The Courtship Of Princess Leia (2011) - Plot & Excerpts
I'll start out with some The Courtship of Princess Leia trivia, courtesy of the Star Wars wiki: Dave Wolverton was originally contracted to write a trilogy, which was canceled. Because of the numerous plot threads running through this novel, it's been suggested that CoPL is the conglomeration of that trilogy. The paperback cover was also changed--from the original one, featuring wedding dress Leia, Blade Runner Han, and Fabio-esque Isolder, to a more action-orientated cover with rancors and the trio in Endor garb. The reason? Sales for the hardback book were lower than expected, possibly because the first cover made it look like a romance novel.Now, the term "romance novel" has come to acquire many negative connotations, probably because readers new to the genre are more familiar with infamously horrible examples than anything else. But essentially, any novel that focuses on "the relationship and romantic love between two people" could be categorized as a romance novel. (The "happily ever after" is usually required, but sometimes optional.)I'll break it down:--Does CoPL focus on the relationship between Leia & Han?Yes.--Is there a HEA?Yes, I guess.--Is it a romance novel, then?Yes, to some extent. There are many plot threads, but Leia and Han are often the main focus.--Is it a good romance novel?HELL NO.SUMMARYHan Solo comes back from (apparently) destroying Warlord Zsinj's Super Star Destroyer to find that the Hapes Consortium has sent a buttload of ships and gifts to the New Republic. They're willing to ally with the New Republic, on a few conditions: Princess Leia has to accept all their crap, and oh yeah, marry Crown Prince Isolder as well.In a totally OOC move, Han wins the planet Dathomir in a sabacc game. He fails to impress Leia with his new-found wealth and prosperity, so he kidnaps her and runs off to his planet. (Chewbacca comes along.)Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker is acting like an all-powerful Jedi loser, and joins forces with Isolder to track down the kidnapper, kidnapped, and kidnapper's BFF. (He may have been trying to track down some Jedi history before this, but I wasn't buying much attention.) Using his amazing Force powers, he finds a faster hyperspace path to Dathomir, pretends to be dead, floats down to a graceful landing, floats R2-D2 & Isolder & his ship down too, and discovers the remains of the Chu'unthor, a floating casino Jedi academy.Of course, bad stuff happens. Han, Leia, and Chewie are captured by Imperials, then rescued by the Witches of Dathomir (good guys) and have a slumber party. Luke and Isolder are captured by Teneniel Djo, and become her oh-so-willing man-slaves. The Nightsisters (bad guys) try to capture the Millenium Falcon, and generally act crazy and Dark Side-y. Luke almost dies, but miraculously heals himself within a few hours! He also pilots the Falcon all by himself, saves Han, takes out the Nightsisters, disables the orbital nightcloak (more on that later), and acts like KJA-era Luke on Force crack.Meanwhile, C-3PO wants to be BFFs with Han, so he spends the whole novel sucking up, claiming Han is the descendant of the King of Corellia, and being a general nuisance. Isolder's mother may have tried to kill Luke or Leia (or both) earlier in the novel, but I forgot. In the end, Han destroys Zsinj's Super Star Destroyer again, and marries Leia. Isolder marries Teneniel, because he seems to be into that kind of thing.TEN THINGS HORRIBLY WRONG WITH THIS NOVEL1. Sexual ObjectificationFor a Bantam era novel, CoPL is surprisingly sleazy. Isolder is super hot (he's called Space Fabio for a reason); his mother, Ta'a Chume, is gorgeous and vicious; all the Hapans are beautiful; Teneniel is barely legal, but super hot as well. So much time is spent describing the sexual attractiveness of various characters that the reader starts to feel...well, tainted after a while.Not to mention that this might be the first SW book to contain the word "breast." As in, "with totally no clothes covering it up." Teneniel takes Luke and Isolder as her slaves, and has high hopes for Luke, because any of their children would have Force superpowers. The Dathomiri culture, on a whole, is all about the sexual dominance of women. But instead of being empowering for women, it's female dominance viewed through the male gaze: a weird erotic fantasy, with women seen through the eyes of the heterosexual male. Frankly, I find it insulting.2. Barbaric Matriarchal SocietiesBoth Hapes and Dathomir are matriarchal societies. At first, that seems a reason for celebration. As a female reader, I have no problem with a world ruled by women--in fact, it's nice to see a novel with more female characters than just Leia.But Hapes and Dathomir are not just ruled by women: their cultures are violently barbaric. Ta'a Chume maintains power by killing off her rivals, even her own children. The Dathomiri clans enslave others, and are stuck in the Stone Age