#but also he absolutely doesn't come across as stupid & in fact really ably handles some of the pilot-to-pilot diplomacy that gets everybody

[miraluking-respectfully]

Diving back into the Space Ant Book & something I wanna mention unrelated to bugs is that Han Solo is great in this book. Like, it's been a while since I watched the OT, but the characterization just feels spot on in how he's reacting to all this insectoid nonsense, ie, VERY grouchily. He's also the only non-Forcie in this group of friends, family, & in-laws. So you've got Luke and Mara Jade and whoever else slowly uncovering the workings of the hive mind and how to coax information out of them via Force means, and they're experiencing this situation as detectives in a mystery story. Then they explain the info they've learned to Han and he's like ARE YOU SAYING MY DAUGHTER THINKS SHE'S A BUG