2 years BBY
So who's legacy's been lost? Xim the Despot's of course. The third installment of the Han Solo Adventures offers a crash course in early galactic history. Xim the Despot was the greatest warlord of his time, conquering the vital Tion Cluster shortly before the rise of the Old Republic. However, as the fledgling Republic became more and more of a threat, Xim sought to build a war machine. Commissioning the legendary craft, The Queen of Ranroon, Xim's legions hid the galaxy's greatest treasure on the unassuming mining planet of Dellalt. But Xim never returned to collect his deposit, and the Queen disappeared into infamy.
Hooking up with an old friend- and some new one's too- Han Solo and Chewbacca get a lead on the location of this treasure, the solution of all their financial woes. But between them and the treasure are a gamut of foes- including Xim's legion of war-robots and the gunslinger, Gallandro, who has a score to settle with Solo.
Per my previous post on Han Solo's Revenge, I had hoped to review both Lost Legacy and Revenge as a set. But, as it turns out, the third book has followed suit with the rest of the trilogy. More specifically, Lost Legacy is only loosely connected by characters to Revenge, and hardly at all to Han Solo At Stars' End. This doesn't particularly bother me, it just means my views on Revenge haven't changed- not bad, not good, all around uninspiring.
Lost Legacy, on the other hand, was way more exciting for me. I would even go so far as to say that it was better than Stars' End, though of course not as classic. The best thing about this story, for me, is the undertone of galactic history. It's not very often that you find a book that gives you an idea of just how long the GFFA has been around. I felt it really emphasizes the idea that the Old Republic wasn't as unyielding and dominant as seemed during it's long reign. It wasn't the first galactic order- the Xim Dictatorship and the Rakatan Infinite Empire are evidence of that. Need I say why it wasn't the last?
But that's not all. Throw in Gallandro- who, by the by, really shows you what he's made of- Xim's fearsome Guardian Corps, and a fight between Chewbacca and a massive Houk, Lost Legacy is one of the best Solo adventures I've read. I especially like one of Gallandro's quotes towards the end:
"You were never the amoralist you feigned to be, Solo, but I am."
So much in such a small sentence. Isn't that the essence of Han Solo? The reluctant hero?
Great finale, overall, by Brian Daley.
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