PT Club Jocasta - Leia: Princess of Alderaan

Hello everyone, it's time to start a new book for Club Jocasta! In the last poll Leia: Princess of Alderaan was the top vote getter so that's what we will be reading!


Also, everyone please welcome @Guidman who will be helping out with the book club to keep things moving smoothly and keeping the conversation going.

So, anyone who wishes to participate get the book if you need it...if you already have it start reading! If you've already dead it and don't want to again but want to participate, you're welcome to start discussing early parts of the book now!

Also, don't forget to vote in the poll for the next book!

I don't think I need to worry about posting decorum rules at this point, just always remember:

 

It's showing a Kindle version for me.....maybe it's US only?

 

Not a set one, no. Usually takes a bit to get through a book and discuss so there is time.

 

Happy to be co-hosting the book club and re-reading Leia: Princess of Alderaan. I'm going to get started on the book soon. There is some good stuff to hopefully talk about that touches on each of the trilogies.

 

Started it again. Just have to say that I'm real glad Claudia Gray has been able to write these novels in the new canon. All three have been great so far. I'd love to see her get a chance to write for either a movie or the live action series.

 

Just a few discussion points for the first few chapters:

-Thoughts on the first chapter? I think this is a very human moment of Leia. The excitement of her Day of Demands but her disappointment in her parents pulling away from her and interaction with her after it. Also nice tie in to Bloodlines with Mellowyn of Birren, who was the successor to Lady Carise.

-Cool to see how again the Empire is stripping planets of everything. Turning Wobani into the lifeless planet that we see in Rogue One.

-I think this takes place 3 or 4 years before ANH but you can see shades of where Leia takes control of a situation ala the Death Star rescue. Her hiring the inhabitants of Wobani as crewmembers of the Tantive IV is in line with everything we've seen from her. Thoughts?

 

Tagging some past book club participants:
@Darkslayer @BookExogorth @Jedi Knight Fett @B99 @Mr. Forest @BadCane @Valency Jane @Deliveranze @PCCViking @Amon_Amarth @Iron_lord @Mostly Handless @Blackhole E Snoke

 

Initially when I read this book before TLJ, one of the things I liked the most about it and made me look foward to TLJ was the introduction of Holdo. We meet her in the pathfinding class that Leia organizes. She is very quirky and eccentric, basically the Star Wars version of Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter. Now in TLJ, you really don't see any of these traits. Some things do carryover, her fearlessness and not being afraid of death. I would have liked to of seen some of oddball personality be carried over to the movie.

-Thoughts on how she is portrayed in the book vs. The Last Jedi

Sometimes I think that's where the Story Group drops the ball. They're supposed to be responsible for continuity of the canon but there's times where the movies don't line up with other materials.

 

Yeah I'm sure that partly attributable to it but there was probably a creative decision to dial back the oddball tendencies of her too. Granted we see her more in the novel but I like the Leia of Alderaan version better than The Last Jedi version of Holdo. She was a real standout character in the book.

 

I love stuff like this in Star Wars - even on a wealthy planet with futuristic technology we can only dream of, they still have traditions like this that are mostly meaningless except for it's symbolism and sense of tradition. It's cool because it really gives each planet and culture their own identity and, makes them seem more real and relatable. I appreciated how Gray mentioned how her parents indeed found the whole thing a bit silly, even as they presented it as serious. I'm interested to see more about the relationship between Leia and her parents in this time - as it's established early on she feels like they are drifting apart.

Indeed - the consistency across the new EU books with how the Empire exploits the less powerful planets and their people really helps to show why the Rebellion was formed and just how awful the Empire is to the less fortunate.

It's still early on and I haven't read this book before, but so far Gray (unsurprisingly) nails what I would expect a young(er) Princess Leia to be like. I can already see her being shaped into the character we meet in ANH.

 

That sucks, check the poll, are all of those available to you?

 

-Seeing some of the seeds that helped establish the Rebellion. Once Leia finds the base on Crait, she practically lights up like a Christmas tree thinking of ways she can help against the Empire.

-One of the most memorable parts of the book is the appearance of Panaka, now a Moff on Nabbo. He immediately recognizes that Leia is the daughter of Amidala, questioning her about her birth mother. Great chapter in the book here. I'm sure he would have reported this to Palpantine as soon as possible but well he doesn't get the chance.

-Anyone think that it was one of the Two Tubes brothers who Leia sees when she comes to Panaka's chalet. It doesn't explicitly say, only he had a breathing apparatus.