Absolutely a popcorn read, which is why I enjoyed it. I read this on Boxing Day, sluggish like a crocodile that's just swallowed a wildebeest, which is pretty much the effect that Christmas dinner generally has on me. So you can see I was not up to much, and this is the kind of brainless entertainment that's really appealing today. Smith continues to do for Lando Calrissian what Daley consistently failed to do for Han Solo, which is to provide a fun, character-building prequel story. It's not subtle at all and minor elements are overplayed - at one point I briefly wondered if Smith was aware of this tendency, as he has a droid complain to Lando that his quip wasn't funny the first hundred times he said it and hasn't improved on the hundred and first, but honestly I think that's probably a little too much narrative awareness for this.

It's slight, but it's fun. That's all I ask for and more than I expected, honestly. Roll on the next in the series.