Customer Reviews

Ambush at Corellia (Star Wars, The Corellian Trilogy #1) (Book 1)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The cover of the book tells you that this is book one of the Corellian Trilogy. Therefore, anyone who has ever read a trilogy (much less one of the several Star Wars novel trilogies) should know exactly what to expect: lots of character development, a slowly building plot, and no resolution whatsoever. That having been said, this book actually does a great job of living up to those criteria.

Let's face it, the writing in this one is not that great. However, it's definitely worth reading. For one, Han is the central character, an automatic plus. Second, we get to see some scene's with Han and Leia's children (what a novel idea!) and some sense of the "Solo family." And we get a very in-depth look at Corellia, too, a planet often referred to but rarely, if ever, seen. All things said, it' a pretty neat book, just not a really great one.

The best thing about it is that it's not about the Empire. I get rather tired of the Comeback Kings surfacing over and over again. Sure, this trilogy may not be of the same sweeping scale as the films or even Zahn's trilogy, but that only serves to work in its favor. It's different, which is something the universe of Star Wars novels needs more of. (Frankly, I don't really see NJO as the saving grace everyone labels it as; the Yuzhan Vong are just the Empire in disguise if you ask me). Read this book folks. It ain't great, but it is fun. Besides, it's a necessary opening chapter to the trilogy, which does get better.

Ambush at Corellia was an excellent prelude to what will be coming next in the trilogy. At times this book wasn't exactly the most exciting, it was more of a mystery of what is to come next. The events taking place in this story are shrouded, and revolve around the conspiracies created by the "hidden leader".
I enjoyed how the author depicted the characters, and how he seemed to know exactly gow each one felt, and how each one thought. The book is mostly filled with puzzles that don't seem to mean anything, until the end when everything almost starts to make sense; but not quite.
I can't wait to see what will happen next in the series, or what will become of the seemingly hopeless heroes.

By itself, this is not a breath-taking book. The writing style is simplistic, there are multiple basic spelling errors, and let's be honest, the book is basically just a springboard for the rest of the trilogy. That being said, however, (and given that this is a SW book, a member of a line that has been a huge disappointment since Zahn,) Ambush At Corellia is a good, fun read.

True, there is no real action. (But that's part of the point: the galaxy is now a very boring place.) And Allen could have spent more time on his names (the Human League, the Hidden Leader).

There are, however, some major good points. The Solo kids have been developed superubly. Also, Mara Jade has shown some growth as a character, and while not entirely true with the character Zahn drew for us so spectacularly all those years ago, Mara in this book is much better than she was in the Jedi Academy Travesty.

Also, Allen's writing style is not unlike Stackpole's. Actually this book came out before X-wing, but the X-wing books are better, so I'll say Allen is like Stackpole.

One problem, however, is that the plot takes a LOOOOOONNNNNGGGGGGGG time to get rolling. And why does Leia get a new lightsaber? Didn't she already have one? Also, Luke and Lando really do nothing in this book except take up chapter space. PLus I was hoping for some more Han Solo history, like stuff from Han Solo Adventures. The Talus and Tralus thing is a little weak. Finally, after looking at the cover I was hoping Corellia would be a little more unique of a world (like with the crazy towers on the cover or something) like planets are in Zahn, but I can't begrudge Allen for that.

All in all, a good SW read.

Is the process of crashing a spacecraft worth dozens of pages? Does Luke Skywalker really want to join the world politics? Would Leia really best Luke in a lightsaber duel? And best of all, would Leia seriously turn to Han and ask him if he was wagering the Millenium Falcon? All of these things happened in the first seven chapters of this book, and they were written so poorly that I felt like I was reading a book written by a teenager. A teenager without much imagination.

I literally put the book down, placed the palm of my hand on my face as I contemplated self-inducing a coma. So bad that I couldn't finish it, and I've read some bad books. Do yourself a favor and read a wiki.

Roger MacBride Allen's Ambush at Corellia is the first volume of the Corellian Trilogy and was published in the heyday of the Bantam Spectra Star Wars license in the 1990s. Set fourteen years after Return of the Jedi, this story sets up a conflict in the Corellian system, which comprises five planets and three distinct sentient species. Han Solo is a native Corellian and a trade conference brings him and his family back home after many years away. Overlooking an early warning of danger brewing in the Corellian system, Han and Chief of State Princess Leia, along with Chewbacca and their three children, all travel together to attend the summit. Events start building towards a crisis and by the book's resolution, full-out war threatens the entire system.

Despite the action implied by the plot summary, I found this book a slow read. At its core, it felt like an elongated setup for the next two books, one that could have been condensed into a few chapters. It's mildly interesting learning more about Corellia, and the system itself is one of the more intriguing of the galaxy far, far away. Its mix of three species plus various outside influences from the Empire and New Republic creates a potent stew of simmering tension. This material is good background and perhaps will pay off in the next two volumes, but taken on its own there simply wasn't that much to this story.

The Solo family is at the center of the novel, especially with the revelation of the identity of the Human League's Hidden Leader at the climax. Leia continues to be a sympathetic and inspiring figure as she deals with balancing work and family life. We explore some of Han's emotions as he revisits his past on the Corellian trip, but this exploration doesn't illuminate anything significantly new about his character. The three children are frequently present but don't get the limelight as often as they did in The Crystal Star. One oddity in the portrayal of the children is Anakin behaves more like a toddler than a seven-year-old, both in speech and in actions (at least, based on my own 2.5 year-old daughter, who talks quite a bit like Anakin in this book).

