garfunkleha345's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
rey's review
4.0
Call it my unhealthy obsession with Han Solo, or original trilogy in general, but I actually enjoyed this book. Getting to know our beloved scoundrel's hometown and also having a view of the Solo family was really fun. As much as I enjoyed the story, the journey of Luke and Lando seemed a bit boring, not gonna lie. I squeaked at Mara Jade parts and I do not regret it. Also, the ending was really entertaining and exciting. It made me expect more of action on the second book which I think will be more fun. This is where the fun begins, I guess.
blancwene's review against another edition
2.0
For 2020, I decided to reread (in publication order) all the Bantam-era Star Wars books that were released between 1991 and 1999; that shakes out to 38 adult novels and 5 anthologies of short stories & novellas.
This week’s focus: Ambush at Corellia by Roger MacBride Allen.
SOME HISTORY:
Despite my personal opinion of the Jedi Academy trilogy, it was clearly a success, and Bantam had stumbled on a winning formula. 1995 saw the release of two hardcover novels--one in the spring and one in the fall--the first of the “tales” collections of short stories, and the Corellian books, another paperback trilogy. Roger MacBride Allen had published a number of sci-fi novels in the 1980s and 1990s, but this marked his entry into the Star Wars universe. Ambush at Corellia made it to number seven on the New York Times paperback bestseller list for the week of February 26, 1995, and was on the NYT list for five weeks total.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
Not to sound like a broken record, but I only remembered the major plot points. Han and co. go to Corellia, yes, very familiar. But Lando’s wife search? I always say that Lando is my favorite character, and yet I have remembered very little of his plotlines in these books. Can I still call him my favorite if I have this pervasive amnesia about his adventures?
PRINCESS LEIA COSTUME CHANGE COUNT:
Really only one outstanding example: during the welcome reception for the trade summit on Corellia, Leia wears a royal blue, off-the-shoulder gown. Han thinks she looks very nice.
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and the Solo children head to Corellia both for a trade summit and to tour Han’s homeworld. But they quickly realize that they’re smack-dab in the middle of a bad situation, and things only get worse. Meanwhile, Lando is looking for a wealthy wife, and Luke Skywalker and the droids accompany him on this quest.
THE CHARACTERS:
I really liked Leia in this book! Past installments have struggled with how to use Leia, and how to integrate her political role with her family life. [b:Jedi Search|760110|Jedi Search (Star Wars The Jedi Academy Trilogy, #1)|Kevin J. Anderson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327958212l/760110._SY75_.jpg|863900] in particular focused excessively on Leia’s frustrations with her career, and very little on the actual logistics of her job. So I thought Allen did a good job here; Leia is the Chief of State, with all its attendant responsibilities, but she’s still an active parent. I also felt like her relationship with Han was both realistic and healthy. Han’s keeping secrets from her, but she trusts him and knows that he’ll fill her in when she needs to know. And he does! This is the most functional depiction of their relationship since the Thrawn trilogy.
Han’s more of a mystery. He sounds like Han, he thinks like Han, he acts like Han, but I expected a lot more insight into his upbringing and family than we received. This will probably come out more in the other two books, but the only revelation we received was at the very end, when we discovered that the Hidden Leader of the Human League is Thracken Sal-Solo, Han’s cousin. For a book focusing on his homeworld, Corellia, I wanted a little more emphasis on Han.
Chewie is good. I just wish that he wasn’t so obviously set up as the Solo kids’ chaperone for books 2 and 3--at one point, Han has a talk with Chewie and tells him that if things go to hell in a handbasket, he needs to take care of the kids and not worry about Han and Leia. So it’s not a surprise that Chewie escapes in the Falcon with the kids, because that ending was telegraphed early on.
Poor Lando is apparently a gold digger now, and wants a rich wife. He keeps losing money and making money and losing money, so he thinks the best way to prolong that cycle is to find something to bankroll him. OK?? I’m not diametrically opposed to Lando’s wife search, but the way it unfolds felt completely superfluous to the overall plot. Tendra Risant seems like a smart, kind lady who’s interested in Lando--but we barely meet her, and before we get to her, Lando visits two other possible brides. The first is a LIFE WITCH. The second is already married. I don’t know, the long stretch before we even get to Tendra makes this storyline feel like unnecessary padding.
