The Courtship of Princess Leia: Star Wars Legends (U)

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.Publishers WeeklyWolverton ( Serpent Catch ) attempts to add nuance and intrigue to the smash-bang atmosphere that propelled to the stratosphere the Star War movies and Timothy Zahn's three books set in that universe. Readers of the present installment, whose events occur after the films but before Zahn's works, likely already know who Princess Leia will marry, so Wolverton deserves high marks just for making the journey along the road to the inevitable interesting. He generally avoids comic book-style action and artificial climaxes such as having a major character appear to die only to be redeemed at the last moment, but his concentration on familiar characters is disappointing. Though there is plenty of graphic violence, true depth is lacking. All in all, the novel raises expectations for Wolverton's future works once he moves on to other things. 375,000 first printing; TV advertising. (Apr.)