Lando’s Luck is the first junior novel of the Flight of the Millenium Falcon series focused on following the less-known adventures involving the Millenium Falcon throughout the Star Wars Saga. The story features Lando and his first mate, L3-37, as a smuggling duo prior to Solo: A Star Wars Story.
The junior reader follows the “story within a story” format similar to previous novels, such as those in the Journey To The Force Awakens Series. It begins and ends with Bazine Netal (the woman who reported Han, Rey, and Finn in Maz Kanata’s Cantina) searching for leads on the Millenium Falcon in a back world cantina. She stumbles upon a woman who tells Bazine about her adventures with Lando Calrissian when he owned the Millenium Falcon. Interestingly, after recounting the story, the book ends as Bazine receives another tip that the Millenium Falcon was spotted on Batuu (the planet that Disneyland and Disney World’s “Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge” attraction is based on).
The “story within the story” begins with young Lando Calrissian at the Sabacc table on a planet named Hynestia, sparing some time for a little gambling while in between various smuggling runs. Lando quickly becomes intertwined in a plot involving the Hynestian royalty, the Empire, and a mysterious cat-like species called the Lynna. While Lando’s luck continually oscillates throughout the story, providing him with great fortune one moment and near-death catastrophe the next, he stays true to form and never loses his cool. Ultimately, he finds a way to become a hero to the Lynna, appease the Hynestian Royalty, and steer clear of the Empire to allow himself to smuggle another day with his loyal first mate.
The story does a great job with Lando and L3. Lando is portrayed as the pretentious, smooth-talking smuggler who is a bit too obsessed with appearances. L3 is as independent as ever, continually insisting that those in the story respect her rights as an equal. And while appearances, credits and ‘illusions of grandeur’ describe Lando’s surface-level motivations, we begin to see a bit more depth as the seeds are planted that eventually grow into Lando becoming a respectable leader in the crusade to overthrow the Empire.
Overall, Lando’s Luck was a quick, enjoyable read. While I didn’t find anything incredibly revealing or consequential as it relates to the rest of the canon, it was still an enjoyable supplement to the overall Star Wars Story. The story had the right mixture of fun and adventure that makes it applicable for Star Wars fans of all ages.
Click Here to pick this up via digital, audio or physical form. We would like to thank Del Rey/Penguin Random House for providing the review sample.
