Beginning with the award ceremony on Yavin 4, Princess Leia tells the story of Leia’s mission to save what remained of Alderaan, the people who had settled on other worlds. Leia and fellow Alderaanian Rebel, Evaan, set out to reunite the diaspora as the Empire threatens to wipe out all surviving Alderaanians.
It wasn’t a bad story, but it had weaknesses not found in Darth Vader or Chewbacca. It didn’t really make sense to me that Leia would try to gather the survivors in one spot. It seems like a good way to get them all killed. It was also a spur of the moment plan and not well thought through. Leia never really struck me as a fly by the seat of her pants kind of woman. It felt like they needed to make her an action badass. Which she can be, but this didn’t quite come together for me.
Ok, one more thing that bothered me, and then I’ll start talking about what I did like. Princess Leia didn’t look like Princess Leia. The face is thinner and more angular and the eyebrows are on fleek. Baby Princess Leia’s eyebrows were more soft than arch. Look at that baby face! She could sass Emperial stooges and rescue her own damn self, but her eyebrows were still baby eyebrows. I know! It’s a dumb complaint.
What I did like were the relationships and the sense of Leia gaining purpose as the story moved along. It wasn’t easy, there were different kinds of Alderaanians, and different kinds of obstacles and conflicts. I particularly liked the ending.
It wasn’t everything I wanted, but it was ok. I’m glad I read it.