Customer Reviews

The Courtship of Princess Leia (Star Wars)

5 star:		(109)
4 star:		(49)
3 star:		(28)
2 star:		(20)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

Dave Wolverton's Star Wars: The Courtship of Princess Leia chronicles the desperate campaign waged by Han Solo to win Princess Leia's heart even as the New Republic leadership encourages the former senator from Alderaan to marry Prince Isolder of Hapes.

It is a time of transition in the galaxy. The Emperor and Darth Vader are dead, and the Galactic Empire is now one-fourth its former size. Without the unifying influence of Emperor Palpatine and his dark-side powers, Imperial moffs, admirals, and self-appointed warlords are vying for power. Some fight among themselves, while others, such as Warlord Zsinj, employ their Star Destroyers and stormtroopers against the fledgling New Republic.

While Han Solo is tracking the elusive and dangerous Zsinj and his Super Star Destroyer, the Iron Fist, Luke Skywalker is scouring the galaxy for data about the Jedi Order, which had been nearly exterminated by Emperor Palpatine and his henchman Darth Vader, who once had been Anakin Skywalker, Luke's father. Knowing that the New Republic can only survive with the aid of a new order of Jedi, Luke has made it his life's mission to learn all he can about the training of Jedi Knights so he can set up a Jedi Academy. On the planet Toola, in the ruins of a Jedi Master's last hiding place, he finds, with guidance from the Force, a data cylinder which, although damaged by the effects of Imperial grenades, contains a hologram containing mission reports from various Jedi...including his own former Master, Yoda. "We tried to free the Chu'unthor from Dathomir, but were repulsed by the witches..." Yoda says. The words don't make much sense to the last of the Jedi Knights, but he's determined to find out what, or who, the Chu'unthor was, and to discover how several Jedi Masters and their acolytes could have been forced to retreat.

Meanwhile, Han has returned to Coruscant from a long and frustrating search for Zsinj and the Iron Fist, only to find a huge Hapan Battle Fleet in orbit. Having had run-ins with the xenophobic and closed society of the 63-world strong Hapan Cluster in his early days as a smuggler, Han is apprehensive. His apprehension turns to dismay when he discovers that the Machiavellian Queen of Hapes, Ta'a Chume is willing to ally her realm with the New Republic if Princess Leia agrees to marry her son, Prince Isolder.

Leia is torn between her love for Han and her sense of duty to the Republic, in whose service she has been since her teens. She doesn't accept right away, but under pressure from both Mon Mothma and the surviving Alderaanian refugee leadership, she does agree to consider it. Angry and dejected, Han goes to a bar and casino in the seamier parts of Coruscant, and joins in on a sabbacc game. In one lucky hand, the smuggler-turned-General wins the deed to a planet...a planet known as Dathomir.

Elated and somewhat recklessly, Han attempts to impress Leia with his new property, hoping that Dathomir can be set up as a substitute for Leia's now-defunct home-world of Alderaan, which had been destroyed by the Empire's first Death Star almost a decade before. But when Leia seemingly rejects them, Han takes one of Leia's engagement gifts, a Hapan Gun of Command, and uses it to force the strong-willed Princess to accompany him on a trip to Dathomir....a trip that Han hopes will rekindle Leia's love for him.

But Ta'a Chume and the New Republic leadership are determined that the wedding take place, so Prince Isolder and Luke Skywalker follow the Millennium Falcon to the mysterious planet of Dathomir, where the witches who defeated Yoda and several other Jedi still reside....

Wolverton's novel is fast paced and entertaining, and Han-Leia fans will enjoy reading the ups and downs of this chapter in their romantic history. As in every good Star Wars novel, there are space battles, suspense, political intrigue, and the classic clash between the forces of good and evil.

After destroying two Death Stars together... after spending months searching for Han's carbonite corpse... after risking life and limb to rescue him from Jabba the Hutt... after confessing their love under GUNFIRE on Endor...

Princess Leia turns around and jumps into the arms of the first interplanetary prince to come along, just because he has a fleet that might be usefull to the Rebellion? Puh-LEEZE!