Luke is at a crossroads in his life: he’s not needed 24/7 at the Jedi Academy, Mon Mothma wants him to step up and be a leader, so he runs off with Lando on his wife search. Hopefully we’ll find him taking on a more prominent role in the next two books, because right now he’s Lando’s sidekick.
The Solo kids are fine, although their personalities don’t seem as clearly delineated as in [b:The Crystal Star|263012|The Crystal Star (Star Wars)|Vonda N. McIntyre|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327875096l/263012._SY75_.jpg|254951]. There, Jacen was the animal lover while Jaina was the techy, handy one. Now, it almost feels as though Anakin has usurped her role, because he clearly has some sort of Force talent for technology. And on a weird note, Anakin felt far, far younger than his stated age of 7.5 years. The twins are nine years old, and act like it; Anakin acts like a toddler, and his vocabulary seems surprisingly limited for someone old enough for elementary school.
Mara Jade reappears! She seems more like Zahn’s depiction of her than the Mara we met in [b:Dark Apprentice|760111|Dark Apprentice (Star Wars The Jedi Academy Trilogy, #2)|Kevin J. Anderson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1326717545l/760111._SY75_.jpg|501181], even if her physical description felt a little jarring to me. She’s described as tall and slender and beautiful, and one of the Solo children calls her a “pretty lady.” After Anderson described her hair as reddish-brown or auburn, I’m glad to see that Allen used the proper color of “red-gold.” I never got the sense from the Thrawn trilogy that Mara was conventionally attractive, so my mental image of her did not quite mesh with her appearance in this book. (At least now I can trace where “pretty Mara” originated from!)
Of the new characters introduced, I liked the little we saw of Tendra. Belindi Kalenda, NRI agent, was a neat addition, and I was really rooting for her to make it. Ebrihim the Drall has an interesting perspective on things, and his droid Q9-X2 is like R2 on steroids. I am a little fuzzy on what the native Corellian races look like, though: I picture the Selonians as being giant otters, and the Drall as being like Ewoks but more intelligent-looking, but I have no idea if that’s correct.
We don’t know much about the baddies at this point, other than the Human League hates aliens and wants to kick them all off Corellia. Their leader is Han’s cousin, who was presumed dead and worked for the Empire (I guess). I am likewise a little fuzzy about the state of Corellia’s economy; they were hugely influential in trade, but the Empire (?) shut that down (?) and now they’re stuck in a Great Depression. I don’t need a treatise on the Corellian economy, but I’m not clear on how they got to this point.
ISSUES:
My main issue with Ambush at Corellia is that it feels unnecessary. I’ve complained before about second books that are basically filler for the final book in the trilogy, but it’s strange to encounter a first book full of filler. We know that things are bad on Corellia, but it’s not until the closing riot that things explode. Perhaps if the sense of unease and unrest were emphasized more, but as it stands Han stumbles into one mob and the Solos do touristy things for most of the book. The end is exciting--a star in an uninhabited system explodes, the Human League secedes from the New Republic and demands the removal of all non-humans from the planet, and a massive interdiction field surrounds the Corellian system and prevents hyperspace travel both in and out-system--but you have to wade through an awful lot of nothing to get there.
It wasn’t as much of a slog as I found [b:Jedi Search|760110|Jedi Search (Star Wars The Jedi Academy Trilogy, #1)|Kevin J. Anderson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327958212l/760110._SY75_.jpg|863900] to be, but it wasn’t fast-paced. Would the Corellian trilogy have worked better as a duology? I think Allen could have condensed a lot of the events of book 1, and ended up with a tighter plotted, faster flowing story. And maybe if Lando had met Tendra from the beginning, instead of wandering around trying other options first?
IN CONCLUSION:
Ambush at Corellia is a perfectly serviceable Star Wars story. The trio aren’t wildly out of character, it’s not incredibly bizarre, and it seems to be building towards some interesting developments. Not a lot happens, though, so that it reminds me a little of padding your essay to reach the required word count.
Next up: the first book in the informal “Callista trilogy,” [b:Children of the Jedi|555313|Children of the Jedi (Star Wars The Callista Trilogy, #1)|Barbara Hambly|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327008546l/555313._SY75_.jpg|1230005] by Barbara Hambly.
My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/ID7YKzv5BNo
This week’s focus: Ambush at Corellia by Roger MacBride Allen.
