Prepare for Galaxy's Edge: The Pirates Price Audiobook

Hey all! In preparation for the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge this weekend in Disneyland, I thought I’d share my thoughts on the book, Pirate’s Price by Lou Anders.

This is part of the “Flight of the Falcon” series aimed at young readers. I’m going to be honest here, I don’t have a lot of time to sit down and read as much as I’d like, so I usually consume books in audio form while in the car commuting. Normally, I would recommend reading a book over the audio, but in the case of Pirate’s Price, you should really listen to the audio version. You see, this story is told through the eyes… or rather, the mouth of Hondo Ohnaka.

Hondo is a character first introduced in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series. His species is called the Weequay. They were most noticeable as being the species of many of Jabba the Hutt's guards on Tatooine. Not the pig like Gammoreans, Weequays look like… zom...bies? Dark skin tones with lots of wrinkles. If you ever played Fallout, they kinda look like ghouls. Hondo also happens to be my second favorite character introduced in the Clone Wars animated series.

This is mostly due to him being a very charismatic character voiced by the brilliant Jim Cummings who also happens to voice Winnie the Pooh and Tigger. His portrayal of Hondo elevates the character to a whole new level, so much so that he is the one that narrates the book and voices the audio animatronic Hondo at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge… I for one cannot wait.

So Pirate’s Price takes place… mostly, post The Last Jedi. It’s actually a series of stories told by Hondo to the bounty hunter, Bazine Netal, who we first meet in The Force Awakens as the woman in Maz’s Castle who informs the First Order of BB-8s whereabouts. In the story, she has been hired to find the infamous Millennium Falcon. So she tracks down Hondo at a cantina on Batuu, the planet that Galaxy’s Edge takes us, who is no longer the leader of the Ohnaka Pirate gang, but is… in between jobs. When she finds him, he proceeds to tell her about how he first encountered the Falcon, a Wookie named Chewie and a young scoundrel named Han Solo.

This begins a series of three different tales about Hondo and his relationship with the Falcon… and Han Solo and Chewbacca.

The first tale happens in between the events of Solo: A Star Wars Story and Episode IV: A New Hope, the second tale takes place before The Force Awakens and the third story is from events after The Last Jedi. Each tale is different, with Hondo, Han and Chewie from three different eras. I won’t get into the specific stories. You should experience them yourself, but along the way you do also meet Maz Kanata and some Porgs. It also helps establish why Hondo has the Falcon on Batuu when you take flight on Smuggler’s Run in Galaxy’ Edge. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

The beauty of this audio book is the performance of Jim Cummings. He is a masterful voice actor and, as with most audio books, he voices every character. He brings each to life as only he can. This, of course, is really the only way to experience a character like Hondo Ohnaka.

Here is a look at Hondo, one of Disney’s most advanced snimatronics to date, in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge:

Audible usually has a deal where your first audio book is free, so jump on it. Since it’s a young reader book, the whole thing lasts about 5 hours. It’s 5 hours well spent.