I remember reading the Thrawn Trilogy back in the day and being amazed. Later I read the Hand of Thrawn Series and the two Outbound Flight books, which were also quite good. Scoundrels being the first Zahn book I have read since then I had high hopes, but was let down. While this is suppose to be Ocean's 11 meets Star Wars it definitely didn't keep me interested the same way one of those movies might. It was a 400 page book (hardcover), but the actual heist did't really take place until the last 100 pages. Before that there was an attempt to develop all the secondary characters, which none of them I really cared for much. This is to bad because Zahn was able to do this very well in his previous Star Wars novels. There was also a lot of rescuing individuals from the bad guys, over and over again. I found it very difficult to visualize where things were in relation to each other as the character's spent a lot of time in different parts of the same complex. One method of sneaking around was through the "between-floors gap", a term that was mentioned repetitively. This must be referring to the interstitial space above a dropped ceiling (for mechanicals, ducts, etc.). Just call it what it is, every other "real world" term was mentioned in this book except for cigar which was called "cigarra". Anyways you would think the greatest criminal organization in the galaxy would house their vital secrets and information in a building that was designed to be a little more secure. It was like the Death Star exhaust port times 10. The best part about the book is the ending, which you must be careful not to look at the last page. Many people were spoiled this way.

It's surprising how well this novel epitomizes this quote from Episode 5. Not only has author Timothy Zahn created a thrilling, fast-paced, heist adventure novel, he has also fitted it perfectly into the Star Wars universe, a universe where such stories are few and far between. Strong characters and a plot that keeps the reader (and even some of the characters) guessing makes this a real page turner. If a story about a group of crooks effectively stealing from the mafia sounds interesting to you, give this book a go.

I enjoyed reading a pre-married Han, Lando and Chewie adventure. It introduced a lot of new characters I am sure we will be seeing more of. Lots of nice surprises.

I've read LOTS of these expanded universe SW books. But this one was an " Ocean's 11 " style script with some fun drama thrown in. Not the custom "good guy fights with bad guy lightsaber duel " style writing. But there are LOTS of surprises in this little treasure. And there are some " winks " to some Star Wars ( and Indiana Jones!! ) fans as well. Overall, a little long on the story but the details are VERY important ( especially at the end ). Read it and enjoy!

A little over detailed for my taste. If you favored the Han Solo trilogy fast and get to the point action style, this will feel like a story being dragged out forever.