Star Wars: Hard Merchandise (Star Wars: The Bounty Hunter Wars, #3)

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Star Wars: Hard Merchandise (Star Wars: The Bounty Hunter Wars #3)

by K.W. Jeter (Goodreads Author), Timothy Zahn (Goodreads Author)

3.59 of 5 stars 3.59 · rating details · 2,063 ratings · 31 reviews

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...more

Paperback, 368 pages

Published July 1999 by Spectra

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Best Star Wars Books

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Tales of the Bounty Hunters by Kevin J. Anderson

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Jul 11, 2010 Crystal Starr Light rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-at-your-own-risk, star-wars, so-boring-it-s-boring

A psuedo-mystery that gives a lesson in "Show don't tell"
Fett, Dengar, and Neelah find out answers to important questions that they've been thinking and talking about endlessly since The Mandalorian Armor.
NOTE: Based on the novel (read years ago) and the audiobook.

I Liked:
The mystery that is the meat and bones of this novel is fascinating. As I read Boba Fett talking to Kuat of Kuat and relating it, I was actually impressed with the detail and intricacy that Jeter put into it (even as I was frus...more A psuedo-mystery that gives a lesson in "Show don't tell"
Fett, Dengar, and Neelah find out answers to important questions that they've been thinking and talking about endlessly since The Mandalorian Armor.
NOTE: Based on the novel (read years ago) and the audiobook.

I Liked:
The mystery that is the meat and bones of this novel is fascinating. As I read Boba Fett talking to Kuat of Kuat and relating it, I was actually impressed with the detail and intricacy that Jeter put into it (even as I was frustrated at the same time). I liked how the enemy wasn't the Empire, wasn't the Hutts, but a new person completely.
Once again, when Jeter does include an action scene, it is a good one, well-written, very appropriate for his characters.
Also, I really did enjoy reading adventures about Fett, Dengar, and even Kuat of Kuat. Fett is really well-done (if too talky and too perfect), Dengar is a really relatable character (I love his relationship with Manaroo), and Kuat of Kuat really proved to be an interesting character...

I Didn't Like:
but couldn't the characters just shut up once and awhile? Every scene is littered with endless talking, talking, talking or thinking, thinking, thinking. Fett and Dengar visit Kud'ar Mub'at and they talk. They learn nothing of value, but they talk. Then Fett and Dengar visit Balancesheet and they talk. They learn they have to go back to Tatooine, where they meet Bossk. Boba Fett and Bossk meet at opposite ends of gunpoint and they talk. Finally, Bossk hands over the falsified evidence to Fett and Fett is off to KDY. Then Fett, Dengar, and Neelah get caught by KDY and chew the fat with them. In between, Neelah thinks, moans and gripes about her lost memory. Because I was listening to the audiobook, I started toning things out or yelling at the narrator (God bless his soul) to stop talking already! It seemed like people would do something...and stop to talk about it. While they are talking, they would stop to think back on the history of something. Then they would talk. Then they would do something. And on and on and on until I wanted to strangle myself.
Bringing Kud'ar Mub'at back to life was lame. If he's dead, he's dead. I don't care what species or other lame excuse you use to bring him back. Plus, his scene was completely worthless.
Neelah was a freaking annoying character who I wanted to die. I also wasn't fond of how her sister was so evil and all that jazz.
I wasn't that fond of the overemphasis placed on the Battle of Endor or the falsified evidence of who killed the Lars family. Let's keep our Big Three in their own stories and leave them out of the side stories like this one. We have enough stories with them int he limelight.
And Boba Fett talks too much!

Dialogue/Sexual Situations/Violence:
Little to none.
Other than Neelah being a dancer (yes, I know it's annoying, but if you read the book, you'll find it does the same thing), nothing.
Fett and Bossk face off. Kuat Drive Yards is destroyed.

