When Star Wars first came out, this was back when the first movie was still called Star Wars and not A New Hope as it was later christened, (I don't think anyone even knew that it was the 4th story, but considered it the first) there was no EU, and kids like me, whose imaginations had been fired by the concept were eager for more content featuring our heroes.
I read Alan Dean Foster's 'sequel' to Star Wars; Splinter of the Minds Eye, as soon as I could get my hot little hands on it, and I did enjoy that, but what I really wanted were more stories featuring the roguish smuggler Han Solo. Solo was the favourite character of many, and I was no exception.
There was no internet then and I didn't live close to any bookstore of size, so the first I heard that Brian Daley had given me my wish was an excerpt from the second book that I found in a magazine at my grandmother's house. Once the genie was out of the bottle I knew I had to get these books, so I tracked them down. I read them and loved them and I'm pretty sure that they only whetted my already heightened appetite for The Empire Strikes Back.
I have read them a few times over the years, and I know they're no longer canon, but I tend to prefer Daley's background for Solo over others that I've read.
As an example of old school science fiction/space opera they still hold up. Maybe it's because I like my science fiction with a lot of cheese, it could also have to do with my love of Han Solo as a character. He has held a top spot in my list of fictional heroes right from the time he swaggered into that cantina in Mos Eisley.
The books are set not all that long before Han and Chewbacca met Ben and Luke on Tatooine. I base that on a short conversation between the Corellian smuggler and the Wookiee at the end of the last book; Han Solo and the Lost Legacy, where Han suggests that they try their luck again with the Kessel Spice Run and the idea of being financed by the Hutts is also mentioned.
Han's back story isn't investigated in great detail, but it is covered briefly in a conversation with a character in Han Solo at Star's End where he says that he lost his spot at the space academy due to an incident with a lady and his superior officer and the only one who could clear Han's name was an off worlder and who would believe a Wookiee?
The books are really old school with Han and Chewbacca going from one wild adventure and money raising scheme to another. There are chases and gunfights as well as shootouts between star fighters and space pirates. While they're very definitely set in outer space and they use blasters rather than six shooters, there's a lot of the Western in these stories. Han's definite matinee movie hero material and he even has a different love interest (all failed) in each book.
They're a huge amount of fun and in my opinion about the best thing to come out of the franchise since the movie that started it all. I would have loved to see them filmed, but I do understand that logistically that would never have been possible and that's without taking into account Harrison Ford's indifference to playing the character.
There are some differences to the Star Wars universe as it existed back then pre The Empire Strikes Back. One is the absence of the Empire (it's too late for it not to be a factor), it's place is taken by a massive oppressive commercial conglomerate known only as The Authority (I assume there were contractual issues around using the Empire). The other departure was the droids. Han does have droids, he acquired them early in the first book; Zollux and Blue Max. Zollux is a fairly old labour droid and his constant companion is the advanced little blue cube who uses the name Max. There's probably meant to be a correlation between them and C-3PO and R2-D2. Max is very R2 in that he is widely regarded by everyone as a child, because of his obvious newness and his voice, which sounds childlike (even Han treats him that way, scolding him for using bad language just because he does). Zollux is less like 3PO, having been a labour droid. I would have preferred he take 3PO's place to be honest. The protocol droid has been little more than an annoyance since the first film. Zollux and Max parted company with Han and Chewbacca at the end of the last book.
I could read these again and again and I probably will.
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