SOME HISTORY:
Despite my personal opinion of the Jedi Academy trilogy, it was clearly a success, and Bantam had stumbled on a winning formula. 1995 saw the release of two hardcover novels--one in the spring and one in the fall--the first of the “tales” collections of short stories, and the Corellian books, another paperback trilogy. Roger MacBride Allen had published a number of sci-fi novels in the 1980s and 1990s, but this marked his entry into the Star Wars universe. Ambush at Corellia made it to number seven on the New York Times paperback bestseller list for the week of February 26, 1995, and was on the NYT list for five weeks total.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
Not to sound like a broken record, but I only remembered the major plot points. Han and co. go to Corellia, yes, very familiar. But Lando’s wife search? I always say that Lando is my favorite character, and yet I have remembered very little of his plotlines in these books. Can I still call him my favorite if I have this pervasive amnesia about his adventures?
PRINCESS LEIA COSTUME CHANGE COUNT:
Really only one outstanding example: during the welcome reception for the trade summit on Corellia, Leia wears a royal blue, off-the-shoulder gown. Han thinks she looks very nice.
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and the Solo children head to Corellia both for a trade summit and to tour Han’s homeworld. But they quickly realize that they’re smack-dab in the middle of a bad situation, and things only get worse. Meanwhile, Lando is looking for a wealthy wife, and Luke Skywalker and the droids accompany him on this quest.
THE CHARACTERS:
I really liked Leia in this book! Past installments have struggled with how to use Leia, and how to integrate her political role with her family life. [b:Jedi Search|760110|Jedi Search (Star Wars The Jedi Academy Trilogy, #1)|Kevin J. Anderson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327958212l/760110._SY75_.jpg|863900] in particular focused excessively on Leia’s frustrations with her career, and very little on the actual logistics of her job. So I thought Allen did a good job here; Leia is the Chief of State, with all its attendant responsibilities, but she’s still an active parent. I also felt like her relationship with Han was both realistic and healthy. Han’s keeping secrets from her, but she trusts him and knows that he’ll fill her in when she needs to know. And he does! This is the most functional depiction of their relationship since the Thrawn trilogy.
Han’s more of a mystery. He sounds like Han, he thinks like Han, he acts like Han, but I expected a lot more insight into his upbringing and family than we received. This will probably come out more in the other two books, but the only revelation we received was at the very end, when we discovered that the Hidden Leader of the Human League is Thracken Sal-Solo, Han’s cousin. For a book focusing on his homeworld, Corellia, I wanted a little more emphasis on Han.
Chewie is good. I just wish that he wasn’t so obviously set up as the Solo kids’ chaperone for books 2 and 3--at one point, Han has a talk with Chewie and tells him that if things go to hell in a handbasket, he needs to take care of the kids and not worry about Han and Leia. So it’s not a surprise that Chewie escapes in the Falcon with the kids, because that ending was telegraphed early on.
Poor Lando is apparently a gold digger now, and wants a rich wife. He keeps losing money and making money and losing money, so he thinks the best way to prolong that cycle is to find something to bankroll him. OK?? I’m not diametrically opposed to Lando’s wife search, but the way it unfolds felt completely superfluous to the overall plot. Tendra Risant seems like a smart, kind lady who’s interested in Lando--but we barely meet her, and before we get to her, Lando visits two other possible brides. The first is a LIFE WITCH. The second is already married. I don’t know, the long stretch before we even get to Tendra makes this storyline feel like unnecessary padding.
Luke is at a crossroads in his life: he’s not needed 24/7 at the Jedi Academy, Mon Mothma wants him to step up and be a leader, so he runs off with Lando on his wife search. Hopefully we’ll find him taking on a more prominent role in the next two books, because right now he’s Lando’s sidekick.
The Solo kids are fine, although their personalities don’t seem as clearly delineated as in [b:The Crystal Star|263012|The Crystal Star (Star Wars)|Vonda N. McIntyre|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327875096l/263012._SY75_.jpg|254951]. There, Jacen was the animal lover while Jaina was the techy, handy one. Now, it almost feels as though Anakin has usurped her role, because he clearly has some sort of Force talent for technology. And on a weird note, Anakin felt far, far younger than his stated age of 7.5 years. The twins are nine years old, and act like it; Anakin acts like a toddler, and his vocabulary seems surprisingly limited for someone old enough for elementary school.