Overall:
It's a pity. There is a good story, a good mystery hidden in this trilogy. But the unfortunate thing is the trilogy is hidden behind people TELLING you the answers instead of the characters SHOWING you the answers. And that's the biggest crime: Jeter tells you, doesn't show you. He doesn't show the investigation, he tells you through Fett expositing how he learned such-and-such by doing this-and-that, which never is shown in the book. He doesn't show you Xizor planning, he tells you his plans through Xizor yapping with Palpatine and Vader. Sometimes an author has to exposit, can't show a scene, or doesn't want to repeat a whole scene again (the typical "X told Y about Z"). That is completely okay. But when an entire trilogy is one long expository dialogue, it is more than tiring, it is painful.
Unless you are a Boba Fett fan and are eager to read him talk, skip. Hopefully, a different author will come along and write a much better Fett-centric story in the future. (less)

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Jul 29, 2011 Mike Smith rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: star-wars

This third and final book in the "Bounty Hunter Wars" trilogy was longer than it needed to be. I found there was a lot of repetition. One character frequently "folded her arms across her breast". I lost count of the number of times I read that phrase. A lot of key plot points were provided by characters who came out of nowhere, delivered key information, and disappeared into the background again. While the book wrapped up all the loose ends of the previous two entries, there was no way the reade...more

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Jul 09, 2009 Ron rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, science-fiction, star-wars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Oct 19, 2010 Rooney rated it 4 of 5 stars

I've read some pretty negative reviews for this trilogy, so I was apprehensive about what K. W. Jeter had done to one of the coolest Star Wars characters. But having now read the books, I have to say I disagree with the critics. I thoroughly enjoyed them.

That's not to say they're shining examples of western literature, but for what they are (Star Wars novels remember - sci-fi paperbacks!) they are well written and entertaining.

I do think that the title of the Series "The Bounty Hunter Wars" is v...more

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Aug 10, 2009 Mike rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. "Hard Merchandise" is the final book in the Bounty Hunter Wars series of Star Wars tie-in novels.
I've read this whole series in a relatively short amount of time, but that doesn't mean it's good.
I would characterize the entire trilogy in two words: pointless, predictable.
I like Boba Fett, as do many Star Wars fans. The adventures he has are somewhat believeable but the characterization of him--launching (like every other character) into long expository monologues--just did not seem realistic for...more "Hard Merchandise" is the final book in the Bounty Hunter Wars series of Star Wars tie-in novels.
I've read this whole series in a relatively short amount of time, but that doesn't mean it's good.
I would characterize the entire trilogy in two words: pointless, predictable.
I like Boba Fett, as do many Star Wars fans. The adventures he has are somewhat believeable but the characterization of him--launching (like every other character) into long expository monologues--just did not seem realistic for the character.
The flaws of the first two books in the series continue here--interminable "meeting" scenes where the plot is dissected in minute detail, equally interminable internal monologues by most of the characters which often rehash the same sets of plot points already beaten to death in the endless meeting scenes, and the fact that the plots all tie together in a much ado about nothing (not to compare this trilogy in any way to Shakespeare) shrug-fest.
The "past" timeline story is ostensibly about the collapse of the old Bounty Hunters Guild. But we only get to see a small part of that struggle. Once Cradoosk (Bossk's father) is dead and the Guild splits into two factions, not much is made of the collapse of both factions.
And the catalyst for the story, fabricated evidence that implicated Prince Xizor in the death of Luke Skywalker's aunt and uncle, is supposedly why the "villain" of this trilogy, Kuat of Kuat, risked his entire empire by trying to retrieve it (and kill Boba Fett) is really flimsy. Falsified evidence implicating a dead man (Xizor is dead by the time the "current" timeline takes place) isn't the type of thing to ruin an corporate empire over.
On top of that, Kuat is not a dynamic foe. He sits and thinks and strokes his cat. He barely acts at all, except when beating up his Kuatese rivals in book 2.
Bossk appears intermittently as Boba Fett's villainous foil, as does Prince Xizor, but neither stick around for very long.
The entire plot concerning Neelah the mystery woman is lame at best. It's a version of the old amnesiac princess trope.
And Dengar mostly serves as Boba Fett's witless sidekick who is so emotionally besotted by his betrothed and intimidated by Fett that he's nearly useless as a character and a combatant. He's there mostly to be somewhat likeable. Boba Fett is left with almost all of the action, which isn't a bad thing, but Fett is so close to invincible that there's very little sense of danger or risk.
What bohers me most, I'd say, about this trilogy is that it's guilty of flat-out bad writing from beginning to end. It takes interest in pre-established characters and slowly (very slowly) grinds them through a set of predictable conflicts and subjects the reader to lots of repetitive blather.
Take my advice and don't bother with this series unless you're a super hardcore Boba Fett fan or really, really bored.(less)

