Star Wars: The Princess and the Scoundrel
You are cordially invited to the wedding of Princess Leia Organa and Han Solo.
The Death Star is destroyed. Darth Vader is dead. The Empire is desolate. But on the forest moon of Endor, among the chaos of a changing galaxy, time stands still for a princess and her scoundrel.
After being frozen in carbonite, then risking everything for the Rebellion, Han is eager to stop living his life for other people. He and Leia have earned their future together, a thousand times over. And when he proposes to Leia, it’s the first time in a long time he’s had a good feeling about this. For Leia, a lifetime of fighting doesn’t seem truly over. There is work still to do, penance to pay for the dark secret that she now knows runs through her veins. Her brother, Luke, is offering her that chance—one that comes with family and the promise of the Force. But when Han asks her to marry him, Leia finds her answer immediately on her lips . . . Yes.
Yet happily ever after doesn’t come easily. As soon as Han and Leia depart their idyllic ceremony for their honeymoon, they find themselves on the grandest and most glamorous stage of all: the Halcyon, a luxury vessel on a very public journey to the most wondrous worlds in the galaxy. Their marriage, and the peace and prosperity it represents, are a lightning rod for all—including Imperial remnants still clinging to power.
Facing their most desperate hour, the soldiers of the Empire have dispersed across the galaxy, retrenching on isolated planets vulnerable to their influence. As the Halcyon travels from world to world, one thing becomes abundantly clear: The war is not over. But as danger draws closer, Han and Leia find that they fight their best battles not alone, but as husband and wife.
Author: Beth Revis
Cover artist: Oliver Cuthbertson
Release date: 2nd February 2023
Pages: 400
ISBN: 9781804940365
The second Death Star has been destroyed, the Emperor and Darth Vader are dead and the rebellion are reeling from their victory. On the moon of Endor Princess Leia Organa and Han Solo find themselves contemplating their futures now that their fight is seemingly over. It becomes clear that the only future they can envision is by each others side and they marry on the forest moon. Can they survive the skeletons of their past and build a healthy marriage alongside a budding New Republic? All be revealed as they honeymoon on the luxury cruise ship, The Halcyon.
Put your cynicism to one side and enjoy this book for what it is, a wonderful love story. The cover is not misleading, this is absolutely a story of Han and Leia and the next chapter in their relationship. That’s not to say it’s juvenile or saccharine, the love displayed in these pages is about acceptance, grief and support. It’s a love that feels incredibly natural and earned. Beth Revis captures these characters perfectly and builds upon the heavy lifting done by the movies. This is the same Han and Leia that first met in the Death Star detention block and also the Han and Leia that took down the shield generator on Endor as they flirted between taking shots at Stormtroopers. Revis gives Claudia Gray a run for her money in writing the perfect Leia and she gives us the softer side of Han, the one we got to know in Return of the Jedi. It’s beautifully written and it’s hard not to fall for this coupling all over again. It’s a far more believable and compelling love story than others from the saga like Anakin and Padmè.
The other side of Han and Leia is their inherent badassery, and that’s also here in spades. Their honeymoon is somewhat derailed when the cruise touches down on new stop (much to Leia’s urging as she sees a diplomatic opportunity for the New Republic) Madurs and things are quite clearly not right. A subdued and clearly fearful population that refuse to look at or acknowledge a mysterious black tower piercing the horizon raises suspicion and activates the Solo’s hero mode. Full of mystery and action from this point until the explosive finale the pick-up in momentum coupled with the stellar character work puts
The Princess and the Scoundrel a step above typical canon fare.
If I had to liken the book to other works I’d have to split my answer into two parts. The first half of the book feels like a direct sequel to
Return of the Jedi with a similar feel to
Leia: Princess of Alderaan and
Bloodline. I don’t know if Gray’s works were an influence on Revis, but there’s some obvious references to the former and this honestly feels like it could be the missing middle chapter in an unofficial trilogy. When the story moves to Madurs it shifts gears and starts to feel more like early canon works
A New Dawn and
Ahsoka. It becomes about helping a subjugated populace overcome oppression, something
Star Wars has always been about and while those books always felt self contained and unwilling to shake the larger canon, they’re fantastic adventures. This is no different.
The cynicism I referenced at the start of my review is understandable, but I wouldn’t worry; this doesn’t feel like an advert for the Disney attraction/hotel. If you’ve read
Black Spire or
A Crash of Fate which were set in Black Spire Outpost, the location of Disney’s Galaxy’s Edge theme park, then this is handled in much the same way. It’s a present setting for the story and you’re introduced to recognisable characters and features of the Halycon, but it never feels forced and more importantly, it never derails the story being told. I was rather ambivalent to the new hotel before, which the lacklustre
Halycon Legacy comic series didn’t help, but now I recognise it as the backdrop to one of my favourite new stories and I’d love to see it for myself. Whether that was the aim of the book or not is immaterial, we just have more great
Star Wars content to fall in love with, and that’s never a bad thing.