thanks to the lack of modern technology. The combination of gender inequalities and savage violence suggests that female dominated societies are not only fodder for kinky male fantasies, but inherently wrong as well.3. The Curious Anomaly of the Independent Hapes ClusterIf the Hapes Cluster is so large and powerful, and could be such an asset to the New Republic, why did Palpatine ignore them? Why didn't he swallow them up in his Empire? (And judging by their actions before and during the Battle of Dathomir, they probably wouldn't have won. For the descendants of space pirates, they're not that great at warfare.)4. Palpatine Was Scared of GethzerionTo which I have to respond....SERIOUSLY? The most powerful Sith of the age knew about a bunch of Force "witches," and just let them be? I don't think Palpatine would have left a planet full of Force sensitives alone. He wiped out almost the entire Jedi Order--he would have had no problem disposing of some women who had primitive weapons, and only a basic understanding of the Force.Along the same lines, I very much doubt that the Dathomiri could have prevented Yoda and other Jedi from retrieving the wreckage of the Chu'unthor. Yoda was badass; has Wolverton never watched The Empire Strikes Back?5. The Orbital Nightcloak, and How Zsinj Fails as a VillainThe Orbital Nightcloak is composed of a network of satellites that prevent sunlight from reaching the planet they orbit. Awesome way to freeze out a planet, right? Well...except for the small fact that, like old school Christmas lights, knocking out a few satellites would deactivate the entire network.That idiocy defines Zsinj's character in CoPL. Everyone says he's a genius, but all the examples Wolverton gives the reader of Zsinj's evil plans are downright moronic. Using an interdependent control system on his secret weapon? Making deals with evil Nightsisters and expecting them to honor them? Not getting the hell out of Dodge once the Hapan fleet showed up? Major fail!Fortunately, Aaron Allston retcons Zsinj into a mastermind who merely pretends to be stupid in the Wraith Squadron trilogy, but Zsinj's first appearance in the SW canon is utterly disappointing.6. The Gun of CommandWolverton tries to shoehorn various new technologies into the book, but none are as groan-inducing as the Hapan Gun of Command. According to the SW wiki, "[the] guns worked by releasing an electromagnetic wave field which disabled the victim's thought processes. Once affected, the victim would follow any simple command given, even blatantly suicidal ones."You have to be very careful with technology in SW novels; there's an uneasy balance between the complexities of their ships and weapons, and the frontier-like quality of the original trilogy. The Gun of Command bypasses that completely, and pushes the story into sci-fi farce. A gun that takes away the victim's free will? The Empire would have loved that! Ugh, Wolverton, you make my brain hurt.7. Han's General Characterization, and His Approach to WooingI can accept Han getting jealous and pissy about another suitor showing up for Leia's hand. But getting drunk and trying to win fame and fortune in a game of chance, so that he'd be worthy of her? Kidnapping her and stuffing her in the Millenium Falcon's hidden cargo sections? This is not the man who coolly answered "I know" to Leia's proclamation of love in ESB.In CoPL, Han is overbearing, insecure, and unbelievably dense--a particularly heinous passage involves Han pulling a drunk whuffa worm out of a puddle, and believing this to be an impressive feat. His characterization is so far left-field that I'm actually surprised Leia marries him in the end. 8. Leia's Ambivalence and FicklenessOf course, that's not perplexing when you look at all the uncharacteristic things that Leia does. Wolverton takes a strong, stable relationship between two equal partners, smashes it into the ground, and attempts to show them "falling back in love"...problem is, there's not much visible proof of their undying love to placate the reader.I don't have too much of an issue with Leia considering the Hapan proposal: politically, it might be a good move to ally themselves with the Hapan Cluster. But she doesn't even discuss this with Han, and their relationship is just wrong. She's nasty and snappish with him, her interests constantly switching from one man to the other and back again. If the men in this novel--exemplified by Han--are idiots, the women are shrews, and Leia the queen of them all.9. Han's Lack of Response to the Continued Existence of the Iron FistWhen the novel opens, Han is returning to Coruscant after destroying Zsinj's flagship, the SSD Iron Fist. However, when he encounters it again in the Dathomir system, there's not a hint of shock or outrage or anything. Han spent MONTHS hunting this man down, believed he was dead, and when he encounters him again, he just shrugs it off and blows him up again. "Ho hum, another Imperial Warlord to destroy, just in a day's work," he