If you were to ask me what I remembered about the Corellian Trilogy before I started this read through, I could’ve told you three things: Thracken Sal-Solo is a slimy git, Centerpoint Station is bad, and the Solo children should not try to build droids. In other words, I went into these books with a relatively clean slate which was actually a rather nice change. Even better? It turns out that I do rather enjoy reading these books. And also that I’d really like to steal Roger Macbride Allen’s career and be a Foreign Service Officer AND a Star Wars author.
Ambush at Corellia
If nothing else, you have to appreciate how self-aware and very Star Wars this book is in the very first chapter. Han and Chewie are working on the Falcon and its plethora of mechanical issues and oh did anyone mention that the Solo children are a bunch of little troublemakers and have a reputation for it throughout the galaxy?
Also, because I am an Alderaan diehard, I will point out my objection to Leia saying that she was only the Organa’s foster daughter because I am 99% sure that she was adopted and raised completely as Bail and Breha’s own. If anyone is going to be referred to as the Organa’s foster daughter, it’s probably Winter.
That one quibble aside, Roger MacBride Allen seems to understand the Skywalker twins better than a heck of a lot of the Star Wars authors. One of the complaints that’s been brought up on the podcast lately is that there is no reason why Leia cannot be both a politician and a Jedi. The first six chapters of this book show her striving to do exactly that. On the flip side, they also show Mon Mothma urging Luke to embrace the political talents that he might have to better help the Jedi Order. Although this trilogy was written well before the Prequel Trilogy was released, I do think that there is a good chance Mon Mothma knew or at least strongly suspected who Luke and Leia’s mother was and therefore thought that maybe some of Padme’s political talents had gone to both twins. In short, the book’s start is a lovely reminder that people do not need to be defined by one job or one skill set alone and that there is no reason why Leia cannot be both politician and Jedi.
I actually found the book to be a decent enough read. On its own, it doesn’t really stand up as its own story since much of what happens is clearly just all the set up for the next two books. The Solo Family arrives on Corellia, Lando drags Luke off on his great ‘find a wife’ tour, and trouble really kicks off in the Corellian system. The story pay off is going to have to happen in books 2 and 3.