Star Wars: Tales from Jabba's Palace: Book 2 [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

RANCOR KEEPER: 8--The tale this book begins with is one of the best. Malakili turns out to be more interesting of a character than I had anticipated, and this tale sets the stage for those that follow.

JABBA'S CHEF: 6--This isn't a bad story, but it doesn't really stand out above the others, either; middle of the road.

SALACIOUS CRUMB: 7--Crumb is one of my favorite characters, so I was looking forward to this tale with special anticipation. It was comical and fun to read (one of the better stories), but it still didn't fulfill my highest expectations.

OOLA: 6--Not an exceptional story, but not a complete waste of time, either. Much better than Tyers's Bossk tale.

WHIPHID: 5--This tale is well written, but it was hard to get interested in the character. Whiphid is a minor character, even among minor characters. This story does, however, fill in much of the conspiracy puzzle.

MARA JADE: 7--I was rather ambivalent about this tale. If you haven't read Zahn's Star Wars novels, you won't get much out of this. However, if you have read Zahn's novels, this story won't add much to her character, and retells events already described by Zahn. Still, Zahn is a good writer, and this is a decent read.

GAMORREAN GAURD: 7--This was a fun little story. The best part is what we learn about Gartogg's theory when we get to the Assassin's tale.

EPHANT MON: 4--Aside from filling in a piece or two of the puzzle, this story doesn't do much for the rest of the book. Ephant Mon's name (and appearance, for that matter) seem to bear an uncanny resemblance to a certain David Lynch movie; no points for guessing which one.

REE-YEES: 4--By now I was getting tired of reading about characters I had never heard of before. Unless, for some strange reason, you're a fan of Ree-Yees, you'll probably just skim through this one.

THE BAND: 7--I was surprised to find myself absorbed by this story. Despite the one-dimensional motives of the three band members, this story is just original enough to be entertaining.

BIB FORTUNA: 6--This was one of the better stories. The ending is pretty neat, even though you can see it coming.

BARADA/WEEQUAYS: 6--I enjoyed learning about culture of the Weequays. What they consider gods, bear a stronger resemblance to magic 8-balls, at least when viewed from the perspective of the reader. Maybe I'm reading too deeply into this, but perhaps there is some commentary on American society contained within this tale.

EV-9D9: 8--This is a clever story. 9D9 turns out to be female! I loved the character; I wasn't expecting a droid to be so manipulative or masochistic. A pleasant suprise.

TESSEK: 4--Another mediocre tale. Read it to discover Tessek's role in the conspiracy plot.

BUBO: 1--This tale fills in the last crucial piece of the mystery, but it could just as easlily been cut. I found the character hard to buy into, especially since this story is so short that we don't even get a chance to get to know Bubo. Too bad.

ASSASSIN: 1--This tale is even more inept than Bubo's. Roberson seems to be attempting a writing style similiar to that of William Gibson, but this is problematic for two reasons. First, Roberson's use of the abstract seems awkward and forced. Second, a writing style such as this just doesn't fit well within the framework of the Star Wars universe. Many Star Wars fans will have a hard time with this one.

SKIFF GAURD: 5--This tale really only becomes interesting after you read the About the Authors section at the end. This story seems to have been written by Danehy-Oakes as a revenge piece. Interesting....

BOBA FETT 8--This was one of my favorite stories, possibly the best, which came as a surprise since I usually don't care much for Boba Fett stories. We get to see a side of Fett that most authors shy away from. This tale is deeper than most of the others, so be ready.

FAT DANCER: 7--This was another one of the best stories. Ending the book with this story was a good choice by Anderson. My main complaint here is that it could have used some extra editing. It's much too long, and parts of it could easily have been cut without detracting from the plot.

AVERAGE: 5.6--Add or subtract two points onto this score, depending on how much you enjoy Star Wars. As general fiction, there's nothing extraoridinary to be found, but Star Wars fans should enjoy the read.