seems to say. WHAT THE HELL, Wolverton, I can't even dlkfgjlgkfghddkhfl....10. LUKE FREAKING SKYWALKERChronologically, CoPL comes before Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy, where Luke behaves much as he did in the original trilogy--by which I mean that his Force powers are nothing too extravagant. He participates in lightsaber duels, glimpses the future, faces a Dark Jedi, and hones his instincts. You'd expect Luke to act much the same in this novel.Nope. Instead, he seems to have sprung fully formed from the pages of the Jedi Academy trilogy; Luke performs daring feats years before he faced the reborn Emperor and proclaimed himself a Master. It doesn't fit into the Expanded Universe timeline.Additionally, Luke acts like the most obnoxious kind of Jedi: the constantly proselytizing teacher. He even instructs Isolder (as non-Force sensitive as they come) in the ways of the Light Side. When captured by Teneniel, Luke calmly goes along with it and tries to explain that gosh, she really shouldn't rape him, it's not nice. He makes no moves to escape, and I don't buy it. To reference Zahn again: in Heir to the Empire, Luke didn't escape from Mara in the forests of Myrkr because the ysalamiri blocked the Force, and they both were in the same bad situation. Here, Luke can access the Force perfectly fine, so he has no reason to stick with Teneniel. (She wants you to be her sexy slave, Luke. Get out while you still can!)And the climax of the story, where Luke faces down Gethzerion, ruptures all the blood vessels in his face, and yet still manages to heal himself and save the day....I can't even discuss it, I'll get too angry and degenerate into senseless typing again.ETA: Plus it's always really, really, reeeeally annoyed me that Wolverton thought it would be okay for Luke to almost miss their wedding. Like he wouldn't be there BEFORE IT EVEN STARTED TO BEGIN WITH.Ugh, why I did not mention that in my review? Horrible! Wolverton, he's Leia's twin brother--her only family still alive. He should be there at least three hours before the ceremony, probably being an usher and finding Mon Mothma a seat and everything. It is unacceptable for Luke to walk in at the last minute, like "Hey guys, sorry I'm late, you can continue."CONCLUSION AND CLOSING THOUGHTSThe Courtship of Princess Leia introduced characters and cultures that played a large role in later SW books, especially the New Jedi Order series, the Dark Nest trilogy, and the Legacy of the Force series. Isolder and Teneniel Djo had a daughter (Tenel Ka), who eventually produced Han and Leia's only grandchild (Allana). Dathomiri witches joined Luke's Jedi Order, while Nightsisters became the Sith Ladies of Tomorrow. The Hapans are always willing to pop up and provide some naval help in times of trouble, and Ta'a Chume still tries to assassinate family members.CoPL fills a crucial gap in the post-Return of the Jedi timeline. Unfortunately, it's just not very good.NOT RECOMMENDED.SOURCES & ADDITIONAL READINGWiki articles referenced:Romance novelSexual objectificationThe Courtship of Princess LeiaA brief definition of the old school romantic heroOther CoPL reviews:TV Tropes entry for CoPLthis review on GoodReadsGood romance recommendations:Smart Bitches, Trashy BooksDear Author
"I'm supposed to be happy that we're going to crash into the planet instead of blow up in space?"My quest to review all the previous Star Wars Expanded Universe books I read in my teenaged years continues!Leia Organa has been campaigning to get the powerful Hapan Cluster to aid the New Republic in its fight against the Imperial Remnant led by Warlord Zsinj. Things somewhat backfire when the Queen agrees...under the condition that Leia marry the Queen's son and heir, Prince Isolder. Han, being outraged, captures Leia and takes her to a mysterious planet, Dathomir, where both meet up with Luke, who has been searching for missing Jedi.I Liked:Unlike about 90% of the other reviewers, I actually didn't mind Leia's turmoil over her feelings for Isolder and Han. I felt it was realistic. After all, it had been four years since Return of the Jedi, and I would have thought, had they loved each other so much, wouldn't they have found a chance to get married in that time? I know Leia is driven for the New Republic and all, but surely they would have found ten minutes to haul Admiral Ackbar over and have a quiet ceremony. But no. Instead, four years later, they are still unmarried and even separated for huge chunks of time, with Han fighting Zsinj and Leia campaigning with the Hapans. So, to think that Leia might have developed a crush on Isolder, who is very handsome, very charming, and very appreciative of her, isn't that too out of left field.There are many moments in the story where Han and Leia's characterizations are spot on. The review title's quote, from Leia, is one perfect example. It's easy to believe that she would have snapped something like this to Han, just as she does in Courtship. And Han has quite