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Oct 06, 2012 Babuir rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: star-wars

Out of all the EU SW books I have read, this is by far the best and brightest of the bunch. Jeter has this amazing ability to shift back and forth seamlessly between timelines to tell you a very intriguing story about a very intriguing character. I bought these when they debuted on paperback, and just finished them as e-books on my Nook. This trilogy is far superior to Zahn's initial Thrawn trilogy in that it doesn't get bogged down by plot, sub-plot, sub-sub-plot, and so on. Everything is clear...more

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Oct 08, 2012 M. David Loyal rated it 2 of 5 stars

Hard Merchandise is another Star Wars book. It takes place in about the same time period. It is book 3 of the Bounty Hunter Wars. The story centers around Boba Fett and the some of the other bounty hunters seen in the Empire Strikes Back. A lot of the story is told in flashback, and it is sometimes hard to keep track of when a chapter is happening. There is a mystery element to the trilogy, but unfortunately the audience is not given all the clues so one cannot figure it out ahead of time. All i...more

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Jul 25, 2011 Haruka rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book was a downright drag. Drawn out and very boring in spots, and everything didn't connect. I don't really understand why Jeter had to bring in one more additional subplot (who and what was behind the killing of Luke's aunt and uncle) that never really was resolved. Boba Fett was way too vocal and too nice in this entire series; for a man who is supposed to have an air of mystery and death shrouding him all the time he talked way too much. After reading the first and second books I though...more

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Aug 20, 2012 Jeff Lanter rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: star-wars

Satisfying. That is how I would describe the final book of this trilogy. Unlike Slave Ship, there is a good amount of action and plot development throughout the final book. There aren't any major surprises at the end, but Hard Merchandise keeps you interested all the way to the closing pages. I want to praise K.W. Jeter for finding a way to tell two plots set in different times and keep everything in the Star Wars canon. That is quite an impressive accomplishment. My only complaint is that Denga...more

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Jul 03, 2011 Mark rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: i-was-young-and-dumb-okay, science-fiction, star-wars

I must remember less of this book and trilogy at large as I thought, because reading the brief summary on Wookieepedia (don't judge) says this:

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.

Much as I remember the EU more fondly than the prequel movies, there are times where I remember just how much bet...more

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Sep 10, 2011 James Caterino rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, movie-and-tv-tie-ins, cover-caught-my-eye, all-time-favorites

I went on a Star Wars extended universe binge in the mid 90's and next to the outstanding X-Wing series by Michael A. Stackpole and Aaron Allston, the Bounty Hunter trilogy books are my favorite.

Many fans were put off by K.W. Jeter's emotionally distant, hard edged style. But the cyberpunk author is the perfect writer to flesh out the cult character Boba Fett and to tell what is essentially an old school hard-boiled gangster story set between the the events in Empire and Jedi.

A great SF anti-h...more

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Apr 15, 2010 Wesley rated it 1 of 5 stars

Worst series of books in the whole Star Wars 100+ books. This was written like it was for a 4 yr old's cartoon and not Star Wars. Teh bounty hunters are too clumsy and stupid to consider being the best of anything. Of course, Boba Fett gets the better of these idiots...all this proves is that he is at least slightly below average as a human being as that is all it would take to beat these bumbling idiots. It does nothing for the cool factor for Boba....Terrible, even for a comic book writer tryi...more

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Oct 22, 2009 Travis rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: star-wars, manly-literature

This series just lost steam.
Bossk and Boba Fett never got any more personality, and just being a bad ass isn't enough to keep a trilogy going. Dengar ended up being pretty wussy for being one of the galaxy's top bounty hunter.
So, to have a bunch of characters I didn't care about constantly double crossing each other just got boring.