Mara Jade reappears! She seems more like Zahn’s depiction of her than the Mara we met in [b:Dark Apprentice|760111|Dark Apprentice (Star Wars The Jedi Academy Trilogy, #2)|Kevin J. Anderson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1326717545l/760111._SY75_.jpg|501181], even if her physical description felt a little jarring to me. She’s described as tall and slender and beautiful, and one of the Solo children calls her a “pretty lady.” After Anderson described her hair as reddish-brown or auburn, I’m glad to see that Allen used the proper color of “red-gold.” I never got the sense from the Thrawn trilogy that Mara was conventionally attractive, so my mental image of her did not quite mesh with her appearance in this book. (At least now I can trace where “pretty Mara” originated from!)
Of the new characters introduced, I liked the little we saw of Tendra. Belindi Kalenda, NRI agent, was a neat addition, and I was really rooting for her to make it. Ebrihim the Drall has an interesting perspective on things, and his droid Q9-X2 is like R2 on steroids. I am a little fuzzy on what the native Corellian races look like, though: I picture the Selonians as being giant otters, and the Drall as being like Ewoks but more intelligent-looking, but I have no idea if that’s correct.
We don’t know much about the baddies at this point, other than the Human League hates aliens and wants to kick them all off Corellia. Their leader is Han’s cousin, who was presumed dead and worked for the Empire (I guess). I am likewise a little fuzzy about the state of Corellia’s economy; they were hugely influential in trade, but the Empire (?) shut that down (?) and now they’re stuck in a Great Depression. I don’t need a treatise on the Corellian economy, but I’m not clear on how they got to this point.
ISSUES:
My main issue with Ambush at Corellia is that it feels unnecessary. I’ve complained before about second books that are basically filler for the final book in the trilogy, but it’s strange to encounter a first book full of filler. We know that things are bad on Corellia, but it’s not until the closing riot that things explode. Perhaps if the sense of unease and unrest were emphasized more, but as it stands Han stumbles into one mob and the Solos do touristy things for most of the book. The end is exciting--a star in an uninhabited system explodes, the Human League secedes from the New Republic and demands the removal of all non-humans from the planet, and a massive interdiction field surrounds the Corellian system and prevents hyperspace travel both in and out-system--but you have to wade through an awful lot of nothing to get there.
It wasn’t as much of a slog as I found [b:Jedi Search|760110|Jedi Search (Star Wars The Jedi Academy Trilogy, #1)|Kevin J. Anderson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327958212l/760110._SY75_.jpg|863900] to be, but it wasn’t fast-paced. Would the Corellian trilogy have worked better as a duology? I think Allen could have condensed a lot of the events of book 1, and ended up with a tighter plotted, faster flowing story. And maybe if Lando had met Tendra from the beginning, instead of wandering around trying other options first?
IN CONCLUSION:
Ambush at Corellia is a perfectly serviceable Star Wars story. The trio aren’t wildly out of character, it’s not incredibly bizarre, and it seems to be building towards some interesting developments. Not a lot happens, though, so that it reminds me a little of padding your essay to reach the required word count.
Next up: the first book in the informal “Callista trilogy,” [b:Children of the Jedi|555313|Children of the Jedi (Star Wars The Callista Trilogy, #1)|Barbara Hambly|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327008546l/555313._SY75_.jpg|1230005] by Barbara Hambly.
My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/ID7YKzv5BNo
delliomellidom's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
4.0
l_asher's review against another edition
2.0
This book was... lackluster. It had an interesting story (stories).
The first, main storyline was of the ruling family (Leia, Han, and their kids) travelling to the Corellia system, where a situation was emerging between the three races that shared the world.
The second was of Lando and Luke, who were off world-hopping, trying to find Lando a rich wife.
The main plotline had several subplots, about half of which were never resolved (though they may be in later books in the series). However, the things that ruined the book for me was the 'deus ex machina' moments, although they were more like the opposite.
Instead of having everything miraculously work out, it seemed like everything miraculously didn't work. For example, at the end of the book, they needed a way to keep the characters from escaping... So they extended a well-known technology (that grounds spaceships) to cover several worlds, which had never been done in the Star Wars galaxy.