a few good moments too, and some good smarmy lines.Luke Skywalker adopts an interesting mission, to resurrect and investigate the Jedi. This is a good foreshadowing of later novels.New characters that stand out are Prince Isolder and Teneniel Djo. Their chemistry is really nice and is well built. Besides, the two characters themselves are pretty interesting. Prince Isolder is a rich brat, but he still manages to be likeable. Teneniel also is well-written as a woman struggling with the use of the Force for good.Also of note, the Hapan and Dathomiri cultures are founded in this book. These cultures (female centric, very interesting, if sometimes overboard) become quite prominent in later books, namely the New Jedi Order series and the Legacy of the Force series. Furthermore, this quote from Ta'a Chume is very interesting, in light of later books: "I won't have our descendants bowing to his, ruled by an oligarchy of spoon benders and readers of auras."I Didn't Like:If I were to read this novel now (and not listen), I can only imagine how many times this book would end up smacking against a wall!Right from the beginning, Han Solo ogles over a "Gun of Command", which, when shot, will allow the "victim" to do whatever the shooter wanted (of course, this weapon comes from a stereotypically "technologically advanced" world in the Hapan cluster). When I heard this, I wanted to scream in terror. This is the most ludicrous Star Wars invention ever! It sounds almost as if someone had recently read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, didn't realize THAT book was satire, and took the concept from the Point of View gun! ACK! It doesn't work, and it's a lame plot device!Then, when Han feels that he is losing Leia, what does he do? Does he take her aside, have a nice evening with her, tell her his concerns as you might think a four year boyfriend might? Of course, not! He instead sets his ship up for a loan and tries to make himself as wealthy as Isolder, because THAT is what Leia wants, royalty and money, not love for its own sake or the New Republic or anything else. Did Han disappear and get replaced by his evil and much stupider twin?? It seriously makes me wonder, since the actions of Han in this book do not remind me of Han Solo from the movies at all.But the part I really disliked was when Han, and this is post-ROTJ Han, kidnaps Leia. This is from the man that was willing to let Leia have a chance with Luke in ROTJ, but now he is willing to commit a serious crime to get her to be with him? What happened to his being somewhat respectable? Any respect I had for Han was lost at this point.Luke Skywalker, every chance he gets, tries to convert people to "Jedi-ism" or "Light-side-ism"--even when they aren't Force Sensitive! He tells Isolder at one point, the other man needs to "join the Light Side". And then Luke's Force teachings get muddied when he tells Tenenial Djo that it's not the spells but the meaning, the heart behind them that makes a person a Dark Sider/Nightsister. This goes against all the teachings of the Jedi up to this point. The Dark Side had been treated as a separate entity from the Light and it was with Jacen's time that the two were begun to be seen as an individual's choice and not two distinct factions. Then, I grew irritated when Luke would randomly kill individuals and then champion against killing in the next breath. Talk about hypocrisy!While we are talking about Luke, I should mention how he comes off way too powerful. In the Thrawn Trilogy, Luke was a perfect balance of Jedi Knight/Master and naive idealist. Here, one year before Heir to the Empire, he is near omnipotent, able to appear dead, float down to Dathomir's surface, float Isolder and HIS ship down safely to the surface, and not break a sweat! That doesn't even get to the part where he flies the Falcon single-handedly (why can't Chewie or Leia or Isolder fly the ship?!) and is able to fire the weapons to perfection! Completely out of character, completely off the wall, completely TOO powerful!The plot of the story is, in a nutshell, how Leia and Han fall in love and get married. Only, they had already fallen in love by ROTJ, so there really is no need for them to "fall in love" again. Particularly if it is done as poorly as Wolverton has, creating a conflict where one didn't need to be (even if I didn't mind Leia considering Isolder, I think the execution was poor). Why can't they just get married and have a nice adventure on Dathomir, searching for Jedi with Luke? But, no, that can't happen! We have to throw in some out of character moments for Han, make him unlikeable, and force a romantic obstacle so Han and Leia can "show" their love to each other. Oh brother! If we are going to do this, couldn't we get a REAL romance writer instead of a scifi/fantasy writer??The latter half fares better as it deals more with the events on Dathomir than the forced conflicted with Han, Leia, and Isolder, but still there are absurdities that just won't