The Courtship of Princess Leia
Dave Wolverton
Summary
It is three years after the defeat of the Empire at Endor, and the New Republic has just been born. To strengthen its fledgling status and also to protect itself from the remnants of the Empire, it seeks an alliance with the Hapan system, a wealthy and powerful matriarchy. In this seemingly harmless alliance, however, lies deeper threats. For the Hapan queen will only consent to the New Republic's request if Princess Leia will marry her handsome son, Prince Isolder. And Han Solo will not allow that to happen. From this conflict comes an assassin, a kidnapping, a distant planet populated by Force-witches...and a poweful Imperial warlord determined to put an end to the New Republic.
Pros
This book finishes up the Han-Leia story nicely. At the end of ROTJ, one of the questions in my mind was their future relationship. Would they marry? Or would they drift apart? Also, the book was humorous, punctuated with witty one-liners and scenes (for example the whuffa scene). The portrayal of Dathomir was nice as well, especially giving another look at the rancors. Perhaps not all rancors are as bad-tempered as the one in Jabba's palace...
Cons
And then again perhaps the book was too funny. Even in the serious scenes, I felt like Wolverton was trying too hard to make me want to laugh at his brilliant witticisms. Two or three I have no problem with. However, near the end it got rather old. Courtship was also a little too sappy for me. If you like love, romance, etc., this may be the book for you, but as a Star Wars novel, it didn't really stand out. It felt like more of a soap opera than a space opera, with its many romantic scenes and sexually tilted lines (if you can call them that) that didn't really fit with the plot of the New Republic vs. Hapes vs. Warlord Zsinj. As a whole, Courtship was not bad, but it wasn't one of the best.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
