Product Description

Boba Fett fears only one enemy--the one he cannot see....

Feared and admired, respected and despised, Boba Fett enjoys a dubious reputation as the galaxy's most successful bounty hunter. Yet even a man like Boba Fett can have one too many enemies....

When Boba Fett stumbles across evidence implicating Prince Xizor in the murder of Luke Skywalker's aunt and uncle, Fett makes himself an enemy even he fears: the unknown mastermind behind a monstrous deception, who will kill to hide his tracks. Fett also finds himself in possession of an amnesiac young woman named Neelah, who may be the key to the mystery--or a decoy leading Fett into a murderous ambush. Fett's last hope is to run through the list of Xizor's hidden enemies. And since Xizor's hidden enemies are almost as legion as Fett's, the chance of survival is slim--even for someone as skilled and relentless as Boba Fett.

© 1999 Lucasfilm Ltd. and TM. All rights reserved. Used under authorization.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #157480 in Books
• Published on: 1999-07-06
• Released on: 1999-07-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 368 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780553578911
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Review
A ruthless enemy threatens Boba Fett with a fate worse than death. . .

From the Inside Flap
Boba Fett fears only one enemy--the one he cannot see....

Feared and admired, respected and despised, Boba Fett enjoys a dubious reputation as the galaxy's most successful bounty hunter. Yet even a man like Boba Fett can have one too many enemies....

When Boba Fett stumbles across evidence implicating Prince Xizor in the murder of Luke Skywalker's aunt and uncle, Fett makes himself an enemy even he fears: the unknown mastermind behind a monstrous deception, who will kill to hide his tracks. Fett also finds himself in possession of an amnesiac young woman named Neelah, who may be the key to the mystery--or a decoy leading Fett into a murderous ambush. Fett's last hope is to run through the list of Xizor's hidden enemies. And since Xizor's hidden enemies are almost as legion as Fett's, the chance of survival is slim--even for someone as skilled and relentless as Boba Fett.



© 1999 Lucasfilm Ltd. and TM.  All rights reserved.  Used under authorization.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
NOW . . .
(during the events of Star Wars:  Return of the Jedi)

Two bounty hunters sat in a bar, talking.

"Things aren't what they used to be," said Zuckuss morosely. As a member of one of the ammonia-breathing species of his homeworld Gand, he had to be careful in establishments such as this. Intoxicants and stimulants that produced feelings of well-being in other creatures often evoked a profound melancholy in him. Even in a high-class place that supposedly catered to all known physiologies--the soothing, programmed play of lights across the columned walls, the shifting spectra that were supposed to relax weary travelers' central nervous systems, struck Zuckuss as crepuscular and depressing as the faded hopes of his youth. I had ambitions once, he told himself, leaning over the tall, blue-tinged glass in front of him. Big ones. Where had they gone?

"I wouldn't know," said Zuckuss's companion. The droid bounty hunter 4-LOM sat across from him, an untouched drink--perhaps only water--in front of him. A mere formality: the drink had been taken away twice already and replaced with exactly the same thing, so the charges could be rung up on 4-LOM's tab. That was the only way that nonimbibing constructs such as droids could make themselves welcome in any kind of watering hole. "Your attitude," continued 4-LOM, "implies a value judgment on your part. That is, that things were better at one time than they are now. I don't make those kinds of judgments. I merely deal with things as they are."

You would, thought Zuckuss. This was what he got for hooking up with a cold-blooded--cold-circuited, at least--creature like 4-LOM. There were plenty of excitable droids in the galaxy--Zuckuss had run into a few--but the ones that were attracted to the bounty hunter trade all shared the same vibroblade-edged logic and absolute-zero emotional tone. They hunted, and killed when necessary, without even the tiniest acceleration of electrons along their inner connectors.

The bar's soft, dirgelike background music--it was supposed to be soothing as well, with harmonic overtones of almost narcotic languor--made Zuckuss think of his previous partner Bossk. The Trandoshan bounty hunter had been cold-blooded, literally so, but one would never have guessed it from the way he'd carried on.

"Now that," said Zuckuss with a slow, emphatic nod, "that was real bounty hunting. That had some passion to it. Real excitement." He extended the retractable pipette from the lower part of his face mask and sucked up another swallow of the drink, though he knew it would only deepen and darken his mood. "We had some good times together, me and Bossk . . ."

"That wasn't what you said when you agreed to become partners with me once more." 4-LOM's photo-optical receptors kept a slow, careful scan around the bar and its other occupants, even as the droid kept up his end of the conversation. He talked for no reason other than to avoid drawing attention to himself and Zuckuss as they waited for their quarry to make an appearance. "Value judgments aside, the exact record of your statement is that you had had enough of Bossk's way of doing business. Too much danger--if that's what you mean by 'excitement'--and not enough credits. So you wanted a change."

"Don't use my own words against me." Zuckuss knew that he had gotten what he had asked for. And what could be worse than that?

