5 Han Solo stories Star Wars fans need to read
If you’re looking to know more about Han Solo whether or not you liked the recent Star Wars Story about him, here are five excellent starting points.
Han Solo is simply Han Solo to Star Wars fans. He’s the scoundrel, the scruffy-looking nerf herder, the smuggler, and the guy who ends up becoming a hero despite starting out as someone only in on this adventure for the money. And while he’s not quite any of those things just yet in Solo: A Star Wars Story, you may have been intrigued to dive into more of his adventures.
Enter this list of five titles. Some of them are still canon; some of them are not.
All of them, however, are good reads, whether or not you use them as a way to spring into the greater world of Star Wars books and comics afterwards.
Last Shot
Read if: You love the dynamic between Han and Lando Calrissian.
Details: This novel by Daniel José Older features Lando in about as prominent a role as Han, but it also moves forward in time to present a young Ben Solo, as we’ve mentioned in previous coverage of the book.
We’re pretty sure our general feelings about Lando are well known around here, but suffice it to say that any novel that lets the two of them work together is a novel we think illuminates a particular part of Han’s character.
Star Wars: Han Solo
Read if: You need to know more about Han’s time working for the Rebel Alliance.
Details: The only graphic novel on this list, Star Wars: Han Solo puts together all five issues of the miniseries that ran back in 2016. Marjorie Liu sends Han on more than one job at once — participating in a race and also weeding out a spy in the Alliance. Naturally, Leia also features pretty prominently in the story. It takes place between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, and you might find it particularly illuminating in illustrating Han’s character arc between the two films.
Most Wanted
Read if: You want more of Han’s story with Qi’ra.
Details: As I mentioned in my review of Rae Carson’s Most Wanted, this book has a particularly strong, fast-paced young Han story. In particular, it puts Qi’ra in the co-protagonist seat, as I also wrote about. Finally, if you’d like to know about the White Worms, this is the story for you.
The Han Solo Trilogy
Read if: You think Solo dropped the ball in a massive way and knows nothing about Han.
Details: Two years ago, The Han Solo Trilogy made its way onto my list of essential Star Wars books to read, and even with so many great releases since that list was written (Leia: Princess of Alderaan, Thrawn, and Phasma among them, alongside Last Shot and Most Wanted on this list), I’d still argue it’s a pretty vital piece of the original EU canon. Solo borrows a bit from this set of three novels in terms of the broad strokes of Han’s story, but there’s a lot more room to let things breathe a bit more.
Millennium Falcon
Read if: You know Han is nothing without the Millennium Falcon.
Details: Okay, technically this novel covers more than just a Han story. But let’s face it: there’s a reason he introduces himself as “captain of the Millennium Falcon” right after his name in A New Hope. That ship and his ability to fly it are two central parts of his character — and he does appear in the book, worry not.
It’s a little tricky to treat anything else in this book as canon, since it came out prior to the Disney acquisition, but don’t be surprised if some of the details about the provenance of the Falcon from this book leak back into the new universe as we know it.
Next: Some of the things Solo got right
What’s your favorite Han story? Tell us in the comments below.