Review: Star Wars Razor's Edge

Star Wars: Razor's Edge

By Martha Wells

Published: September 24, 2013

Times are desperate for the Rebel Alliance. Harassment by the Empire and a shortage of vital supplies are hindering completion of a new secret base on the ice planet Hoth. So when Mid Rim merchants offer much-needed materials for sale, Princess Leia Organa and Han Solo lead an Alliance delegation to negotiate a deal.

But when treachery forces the rebel ship to flee into territory controlled by pirates, Leia makes a shocking discovery: the fierce marauders come from Leia’s homeworld of Alderaan, recently destroyed by the Death Star. These refugees have turned to pillaging and plundering to survive—and they are in debt to a pirate armada, which will gladly ransom the princess to the vengeful Empire . . . if they find out her true identity.

Struggling with intense feelings of guilt, loyalty, and betrayal, Leia is determined to help her wayward kinspeople, even as Imperial forces are closing in on her own crippled ship. Trapped between lethal cutthroats and brutal oppressors, Leia and Han, along with Luke, Chewbacca, and a battle-ready crew, must defy death—or embrace it—to keep the rebellion alive.

My review:

This book in the years between the events of Star Wars: A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. While the description makes it sound like Luke and Chewie are a big part of the story, they are not. Instead the focus is on Leia and Han as well as new characters who are members of the Alliance, the pirate crew, or the Empire.

I thought Razor's Edge was an entertaining book once the action got underway. Leia has to figure out how to walk a fine line in trying to save people's lives and bring the Alderaanian pirate crew over to the side of the Rebel Alliance. She also has to contend with a cunning enemy, a spy, and incompetent or uncontrollable team members. Han is the other main character and we get to read the story from both of their points of view.

It is fun to see Han and Leia interact and banter back and forth. Of course there is no romance as this story takes place before The Empire Strikes Back. I think the author managed to make the characters and their dialogue believable and authentic to the film version. 

I will admit that I figured out the spy and thought it was rather obvious but what kept me entertained was the banter and quips by favorite characters as well as trying to figure out how Leia and Han would extricate themselves from sticky situations.

I liked that the author chose to look at the effects of the loss of Alderaan to its survivors. That is kind of glossed over in the grand and epic scope of the films. It was good to explore how Leia and others would have felt about losing their homeworld and families and how that might have impacted Leia's work with the Rebel Alliance. I think what I appreciated most was seeing the character development for Leia and understanding her motivations. It was also great fun to see favorite characters again in new adventures. While I think Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy is better at character development and world building and definitely more original, I enjoyed this little space adventure. I look forward to seeing what else Martha Wells does with the world of Star Wars.

Note: I received an ARC for review purposes courtesy of Netgalley and the publisher