Scott's Rating:   3.5 out of 4

Young Boba Fett continues to grow as a Bounty Hunter in service of Jabba the Hutt. As he returns with his latest kill, he is immediately sent out again on his most dangerous mission ever. The Republic has secretly hired Jabba’s bounty hunters to capture or assassinate key members of the Separatist’s leadership. At their request, Jabba sends Boba Fett after Wat Tambor. The Techno Union representative is holed up in a fortress on the planet of Xagobah. His fortress also happens to be under siege by the Jedi and the Clone Trooper army. Despite this, Jabba still wants to collect the bounty for himself. Boba must face many dangers to capture Wat Tambor, but little does he know that an unknown new threat guards the Separatist – General Grievous!

Scott:

    Boba Fett #5 will be remembered primarily for one thing – the introduction of Episode 3’s General Grievous. He will be a new character unveiled in his full glory in the films, but this is the first place we see him in a Star Wars story. (The cover of this book also provided one of the first looks at him.) As the leader of the Separatist droid army, Grievous is shown to be a formidable adversary in this book. He’s only in the last eleven pages of the book, but it is enough to leave you wanting more. The cliffhanger ending seems to promise more in the next book.

Besides the landmark unveiling of the prequel character, this book includes several other key ingredients of a good Star Wars story. It shows heaping helpings of action. Boba Fett is fighting for a good majority of the book. He battles droids, aliens, and his fellow clones. The book also features an interesting new planet filled with bizarre creatures and plant life. As many planets as there have been introduced in the Star Wars Expanded Universe, this one still stands out as unique. Then there are re-appearances of classic characters like Jabba the Hutt, Bib Fortuna, and even Anakin Skywalker.

Another key ingredient is that Elizabeth Hand has Boba Fett continue to grow as a character. He takes a major step from being the boy we saw in Episode II towards the man we saw in the classic trilogy. He starts using his father’s armor, continues to wrestle with the fact that the Republic’s clones look like his father, and maintains his hatred of the Jedi. Boba even starts to form a surrogate family in Jabba’s Palace, thus explaining why he’d continue to hang out in such a dump.

Overall, it’s a good Boba Fett story and a nice addition to the Star Wars Expanded Universe.

Scott:

    First off, anyone buying this book expecting to learn a lot about General Grievous is going to be disappointed. Not only is he barely in the book, but they don’t tell you much that you can’t read in the Insider or StarWars.Com. You may have to stick with the series to learn more.

Second, there’s a huge leap between Boba Fett #4 – Hunted and this book. Fett goes from being a young inexperienced kid to being a bounty hunter capable of killing a Noghri. Since the Noghri were portrayed as being some of the best fighters in the galaxy, this is quite a leap. I think there needed to be more filler describing where he could have gotten that experience.

Other than that, though, I have no complaints.

Scott:

    Nothing to add here.