Foster's name was familiar, although I can't remember actually reading anything by him, he's best known to me for his Star Trek and Alien novels- other adaptions and Fan Fiction-type books.
The Star Wars EU, although Disney has recently thrown a good bit of it out, is one of the most developed of any Sci-Fi universe- every throw-away line and background character has its story- and this, the first novel written, is where it starts. According to that supreme source Wikipedia (backed up by Star Wars Insider) Foster not only had access to many of the early drafts and story ideas, but this novel was to be a cheap sequel if the first film was a flop. This would have lead to a very different development of the series, as I'll expand on later.
The novel itself is a good light read, don't be expecting much in the way of prose style, but it does have something of a swords and sorcery feel to parts, especially towards the end, where Luke and Leia fight their way through a system of caves to reach an ancient temple dominated by a giant Cthulhu statue, wherein lies a gem with Force-controlling powers. This actually works pretty well with the space opera of the films.
The most interesting thing to me is to see how exactly this novel influenced and is different from what could be called 'mainstream' or at least more recent EU material. There are two major deviations from the norm:
Han is only mentioned in a throw-away line on the last page, taking his and Ben Kenobi's place is Halla, a smart-alec witch woman. There are two Chewie-type strong arm aliens that ally themselves with Luke and co., reminding me of the later Gamorrean guards.
"No Luke, I am your father" and especially Luke and Leia's relationship was obviously as big a surprise to Foster as anyone else. Luke has some more than brotherly feelings towards Leia, which can make for some odd reading.
Some other differences include:
The casual mention of female Stormtroopers, not to mention some surprisingly intelligent (and talkative) guards,
The constant reference to the Lord Darth Vader,
Leia explaining she joined the Rebels due to their less degenerate art!
It also has some parallels with the later films. The setting alone is a lot like ESB's Dagobah with an Imperial presence, while the Coway are similar to troglodyte Ewoks, especially in their fighting style. The ending showdown between Luke and Lord Darth Vader also plays out in some ways like a reversed version of the Cloud City duel. It would be interesting to know how much Lucas (or Foster) actually borrowed from each other.
All in all, if you like the films and would like to see a different handling of them it's well worth a read, after you have gone through some of the more 'canon' works.
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