History Literature / TheHanSoloAdventures

Not to be confused with ''Literature/TheHanSoloTrilogy'', a separate series written some decades later by A. C. Crispin. Crispin incorporated these stories into her own, setting them during a TimeSkip in the middle of ''Rebel Dawn'', the third book of her trilogy.

[[caption-width-right:304:"I happen to like shooting first, Rekkon, as opposed to shooting second."]]

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: As one of the very first novels in what would later become the ''Star Wars'' ExpandedUniverse (and even later be rebranded the ''Legends'' continuity), ''Han Solo at Star's End'' uses somewhat different science fiction terminology than what later become the norm in the setting. For example, the word "robot" occurs somewhat frequently, whereas in later works robots are usually called "droids" in most contexts.

* AwesomeButImpractical: The Corporate Sector Riot Gun in ''Han Solo at Star's End''. It can fire a constant stream of energy (used for mowing down a crowd as "crowd control") that can clear a room of combatants in a hurry. However, it has very poor aiming characteristics, as Han Solo finds out when trying to shoot at Espos using its single-shot mode. It can only hit effectively on "constant fire," which dramatically increases the chances of friendly casualties in a pitched battle.
* BerserkButton: Han Solo doesn't react well to those who mistreat his ship or his friends. And, if Chewie is in danger, Han will flat out murder anyone who tries to keep him from going to his partner's aid.

* PrivatelyOwnedSociety: The Corporate Sector, where corporations own entire regions of space. In fact the government, the Corporate Sector Authority, is just an umbrella corporation owned by them jointly. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they do ''not'' like competition from smaller business entities.

[[caption-width-right:304:"I happen to like shooting first, Rekkon, as opposed to shooting second.]]

* IHaveThisFriend: Han gives Salla his own backstory in the Imperial Starfleet in this format, telling her how a friend of his [[spoiler:tried to "do the right thing" only to be stripped of rank and kicked out of the service, partly because his own commanding officer committed perjury against him; there was only one other witness, and "who's going to believe a Wookiee?"]] Subverted in that it's pretty clear that both of them understand who he's talking about.

-->'''Rekkon''': A callous exterior isn’t an uncommon way of protecting ideals, Captain; it hides the idealists from the derision of fools and cowards. But it also immobilizes them, so that, in trying to preserve their ideals, one risks losing them.

-->'''Badure''': Gallandro? Slick, you're talking about the guy who single-handedly hijacked the Quamar Messenger on her maiden run and took over that pirate's nest, Geedon V, all by himself. And he went to the gun against the Malorm family, drawing head bounty on all five of them. And no one has ever beaten the score he rolled up when he was flying a fighter with Marso's Demons. Besides which, he's the only man who ever forced the Assassins' Guild to default on a contract; he personally canceled half of their Elite Circle—one at a time—plus assorted journeymen and apprentices.
* MegaCorp: The Corporate Sector Authority is essentially a big-business-out-of-control counterpart to the Empire's big-government-out-of-control. It's described as "owner, employer, landlord, government, and military," and obsessively concerned with stamping out competition from small time, independent "freighter bums" like Han and Chewie.

* OrphanedPunchline: A scene begins as Han is telling Chewbacca a joke, right when Chewie is drinking some foamy beer, so [[SpitTake the laughing Wookiee sends suds flying everywhere]]. When Chewie gets irritated at this, Han points out that's how the joke was told to him, too.

* StockNessMonster: The Swimming People of Dellalt are essentially intelligent lake dwelling plesiosaurs.

* MegaCorp: The Corporate Sector Authority is essentially a big-business-out-of-control counterpart to the Empire's big-government-out-of-control. It's described as "owner, employer, landlord, government, and military," and constantly concerned with competition from small time, independent "freighter bums" like Han and Chewie.

* IHaveThisFriend: Han gives Salla his own backstory in the Imperial Starfleet in this format, telling her how a friend of his [[spoiler:tried to "do the right thing" only to be stripped of rank and kicked out of the service, partly because his own commanding officer committed perjury against him; there was only one other witness, and "who's going to believe a Wookiee?"]] Subverted in that it's pretty clear that both of them understand he's talking about him.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Han's personality in a nutshell, as anyone who's seen the movies knows. Various people including old friends, enemies, and people he's just met see through the facade. Rekkon also deconstructs it fairly early on in the first book:

''The Han Solo Adventures'' are a series of ''Franchise/StarWars'' spin-off novels by Creator/BrianDaley, featuring Han Solo and Chewbacca in a time before they met Obi Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker. They are among the very first original novels in the franchise, written when there was only one movie called ''Star Wars''. Along with all the spin-offs of the time, they are now officially classed as "[[Franchise/StarWarsLegends Legends]]".

Not to be confused with ''Literature/TheHanSoloTrilogy'', a separate series written some decades later by A. C. Crispin.

* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: ''Han Solo's Revenge'' has a scene where Han (who is an experienced gunman) deliberately removes the trigger guard from his weapon. He was heading into a hazardous situation where he might need his pistol and would need environmental gear... but the glove of the environment suit was so thick that his finger would not fit inside the trigger guard.
* AwesomeButImpractical: The Corporate Sector Riot Gun in ''Han Solo at Star's End''. It can fire a constant stream of energy (used for mowing down a crowd as "crowd control") that can clear a room of combatants in a hurry. However, it has very poor aiming characteristics, as Han Solo found out when trying to shoot at [=ESPOs=] using its single shot mode. It can only hit effectively on "constant fire" which dramatically increases the chances of friendly casualties in a pitched battle.

* BluffingTheMurderer: In ''Han Solo at Star's End''. While ferrying a group of people to find the top-secret prison called Star's End, Han discovers the leader of the mission dead and the data pad containing the prison's secret location destroyed. After he locks up the others while he tries to sort things out he discovers that the dead leader had scratched the location into the table he was found dead on. Han then tells everyone to calculate a hyperspace jump to the correct star system but he deliberately gives everyone the wrong planet. He then outs the killer as the one who corrected his calculations by using the right planet.

* CargoCult: ''Han Solo and the Lost Legacy'' featured a group of cargo cultists who were the descendants of the crew of the treasure-laden starship of an ancient warlord; they lived on a backwater planet for generations, maintaining sacred "landing fields" complete with mock-ups of spaceships and ritualized "communications procedures".
* CharacterNameAndTheNounPhrase: ''Han Solo and the Lost Legacy''.
* CovertDistressCode: In ''Han Solo's Revenge'', when Han is being marched back to the Falcon at gunpoint, he is warned to not make any suspicious moves or attempt to signal to Chewbacca, who is waiting in the Falcon. However, not attempting to signal Chewbacca ''is'' his covert distress code, since if all had been well he would have given an "all clear" signal. Chewbacca is waiting for him to give the all-clear signal, and deploys the ship's guns when he doesn't get it.

* CryoPrison: In ''Han Solo at Star's End'', Star's End prison kept thousands of prisoners the Corporate Sector Authority found inconvenient in stasis, including Chewie.

* FrictionlessReentry: In ''Han Solo at Star's End'', the Millennium Falcon uses its shields to offset the heat of entering the atmosphere of Duroon.
* GoodOldRobot: Bollux in the Han Solo Adventures.
* NotSoDifferent: In ''Han Solo at Star's End'', [[spoiler:Torm]] uses this excuse when trying to bargain with Han for his life. [[ThrownOutTheAirlock Han expresses his disagreement with him]].
* OutOfCharacterAlert: In ''Han Solo's Revenge''. When Han and Chewie were to make a smuggling drop, if during the meeting Han did ''not'' try and signal Chewie (who was overseeing the proceedings back in the cockpit of the Falcon) then something had gone wrong with the drop.

* ShowdownAtHighNoon: In ''Han Solo and the Lost Legacy'', Han faces down legendary Gunslinger Gallandro. The two of them had been working together until Gallandro decides it's time for a showdown. [[spoiler:Gallandro wins the quick draw and wounds Han, but the shooting activates a no-weapons system and Gallandro gets vaporized by lasers]].
* ThrownOutTheAirlock: In ''Han Solo at Star's End'', Han determines that one of the people on his ship is TheMole. The traitor flees, hoping to find a place on the Falcon where he can hole up, but stumbles into the airlock instead. Once he gets the information he needs, Han remarks that it's just as well he stumbled into the airlock since he would've ended up there anyway, and opens the outer door.

* WorthlessTreasureTwist: ''Han Solo and the Lost Legacy'' involves Han and Chewie getting involved with a bunch of treasure-hunters looking for the lost treasure of Xim the Despot, a pre-Republic warlord who once ruled a mighty empire and reputedly left behind an immense (but possibly mythical) treasure. They wind up finding the "treasure", but it turns out to be a large stockpile of stuff that was vital and hard-to-find strategic war supplies back in Xim's day, but has long since become obsolete or common as dirt.

* ThrownOutTheAirlock: In ''Han Solo at Star's End'', Han determines that one of the people on his ship is TheMole. The traitor flees, hoping to find a place on the Falcon where he can hole up, but stumbles into the airlock instead. Once he gets the information he needs, Han remarks that it's just as well he stumbled into the airlock since he would've ended up there anyway, and opens the exterior airlock.

The three books in the series are ''Han Solo at Star's End'' (1979), ''Han Solo's Revenge'' (1979), and ''Han Solo and the Lost Legacy'' (1980). The one-volume collected edition titled ''The Han Solo Adventures'' was first published in 1992.