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The Courtship of Princess Leia (Star Wars) Mass Market Paperback – April 1, 1995
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Seeking rich, powerful allies to bring into the Rebel Alliance and a new home planet for the refugees from 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, final gamble to win her back. Tricking Leia into accompanying him, Han flees with her to the beautiful and untamed planet Dathomir, where he hopes to win her heart.
Fearing the imperious queen’s reaction to Han’s rash move, Luke Skywalker forms an unlikely alliance with Prince Isolder to track down the runaways. Soon Isolder, Luke, 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.
- Print length384 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherRandom House Worlds
- Publication dateApril 1, 1995
- Dimensions4.2 x 1 x 6.7 inches
- ISBN-100553569376
- ISBN-13978-0553569377
"All the Little Raindrops: A Novel" by Mia Sheridan for $10.39
The chilling story of the abduction of two teenagers, their escape, and the dark secrets that, years later, bring them back to the scene of the crime. | Learn more
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Editorial Reviews
From the Publisher
From the Inside Flap
From the Back Cover
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
1
General Han Solo stood at the command console viewport of the Mon Calamari Star Cruiser Mon Remonda. Warning sounds tinkled like wind chimes as the ship prepared to drop out of hyperspace at the New Republic’s capital on Coruscant. It had been so long since Han had last seen Leia: five months, five months hunting the warlord Zsinj’s Super Star Destroyer, Iron Fist. Five months ago, the New Republic had seemed so secure, so in control. Maybe now, with the Iron Fist gone, warlord Zsinj would be crippled and things would go smoother. Han longed to get off the humid Calamarian ship, longed even more for the taste of Leia’s kisses, the caress of her hand on his brow. He’d seen too much darkness lately.
The white starfield on the screen resolved as the hyperdrive engines cut, and Chewbacca roared in alarm: across the blue velvet of space where the city night lights of Coruscant blazed from a dark world were dozens of enormous, saucer-shaped starships that Han recognized immediately as Hapan Battle Dragons. Among them were dozens of slate gray Imperial Star Destroyers.
“Get us out of here!” Han shouted. He’d seen a Hapan Battle Dragon only once before, but it had been enough. “Full shields! Evasive action!”
He watched the three dorsal ion guns of the nearest Dragon, expecting them to knock him from the sky. The blaster turrets on the saucer’s rim all swiveled toward him.
The Mon Remonda twisted and dove planetward, toward the lights of Coruscant. Han’s stomach wrenched. His Mon Calamari pilot was well schooled, and knowing that they could not run before setting a new course, he surged into the thick of the Hapan warships so that they could not fire without the risk of hitting one another.
Like all the technology on the Mon Calamari ship, the viewport was exceptional, a work of art, so that as they hurtled past the command port of a Hapan Battle Dragon, Han could make out the startled faces of three Hapan officers, the silver name tags sewn into their collars. Han had never seen a Hapan. Their star sector was renowned for its wealth, and the Hapans guarded their borders jealously. He’d known that they were human—for humans had scattered like weeds across the galaxy—but he was surprised to discover that without exception, all three of the female officers were astonishingly beautiful—like fragile, living ornaments.
“Cease evasive action!” shouted Captain Onoma, a salmon-colored Calamarian officer who sat at a control console, monitoring sensors.
“What?” Han shouted, surprised that the lower-ranked Calamarian would reverse his orders.
“The Hapans are not firing, and they are broadcasting as friendlies,” Onoma answered, swiveling a large golden eye at Han. The Calamarian cruiser ceased its crazy headlong dive and slowed.
“Friendlies?” Han asked. “They’re Hapans! Hapans are never friendly!”
“Nevertheless, they’ve apparently come to negotiate a treaty of some sort with the New Republic. The accompanying Star Destroyers are theirs, captured from the Imperials. As you can see, our planetary defense forces are still intact.” Captain Onoma nodded up toward a Star Destroyer in another quadrant, and Han recognized its markings. Leia’s flagship, the Rebel Dream. It had seemed so huge, so vast when they’d captured it from the Imperials, but here beside this Hapan fleet, it looked small, insignificant. Huddled around the Rebel Dream, he saw a dozen smaller Republic Dreadnaughts, their hulls still painted with the markings of the old Rebel Alliance.
The first time Han had seen a Hapan warship, he had been smuggling guns with a small convoy fleet under the command of Captain Rula. Since the Hapans hadn’t yet fallen to the Empire, the smugglers had been using an outpost in neutral territory near the borders of the Hapan star cluster, hoping that their proximity to the Hapans would keep the Empire off their back. But one day they came out of hyperspace and found a Hapan Battle Dragon hovering in their path. Even though they were in neutral territory, even though they made no aggressive moves, only three of the twenty smuggler ships managed to survive the Hapan attack.
