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(More customer reviews)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.
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The Courtship of Princess Leia (Star Wars)
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