I might be the only person who knows what you really are.
efore its release, some folks wondered if a Han Solo movie was really what we “needed.” Some people worried about a “stand-alone” movie touching one of the Big Three from the Original Trilogy. Others were concerned about the upheaval in the director’s chair and what that might mean.
But, come May 2018, we were treated to an immensely enjoyable adventure. With Imperials and, of course, Wookiees (to say nothing of that one cameo at the end), the movie was firmly rooted in the Star Wars universe. At the same time, with its Western-style heist theme and the fate of the galaxy not at stake, the movie is undeniably unique among all the other cinematic installments from a galaxy far, far away.
Seeing Han’s roots lent more weight to all of his appearances in the original trilogy, and especially to his coda in The Force Awakens. Even some Star Wars fans who weren’t necessarily Han “people” before were completely won over. And many of us were fascinated by new characters like Qi’Ra and Enfys Nest.
And of course, being Star Wars fans, we wanted more. Fortunately, the Expanded Universe has always been there. From older novels that offer a fascinating alternate look at how the galaxy’s most famous smuggler got started to new works released concurrent with the film, there’s plenty more to enjoy from the feats of Han Solo.
Coming Soon
Our team is hard at work building out this collection. Stay tuned!
Books in this Collection
Most Wanted
Set before Solo: A Star Wars Story, Rae Carson gives us a glimpse into how Han and Qi’Ra’s relationship began. In a story that gives us a glimpse into life with the White Worms and on the streets of Corellia, we see the pair start out as rivals pitted against each other by Lady Proxima and evolve into the duo we see at the beginning of the film, getting help along the way from intriguing new characters after their job takes a messy turn.
Don’t let the ‘young adult’ tag deter you: Most Wanted is a fast-paced heist adventure with just enough twists to keep you guessing while it keeps you turning pages. The extra depth and gravitas it lends to Han and Qi’Ra’s relationship may well change the way you see that spaceport scene and Qi’Ra’s fateful decision aboard Dryden Vos’s yacht.
Solo: A Star Wars Story: Expanded Edition
More than just a novelization, in her Expanded Edition Mur Lafferty offers us glimpses of scenes cut from the film and gives further development to some of the other characters. We learn more about what happened to Qi’Ra after the spaceport and get more insight into Tobias Beckett and his relationship with Val. Lafferty gives us a new insight into L3’s fate and ends with a wonderful epilogue that nicely links the movie to yet more parts of the Star Wars lore.
From a prologue that nicely captures young Han’s personality, to looks into the White Worms den that are somehow even more cringe-inducing than seeing it on screen, to Han’s time in the military and that wonderful epilogue, Lafferty’s adaptation is what we imagine reading a director’s cut would be like!
Young Han dreams of someday soaring into space at the helm of his own starship and leaving his home, the gritty industrial planet Corellia, far behind. But as long as he’s trapped in a life of poverty and crime—and under the thumb of the sinister Lady Proxima and her brutal street gang—reaching the distant stars seems impossible. When Han tries to escape with his girlfriend and partner-in-crime, Qi’ra, he makes it out—but she doesn’t. Desperate for a way to find his own offworld vessel and free her, Han enlists in the Imperial Navy—the last place for a rebellious loner who doesn’t play well with others.
When the Empire clips his wings, Han goes rogue and plunges into the shady world of smugglers, gamblers, and con artists. There he meets the charming and cunning high roller Lando Calrissian, makes an unlikely friend in a cantankerous Wookiee called Chewbacca, and first lays eyes on the Millennium Falcon. To snag his piece of the outlaw pie, Han joins a crew of pirates to pull off a risky heist. The stakes are high, the danger is great, and the odds are slim. But never tell Han Solo the odds.
Crimson Climb
Crimson Climb
Follows Qi'ra during her time with the criminal syndicate Crimson Dawn.
New York Times bestselling author E. K. Johnston, author of the Queens series starring Padmé Amidala, brings fans an untold story about Qi'ra, portrayed by Emilia Clark in Star Wars: A Solo Story.
Not everyone gets to be the hero.