A communications officer said, “General Solo, we’re receiving a call from Ambassador Leia Organa.”
“I’ll go to my quarters and pick it up there,” Han said, and he hurried to punch up the call. Leia’s image appeared on the small screen.
Leia was smiling, euphoric, and her dark eyes had a dreamy look to them. “Oh, Han,” she said in a breath, her voice mellifluous. “I’m so glad you’re here.” She wore the pure white uniform of an Alderaanian ambassador, and her hair was down. In the past months it had grown longer than Han had ever seen it. In her hair she wore the combs he had given her, made from silver and opal mined on Alderaan before Grand Moff Tarkin blasted the planet to cinders with the first Death Star.
“I missed you, too,” Han said huskily.
“Come down to Coruscant, to the Grand Reception Hall,” Leia said. “The Hapan ambassadors are about to arrive.”
“What do they want?”
“It’s not what they want, it’s what they’re offering. I went to Hapes and spoke with the queen mother three months ago,” Leia said. “I asked her for aid in our fight against Warlord Zsinj. She seemed very distant, noncommittal, but promised to think about it. I can only guess they’ve come to give that aid.”
Lately, Han had begun to realize that the war against the remnants of the Empire might take years, even decades to win. Zsinj and some lesser warlords were firmly entrenched in over a third of the galaxy, but the warlords now seemed to be on the move—pillaging entire star systems as they swept toward the free worlds. The New Republic could not patrol such a vast front. Just as the old Empire had struggled to repel the Rebel Alliance, the New Republic battled the might of the warlords and their vast fleets. Han didn’t want Leia to get her hopes raised for a Hapan alliance. He said, “Don’t expect too much from the Hapans. I’ve never heard of them giving anyone anything—except a hard time.”
“You don’t even know them. Just come to the Grand Reception Hall,” Leia said, suddenly all business. “Oh, and welcome back.” She turned away. The transmission ended.
“Yeah,” Han whispered. “I missed you, too.”
Han and Chewbacca hurried through the streets toward the Grand Reception Hall on Coruscant. They were in an ancient part of Coruscant where the planetwide city had not built over the top of ruins, so that all around them plasteel buildings rose up like the walls of a canyon. The shadows thrown by the steep buildings were so deep that overhead the shuttles streaming through the spaces between buildings were forced to keep their running lights on even in the daytime, creating a massive tapestry of light. By the time Han and Chewie reached the Grand Reception Hall, the processional band was already playing an oddly mincing marching song, using janglers and deep woot horns.
The Grand Reception Hall was an enormous building, more than a thousand meters long, with fourteen levels for seating, but as Han neared the entrance, he found that all of the portals were jammed with curious onlookers, eager to see the Hapans. Han ran past the first five entrances, then suddenly saw a golden protocol droid nervously trying to jump or stand on tiptoe to see over the crowd. Many people claimed that all droids of a certain model looked alike, but Han recognized See-Threepio instantly—no other protocol unit ever managed to look quite as nervous or excited.
“Threepio, you hunk of tin!” Han shouted to be heard over the crowd. Chewbacca roared in greeting.
“General Solo!” Threepio responded, a note of relief in his voice. “Princess Leia asked that I find you and escort you to the Alderaanian ambassador’s balcony. I was afraid I’d missed you in the crowd! You’re fortunate that I had the foresight to wait for you here. This way, sir, this way!” Threepio led them back across a broad street and up a side ramp, past several guards.
As they climbed a long winding corridor, passing door after door, Chewbacca sniffed the air and growled. They rounded the corner and Threepio halted by a balcony entrance. Within, only a few people stood looking through the glass onto the procession below. Han recognized some of them: Carlist Rieekan, the Alderaanian general who had commanded Hoth base; Threkin Horm, president of the powerful Alderaanian Council, an immensely fat man who rested in a repulsor chair rather than try to carry his own weight. And Mon Mothma, commander of the New Republic, stood next to a bearded gray Gotal, who gazed dispassionately toward the main floor, head tilted, aiming his sensor horns in Leia’s direction.
