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The Courtship of Princess Leia

Discussion in 'EU Community' started by crashdown, Apr 1, 2004.

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  1. Aquarius_1977

    Aquarius_1977 Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Oct 18, 2004
    I found COPL to be totally ridiculous. I can't see Leia even thinking about marrying a guy she barely knows, no matter how much it'll help the Republic. The Luke of the movies would never encourage his sister to do something so ill-advised, which is exactly what he does in the first fourth of this book. And Han Solo has too much pride to let a woman--any woman--drive him to crying in his beer to Threepio or to do something as stupid as kidnapping Leia. And Leia stringing Han along, giving him five days to make her fall in love with him again was just dumb. The whole thing reminded me of the (melo)drama we usually leave behind by our early twenties. Grown adults don't behave that way.

    Han and Leia have been through too much in their lives for these kind of games. They'd know a good thing when they had it.

    Suggestions have been made that people didn't like the book because they wanted Han to end up with Bria, or that they didn't like the witches. Nothing could be further from the truth, at least in the other communities I post in. In the Han/Leia-specific communities, the sentiments pretty much reflect what I mentioned above, and many of those folks don't care for Bria either. And the only witch I didn't like in COPL was Leia; sure she's proven herself to have a sharp tongue in the films, but she was just cold and heartless toward Han in this story. I don't think Han would take that from anybody, especially someone he loved.

    My question is this: of the people who actually liked the book, how many would consider themselves Han and Leia fans? I'm just wondering if it has more to do with the possibility that the people who actually liked the book may be more into the action vs. the character-driven angles, or that they're not "into" Han and Leia's relationship so perhaps they haven't given much thought to how out-of-character their behavior is in this novel.
     
  2. Imperial_Hammer

    Imperial_Hammer Manager Emeritus: RPFs star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 25, 2004
    I enjoyed Courtship.... It was a good lovestory, and that is relatively unique in Star Wars.

    I'm not gonna go into a long point by point, cause it isn't a big deal to me, but just generally....

    Leia and Han were in love, but what people say about her love for the Rebellion is true too. She devoted much time into the movement, and a marraige with the Hapes Consortium would have done much for the cause... if she was out of character, maybe, but she did have alot of stress. She finds this fun scoundrel that she is smitten with, and has to weigh, like she always has, her love of self versus love of the cause...

    The main reason I liked the book was the concept of the Hapes Consortium. The whole idea of this inverted matriarchal society is absolutely unique and brings much character to the EU. As for peoples dislike of Ta' Chume or Isolder; come on, they were great characters to hate. They represented perfectly the sort of arrogance present in isolationist soceities, and their relative disdain for the patriarchal society of the galaxy. Ta' Chume was the perfect evil woman, using not military might, but well put persuasion to achieve her selfish ways...

    I for one would like to see more novels about Hapes, and was happy with Dark Journey in the NJO.
     
  3. Sn4tcH

    Sn4tcH Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Oct 22, 2004
    Well, I for one didn't like COPL. But I read Wraith Squadron first. So, I'm wondering if maybe there's a common denominator there in the fact that a lot of probably wanted more Zsinj, and we didn't get any. But I have other reasons of hating COPL. Lemme start of by saying, I've been reading the EU chronologically starting from Splinter of the Minds Eye, and I am currently beginning I, Jedi. So, everything is still pretty fresh in my head.

    Anyways, Luke IS omnipotent in that, and incredibly out of character from the other stories that happen after. He acts more like how Luke should act 20 years from that point than he should be acting. He really acts like he considers himself to be the greatest Jedi ever. He just seemed cocky to me in that book.

    But that doesn't explain why I think he's all powerful. HE FREAKIN FLOATED OUT OF CRASHING SHIP! He never does anything even remotely that dramatic at anyother point (so far as I have read) in the EU. He had a hard time believing he could walk across lava in teh JAT, how in the world does he meditate in his falling ship, and float out of the sky. And don't even get me started on the flying the Falcon part... come on. I guess in reading the EU the characters I am most interested in are Luke and his Jedi Students. And so, I keep a close eye on how Luke acts, and this book is way too inconsistent with EVERYTHING (Movies and EU) with how Luke is.

    I also thought that Han and Leia were very OOC. But once again, I had to look at Han in Wraith Squadron in which he acted very Han-like...? And Tatooine Ghost which is so far one of the best examples of Leia and Han in character. (Although I am really loving Han in JAT)

    Anyways, so far COPL seems to be this one glaring book that seems out of place for me. But that's just me.
     
  4. Nur_Ab_Sal

    Nur_Ab_Sal Jedi Youngling star 2

    Registered:
    May 12, 2004
    Courtship was first star wars novel I read, so I have strong sentiment toward it. It is much better than horribly overrated Zahn crap. Probably it is best sw novel of the mid 1990s.
     
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