Claudia Gray once again hits the target with another great read in the new rebooted Star Wars canon.
Part of the 'Journey To The Last Jedi' series, 'Leia, Princess of Alderaan', is a YA coming of age story, with a sixteen year old Leia Organa, set three years before we first see her on the Tantive IV in A New Hope, as she takes part in The Day Of Demand, a royal Alderaan ceremony where she declares her right to the crown in front of her parents, Bail and Breha Organa, the current ruling monarchs of Alderaan. She's then given three challenges, of the body, mind and heart to symbolically prove her worthiness.
Over the course of the challenges, it was good to see Leia grow as a person, learning from her naivety in certain situations early on, and also develop relationships with those around her; her parents, Kier Domadi, Amilyn Holdo, Mon Mothma and more, fleshing out her as a character as she goes through the teenage emotions (well, it is a YA novel), and seeing that she's more than just the feisty princess we see in the movies. I also enjoyed the way she figured things out during her time in the Apprentice Legislature, and was slowly getting more involved with her parents in the fight against Palpatine's tyrannical Empire.
I thought it was also great that we see more of Leia's adoptive family. We've seen a lot of Bail Organa in the movies, and there's more here, but other than a glimpse with baby Leia at the end of 'The Revenge Of The Sith', there's hardly been anything of Breha. Claudia fixes that here very well, fleshing her out and defining her role, alongside her husband, in the fightback against the Empire!
As it's part of the 'Journey to The Last Jedi', there are a few breadcrumbs sprinkled throughout to maybe take note of before going to see 'The Last Jedi' (no spoilers), and as such, I would maybe recommend reading this first. It will be interesting to see which elements from this novel are tied in with Rian Johnson's movie.
With 'Lost Stars', 'Bloodline' and now 'Leia, Princess of Alderaan', Claudia Gray's Star Wars stories have been consistently good, filled with engaging characters and compelling stories and are always worth picking up. Another solid entry in the new canon!
