Razor's Edge: Star Wars: Empire and Rebellion, Book 1

The Death Star has been destroyed. Now, Princess Leia and her band of Rebel comrades have begun construction of a new secret outpost known as Echo Base on the remote ice world of Hoth. But the base needs supplies for construction, so Leia and Han Solo have set up a rendezvous to acquire them. But her ship comes out of hyperspace right into the arms of a waiting Imperial corvette. Was she betrayed? If so, by whom? Leia's damaged ship managed to escape from the Imperial corvette, but what she comes across after exiting hyperspace is even more disturbing; a gunship is attacking a merchant freighter.Disturbed by the actions of the gunship, Leia learns that it is in fact crewed by survivors from Alderaan. Being Alderaanean herself, Leia is determined to find out why this gunship would be attacking a merchant vessel. What she finds is a ship crewed by pirates. Now, Leia's job has become one of not only acquiring supplies for Echo Base, but finding a way to help the crew members of the gunship. The Alderaaneans are in debt to a mysterious pirate leader, and Leia has set her mind to helping them while possibly recruiting them to the Rebel alliance. Will she succeed?I'm a big fan of "Star Wars" novels, and I found "Razor's Edge" to be a good book. I enjoyed watching the development of Princess Leia from a diplomat to a very capable fighter. Of course, having Han Solo and Chewbacca around means that there will always be plenty of action. I felt the story was well-conceived, and I enjoyed the actions of Han and Leia vs. the pirates and Imperials. I hope the next book in the series is as good as this one.

This book is the first book in a new series set in the early days of the Rebellion. The series will be called Empire and Rebellion. I am ecstatic that they are doing this. Star Wars has been in a downward spiral toward dark and depressing story lines for years now. I am glad to see they are making some effort to turn that battleship around.Anyway, with that little rant done with, let's talk Razor's Edge. We are back in the heyday of the rebellion, Leia JUST saw Alderaan get destroyed, and the Death Star blown up. Han is still hanging around -- and doesn't know why (but does know he likes Leia), and Luke is still a junior Jedi-in-training. In other words, we are in the classic Star Wars universe, everything is just like we remember it from the movies, and nobody has died yet! YAY!The book tells the story of Leia on a mission with a General Willard (a new general we've never heard of) aboard a converted freighter (NOT the Falcon) to get supplies for the Rebellion to help build their new, as-yet-to-be-built base, code named Echo Base. On their way to the meeting, their ship falls under Imperial attack and they have to flee to a nearby system for repairs and safety. That's where the book really takes off.When they arrive in the system, they see a ship from Alderaan's limited military/defense force acting as a pirate. Leia is, understandably, upset and demands to speak with them. The pirates are indeed from Alderaan and want to see her, as they recognize her as someone important from Alderaan. I won't spoil the book for you by giving away major plot points, but suffice it to say, the pirates are from Alderaan, their ship is an ex-Defense Force ship from Alderaan, turned pirate, and through a series of events, Leia, Han and a few members from her crew end up having to go along with the pirates to the pirate lair in the sector.Luke and Chewie are in the book, but they mostly serve as background characters in this story. The majority of the story follows Han & Leia and their dealings with the pirates and the crew from the ship from Alderaan turned pirate. Leia brings Han with her to deal with the pirates, and 3 of her crew members: Davit, Kifar, and Sian (nobody we have heard about before now). Among the Alderaanians, we meet: Captain Metara, their leader; Kelvan, their Second in Command; and Terae an important crew-member on their ship (more or less 3rd in Command). The Alderaanians are struggling with their decision to turn pirate, and Leia is doing everything she can to show them how wrong that decision is.However, that isn't the worst of their problems, the leader of the pirate lair they find themselves in, is a vicious cutthroat named Viest. She is out to keep the new Alderaanian crew for herself, and takes an instant dislike to Leia. There are other characters we meet in the book, but those are the major ones. The book revolves mostly around their struggles to deal with the pirate lair, Leia's struggles to set everything right, and Han's struggles to keep them all alive. The danger feels real in this book, but not too real. However, there is a death scene in the book where Viest kills someone most unpleasantly, but it isn't too graphic, and I would say falls inside the bounds of R-rated movie violence like you might find in a James Bond movie.I am VERY excited that they are launching a new series of books set in this timeline. I already have the next book,  Empire and Rebellion: Honor Among Thieves  pre-ordered. I really hope you all read it too, so the series is successful, and the powers that be keep making more of them! :D---------------------------------Book Content Guide For Parents:---------------------------------Sex & Nudity: [0/5] I don't remember any scenes with sex or nudity in them.Violence & Gore: [3/5] Standard PG-13 brawling and action movie deaths of unnamed background characters happen. However, there is an execution scene near the end of the book that is brief, but is written to be intense/horrifying, and could easily scare/unsettle some readers. The scene happens on page 156 of chapter 11 (my page numbers may be different than your page numbers, depending on the version of Kindle you are reading with, you should be able to figure out the scene is about to happen when it is, though, it is clearly a build-up to an execution). I didn't care for the scene, and saw no reason for it to be described like it was.Profanity: [1/5] Standard Star Wars rules apply, the occasional "hell" or "damn" slip through, but any other swearing is done in made-up words that on only have meaning in the Star Wars universe.Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking: [1/5] I don't remember there being much of this in the book. There is a scene that takes place in a bar, and some characters get drinks, and there is a scene on their ship where they break out a bottle of wine, but nothing overt is done.Frightening/Intense Scenes: [2/5] Slavery is described in some detail, and the threat of it is applied to some characters. One of the main characters from the book is mortally wounded near the end, which is sad. And the execution scene I mentioned in the Violence & Gore category is particularly disturbing, but it IS a small half-page scene out of the entire book.5 stars, I loved the book, and I hope they make LOTS more set in the classic Star Wars universe.

