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mayab1226 's review for:
Leia: Princess of Alderaan
by Claudia Gray
adventurous
reflective
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
I’ve long considered myself a Star Wars fan, but I guess it’s time for me to admit I’m a relatively casual one as far as fans go. While the movies bring me incredible amounts of joy, I watch them less for trivia or dissecting thematic elements than For The Vibes; I haven’t memorized every single planet and its characteristics and what species live there, and would honestly probably get smoked at a serious Star Wars trivia contest. To that end, that this is the first Star Wars tie-in novel I’ve ever read (whether in the EU/Legends canon or the post-Disney, sequel-compliant canon). Fortunately, I must say I was pleasantly surprised! Claudia Gray’s writing served as a great introduction to the wider world of the auxiliary material about the galaxy far, far away.
I loved the engaging writing style of this novel—at the end of chapters, I often had to physically stop myself from reading more and force myself to go to bed, and even then I’d sneak a few paragraphs of the next chapter before actually sleeping. I loved the connections to The Last Jedi—the main ones I could pick up were Leia’s Force-sensitivity and the appearance of Amilyn Holdo (call me a fake fan, but I didn’t realize that she was the same person as the purple-haired Amilyn Holdo in The Last Jedi until three-fourths of the way into the book) . And I loved the characters Gray introduced! Kier Domadi, as Leia’s love interest, is the perfect antithesis to Han Solo: where Han’s a roguish scoundrel whose dialogue with Leia is filled with bickering and banter, Kier is an upstanding, nerdy and shy model citizen with clear respect and affection for Leia that he doesn’t hesitate to show. Not gonna lie, as much as I love Han, I was kinda shipping Leia and Kier together…which makes Kier’s eventual fate that much more heartbreaking . And (teenage) Amilyn Holdo? She owns my entire heart. She’s like a mixture of Luna Lovegood and Ed from Cowboy Bebop, eccentric and wacky and unafraid to be herself, but at the same time intelligent, loyal, and deeply empathetic. (She’s also autistic-coded, I’m sorry, I don’t make the rules.) I loved seeing her growing friendship with Leia, and how they cane to trust and respect each other. I also really liked seeing the appearance of various familiar characters of the Star Wars universe, like Mon Mothma, Palpatine, and Grand Moff Tarkin.
Best of all, I thought this book painted a surprisingly nuanced, complex picture of politics and ethics under the reign of the Empire. This isn’t a book about Leia gaining empathy for innocent citizens under the Empire’s rule and learning how terrible the Empire is. She knows that already, and she wants to help. But unfortunately, there are many times at the beginning of the book where her well-meaning actions have awful, far-reaching consequences she didn’t intend, because the Empire’s rule reaches farther than she knows, than her parents trust her to know. This is a book about her coming of age and learning more about what she can do to help while in the position of power that she’s in—as well as what she can’t do. Gray does a great job of increasing Leia’s knowledge of and position in the Rebellion, all the while gradually raising the stakes, showing Leia’s attempts at humanitarianism and help that backfire under the Empire’s tyranny.
All the while, Leia grapples with the book’s central thematic question: should Alderaan and its leaders protect the people of the galaxy and remain a neutral safe haven, or use its influence to fight for the rights of the citizens, to overthrow the Empire? At what point, if any, does war become inevitable? Readers who are familiar with the original Star Wars trilogy, of course, know that the rebellion will, in fact, become the titular Star War—and that Leia will be an instrumental leader in it. But Gray still manages to build some excellent suspense and ethical tension in this novel*, because she deftly presents varying perspectives on this question through the points of view of different characters: Leia; her parents Bail and Breha Organa; Mon Mothma; Amilyn Holdo and Kier Domadi, Leia’s fellow Apprentice Legislators; extremist terrorist Saw Gerrera. And no one’s opinion is necessarily wrong (well…except maybe the extremist terrorist)—the way Gray writes them, you can easily see their points of view and empathize with their stories. When the book reaches its conclusion, it feels like the natural resolution to an ethical issue that had to be worked through, not something contrived or forced. And it’s honestly a question that was relevant here on Earth in 2017, when this book was published, and continues to be relevant today. What can we—especially the YA target audience of the book, perhaps the same age as the Apprentice Legislators—do to fight against injustice and oppressive regimes, whose influence grows stronger and more insidious by the day? Is there ever a point where more direct action is the best—or only—choice?
