Ambush at Corellia by Roger MacBride Allen (1995)

Ambush at Corellia

War were declared
This is a nice cover style. I wish they'd used it more.

I think this is the first time I've done a post that actually has a substantial spoiler. If you care, skip down to the final review section.

Summary: Han, Leia, and the kids are going on a vacation to Corellia (Han's home planet) ahead of a major trade summit. They're unescorted, despite the fact that Corellia is on the brink of civil war (possibly even leaving the New Republic) and Han was attacked the day before. Luke and Lando go looking for a rich woman for Lando to marry. The civil war starts, Chewie and the kids get out, Leia is stuck, and Han gets captured.

What It Introduces:

A bunch of stuff about Corellia. Political system, species, etc. Which is good. It's already got some background importance, and it's only going to get more important.

"Ugly" Starfighters: Made out of combinations of parts from others. They'll also show up a bunch more later.

Centerpoint Station: Only sort of. I'm going to save it for the next time.

Thrackan Sal-Solo: Han's evil Cousin.

Commentary/Review: 1/5 This is a stupid book. It's got a lot of the same problems that Crystal Star has (and I assume most bad but not god awful Star Wars books I'll look at will.) The plot doesn't really make sense (Han and Leia fly into an obvious trap, Lando and Luke are on an aggressively pointless B-Plot just to get them separated.) No one's particularly in character (Han keeps secrets from Leia, Leia doesn't care, Luke is sterner with the kids here than he will be when they're at the Academy, which is already pretty stern for him.)

But, worst of all, it's got some weird middle book energy going for the first boom in a trilogy. In theory, I guess almost all Star Wars novels are "middle" books. They had three movies and however many books before them, and there'll be however many books after them. But really, the only purpose of this book is to get the cast to Corellia, but not together, and to start the Centerpoint Station superweapon. That's a couple chapters of plot, not a full book, and it's a slow way to start a series. Worse still is how cleanly the plot flows in the start of the next book, when Han gives a recap. I don't need 90% of the details (at least right away), but Han wakes up tortured and separated from his family is a strong opener. Skipping over would even let you dodge a lot of the stupidity that Allen needs to maneuver to get everyone in the places he wants. Skip? I guess I'll have to see how the rest of the trilogy plays out.

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