Rating: 
Summary: Unworthy book for such a great story line
Review: Of all the star wars novels, this is the only one that I struggled to finish. From very uninteresting dialog, to very short and lame action parts, my interest lagged many a time. I also felt the author tried sticking in to many different characters and then left out putting any depth into them, may be in the next two novels the story will fill out, but I for one am not holding my breath.
Rating: 
Summary: The book is action packed and you won't put the book down.
Review: I loved this book because the book compines the charecter of Boba Fett with the typical type of book that you come to expect from any Star Wars Book. It combines well with the overall storyline of the Star Wars series. Boba Fett survies against all odds again and again to take revenge on his enemeis. The book also gives you several hints to Boba Fetts background as well as several new characters. You won't be able to wait for the next book in this series.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, sort of.
Review: This is a fairly good book. The only problem I have is that it leaves too much unexplained. I would really like to have known more about D'haran's past. I was also expecting this to be the first book to thouroughly describe Fett's past, but it didn't. However, the climax really leaves you wondering.
Rating: 
Summary: Could have been very good; hope the rest are better
Review: This book could have been one of the best around, but the portrayal of the characters (Dengar, in particular) killed it. The first story written about Dengar portrayed him as a proper bounty hunter, one that was worthy of being hired by Darth Vadar to hunt down and capture Han Solo and the Millinium Falcon. But in this book, he is portrayed as a nobody that gets caught up in something bigger than he is. In his first story, the thing about Dengar was that he was rebuilt from near death by the Empire to be a bounty hunter/assassin for them, with servo agumented strength, speed, and reactions, enhanced vision and hearing, and no feeings, except hope. His feelings had been burned out by the Empire when he was rebuilt by them. This is an interesting character, and if he had been portrayed correctly in Mandalorian Armor, it would have been much better. My hope is that the next few books in this series will tighten up the story somewhat, answer a few questions in the plot, and render the characters more believable. Then it would be one of the best ones around.
Rating:
Summary: Inconsistency Creates Chinks in the Armor
Review: K.W. Jeter's The Mandalorian Armor is unusual for a Star Wars book in that there is no real battle between good and evil. Instead, nearly all of the main characters represent the bad and the worse. The nefarious, though very popular, bounty hunter Boba Fett is the closest thing this novel has to a hero. Here he is portrayed as the pawn in the plotting of other, more powerful, or at least wealthier, villains. Exactly what these plots are is left irritatingly vague. The motivations and subterfuge are legion. In addition to the schemes of Prince Xizor and the Emperor Palpatine, Jeter continues the character, Bossk, a Bounty Hunting lizard, and creates two new apparently malicious entities, Kud'ar Mub'at, the spider-like "assembler" and Kuat of Kuat, the corporate executive officer of Kuat Drive Yards. All of them are working at cross purposes, but their aims are unexplained, and unfortunately like many books intended to have sequels, this first act has failed to produce any true developments at all. Several chapters are devoted to a hunt which teams Boba Fett with several other hunters against the Shell Hutts, a clan of Jeter's invention. The hunt proves futile and neither the bounty hunters nor the reader are rewarded. The reader is also subjected to Jeter's inconsistency. In science fiction, the structure of the myth is held up by the reader's suspension of disbelief. Consistency in the myth's story line is essential. Contradictions are lethal. Admittedly, in a story arc such as the Star Wars novels where there are multiple authors consistency is less than simple. However, authors who choose to continue characters established by other authors (or films) do not have the freedom to disregard the work that has preceded theirs -- and Jeter's mistakes are glaring. Here are some examples: In The Tales of The Bounty Hunters, M. Shayne Bell establishes that the Gand Bounty Hunter Zuckuss is partnered with the droid, 4-LOM, for the hunt on Han Solo while Jeter somehow asserts t! hat Zuckuss teamed with Bossk. Then, Jeter presents Zuckuss as a bumbling incompetent ("Offhand...I'd say it's a bomb..."), while again, it has already been established by Bell that Zuckuss is highly astute and even prescient. Jeter also crosses a previously uncrossed line in the relationship between the Emperor and Darth Vader. Even though Shadows of the Empire revealed some tension between them, the Emperor's occasional contempt for Vader was never expressed overtly, and it seemed inappropriate in Jeter's book for the Emperor to be so blatantly adversarial. In fact, both George Lucas and Timothy Zahn had previously established that Vader and the Emperor tried to keep from the other certain activities that would fuel a deadly rift. Jeter also ignores the fact that Kathy Tyers had previously written a story about Bossk's attempted hunt of Han Solo. Tyers left Bossk in a position where his chances for survival seemed extremely dim. The fact that Bossk is alive and well approximately two years after the hunt for Solo (which took place during the Empire Strikes Back) deserves some sort of explanation. To be more particular, Jeter declares that the maker of Hutt vessels, including Jabba's sail barge is a division of Kuat Drive Yards. No. It can be easily found in The Essential Guide To Vehicles and Vessels by Bill Smith that the manufacturing company is known as Ubrikkian. No connection to Kuat Drive Yards is mentioned at all. Perhaps a trifling fact, but Star Wars readers would be likely to catch it. One might also examine Jeter's use of the word "barve." Originating in a story by J.D. Montgomery, a "barve" is apparently a substitute in a fairly widely known joke where the "Earth equivalent" would be a cow. However, Jeter has decided, despite the fact that Montgomery has presented a barve as seemingly placid livestock, that a barve is something rather more vicious. So translating his references to barves could result in sentences such as "You're! one dangerous cow, aren't you?" True, one can't be certain what type of creature Montgomery intended to create. Perhaps barves are fire breathing cows. Still, one wonders if Jeter bothered to read the story. Jeter's contribution to the Star Wars legend is not all bad. He continues the interesting central conflict of father against son, or at least progenitor against offspring began by George Lucas. Still, science fiction fans rank among the closest of readers, and they deserve authors and editors who are just as exacting. Jeter certainly should have been able to adhere to established Star Wars story lines much more accurately.
