"The Courtship of Princess Leia," by Dave Wolverton [Bantam, 1994]

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Synopsis:

"Seeking rich, powerful allies to bring into the Rebel Alliance and a new home planet for the refugees of her native Alderaan, Princess Leia considers a proposal that could tip the balance of power against the evil Empire. The Hapes Consortium of 63 worlds is ruled by the Queen Mother, who wants Leia to marry her son, the dashing and wealthy Prince Isolder. Han Solo has always dreamed of marrying Leia himself, and now he makes a desperate last gamble to win her back. Soon he, Isolder, Luke Skywalker and Artoo will be at the center of an adventure leading to an awesome treasure, a group of Force-trained "witches," and a showdown with an invincible foe."

TheForce.net Book Review for The Courtship of Princess Leia.

 

10.

I gave it a 10 because I feel it is one of the best EU novels written to date. In my opinion the characterizations of Han and Leia were dead on.

To me Leia had been portrayed as one who would let her duty (as she perceives it) in this case to the New Republic override her duty to herself or her love for Han. As far as Leia is concerned she wanted to make the rest of the galaxy happy in exchange for her happiness and even Han's, it was a fair trade as far as she was concerned. So when Isolder came to Leia with the prospect of untold billions of dollars, a vast navy and the troops to wage in exchange for marriage. It was a easy choice for her and that was to marry Isolder in order to end the war sooner and save millions of lives.

It is in COPL where I like Han the best as I feel he is at his best in this novel. He was portrayed in the movies to be a rogue, one who would risk all in one gamble and was a good friend when a friend was needed. I could easily see Han risking the Falcon, his life, Chewie's life and his reputation all in one bid to win back Leia's heart. It was the biggest gamble that Solo had made prior to COPL and possibly even after COPL.

Oh, I also loved Han and Threepio's interaction in the novel. The first time I read the novel I felt so bad for Han that at times I almost wept silent tears. Almost that is.

One of the best SW novels ever.

 

9

I also enjoyed the characterizations of Han and Leia. A couple of moments in the book were just a little to coincidental/unbelievable so I took a point off. Other than that its an excellent read.

 

I give it a 7.

-Evan

 

Better than average for the time of it's release. I'd not be so forgiving if it were released now however. The characterizations were good, particularily that of Han. Plus Luke's search for the information on the Jedi...

 

I think this story line had great potential. But I do not think Han would kidnap Leia. And I do not think Leia would dump Han over a Hapan Prince. So I guess I don't think this went with their characters much at all. And if it was supposed to be about Han and Leia, it sure had very few scenes where they actually talked.

 

It had its good points and its bad points. I seriously believe that Leia wouldn't have just ditched Han for Isolder. And I don't believe that Han would just kidnap Leia. Yes, he would have been rash, but not like that.

However, it showed that Han and Leia did love each other very much. Despite Leia's choosing Isolder over Han in the beginning mid-way through the book it was beginning to show that Leia truely did love him.

It is also one of the few books where Leia uses some Jedi skills and Leia and Han are portrayed as a loving couple rather than business partners.

~Crystal~

 

I think it was pretty good for when it was released also. But since then the bar has been raised to a much higher level. I really liked the Witches of Dathomir.

 

I think it was pretty good for when it was released also. But since then the bar has been raised to a much higher level. I really liked the Witches of Dathomir.

 

This book was good, I like the idea of the witches that thought the spells where what made the force work and how Luke tried to help them understand. Also who would not like trained Rancor beasts!!!

 

At the time I read this, I thought it was the worst Star Wars novel I'd ever read. Everything about the book stunk, from the writing, to the characterizations, to the inane plot and stupid ideas. Han and Leia still not married 4 years after ROTJ? Leia considering marrying some other guy? Han KIDNAPS her? Rancor-riding Force witches? Ugh.

I don't normally get rid of either books or Star Wars stuff, but this book went in a garage sale in short order.

 

....i'm with Eternal_Jedi..

Han and Leia went COMPLETELY against character!

This was the book that caused me to swear off SW EU for 5 years... (finally coming back at the midpoint of NJO)

 

Han and Leia still not married 4 years after ROTJ? Leia considering marrying some other guy? Han KIDNAPS her?

hell, yeah! all of the points above are among the reasons why i really like CoPL. if you think that Han and Leia are characterized badly in CoPL, then i have no idea whatsoever who you think Han and Leia are as characters.

no, they aren't married. people don't always just jump into marriage like that, and they're both busy people.

yes, Leia thinks about marrying some other guy. she and Han, in many ways,lead very different lives, and, frankly, Isolder fits better into her life post-RotJ than Han does. she's a princess, Han's just a freighter bum. more importantly than that, it splits Leia between her heart and her duty, and, honestly, it would have been TOTALLY out of character for her to follow her heart under those circumstances.

and, yes, Han kidnaps her. after risking everything to WIN A PLANET FOR HER IN A GAME OF SABACC. if that's not the Han we know and love, i don't know what is. this is among the best characterizations of Han in the EU, along with Brian Daley's in the original Han Solo novels and Stackpole and Luceno in the NJO in the wake of Chewie's death.

i'm of mixed feelings on the rancors and witches and such, but Han and Leia more than make up for it.