The diplomats were all speaking softly, listening to comlinks and watching Leia, who sat on a dais, regally gazing on a Hapan diplomatic shuttle that had landed on a pad built within the great open-air hall. Perhaps five hundred thousand beings had gathered on the main floors, eager to catch a glimpse of the Hapans. Tens of thousands of security guards had cleared the gold carpet between the shuttle and Leia, and Han looked up to the balconies. Nearly every star system in the old Empire had had its own balcony here, and beside each balcony was the nation’s standard. Over six hundred thousand of those standards hung now on the ancient marble walls, showing the membership of the New Republic. Down on the floor, silence fell as the shuttle dropped its loading ramps.
Han went to Mon Mothma. “What’s going on?” he asked. “Why aren’t you down on the dais with Leia?”
“I was not invited to meet the Hapan ambassadors,” Mon Mothma replied. “They asked only to see Leia. Since even the Old Republic had very limited contact with Hapan’s monarchs over the past three thousand years, I felt it best to remain aloof until invited.”
“That’s very considerate,” Han said, “but you are the elected leader of the New Republic—”
“And Queen Mother Ta’a Chume feels threatened by our democratic ways. No, I think it best that Ta’a Chume’s ambassadors speak through Leia, if she makes them feel more comfortable. Have you counted the number of Battle Dragons in the Hapan fleet? There are sixty-three—one for each inhabited planet in the Hapes cluster. Never have the Hapans initiated contact with us on such a grand scale. I suspect that this is to be the most important contact our peoples have made in the past three millennia.”
Han would not say it, but he felt slighted at not being seated by Leia’s side. The fact that Mon Mothma had been similarly treated added to the offense. They waited only a moment before the Hapans began to disembark.
Product details
- Publisher : Random House Worlds (April 1, 1995)
- Language : English
- Mass Market Paperback : 384 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0553569376
- ISBN-13 : 978-0553569377
- Item Weight : 6.7 ounces
- Dimensions : 4.2 x 1 x 6.7 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #76,677 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #175 in Classic Action & Adventure (Books)
- #1,959 in Space Operas
- #3,067 in Science Fiction Adventures
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
![Dave Wolverton](https://cdn.statically.io/img/m.media-amazon.com/images/S/amzn-author-media-prod/hvq8q3rsb7kfv60qjhfr30s2o7._SY600_.jpg)
David Farland, aka Dave Wolverton is an award-winning, international best-selling author with over 60 novels in print. Published in over 20 languages. He has won the Phillip K. Dick Memorial Special Award for "Best Novel in the English Language", the Whitney award for "Best Novel of the Year", the Hollywood Book Festival, Grand Prize and several others. He has been a repeat writer for major franchises such as Star Wars and The Mummy. However, He is best known for his New York Times best-selling fantasy series The Runelords, which will soon be made into a graphic novel and, likely, a movie.
"Nightingale has got superb world-building, strong characters, and Farland's characteristic excellent prose. It was a quick read, fast moving, very fun!"
- Brandon Sanderson
"The Runelords is a first-rate tale, an epic fantasy that more than delivers on its promise. Read it soon and treat yourself to an adventure you won't forget."
- Terry Brooks
"When I reached the end of this first volume, The Runelords, and saw grace arise from a devastating battlefield where too many great hearts lay dead, Farland had earned the tears that came to my eyes. It was not sentiment but epiphany."
- Orson Scott Card
As a writing instructor, Farland has mentored dozens who have gone on to staggering literary success, including such #1 New York Times Bestsellers as Brandon Mull (Fablehaven), Brandon Sanderson (Wheel of Time), James Dashner (The Maze Runner) and Stephenie Meyer (Twilight)
Farland judges L. Ron Hubbard's Writers of the Future, perhaps the largest worldwide writing competition for new fantasy and science fiction authors. He has worked in Hollywood greenlighting movies and doctoring scripts. He set the Guinness World Record for the largest single-author, single-book signing.
David Farland has been hailed as "The Wizard of Storytelling" and his work has been called "compelling", "engrossing", "powerful", "profound" and "ultimately life-changing".
"I still use the writing techniques he discussed, and constantly reference him and his instruction when I teach creative writing myself. . . His explanations led me directly to getting an agent, and subsequently, my first book deal."
Brandon Sanderson, #1 Bestselling Author of Way of Kings
"He understands storytelling and writing on a freaky level. All of us feel like we owe a huge debt to him."
James Dashner, #1 Bestselling Author of The Maze Runner
"Aside from being a talented writer, David Farland is an excellent writing teacher. Hearing him teach live and reading his written advice has helped me focus many of my own thoughts about the writing process. Those who would like to learn more about the craft of writing would be wise to pay attention."
Brandon Mull, New York Times Bestselling Author of Fablehaven
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book enjoyable and underrated. They also appreciate the good storyline, great characters, and well-written style.