Not only was the premise not plausible, it wasn't even well written. The characterization was nothing short of inaccurate (Han Solo gambles away the Falcon to win a planet for Leia... right!) and the storyline was fragmentary and elusive.

And the worst part was the ending. I'll leave it to you to discover, but don't expect a thrill or even logic. I'm not into corny in my Star Wars books. Stick with Timothy Zahn.

I had high hopes for this book in the beginning. Leia finds her self under pressure to mary this prince. However, the second she supposedly does not love Han anymore, I get angry. I have to agree with many of the other reviews. They are more generous than I by considering the rest of the story and they are right. The witches, the battle with Zinj are good. But the main story line the book is named for and that is supposed to glue the rest of it together is rediculous. Leia's love for Han and his love for her in the movies is epic. She searches for him for years after he is frozen and is described in other books as having been misserable the whole time. Now Han goes away for 6 months and she suddenly loses interest when some prince comes along. It would have made sense if it came from a sense of obligation, but she nearly tells Isolder "I love you." In the rest of the series, their love is enviable, this weakens it. Ignore this book. All you need to know is, Leia and Han get married, Isolder meets someone else, and Zinj is dead. If you read it, you will only end up hating Leia.

More than a bit farfetched, I found this book a little hard to swallow.

First off, what is the deal with these 'witches?' Surely, the Emperor would've sensed their presence in the Force. And they beat a buch of Jedi, including Yoda? I think not. Riding rancors? Well, at least we know they're good for something, but, I just had a hard time seeing that.

Leia, Leia, Leia. The first time some rich, handsome prince comes along, she totally forgets Han. I mean, how many times did he save her? Did she completely forget that "I love you!", "I know." thing? She is written totally out of character.

Luke, oh what can I say about his character? I think writers have a hard time wirting him, but I've never seen anyone do as bad a job as Wolverton did.

Zsinj, if you haven't read the X-Wing books, is a character with no depth or personality. I would reccommend reading the X-Wing books first, so you get an idea about who he is.

I found great interst in Isolder and Teneniel. They were well written and quite interesting. They had depth, and were totally believeable.

Not a bad book, but just a little on the unbelievable side. I found it enjoyable, and it was kind of fun to read. The pacing is good and the style is really easy to get into. Just don't expect too much out of this book, and you'll get along fine.

This story, while it's supposed to be centered on Han & Leia, was more worthwhile for it's descriptions of Dathomir and the Force witches. It also nicely wraps up the Zsinj story line, though I would have liked to seen it end with a bit more excitement.

Isolder, the prince who is trying to win Leia's hand in marriage, is a good addition to the SW universe. And it's nice, after so many x-wing books with all brute and no use of the force, so see Luke Skywalker do what he does best. The author does a good job of writing Luke without making him seem too preachy.

Overall, a good book. I would highly suggest it, as it is a nice ending to the X-Wing series and starts up the post Zsinj era. Good stuff and a quick read.

This is probably up there with my favorite SW books. It's funny too. At first I thought Dave Wolverton was really insane, but now I realize the guy's a genious!!!!! I thought Luke was portrayed very, very well. He is probably my favorite character and some writers make him too stiff or serious. I mean he needs to have some fun too. The scene where he is talking with Isolder and his mother is a very funny one as well. Dathomir is awsome and the witches are way cool.
One thing I didn't like so much was how Leia totally dropped Han Another problem I had with this book was that Han was so desperate. He has always been so cool and collected but going and kidnaping Leia and draging her off seems a little extereme.
The last thing I have to say is thai book filled in something the movies and the Zahn books left open. That is when were Leia and Han married? Well read on!!!!!!(oh yeah, Recomended for everyone)
MTFBWY'all

By far the worst and most uncharacteristic of all the SWnovels. The very thought that Leia would dump Han like a sack ofpotatos the second a seemingly 'perfect' guy came along and wanted to play footsie make my stomach turn! The perfect guy! C'mon, It's Harrison Ford we're talking about here! And let's not even discuss the planet of women who keep men as thier slaves. It's fine if Mr. Wolverton wants to write about his perverse sexual fantasies but a) I wish he'd keep them out of the Star Wars universe and b) he should really try to achieve some sort of better understanding of the way women think and act before attempting to write a novel about them. What I was hoping for from this book was a beatiful romantic epic with echoes of Han and Leia relationship in ESB, what I got was this misoginistic trash. No thank you.