Empire and Rebellion: Razor’s Edge is the first book in an intended set of three featuring the primary heroes of the Original Trilogy. It is also Martha Wells’ first contribution to the Star Wars Expanded Universe. It’s a slim volume, weighing in at an extremely brisk 249 pages of story. That’s not a whole lot of space for deep character development and Ms. Wells primarily spends her time focusing on Princess Leia Organa along with Han Solo in a supporting role. The other characters are not given much characterization and mostly serve to facilitate the plot about Leia and Han on an adventure after the Battle of Yavin in A New Hope.Leia is leading a mission to procure materials for Echo Base, the new secret home of the Alliance as depicted in The Empire Strikes Back. Before they are able to decode coordinates and complete their mission, the Rebel ship is ambushed by Imperials, which appears to indicate the presence of a traitor onboard. Jumping to rendezvous coordinates as planned despite the air of suspicion onboard the Rebel vessel, Leia and the crew encounter what appears to be an Alderaanian gunship engaged in piracy: the mystery around this vessel fuels the plot of Razor’s Edge.Leia is given the spotlight throughout the book and introducing fellow Alderaanian refugees presents a great jumping-off point to explore the impact the destruction of her home planet has had on Leia. There are some touching moments as Leia struggles with her survivor’s guilt and her explicit role in the events leading up to the catastrophe. Unfortunately we don’t really get much perspective from the Alderaanian survivors-turned pirates aboard the gunship: Captain Caline Metara and her crew are mostly ciphers. They have turned down a bad path but they seem curiously passive about their participation in piracy and slaving. I attributed this to the incredible capacity people have to ignore wrongs they are perpetuating when it is convenient to do so but I would have liked more time spent on them and the Alderaan diaspora.Han and Leia’s relationship is as contentious as we would expect between Episodes IV and V. Ms. Wells does spend some time in Han’s head as he reflects on his ongoing transformation from smuggler to Rebel hero. Adding to this is a few chapters featuring Luke and Chewbacca as they chase down their friends. Luke muses over an especially apt comparison where he thinks of Han as a wild pet his friend Biggs once brought into the household (although he is wise enough to not disclose this to Han!).The antagonists in Razor’s Edge are some rather forgettable Imperials chasing the Rebels, the Imperial spy who provides a lively if annoying presence throughout the story, and Captain Aral tukor Viest, a Lorrdian pirate lord Leia must outwit to prevail. Lorrdians have a refined ability to read the smallest tics in body language and her early verbal sparring with Leia is entertaining, as is a mid-book arena battle sequence with an “insane” mining droid (the Star Wars galaxy sure has a lot of arenas). The intrigue as Leia attempt to solicit allies from Viest’s crew is well-written and Leia showcases her burgeoning diplomatic skills as well as the expected action ones.Razor’s Edge is an entertaining but rather slight tale. I enjoy returning to the Original Trilogy heroes but thanks to the story’s placement between movies, it is afforded little chance to provide meaningful suspense. This is exacerbated by its brevity, which leaves no room to get to know the new supporting characters well. There’s just not much dramatic space for the Empire and Rebellion series to play in without giving more serious support to some non-movie characters.

Most star wars book struggle, either to find a good enough plot in which to affix the established characters making the story unlikely or to present how these established characters should act which ruins the characters we know and love.Razors Edge is a brilliant exception, in fact I would go on to say that in all the characters but especially in Leia, I found their depiction to be a worthy extension of those we know and love from the original trilogy. Clearly the writer has done some research around politics and diplomacy and woven it seamlessly to create more rebellious and more cunning Leia. This is done without detraction from the action during fast paced scenes and making the book cleaver rather than boring during the slower ones. The book is also told from multiple points of view which is difficult to write and even harder to perfect but see what you think for yourself, personally i think she has captured the character actions and views very well.The writer has even touched on fleshing out the earlier stages of Han an Leia's relationship in a way which I believe is accurate and amusing without descending into fan-service.Apart from that the new characters are believable, in that they fit well into the star wars universe and the plot is sound. Its just a shame this cannot be made into a movie with the original cast. iI you are new to star wars books I suggest reading something else if you start with one this good you might find yourself disappointed with the rest by comparison, and that would be a shame as there are some good ones.I have read the following star wars books for reference: More to read...The force unleashedThe force unleashed 2The Thrawn trilogy- Heir to the empire- Dark force rising- The last commandThe Corellian trilogy- Ambush at corellia- Assault at selonia- Showdown at CenterpointDawn of the Jedi: into the voidThe old republic: fatal allianceHeir to the JediHonor among thievesMaul: LockdownRazors EdgeThe Han Solo trilogy- The paradise snare-The Hutt Gambit- Rebel Dawn

Very good story engaging and flowed easy .good to see Leia getting more book time as the main character.With the other main characters in background more .

I love the starwars books and have nearly all in the line. This has been written well, through the book it has hints of other stories so after finishing this book I had to read others as well

not bad, no real depth to the characters in this book but as a one off its ok.

excellent