"Mourn the old days if you want," said 4-LOM after a few moments of silence had passed. "We have business to take care of. Please direct your waning attention toward the entrance."

Worse than dealing with Boba Fett, grumbled Zuckuss to himself. At least when you got involved with Fett, you were assured that you were face-mask-to-helmet with the best bounty hunter in the galaxy, someone who had plenty of reason for taking such a high-and-mighty attitude. Where did 4-LOM get off, lording it over him this way? If it hadn't been for some stretches of bad luck, and a few unfortunate strategic decisions, it would have been the droid that had been looking to hook up with him again, rather than the other way around. Though they had been partners before, and for a lot longer than Zuckuss had been hooked up with Bossk, the relationship between them could never be the same. Back then, 4-LOM had even saved Zuckuss's life, when he had been dying from his ammonia-breathing lungs having been exposed to an accidental inhalation of oxygen. The two of them had even made other plans together, of working for the Rebel Alliance in some way . . .

Those plans hadn't worked out, though. Their time as members of the Rebel Alliance--double agents, actually, since they had kept secret their new allegiance to the Rebel cause--had been occupied with one significant operation: an attempt to snatch from Boba Fett the carbonite slab with Han Solo frozen inside it, before Fett could deliver the prize to Jabba the Hutt. The plan, using several other bounty hunters as unwitting dupes, had had disastrous results. It hadn't succeeded, and 4-LOM had needed a complete core-to-sheath rebuild to get back on his feet. And, mused Zuckuss, he wasn't the same after that. This idealism that had led 4-LOM to join the Rebel Alliance had all but evaporated, replaced by his former cold-spirited greed. Zuckuss supposed that came from hanging out once again with the other bounty hunters; he had felt their mercenary natures rubbing off onto him as well.

Plus there was one factor that both of them hadn't counted on when they had joined the Alliance. A factor that made all the difference in the universe--

Being a Rebel didn't pay.

Customer Reviews

excellent
This was a great conclusion to the series. I really was enthralled with this book. It had a lot of surprises which kept the story line interesting and suspenseful. I think that this trilogy was a good portrayal of boba Fett and for those who think not, Stop reading those stupid comics!! I have a point to make regarding these books. I am a blind reader who relys on the audio version of books to stay on top of current titles. Though the audio version of Star wars books are usually abridged, they usually come with sound effects and music which turns the book into a kind of audio movie. I think the trade off is worth it and would rather listen to an abridged version which basically tells the main story rather then read a full version with additional yet unnecessary passages. I say this because I find when listening to these books they really put you in the Star Wars universe and you don't get bored! Take my advise and listen to a few, you'll be glad you did!! Maybe then you wouldn't find some of SW books too long or boring!

The Bounty Hunter Wars limps to an ending
Hard Merchandise is the conclusion of K. W. Jeter's The Bounty Hunter Wars trilogy. Boba Fett is back in action, although lacking his beloved ship Slave I, and he wants to know who tried to bomb him on Tatooine and why. Adding to the mystery is a cryptic recording of the slaughter of Owen and Beru Lars by Imperial Stormtroopers that we saw the aftermath of in A New Hope. The specialized smell sensors used add to the recording a sign indicating Prince Xizor might have been involved in this tragic event. None of the characters really believe that's true, but Fett smells credits at the end of the trail and wants to find out where the recording originated and why someone would want to implicate Xizor.

I haven't mentioned much in my other two reviews of this trilogy about Neelah, the escaped slave from Jabba's Palace. This is partially because her story unfolds painfully slowly, and it's only in this volume that she gets any answers about her mysterious amnesia. When she does get them, they're not particularly revelatory. We also find out the extent of Kuat of Kuat's plotting and why he is so keen on having Fett eliminated.

The theme of Boba Fett as super-human bounty hunter continues even more strongly in this book. By the end, he's piloting a Star Destroyer by himself! His gaining the upper-hand in almost every scene becomes boringly predictable, and even when it appears he might have been bested by Black Sun at the climax, it's almost certain that he'll win when he takes on the entire organization, based on his characterization here. It's lucky for Dengar that he plans to retire, based on the competency level Jeter grants him.

I simply felt worn out at the end of this trilogy from the endless repetition of names, descriptions, dialogue, and character motivations. There are some entertaining sections and the kernels of a good single book lurking in here, but the trilogy is too drawn out for me to recommend.

Too bad I have to give it a star.
I have not finished this book, but I will review the whole trilogy here. If the author of this book would bother to read Tales of the Bounty Hunters or even the X-Wing books, he would realize that Zuckuss was a completly different character than the Gand in this book. No Gand (if other books are correct) would use pronouns. Since Gands happen to be one of my favorite species in Star Wars, having Zuckuss constantly say "I" was anoying. 4-LOM has a vision in Tales of the Bounty Hunters of himself as a Jedi. I have been waiting for the book which expands on this, and I have learned that in fact, Zuckuss and 4-LOM never intended on joining the Alliance. I would suggest that you ignore this entire series.