First off, what the author was trying to do while writing this book is unknown to me, but he managed to break time lines and protray the characters so horribly I'm suprised Lucas Film let him get away with it. 'King' Solo? 'Cuse me, in the Han Solo Trilogy it clearly mentions Han did made a through search for his ancestery and could find nothing except a possible great aunt, the change in his last name the auothor mentions is impossible, Han did know his own last name until the Wookie who cared for him on the Trader's Luck told him in was 'Solo'. Leia, in all her princess ways, would never have been so 'difficult'. 8 years with Han wouldn't be thrown aside after 2 minutes by Isolder. I wont even go into how appauled about how the author chose to protray Luke, cause it might just never end but let me just say this one thing. Atleast he could play Artoo right! (that was sarcasm if you missed it)

I'll give the book one star, cause I liked the cover art. Thank you =)

The rightful title of this book should be, "Star Wars: How Robert Jordan's Aes Sedai channelled themselves right into the galaxy far far away". For those of you out there who are familiar with Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, you know what I'm talking about. All of a sudden, the Star Wars universe is filled with hard-core feminists who think men are a hindrance to evolution. Gee, doesn't that sound just like every woman in Jordan's books? What is more, has anyone taken a closer look at the photo of Dave Wolverton and then compared it to the photo of Robert Jordan? They look awfully similar to me! Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if they were one and the same person, seeing as how they both have this male-idiot/female-queen-of-the-universe thing.

But I digress. "Courtship of Princess Leia" is a book I cannot in good conscience recommend. The characters in the book that we have come to know so well from the original movies, could be any Tom, Dick or Harry from the street, since they sure do not resemble Han, Luke or Leia. Especially Leia. What is with that woman? Her behaviour is completely irrational, unbelievable, unreasonable, bitchy, etc....proving the fact that Dave Wolverton has no clue when it comes to women, a trait he has in common with a certain Robert Jordan (alright, I won't mention him again). And what about Han? And Luke? Who the heck are these people? Han turned into a dweeb and Luke to some sort of spiritual guru. This book might as well have been titled: "Adventures on the planet Femino". What's that got to do with Star Wars? you may ask. Exactly my point. Nothing!

My only consolation is that Dave Wolverton has not been allowed within ten yards of a Star Wars typewriter since the disaster of "Courtship". Unfortunately it was too late to save a story line that could have been so interesting.

So, to all the Star Wars fans out there, I say, don't read this book, just make-up your own story of how Han and Leia got married. It is bound to be much better than what's been published here. To non-Star Wars fans, my advice is: guys, unless you want a cheezy science fiction soap opera, steer way clear of this one.

...into thinking this is a romance novel, Star Wars style.

Summary:
The novel starts off on Coruscant, with Leia welcoming an entourage from Hapes. Hapes and its other worlds, have plenty to offer to the newly formed Republic, 4 years after ROTJ. One surprise, is Prince Isolder, who wants Leia as his wife, and eventually the queen mother of Hapes. She starts to fall for him, and this makes Han very jealous. He wins a planet in a sabacc game, called Dathomir. He kidnaps Leia, and takes her here to try to win her back.

This planet is orbited by Zsinj, a warlord from the remnants of the Empire. Han and Leia, along with Chewie and C-3PO crash land on the planet. They find that this planet has more than meets the eye. Luke comes searching for them, along with Isolder. The planet is full of surprises, including rancors, much larger than the one in ROTJ, that was in Jabba's palace. Even more dangerous are these witches, called the Nightsisters, who possess the Force, and use it for evil. Come to find out, the Emperor himself, was afraid of them. Leia and Han come in contact with a clan of good witches, called the Mountain Clan. This sets up a struggle between the two clans, with Leia, Han and Luke involved.

Likes: So, not much courtship going on in this novel. This novel has everything I like in a SW novel, interesting, forbidden planet, involving the characters as much as can be expected, and good vs. evil. The evil being pretty strong in this one and Luke struggling with the Nightsisters.

Dislikes: None.

Finally: Make sure you get this for your SW novel collection.