 

dizfactor

Please don't list spoilers from other books. I have not read the NJO and now I know chewie dies. thanks. Ifyou must list a spoiler please put SPOILER AROUND IT!!

 

Uh, it's not a spoiler under any of the Literature Forum spoiler rules.

Sorry, man.

 

Eternal_Jedi...
"Han and Leia still not married 4 years after ROTJ? Leia considering marrying some other guy? Han KIDNAPS her? Rancor-riding Force witches? Ugh."

Place the blame where blame is due. Tim Zahn and the Thrawn Trilogy are all responsible for this.

The original plan, hatched in 1988 or so was to set Dark Empire around a year or so after RotJ. In it, Leia is pregnant with her first child, Anakin Solo.

Unfortunately, the switch from Marvel's Epic Comics to Dark Horse Comics in 1989 and 1990 cause some delay to the Dark Empire project.

In that time, Tim Zahn was hired to write the Thrawn Trilogy, which he set 5 years after RotJ and had Han and Leia pregnant with their first children, Jacen and Jaina.

To be able to have it all work out together, LFL scrapped the earlier marriage of Han and Leia, and Veitch made some adjustment to his story's place in the chronology.

The end result being that Han and Leia got screwed out of about four years of their marriage and family because of Zahn and The Thrawn Trilogy.

When COurtship of Princess Leia was planned, it had to then work with this new timeline for Han and Leia and explain why they took so long finally getting together.

From the constraints to their life and marriage that Zahn and TTT ended up imposing on Han and Leia, Wolverton did fairly well with what he had to work with with CoPL.

 

The Courtship of Princess Leia is one of the better EU books I've read. It starts out a bit slow, but once they get to Dathomir is pick up considerably. I really like the interaction between Luke and the Witches. Wolverton does a good job portraying Luke's ability with the Force, and the differences between Luke's abilities and the Force wielding Witches. The Witches were a great idea - I loved how they used the Force like magic. I also really enjoyed the Rancors.

I thought that the "courtship" part of the book could have been written a bit better. The love story between Han and Leia was a bit weak. Also the final battle was a bit hard to believe. Therefore, I had to bump my overall rating down to 9, although I give it a 10 for pure enjoyment.

The Courtship of Princess Leia is a really fun book..........A must read.

 

8.

I really loved this book! It was very fun

And we see that Han loves very much Leia .. And we see that the love take us to do some stupid things (like kidnap ) .

 

....Genghis12: i can see that as an excuse for why they didn't have KIDS until 5 years later (which really does not bother me, alot of couples wait a couple of years before having children), but i don't see it as an excuse for why they aren't married..

And the characters that we saw at the end of ROTJ.. You just KNEW they were gonna be gettin' together VERY soon, ya know?

TRY to convince me that that exchange in ESB when Han is about to be frozen in carbonite is NOT the exchange of two people who's love overrides all else.. Please TRY..

 

8.5 out of 10!! Without question one of the best star wars books that I've read. I didn't like the Hapans except for their ships the Battledragons and the Dathomirians were cool. I'm glad they included the rancors. Best of all was the stunning conclusion to Zsinj and his fleet!

 

I give it a 6. Leia's characterization was quite off, and Isolder didn't interest me at all. The last half of the book is very exciting, though, and makes up for the mediocre beginning.

 

agree with bib on this, the suitor character was quite fabio iirc, and annoying. I did however enjoy the last half of the book as well as where luke begins to understand the nature of the force.

 

7.

I thought the main story was pretty good, but the ending battle between Zsinj and the NR/Hapan forces felt rushed and under-characterized.

 

I give COPL a 9.

This is definitely one of my favorite EU books. I love the Han/Leia interaction, hated Isolder and Ta'a Chume, liked Teneniel, enjoyed reading about the Dathomir tribe and the Hapan culture (I liked the similarities both planets had in terms of power structure). The Nightsisters were good, memorable villains; Zsinj was a complete pushover (loved Han's line to him, though: "Kiss my Wookiee!").

I also liked the humor in the book, especially Threepio's song, "Han Solo, what a man!"

I agree with the above poster, though. I felt the final battle was too rushed, especially the space battle. I much prefer the earlier fight, when the Nightsisters invaded the Singing Mountain Clan. And I wish that H/L wedding was given more than one measley little page at the end. But other than that, I really enjoyed the book.