Qi’ra listened to the dreams and promises of a boy with a reckless smile, only to be torn away from him and returned to the White Worms gang while Han made his way to freedom. Now freedom seems like a luxury she can’t afford while she concentrates on survival and despairs of ever leaving Corellia. But her fortunes seem to turn when a representative of the crime syndicate Crimson Dawn plucks Qi’ra from captivity and brings her to the syndicate’s leader, the mysterious and mercurial Dryden Vos. Vos offers Qi’ra an opportunity she’s never had before: the chance to build something resembling a comfortable life if she can prove her worth to his organization. With failure meaning certain death, Qi’ra knows she must immerse herself in the merciless, murderous world of Crimson Dawn. What she doesn’t know is just who she will be if she survives. . . .
Last Shot
When a common foe from Han and Lando's past shows up on the latter's doorstep, the recent hero of the Rebellion and new father to Ben Solo must rush off once more to save both his friend and possibly, the entire galaxy.
Last Shot uniquely employs a number of different eras throughout the novel, and while jumping between time periods, we get to experience Han, Lando, L3-37 and more at various points in time, allowing us to witness the maturation and evolution of our favorite characters right before our eyes.
With a host of new characters right alongside the classics, including a villain that can't help but terrify all those who encounter him, Last Shot is an essential addition to the Han Solo story.
THEN:
It’s one of the galaxy’s most dangerous secrets: a mysterious transmitter with unknown power and a reward for its discovery that most could only dream of claiming. But those who fly the Millennium Falcon throughout its infamous history aren’t your average scoundrels. Not once, but twice, the crew of the Falcon tries to claim the elusive prize—first, Lando Calrissian and the droid L3-37 at the dawn of an ambitious career, and later, a young and hungry Han Solo with the help of his copilot, Chewbacca. But the device’s creator, the volatile criminal Fyzen Gor, isn’t interested in sharing. And Gor knows how to hold a grudge. . . .
NOW:
It’s been ten years since the rebel hero Han Solo last encountered Fyzen Gor. After mounting a successful rebellion against the Empire and starting a family with an Alderaanian princess, Han hasn’t given much thought to the mad inventor. But when Lando turns up at Han’s doorstep in the middle of the night, it’s Fyzen’s assassins that he’s running from. And without Han’s help, Lando—and all life on Cloud City—will be annihilated.
With the assistance of a young hotshot pilot, an Ewok slicer prodigy, the woman who might be the love of Lando’s life, and Han’s best and furriest friend, the two most notorious scoundrels in the New Republic are working together once more. They’ll have to journey across the stars—and into the past—before Gor uses the device’s power to reshape the galaxy.
The Han Solo Adventures
Hailing from a time before anything like the Extended Universe was even conceived, Brian Daley's Han Solo Adventures combines three tales of our favorite smuggler as he travels the corporate sector with Chewbacca in a constant search for the next big score.
Han Solo At Star's End puts the fearsome duo inside one of most bizarre and diabolical prisons they could ever imagine. Han Solo's Revenge takes Han across the galaxy in search of vengeance that is owed upon someone who thought they could cheat this fierce Corellian during a cargo shipment. Han Solo and the Lost Legacy throws assassins and murderous robots at Han and Chewie as they attempt to find a long fabled treasure of indescribable value.
This collection puts all of Han's original adventures in one easy package that is essential for any fan of the scoundrel with a heart of gold.
Han Solo's extraordinary exploits continue in this awesome trilogy.
HAN SOLO AT STARS’ END
Han Solo trusts no one, and does no favors. But when the best illegal ship rebuilder in the galaxy disappears, Han and Chewbacca agree to go after him—after all, the Millennium Falcon needs some very special repairs. Their search pits them against powerful and ruthless enemies out to destroy them, and finally leads them to an airless speck of desolate asteroid—the Authority prison planet known as Stars’ End.
HAN SOLO’S REVENGE
For a cool ten thousand credits, Han and Chewbacca will do just about anything—except transport slaves. For one thing, it means an instant death sentence. So when a high-paying cargo shipment turns out to be a consignment of slaves, Han and Chewie have to think fast. But Han forms a plan to turn the tables on the slavers and free the captives. Then, good deed accomplished, he scours the skies for the nasty joker who set him up—because revenge can be so sweet.