I do like Zuckus and 4-Lom. They were an interesting duo and should get their own book.

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Aug 19, 2011 Tara O'Sullivan rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: star, wars

I've said it before in the descriptions of the other books....It was torture to get through. The plot is fantastic and in the hands of another author, this story could have flourished. But, alas...[return][return]....still, I read it. I'm done. And, mark my words...I'll never read these a third time over. Ever.

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Mar 30, 2013 Kelly Lynn Thomas rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: star-wars

I don't often say this about Star Wars novels, because I am most definitely a biased reader when it comes to SW, but this trilogy just plain sucks. The writing is bad, and the plot is RIDICULOUS. Read the summaries on Wookieepedia, don't bother with the books.

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Aug 28, 2012 Lex rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: star-wars, sci-fi, fiction, fantasy

The conclusion to the Bounty Hunters War trilogy was alright. Some unsurprising twists and good revelations, but still a good read.

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Nov 26, 2010 Stefan rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is one of the best Star Wars book series, filled with intrigue and so many awesome clever tricks. Great fun to read.

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Mar 28, 2013 Jesse Booth rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013

I won't say much about this book, as my previous reviews about the first two books in this series applies to this one, too. My biggest issue was how conversational Boba Fett is. He is supposed to be straight to the point, and while there were moments where he was abrupt and sharp, they were very few and far between.

My initial interest in this series actually came about due to Xizor's character. I liked him in Shadows of the Empire, and was interested in gaining more perspective on him. He hardly...more

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Mar 05, 2009 Ross rated it 5 of 5 stars

This started me reading all of the star wars books many years ago.

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Jul 05, 2012 Jc rated it 3 of 5 stars

kind of a disspointing ending but it's still about Boba Fett.

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Jan 11, 2011 Greg rated it 1 of 5 stars

The epically bad conclusion of a horrible HORRIBLE trilogy of books.

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Oct 30, 2012 Luke Nyland rated it 4 of 5 stars

Fantastic! Great story, brilliant plot twists!

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Mar 23, 2010 Tawon Bruce added it

i learned adventure and trust

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Feb 17, 2008 DC rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 06, 2010 Patrick Nilsen rated it 4 of 5 stars

remembered liking it.

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Dec 01, 2008 Mr.chewbacca rated it 3 of 5 stars

Good book.

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Aug 27, 2012 Ross rated it 5 of 5 stars

Epic still

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Jul 30, 2011 Anna rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: star-wars, own

Not the best

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Mar 31, 2010 Jessie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: star-wars

I can't wait to finish this terrible trilogy. It had slowed down my progress in the Star Wars books by a full year, I kid you not.

Well, I am finally done and the only reason this got 2 stars instead of 1 was that I like the grit of Boba Fett's character and you really do need the entire trilogy to see enough of that. But I can't be happier to be done with this crappy trilogy.

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Sep 05, 2011 Derrick rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2009, star-wars, owned-in-hc

A mediocre ending to a very mediocre trilogy. Boba Fett was not the main character and he was 2 dimensional. The writing was insipid and didn't make you feel anything, even disgust. This series was warm, bland mushy oatmeal. At least Karen Traviss gives some depth and personality to Fett.

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About K.W. Jeter

Kevin Wayne Jeter (born 1950) is an American science fiction and horror author known for his literary writing style, dark themes, and paranoid, unsympathetic characters. He has written novels set in the Star Trek and Star Wars universe, and has written three (to date) sequels to Blade Runner.

Series:
* Doctor Adder

Series contributed to:
* Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
* Alien Nation
* Blade Runner
* Star W ...more

More about K.W. Jeter...

Books by K.W. Jeter

The Mandalorian Armor (Star Wars: The Bounty Hunter Wars, #1)

Star Wars: The Bounty Hunter Wars 2 - Slave Ship

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Star Wars: Hard Merchandise (Star Wars: The Bounty Hunter Wars #3)

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