Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)If you are like me when a new Star Wars book appears you buy it. There have been other "Tales From, Tales Of" all of which are better than this particular group of stories. The other collections dealt with characters that were either known to the Star Wars Fan, or could be placed in context once the story had begun. I believe this was very well done with "Tales From Jabba's Palace". Even if a specific character went barely noticed or even unnoticed, the events allowed you to re-experience familiar events from characters that were present at an event, although they played no known role in it from the point of view of the moviegoer. Previous short story collections gave you the ability to listen in through a variety of characters. And if you were not looking through another's eyes at a familiar event, the story was still tied to familiar places, known characters, and time frames. I read all of these books as they generally are quite good, and fill in bits of History that were never shown in the movies. After the book is read, the movie can again be viewed and there are a whole new group of characters you "know" from a story in their life. There is a teaser at the top of the cover that speaks of a short novel by Timothy Zahn and Michael A. Stackpole. However you only have to get to "The Foreword and Acknowledgements" to learn these stories, with the Zahn/Stackpole exception, were put together after, and primarily from contributions to "the now-defunct Official Star Wars Adventure Journal". To be fair, some stories are taken from the role-playing games, so those stories may appeal to the Role Playing Gamer. Yes there are some references to places and people that are familiar, but they are generally a few words that clue the reader as to when a particular story is happening, and in some stories, remind the reader where he/she is supposed to be. The exception to this is the short novel produced by the two mentioned Star Wars Authors. If you like to read about Star Wars and need a book to hold you over to the next full-length book, buy this with modest expectations. Actually most fans, will find something they like but will not come away thrilled. The Collection can be enjoyed, just moderate your expectations and do not let 2 familiar names guide you as to the quality of this particular collection.
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