The "B" plot follows Lando, Luke, R2-D2, and C-3PO as they embark on a quest to find Lando a rich wife. This is as silly as it sounds. I can understand that Luke might need a break from carrying the weight of the galaxy on his shoulders, but a Jedi Master wasting time on a trip like this is a lot to swallow. Lando is a good character but surely Mr. Allen could have found something more meaningful for him to pursue: this plot would have been better left "off-screen," as it were.

Ambush at Corellia is not a difficult read or particularly long. It simply felt slow because of the dragged-out storyline. The stage is set in the climax for the rest of the trilogy to accelerate significantly, so it will be interesting to see what follows.

Ambush at Corellia is the first book in The Corellian Trilogy. In this initial story, Han and his entire family plus Chewie go back to his home world of Corellia for a trade summit and a vacation. Han also plans to show his kids the world where he grew up many years ago. The level of excitement in the family is high. However, as usual, things are not as simple as they seem to be.

Shortly before the trip, Han is visited by an operative from New Republic Intelligence who informs him that many things are going wrong in Corellia and that he needs to be careful on the trip. The warning is couched in mysterious terms. Han decides to go ahead with the trip against his best judgment. On the approach to Corellia he realizes that things are in fact going wrong, and the problems escalate from there. The five inhabited worlds of the Corellian Sector are on the brink of civil war and the once peaceful co-existence of the three leading races - human. Selonan, and Drallan - has come to an end. By the end of the book Han and Leia find themselves trapped on a world about to explode in violence unless they can meet a fanatical Rebel leader's impossible demands.

All of this sounds good, but I kept feeling that nothing much was actually happening. Possibly the next two books in the trilogy will pick up. I also had significant problems with a venture that Lando and Luke are involved in, i.e., finding Lando a rich wife. None of this rang true at all to me. I cannot imagine Lando being a part of such an effort, and I don't know as yet why we should care.

Time to move on to the second book, Assault at Selonia.

The whole trilogy could have been easily fit into one book. Imagine taking any one of the other fairly good stand alone books in the Star Wars series and stretching it into 3 books by putting in all sorts of useless information, and completely irrelevant scenarios and you basically have this series. Examples: it takes Han 50 pages to land a disabled ship in book 2 that added nothing to the story, it takes Luke 50 pages to get out of an elevator in book 3. You get to get to read page after page of very uninteresting alien social habits. I'm also annoyed when the author apparently didn't bother to read any of the previous books in the series. Luke seems like a frightened apprentice in this series rather than a Jedi Master, and Leia is an indecisive cry baby.

Chalk up another author as being a flop in Star Wars. It was horrible. Allen made the twins, Anakin, Chewie, and the droids sub-human. All the characters thought the same, and the action was not the least bit engaging. I quit after the first ten chapters. While the concept for this trilogy is good, the author Ballantine got to do it does not live up to it and is not worthy of Star Wars. Nor is he true to the characters. Han would never think of getting rid of the Falcon. The droids would never be so formal with Lando, and Mara Jade wouldn't have such an edge to her. Allen joins the list of authors (Hambly, Anderson, Kube-McDowell, Rusch) who don't have what it takes to write Star Wars. Feel safe ignoring it.

The first book of the Corellian Trilogy, Ambush at Corellia is a better than average beginning to the trilogy. It deals with the return of Han Solo to his home Corellian system after decades of exile. Allen has a decent grasp of the characters and he writes the Solo children very well. The plot all about exploding stars and solar system wide planetary blackouts is a little hard to take seriously, but overall the story is very well-written. Han Solo is the same rascal often portrayed in previous books, but his more serious, fatherly side does come out strongly in this book. Luke has lost the brooding quality that plagued him in pretty much every book after the Zahn trilogy making his character much more interesting and entertaining. Leia after several books dealing with her being the chief of state still has government work to do, but Allen takes a better more personal approach to her. The Solo mistrust of Mara Jade is out of character, but two memorable scenes really make this a good book:
1. Mon Mothma telling Luke off and his subsaquent preentation of a lightsaber to Leia telling her that she too is a trained Jedi and their subsaquent dual. (The New Jedi Order seems to have overlooked this point). The second is the much more memorable incident early in the book where we see that Han Solo is still the same person with his attack of a better armed probe droid. OVerall this book is a better than average star wars book, and while not the best of the trilogy is certainly a great start.

I confess, this book was a bit slow moving at first, but I managed to get into it, and from then on I enjoyed it. Leia, now Chief of State of the New Republic, goes to Corellia for a trade summit. Han and their three children come along, so the trip will be something of a vacation for them. Exploring his home planet for the first time in years, Han is shocked at how much it's changed for the worst. Meanwhile, Mara Jade has recieved a strange message intended for Leia, and Luke has gone off with Lando, who is in search of a rich wife (that was the one distracting subplot - hope it starts to make more sense in one of the next two books). The kids wander off during a visit to an archaeological and discover a strange technology. As tensions on Corellia worsen, a new leader threatens to rise from the shadows - with possible explosive and deadly results. If you're new to the Star Wars books, this is probably not the best book to start off with. You're better off reading them in chronological order, which I haven't done, unfortunatley. But if you have enjoyed other Star Wars novels, I would reccomend this one.