STAR WARS AFICIONADO WEBSITE: OUT THIS MONTH: 'THE PRINCESS AND THE SCOUNDREL'....

Saturday, 13 August 2022

OUT THIS MONTH: 'THE PRINCESS AND THE SCOUNDREL'....

All seems (un)well in love and war for our beloved heroes in the new novel, The Princess and the Scoundrel.

Back to pen an all-new franchise adventure, Beth Revis delivers The Princess and the Scoundrel, out in UK hardback from Del Rey this August 16th, 2022. It's a competent enough tale for all fans of Han Solo and Princess Leia's ever complex relationship after the epic events of Return of the Jedi. But as for the controversially shameless and deliberate inclusion by Disney of an intergalactic 'love boat'-esque space liner into the story (during a busy-enough intergalactic war timeline), at a convenient time when the company is about to unveil its very own real-life Star Wars-themed cruise liner to the worldwide public...? Well, that's a heated fan debate best left for another time...

AFICIONADO RATING: Not one of the great Star Wars novels then, but certainly not one of the bad ones, either. The Han/Leia characterisations are spot on but the boring technobabble-induced finale should be firmly left instead to the storytelling realms of the modern Star Trek series. 3 out of 5.

Official release synopsis:

The Death Star is destroyed. Darth Vader is dead. The Empire is desolated. But on the forest moon of Endor, amongst 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 truly seem over. There is work still to do, penance to pay for the dark secret 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.

But happily ever after doesn't come easily. As soon as Han and Leia depart their idyllic ceremony on Endor 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, is a lightning rod for everyone in the galaxy -- 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 worlds 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.