It’s been more then forty years since George Lucas created one of cinema’s greatest icons in Princess Leia Organs. Since that time, dozens of authors have brought to life their own version of the Princess in Legends; however, nobody quite “gets” her like Claudia Gray.

‘Leia, Princess of Alderaan’ is Gray’s second book focusing on Princess Leia in the Star Wars canon. While ‘Bloodlines’ saw Leia dealing with the rebuilding of the fledgling New Republic, this time Gray tackles Leia at age 16, she knocks it out of the park.

Leia is, as you’d expect, an incredibly ambitious young woman in the galactic apprentice senate. The journey that she goes on in dealing with her young Senate colleagues, finding her first love, and discovering that her parents are leading a rebellion against the Galactic Empire feels real. You feel her anguish and frustration at times when things aren’t as clear as they need to be to a sixteen-year-old girl. You can see how these events helped shape her into the woman that we see her as in A New Hope and so on.

If you love Princess Leia, you will love this book.

(originally written September 2017)