Rating:
Summary: err....
Review: I thought the book was ok but, there is not enough character development. The book described Boba Fett in great detail and he never acted out of character. This did not apply to the other characters. I found that they were always acting in ways that contridicted previous descriptions. Example: When Cradossk and Zuckuss are talking, Cradossk goes from a guy hooked on Honor to a bookie.If you've never read any other SW books i suppose this is ok but if your a SW freak, like myself, you might find this a little dissapointing.
Rating:
Summary: Weakly written and generic
Review: The Star Wars bounty hunters are a fascinating lot, aren't they? Zuckuss is a Gand "findsman" who practices a mystic religion akin to the Force to track his prey; Dengar is an Imperial-trained cyborg assassin whose brain has been deprived of emotional capacity; Bossk, like the Thugs of India, dedicates his kills to the Trandoshan goddess of death. A lot of effort has been put in by other authors to give all these "throwaway" characters depth and intrigue. Unfortunately, K.W. Jeter was seemingly aware of none of the above when he did his homework- or rather, failed to- for this novel. I must agree with Mr. Lowery of Baton Rouge that the characters are unrecognizable. Jeter's portrayal of them is so bland and generic that if he didn't repeat their names constantly, a reader would be unable to tell anyone in the narrative apart. Add to this the facts that A) Boba Fett talks way too much, B) the inane chapter-long "conspiracy" conversations between the principals could be boiled down to about a paragraph each without losing substance, and C) such inappropriate phraseology such as Bossk saying "Don't sweat it" (what?!), and it becomes painfully obvious that Jeter made little effort to familiarize himself with the flavor of the Star Wars universe before embarking on this halfbaked work. It is vaguely redeemed by some intriguing new aliens such as the spidery Assembler; but on the whole, it comes in a close second to the wretched travesty "Darksaber" as the most embarrassingly clunky Star Wars novel to date. After the originality of his cyberpunk adventure,"Farewell Horizontal," I expected Jeter to bring some new energy to the tiring Star Wars saga. I was sorely disappointed. If you want to read high-quality work about your favorite galactic mercenaries, pick up "Tales of the Bounty Hunters," but skip "The Mandalorian Armor." If Jeter's name is on the next book in this series, you can bet I won't be buying it.
Rating:
Summary: Too many shifts in time-line
Review: While the book was enjoyable overall, I found that the author shifted from present to past too often. He also didn't focus enough on Bobba Fett's past. Just enough teases and hints into Fett's past to make you want more, but never fully fulfilled.
Rating:
Summary: Get rid of the author.
Review: Okay. I looovve Boba Fett. And I think any book starring mostly him is great. Wonderful. Excellent. Really. But...PLEASE. This author...well....uugghhh. Everyone he portrays he portrays as the same. There is...the same...FEEL to each character. And he uses the word "Barve" WAY too much, with people who have never had any tendancy to use it before in other books. The plot is good. The new characters are good. But the style, frankly, makes me sick. If they continued this series with a different author, I swear I'd run right up to the Publisher or the Editor or the Commitee Of Great Powers Who Decide The Direction Of The Star Wars Continuum (hey, don't give me that look, I'm only 13 years old! How am I supposed to know who makes the rules?) and donate A Whole Lotta Money. Really. I would. I swear! Just think about it. Contemplate it. Feel it. Then do it. Okay. Bye now.
Rating:
Summary: This is one of the best books in the saga!!!
Review: I have always been intrigued and mezmerized by Boba Fett, and this book not only took my level of interest to an even higher level, but brought back much of the magic of the earlier anthologies (eg.-"Tales of the Bounty Hunters," "Tales from Jabba's Palace," etc) where back alley cut-throats, sub plots wound in sub plots, and highest level backstabbing are all par for the course in the Star Wars universe. This is just how the Star Wars universe SHOULD be depicted, dark and dangerous! I couldn't put this book down until I'd read it straight through! I loved the new characters D'harhan and Kud'ar Mub'at, I would be very anxious to get to know them much better somewhere down the line---get ready for some new spin offs, these characters lend themselves very well to new plot lines and new intrigues! One problem I noted in this story, though, is where Zuckuss falls into it. It seems there is a slight detraction from the time line here. If the setting is in the events of Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, 4-LOM should play a much more significant role in Zuckuss' life than Bossk, especially where partners are concerned! Overall, I was very refreshed with the darkness and sub-plotting, where every nod or turn of the head has meaning--it fits right in with my original and unwavering impression of the Star Wars Universe! If the other 2 books in this series are anything like this one, the Bounty Hunter Wars series just *might* run parallel with Zahn's "Thrawn" Trilogy!
|