Its pretty clear, if you read it, that the author just needed a way to end the book and still have a lot of tension. It seemed like he didn't really plan the ending out. In addition, the 'Hidden Leader', the primary villain, uses the well-known idea of the evil twin. Its technically an evil first cousin, but it seems a bit cliche.
The only thing that somewhat saved this book was the concept. The general plotline was interesting, and it moved at an enjoyable, quick pace.
The 2-star rating really would be more like 2.5, but it definitely would not be worth 3-stars.
Yes, I will be finishing the series, but only to find out the conclusion of the tale, not because of any particular skill by the author.
The first, main storyline was of the ruling family (Leia, Han, and their kids) travelling to the Corellia system, where a situation was emerging between the three races that shared the world.
The second was of Lando and Luke, who were off world-hopping, trying to find Lando a rich wife.
The main plotline had several subplots, about half of which were never resolved (though they may be in later books in the series). However, the things that ruined the book for me was the 'deus ex machina' moments, although they were more like the opposite.
Instead of having everything miraculously work out, it seemed like everything miraculously didn't work. For example, at the end of the book, they needed a way to keep the characters from escaping... So they extended a well-known technology (that grounds spaceships) to cover several worlds, which had never been done in the Star Wars galaxy.
Its pretty clear, if you read it, that the author just needed a way to end the book and still have a lot of tension. It seemed like he didn't really plan the ending out. In addition, the 'Hidden Leader', the primary villain, uses the well-known idea of the evil twin. Its technically an evil first cousin, but it seems a bit cliche.
The only thing that somewhat saved this book was the concept. The general plotline was interesting, and it moved at an enjoyable, quick pace.
The 2-star rating really would be more like 2.5, but it definitely would not be worth 3-stars.
Yes, I will be finishing the series, but only to find out the conclusion of the tale, not because of any particular skill by the author.
elzirm's review against another edition
3.0
This is by far the strongest of the trilogy - I wish the momentum here stayed strong throughout all three.
I did enjoy rereading this one as a parent — there are some nice scenes of Leia and Han thinking about their children, and Luke considering his desire to have children.
I did enjoy rereading this one as a parent — there are some nice scenes of Leia and Han thinking about their children, and Luke considering his desire to have children.
verkisto's review against another edition
3.0
Even if the small text on the cover didn't tell you this book is the first in a trilogy, you'd know by reading the book. It takes a long time to get to the plot, it's chock full of subplots that have nothing to do with the central story, and it ends so suddenly that you can't help but feel like this entire book is nothing but exposition. It's not a bad plot, but it always bugs me when the first book in a series isn't also a self-contained story. I'm not sure why that is.
Allen is a decent writer, and he seems to know his science enough to make this book actually feel like science fiction. He doesn't just come up with some new-fangled tech and just have it work; he looks at the possible limitations and explains why it works and when it doesn't. Considering that I've only ever considered the Star Wars universe to be science fiction in the most limited terms, that's pretty impressive.
The book gets a knock for having a ridiculous amount of typographical errors, though. It's not just the occasional typo, either; you can see turns of phrase that change in the middle of the thought, or clear misused grammar, and as you near the end of the book, they become more frequent. Whoever copy-edited this book failed in a big way.
Allen is a decent writer, and he seems to know his science enough to make this book actually feel like science fiction. He doesn't just come up with some new-fangled tech and just have it work; he looks at the possible limitations and explains why it works and when it doesn't. Considering that I've only ever considered the Star Wars universe to be science fiction in the most limited terms, that's pretty impressive.
The book gets a knock for having a ridiculous amount of typographical errors, though. It's not just the occasional typo, either; you can see turns of phrase that change in the middle of the thought, or clear misused grammar, and as you near the end of the book, they become more frequent. Whoever copy-edited this book failed in a big way.
mksassi's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
maddness22's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Honestly a bit of a slowburn with some usual EU weirdness to it (my kingdom for a full book about Lando's adventures in matchmaking with Luke as his wingman) but damn if that wasn't an awesome set up for the rest of the series. I might even be compelled to keep reading this storyline with that kind of cliffhanger.
Great fun, great action, can't wait to see where the rest of this crazy ride goes (in, like, a decade lol)
Great fun, great action, can't wait to see where the rest of this crazy ride goes (in, like, a decade lol)