Journey to Star Wars: The Last Jedi Leia, Princess of Alderaan

We know Leia, operative for the Alliance. We know Leia, negotiator and politician. We know Leia, general of the Resistance. But, after all these years, we never knew much about Leia, daughter of Bail and Breha Organa, heir to Alderaan.

Claudia Gray delves into Leia’s earliest days as a politician and an adventurer with Leia, Princess of Alderaan. Not only do we experience her discovery of the Rebellion and how she comes to play a role within it, but we get valuable glimpses of her relationships with father, Bail, and mother, Breha. The latter is particularly engaging, if only because Breha is such an underutilized character elsewhere.

Here, we meet the embryonic Leia: idealistic, ambitious, and driven, yet still vulnerable. But we also see the waning days of the Galactic Senate, the increasing tyranny and manipulativeness of the Empire, and the nascent days of the Rebellion. It’s a thoroughly impressive stepping stone between the prequels and original trilogy that will no doubt also ripple through the story of The Last Jedi.

Gray, in one fell swoop, has placed herself in the upper echelon of Star Wars novelists. Nicely done.