go away, one of them being the two female-centered societies in one novel. What the...? I don't have a problem with them, but I found it oddly coincidental...and a little sexist. The female-centered societies seem more cruel, more "barbaric" than the male-centered socieities (i.e. the main character's). The Hapan females are personified as cruel, power-hungry, and insulting to men and the Dathomiri females capture men to be their slaves. What happened to Wolverton in his youth that made him want to portray women in such a distasteful limelight? Can't we have one female-centric society that doesn't oppress the people (and the males specifically) in such a blatantly hyperbolic way?Speaking of which, if the Hapes Cluster is so powerful, why did the Emperor keep them around? Why didn't he ally with them or destroy them? Why did he leave the Nightsisters on Dathomir instead of recruiting them as his Dark Jedi (as he has done with his Inquisitors)? This makes absolutely no sense.Lastly, the satellites blocking the sun's energies? Don't get me started...Also, as is typical for an abridged audiobook, this was very choppy, very hard to follow, and sometimes confusing.Dialogue/Sexual Situations/Violence:A spattering of h*** and d***. Kinda shocked to see that in a Star Wars book.Isolder is one hot babe and Han declares he and Leia are "lovers". Teneniel captures Isolder and Luke, hoping to have them bear her sons. Isolder wonders if his mother will sleep with Luke. For a Star Wars novel, it gets pretty sleazy.Space battles, lightsaber duels, rancors, Imperials, Force-wielding Nightsisters...all come into play in this book. Not to mention beheadings, multiple broken bones, dis-arming (literally), and burst blood vessels. Joy of joys.Overall:Words aren't enough to describe how silly this book is. When I read it in my teens, my under-developed senses blazed past the crazy tactics Han employed to "woo" his woman, Luke's ham-handed Jedi preaching, and the bizarre female dominated societies (not one but two in a single book!). Now that I'm older, I can't help but want to bang my head into a wall.Also, I have to send out an apology to Michael Reaves and Steve Perry. In a previous review of their co-authored book, Death Star, I criticized heavily their bad attempt at writing romance. Well, I now rescind those remarks. I've found an author who is even worse at writing a romance story (since the whole point of Courtship is to say how Han and Leia got married!) than they are.The Courtship of Princess Leia is pivotal in establishing cultures and characters that will come into play in later books. But honestly, with as silly and embarrassing as the events in this book are, I would suggest skipping it and creating your own love story for Han and Leia. 2 stars.
What do You think about The Courtship Of Princess Leia (2011)?
This book, in my opinion should stand out a bit from the rest of its' series. Star Wars novels are known for their battle sequences, war adventures, and so on. However, The Courtship of Princess Leia includes more than the usual but exciting tale of high adventure on the course of war. Wolverton develops the main characters romantically, adding a new flavor to their past heroics. There have been touchs of romance here and there, but in this novel, it has its own theme. Not being a lover of romances, I was surprised to see this theme weave through my favorite science fiction series. I can honestly also say, that Wolverton didn't dissapoint by adding in this innovative theme. He only spiced things up, and made the storyline that much more interesting.
—Marianna Gleyzer
You couldn't set out to craft a book better designed to extinguish my Star Wars obsession than this particular offering. Blech.First, Wolverton has no clear concept of who Leia is and what makes her tick. He tries to pretend that Leia could not love Han after the ending of Jedi, and even seriously consider marrying someone else. Hogwash.Second, he spends more time in the heads of Han, Luke, and the would-be wooer (even C-3PO!) than he does in Leia's head, although given his already stated inadequate understanding of her character, it's just as well. I finished it because I wanted to ensure that I would never be tempted to read it again. It sucked, and there is no other way to say it.
—Rachel
Enjoyed the story very much! I can't help but like it when tough guys like Han get romantic (even if it's not romantic like EVERYONE else sees it). He's also great when he acts like a puppy dog, hopping around for Leia's attention, then quickly scolded. I liked how Luke, Chewie, and the droids were written, and new characters too. There was info enough to see whom they were, but a slight openness to interpretation so you could have more of your own mental background for why they did things. I like this kind of "romance" novel, where the romance is just barely really glazed by, and the rest is more adventure. Also, many good lines that make you chuckle a bit as you read.
—Hazel M Bear
