NOTE: This is my book review of the new book Scoundrels, originally posted on Amazon.com. I loved the book. One of the reasons I liked it is because we finally get to see Black Sun act like a mafia, as opposed to a bunch of street thugs. The book doesn't explicitly cover politics, but in the book Black Sun does use blackmail to coerce government officials. Anyways, I thought I'd repost the review here.
Obviously, Scoundrels was Timothy Zahn's attempt at combining an
Ocean's 11 caper with the Star Wars saga. What I hadn't appreciated before reading the book was just how serious Zahn was about this. There have been several Star Wars books this year that try to break into the espionage/thriller genre, such as
Annihilation: Star Wars (The Old Republic) and
Mercy Kill: Star Wars (X-Wing), but at the end of the day they feel like rehashed Star Wars. By contrast, Scoundrels is something new. It takes the best of Star Wars with the best of the espionage/thriller genre to create something that really feels fresh.
Here are some of my initial thoughts. Note, I try to keep this review as spoiler free as possible, meaning that I try not to reveal anything critical beyond the first three chapters.
