Set before the events of A Star Wars Story! Han and Qi'ra don't have a lot in common other than not having a lot. They're street kids on the industrial planet Corellia, doing whatever it takes to get by, dreaming of something more. They each jump at a chance to prove themselves in the perilous world of Corellia's criminal underbelly, only to discover they are on the same mission for the same unscrupulous boss. When the job goes disastrously wrong, Han and Qi'ra are on the run--from pirates, a droid crime syndicate, the Empire, and their boss--and will have to learn to trust each other if they are going to survive.
Rae Carson was born in 1973 in California and now lives in Arizona. She developed an enthusiasm for storytelling in her earliest childhood. She studied social sciences and worked in various industries after graduating from university before she realized her dream and became a writer. The Girl of Fire and Thorns is her debut novel.
In her own words, she "write[s] books about teens who must do brave things. [Her] books tend to contain lots of adventure, a little magic and romance, and smart girls who make (mostly) smart choices. [She] especially love[s] to write about questions [she doesn't] know the answers to."
How are you gonna tell a story set almost entirely on Corellia and not have a single Selonian…or “How Han (Not Yet Solo) and his (future ex) lady friend got to know eachother”…
Star Wars: Most Wanted by Rae Carson is a prequel novel set an uncertain number of time before the Solo movie and covering a few days of criminal activities, fighting, and political conspiracies…
It’s a decent breezy story but not super epic or interesting.
Still, it adds a few new elements to the Star Wars MYTHOS even if it avoids giving any backstory for Han and Qi’ra prior to their joining the whiter worms.
Still…they get pulled into a heist far beyond themselves…makes some friends…also violence…
It made for a decent distraction and filling in some gaps on galactic politics in between trilogies…
The book is well written for a young adult novel. Chapter lengths can vary. A nice look back at a young Han Solo. The book holds its magic as the best parts of the reading are in the last 3 to 4 chapters.