In conclusion, I’d definitely recommend this book to any Star Wars fan, and I’ll absolutely be checking out more of Claudia Gray’s works—both for Star Wars and her original fiction—in the future!
*Another way Gray builds tension is through dramatic irony for readers who have watched the original Star Wars trilogy, which I assume would be the vast majority of them (so I won’t spoiler-tag this). Leia talking about what she might do as future ruler/queen of Alderaan becomes so much sadder if you know its eventual fate in A New Hope. And when she worries about what the Empire will do to her and her family if they find out their involvement in the Rebellion, her worst-case scenario is that they kill her whole family—when the reality turns out to be so much worse.
I loved the engaging writing style of this novel—at the end of chapters, I often had to physically stop myself from reading more and force myself to go to bed, and even then I’d sneak a few paragraphs of the next chapter before actually sleeping. I loved the connections to The Last Jedi—
Best of all, I thought this book painted a surprisingly nuanced, complex picture of politics and ethics under the reign of the Empire. This isn’t a book about Leia gaining empathy for innocent citizens under the Empire’s rule and learning how terrible the Empire is. She knows that already, and she wants to help. But unfortunately, there are many times at the beginning of the book where her well-meaning actions have awful, far-reaching consequences she didn’t intend, because the Empire’s rule reaches farther than she knows, than her parents trust her to know. This is a book about her coming of age and learning more about what she can do to help while in the position of power that she’s in—as well as what she can’t do. Gray does a great job of increasing Leia’s knowledge of and position in the Rebellion, all the while gradually raising the stakes, showing Leia’s attempts at humanitarianism and help that backfire under the Empire’s tyranny.
All the while, Leia grapples with the book’s central thematic question: should Alderaan and its leaders protect the people of the galaxy and remain a neutral safe haven, or use its influence to fight for the rights of the citizens, to overthrow the Empire? At what point, if any, does war become inevitable? Readers who are familiar with the original Star Wars trilogy, of course, know that the rebellion will, in fact, become the titular Star War—and that Leia will be an instrumental leader in it. But Gray still manages to build some excellent suspense and ethical tension in this novel*, because she deftly presents varying perspectives on this question through the points of view of different characters: Leia; her parents Bail and Breha Organa; Mon Mothma; Amilyn Holdo and Kier Domadi, Leia’s fellow Apprentice Legislators; extremist terrorist Saw Gerrera. And no one’s opinion is necessarily wrong (well…except maybe the extremist terrorist)—the way Gray writes them, you can easily see their points of view and empathize with their stories. When the book reaches its conclusion, it feels like the natural resolution to an ethical issue that had to be worked through, not something contrived or forced. And it’s honestly a question that was relevant here on Earth in 2017, when this book was published, and continues to be relevant today. What can we—especially the YA target audience of the book, perhaps the same age as the Apprentice Legislators—do to fight against injustice and oppressive regimes, whose influence grows stronger and more insidious by the day? Is there ever a point where more direct action is the best—or only—choice?
In conclusion, I’d definitely recommend this book to any Star Wars fan, and I’ll absolutely be checking out more of Claudia Gray’s works—both for Star Wars and her original fiction—in the future!
*Another way Gray builds tension is through dramatic irony for readers who have watched the original Star Wars trilogy, which I assume would be the vast majority of them (so I won’t spoiler-tag this). Leia talking about what she might do as future ruler/queen of Alderaan becomes so much sadder if you know its eventual fate in A New Hope. And when she worries about what the Empire will do to her and her family if they find out their involvement in the Rebellion, her worst-case scenario is that they kill her whole family—when the reality turns out to be so much worse.