It’s extremely satisfying to have a book you expected be amazing actually be amazing, and Star Wars Scoundrels more than lives up to all the excitement surrounding its release. It is not only a really good Star Wars story; it is a really good story.

That said Scoundrels is a bit hard to write a review for since it is a heist novel, and I don’t want to spoil any of the plot for people. So I’m going to have to stick to some general aspects of novel for the most part, but I do want to address the heist itself just a little bit. Scoundrels is described as Ocean’s 11 meets Star Wars, and there is a lot of truth to that comparison. Each of the eleven characters has a very unique skill set that makes the job possible, and the job itself is decidedly over the top. Yet, while Mr. Zahn may have been somewhat inspired by the movie, the heist is original to the novel and spectacularly pulled off. When I finished the last page, I flipped directly back to the beginning and started over. I’m pretty good at guessing plots and felt like I’d either been had or somehow been half asleep the first time through. Yet, as I read it again, all the clues and trails where there the whole time. I can even see people who aren’t really interested in Star Wars novels enjoying this book.

And that right there is one of the best parts about Scoundrels. You don’t have to have read a single other Star Wars novel to understand it. Set between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, Scoundrels does use beloved characters from other Expanded Universe novels such as Winter and Kell Tainer, but they are brought into the story is a way that requires no other introduction. I’ve only read a fraction of the myriad of Star Wars novels so I’ve been on the receiving end of plots and characters and histories that completely lose me. I’ve tried to catch people up on the EU so they can read books like Mercy Kill and watched their eyes glaze over when I say “Yuuzhan Vong.” It is wonderful to have a book with only watching the original trilogy as a prerequisite.

This segues beautiful into Scoundrels' next strong point: the characterizations. Mr. Zahn is well known for writing books with ensemble casts, and Scoundrels is not an exception.  If having the eleven person crew wasn’t enough, we get to see a far amount of the action from the point of view of the person being robbed, and there are Imperial agents wandering in and out of the action as well. And all of these characters are equally interesting and well drawn. We are introduced to an Imperial agent, Dayja, who I would love see become a reoccurring character as he stole every scene he was in. But what brought literal smiles all the way through was the dialog. I’ve heard people claim they could hear John William’s music playing in the background as they read through the Thrawn trilogy. I’m not going to go that far, but for the first time in many, many Star Wars books, I heard the characters from the movies saying the lines. I could hear Harrison Ford as Han Solo and Billy Dee Williams as Lando bickering at each other as I read. And if you care about continuity, I’m amazed Lando didn’t punch Han when he showed up at Cloud City.

One of the concerns I’ve heard voiced about Scoundrels is that the plot “isn’t important.” It’s true there are no Death Stars to blow up or planets full of Sith descending on the galaxy. But I think that for many Star Wars fans, whether they read the books or just enjoy the movies, the crucial element has always been the characters. Scoundrels might not offer a new Big Bad or super weapon, but it gives the characters we already love a place to shine, to grow and to deepen, and it gives us some new friends to start getting to know. It’s all about moments. Han and Lando saving each other’s neck even though they’re furious at each other. Winter mourning her planet and the people she lost. Eanjer realizing that perhaps, he should have learned to speak Wookie. All interspersed with a light-breadknife and Lando pretending to be respectable.

In many ways, Scoundrels is a gentle reminder of why we all loved Star Wars in the first place. Thank you, Mr. Zahn.