HAN SOLO AND THE LOST LEGACY
There’s a fabled treasure at stake and a price on Han’s head. So he and Chewbacca head for a planet rumored to hide undreamedof riches. But once they get there, Han’s beloved spacecraft, the Millennium Falcon, is hijacked by a band of assassins and killer robots. Their chances for survival are so slim, they might as well risk it all.
The Paradise Snare
The Paradise Snare offers a glimpse into some of the most formative years of Han Solo’s life. After getting away from a rough upbringing on Corellia, Han looks to make his way in the galaxy as a pilot. Being new to the scene, he takes up a less than desirable job running cargo for priests in a religious colony on the planet Ylesia. However, dark secrets about the true nature of the colony soon emerge and force Han to make the toughest decision of his young life: stay and help the colonists or save his own skin.
AC Crispin pens a beautiful story with this novel that offers a rich, rewarding insight into Han’s earliest years. It’s one of the deepest dives you can take into the history of Solo. As the book progresses, readers will note more and more familiar characteristics of the galaxy’s scruffiest nerf herder.
Han Solo was a child without a past, a Corellian street urchin, abandoned, foraging for scraps of food, when the cruel Garris Shrike whisked him away to a nomadic band of spacefaring criminals. Now, years later, Han fights his way free. His goal: to become an Imperial Navy pilot. But first he needs hand-on experience flying spacecraft, and for that he takes a job on the planet Ylesia—a steaming world of religious fanaticism, illicit drugs, and alluring sensuality…where dreams are destroyed and escape is impossible.
The Hutt Gambit
The Hutt Gambit continues AC Crispin’s masterful addition to the Star Wars catalogue by bringing Han face to face with some of the most colorful characters in a galaxy far, far away. Within the second novel of Crispin’s trilogy, Han meets a Wookiee named Chewbacca, a gambler named Lando Calrissian, and he begins to work directly with one of the most vile factions imaginable: the Hutts.
However, when the Galactic Empire threatens not only Han’s business dealings, but possible the first home he’s ever known, he has to decide how far he’ll go to protect these new alliances - dare he call them friendships? And, of course, he’s being hunted by the notorious Boba Fett, because it couldn’t be too easy, right?
Here is the second novel in the blockbuster trilogy that reveals the never-before-told story of the young Han Solo. Set before the Star Wars movie adventures, these books chronicle the coming-of-age of the galaxy's most famous con man, smuggler, and thief.
Solo is now a fugitive from the Imperial Navy. But he has made a valuable friend in a former Wookiee slave named Chewbacca, who has sworn Han a life debt. Han will need all the help he can get. For the Ylesian Hutts have dispatched the dreaded bounty hunter Boba Fett to track down the man who already outsmarted them once.
But Han and Chewie find themselves in even bigger trouble when they agree to lend their services to the crime lords Jiliac and Jabba the Hutt. Suddenly the two smugglers are thrust into the middle of a battle between the might of the Empire and the treachery of their outlaw allies - a battle where even victory means death!
Rebel Dawn
In the third installment of AC Crispin’s Han Solo trilogy, the final threads of Han’s backstory are expertly weaved together. After coming into possession of the Millennium Falcon, Han is looking for smuggling jobs. When he accidentally reunites with Bria Tharen, he is pulled into a mission with the Rebellion. However, not everything is as it seems, and Han soon finds himself on the wrong side of the Hutts, the Empire, and even supposed friends.
With Rebel Dawn, Crispin once again delivers a phenomenal story that not only serves as a perfect ending for her own trilogy, but a seamless springboard for the events of the Original Trilogy. Readers are in for an absolute treat as this fantastic trilogy comes to a close.
The Millennium Falcon is "the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy." So when Han Solo wins it in a game of sabacc, he and Chewbacca become kings of the smugglers--uncatchable, unstoppable. But with the Empire clamping down, Han knows his luck can't last. Still, when an old girlfriend who is now the leader of an insurgent Rebel group offers him a shot at an incredible fortune, Han can't resist. The plan seems a sure thing. The resistance will be light and the take enormous. Han and his friends will divide it equally with the Rebels. Too bad for Han that the planet of Ylesia is far from a pushover, that the Rebels have an agenda of their own, and that smuggler friends can often turn into enemies...quicker than lightspeed.
