair of Columi brothers in the Outer Rim that threaten Lando's successful mining operations and the ever fragile peace and prosperity of the galaxy.

It was initially kind of neat to read about the Columi, whose armour I've been sporting for some time in Star Wars: The Old Republic. But the actual characters -- giant brained supposed genius who trip all over the jealous siblings tropes, complete with one of them obsessive over a girl -- were kind of creepy. And not the interesting kind of creepy. The aforementioned girl obsession left much to be desired, as did most of the awkward sexual tensions and flirtings that went on. But I guess that awkward flirting is part of the Star Wars canon.

Or at least it was, until the invention of Poe Dameron.

Crucible most certainly has a problem with the Force as a catch all plot device. I have not read many of these EU books that take place far into the future, but, if this one is to be believed, them damn Jedis are powerful enough to mess up everything, like allll the time. Frankly, the Emperor was right to cull that OP herd to balance the scales. It's not all that fun when you know your heroes are going to win every time (but I don't complain about the concept of Leia Jedi flipping around in Twi'lek cosplay -- which was the one highlight of the story for me.). Speaking of heroes winning, if you're supposed to be geniuses, Mr. and Mr. Columi, why would you decide to "torture" notorious gambler Han Solo by making him play Sabaac? This was one of many silly things that happened in this book, and the silly just kept going right to the end. Because why not throw all these things into an increasingly convoluted plot that takes the heroes into this titular Crucible, which reminded me of something more like a space house of mirrors, complete with clones and time travel. You can never go wrong with time travel plot devices!

This was a fun read, I guess, if only for the opportunity to hang out in the Star Wars realm again, but, if you are interested in the defunct EU, there are far better books out there.