Star Wars: The Courtship of Princess Leia

Incomplete Book

I own the paperback of this book and this version only covers part of a few chapters. It is only 3 hours long. Big disappointment

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Great story, but narrator ruins it for me

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would recommend that they listen to this book if they need to fill story gaps, but not if they can't ignore bad narration with multiple mispronunciations. Coruscant is pronounced "CorusKant", Han Solo sounds like a 1940's gangster, and Wedge Antilles sounds like Scotty from Star Trek. Very distracting after hearing the amazing Mark Thompson in so many great readings!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Luke Skywalker

How could the performance have been better?

Pronounce the words in the Star Wars universe correctly since most of the people who listen to these books are big Start Wars fans.

Did Star Wars: The Courtship of Princess Leia inspire you to do anything?

Listen to the next story

Any additional comments?

Please have Mark Thompson narrate any book previously narrated by Anthony Heald!

5 of 6 people found this review helpful

Better than I thought it would be! recommended.

Realistic as a film, sounds and voices from original movies, great story,I am very surprised by the book!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

I love this book.

For some crazy reason this one of the most disliked EU books. For me it’s one of my favorites. We begin about 3ABY with Han coming home from a long mission for the New Republic. When he gets home the capital seems to be besieged by the Hapan fleet. Things take a turn when we find out it’s a diplomatic envoy. A New Republic barely on it’s feet is offered a powerful ally. The Hapens. The only price. A marriage of Prince Isoldar and Princess Leia. Han, fearing (wrongly) that Leia would choose to accept the proposal, abducts Leia. He takes her to a planet he’s won in a high stakes sabacc tournament. Dathomir. That’s right. The Nightsisters make there debut here. Without his book the EU and the new “canon” would be a sadder place.

Leia

I enjoyed this story. It was done well, and I didn't know Leia fell out of love with Han Solo. And Solo was surprized to find a princes was interested in Leia.
So Han went to a Sabbacc game and won a planet.
Read or listen to this book and enjoyed the ride.

meh

alright story. not great. some funny parts but it sewmed kind of modgepodged together. meh.

Not Your Typical Romance... Come on It's Star Wars

For those of you who saw the credits roll for Return of the Jedi and thought, "BUT are Han and Leia are going to get married?" well, this is the book for you. This isn't your typical Romance, largely because its Star Wars. But it is a blast. Those seeking romance and those seeking action can both be pleased here (perhaps akin to a Gerard Butler RomCom).

But let's talk about the true draw to this book (in my opinion). This is no longer canon, for those concerned, but this story had much to do with influencing current canon. The Nightsisters of Dathomir had a long run on The Clone Wars and Rebels, and this is where that all started. And they are the reason I keep coming back to this book. A primitive society of ladies who use the force and ride rancors. What more could you ask for?

The biggest disappointment is the abridged story. It's a nice length, but I've read the book and I wish I could've heard the whole thing. For those unfamiliar with this story, I think it will feel completed and conclusive.

Story Quality: One can find much to enjoy here. Admitedly, it can be cheesy at points, and yet much of the novelty and fun makes up for it.

Audio Quality.: Fantastic. You couldn't ask for better.

Story okay but character portrayal & narrator iffy

What made the experience of listening to Star Wars: The Courtship of Princess Leia the most enjoyable?

I remember reading some of Wolverton's young adult novels when I was a kid. He still writes well, keeps the pacing nicely, and overall keeps me entertained with the story. I just wasn't super keen on the whole tribal/witch thing going on on the planet Dathomir... Apparently it's part of the Star Wars EU lore, but the portrayal of it felt a bit tacky to me. Also, like some of the other reviewers pointed out, Leia's fickleness over Isolder seemed like a miss character-wise. I wasn't sold on the Isolder guy at all. On that note, Han's method of forcing his ultimatum on Leia didn't seem quite true to his character either--at least not in that situation.

What other book might you compare Star Wars: The Courtship of Princess Leia to and why?

I would not discourage reading this book. However, I would recommend "Journey to Star Wars: The Last Jedi Leia, Princess of Alderaan" by Claudia Gray over this one. Star Wars purists may disagree with me, but I found it a much, much more enjoyable read and I feel like it represented what I like about Leia much better than this book did.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Anthony Heald?

Anthony Head? Maybe Shatner himself...Not sure, but I was not a fan of the narration. As other reviewers pointed out, I winced a little every time I heard "Chorus-Scant." But even more so, I was amused that he sounded like a caffeinated version of William Shatner. His cadence was very similar to the melodramatic Shakespearean actor, except his voice was higher and he spoke at a pace that made him sound hyper. I'm also used to hearing narrators mimic the original actors fairly well, but he fell pretty short with all of them. I feel like he should have at least been able to get Han right.

Ugh....disappointing

I usually regret listening to abridged books but there is not an option here at audible for most of the star wars true cannon. So i did.....the narrator keeps annoyingly saying corus"skant" which makes me nuts....mispronouncing the most important planet name in the whole of all the star wars books (yes I know I am a nerd)...but other than that I just found the characters were not written true to the usual spirit of the story done by the other authors so much better. Han is embarrassed of the Millenium Falcon? Say what? Leia is seemingly in love with han one day and swooning and forgetting him the next over some guy she just met? maybe it is the poor abridgement but I don't see how that works. Not how the princess is normally portrayed and kinda just disappointing. I hope at some point Carrie Fisher read this and beat up the author.

Still love it!

I read this book many years ago and loved it then. It is great to hear it now.