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Customers find the book well-written and enjoyable to read. They also say it keeps their attention.
"This was a great read. At first, I didn't have high hopes for it. I dreaded reading about the rivalry between Han and some other guy...." Read more
"Great book. Who cares if it's "cannon" or not, it's a cool story that modern star wars content owes it's development to...." Read more
"...Without any spoilers, this was an excellent story, among the best set in this time period...." Read more
"...Cheesy or no, its an entertaining story that any Star Wars fan would enjoy...." Read more
Customers find the storyline good, with solid action, suspense, and mystery. They also introduce great characters.
"...Dave Wolverton is genius. The plot line absolutely works...." Read more
"...to Star Wars it’s an adventurous story, which includes action, suspense, and mystery...." Read more
"...It starts and ends with some solid action, introduces some great characters, and serves as a solid bridge to later stories...." Read more
"...a planet with them? On the other hand, the plot line does have some interesting points, and Teneniel Djo is an interesting character...." Read more
Customers find the characters in the book great and morally upright.
"...The Prince of Hapes is a great, morally upright character. I've already read the Legacy of the Force series, so I knew a little of Tenel Ka...." Read more
"...Wolverton is expert with interplay between the characters. It's like watching the movies all over again...." Read more
"...It starts and ends with some solid action, introduces some great characters, and serves as a solid bridge to later stories...." Read more
"...The character interactions tend to fit well, and the story prepares for a climactic conclusion...-Spoilers follow...." Read more
Customers find the writing style of the book well-written.
"...This story was well written by Dave Wolverton, that as a reader you become part of the worlds and can see the creatures and humans that are..." Read more
"...inhabitants fits well into the star wars cosmos, and is done with generally well-written, conservative description...." Read more
"...Han and Luke were so well written and I loved the introduction to the Hapan culture. Overall, a fun read" Read more
"It was a very well written book that kept my attention and I had a difficult time putting the book down for ANYTHING...." Read more
Customers find the imagery vivid, natural, and detailed, keeping their attention and allowing the story to flow.
"...You'll get an incredible look at two awesome civilizations the Hapes and the Dathomerians...." Read more
"...writer does an excellent job of keeping your attention and giving just enough detail so the story flows with such fluidity you hardly notice the..." Read more
"...stage, however, much of the book is a rewarding story with vivid natural imagery...." Read more
"Wonderful character development. Entrancing look into a couple of matriarchal societies. (..." Read more
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What a pleasant surprise. Not mushy at all. I was hooked from the very first pages. Dave Wolverton is genius. The plot line absolutely works. There was a natural progression for why Leia might entertain marrying Prince Isodor, why Han gets desperate, why he does what he does, and how it all ends -- and I could actually believe there were witches on Dathomir.
Wolverton is expert with interplay between the characters. It's like watching the movies all over again. It wasn't all about battles and fight scenes. It was the interaction between Han and Isolder, Han and Leia, Luke and Han, Luke and the witches. All our original trio were completely in character, even as they did things we didn't think they could do (like contemplate marrying Prince Isolder). I left this book feeling like I knew them better than I have for a long time.
I am so glad I did read "Courtship of Princess Leia." It's one of those books that was so good I didn't want to put it down, but it was so good I didn't want it to end. What a quandary! I had to try to slow down and savor every moment. This is one of my favorite Star Wars novels so far, right up there with Star Wars: The Hand of Thrawn: Vision of the Future .
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The only thing I did not like about the story (and mainly because it didn't make sense to me) is that Leia becomes attracted to another man, which makes her think that she no longer loves Han. Having seen all 3 movies from the original trilogy and read The Truce at Bakura, it gave me the impression that they when through a lot for them to officially initiate a relationship. So, it made no sense when Leia wants to end their relationship after one minute of having met a “handsome prince." But, I guess this had to be the main dilemma of story in order for it to exist.
Without any spoilers, this was an excellent story, among the best set in this time period. It starts and ends with some solid action, introduces some great characters, and serves as a solid bridge to later stories.
My only complaint, and it's minor, are a few anachronistic references that don't sound like they belong in the SW universe. Phrases like "bug out" "weightlifter" and "spoon bender" and a few others, sound more like modern America. That said, it's a minor gripe for a otherwise great novel.
And Han Solo was totally unlike the character we remember from the movies. Come on, who ever heard of using a Gun of Command just to get someone to go on a space flight to a planet with them?
On the other hand, the plot line does have some interesting points, and Teneniel Djo is an interesting character.
Nice try, Wolverton. Try to make the characters a little more realistic next time.
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