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Star Wars: Razor's Edge (Star Wars: Empire and Rebellion #1)

Martha Wells

Start date: January 1, 2014

Finish date: January 31, 2014

Discussion: Holocronies Reading Room

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* REVAN - February 2014 Holocronies Book Club
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last updated Mar 20, 2014 06:26AM

STAR WARS EPISODE VII: THE FORCE AWAKENS
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What Members Thought

Apr 02, 2019 Scott Rhee rated it liked it

Shelves: star-wars, old-canon-legends

“Razor’s Edge” by Martha Wells is one of the many books in the Star Wars Legends line, which is technically part of the Old Canon, the series of books which has been negated by the New Canon. Although, since the book is set in the years between “Episode IV: A New Hope” and “Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back”, nothing in it is necessarily disruptive to the continuity and new timeline of the New Canon, the series of books that follows the “official” new timeline set by J.J. Abrams’s film “Episode “Razor’s Edge” by Martha Wells is one of the many books in the Star Wars Legends line, which is technically part of the Old Canon, the series of books which has been negated by the New Canon. Although, since the book is set in the years between “Episode IV: A New Hope” and “Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back”, nothing in it is necessarily disruptive to the continuity and new timeline of the New Canon, the series of books that follows the “official” new timeline set by J.J. Abrams’s film “Episode VII: The Force Awakens”.

(If you’re not a “Star Wars” fan, that preceding paragraph is probably confounding. It is, however, a ridiculous new reality for those of us who are “Star Wars” fans. C’est la vie...)

Remember Echo Base, the Rebel Alliance’s new base of operations on the planet Hoth after the Battle of Yavin? Well, if not, Echo Base was where the Rebels fled to after the Empire tried to destroy their last base on Yavin 4 with the Death Star, only to be thwarted by the wiliness of a farmboy-turned-pilot named Luke Skywalker. The destruction of the Death Star was a serious blow to the Empire, but the Emperor and his right hand man, Darth Vader, lived to see another day.

In the aftermath of the Battle of Yavin, Rebel forces needed to regroup. More and more planets and star systems were joining in the fight against the Empire, but the Alliance now lacked a central base of operations. Planet Hoth offered everything they needed, except, of course, necessary supplies such as food, medicine, and weapons. The planet was basically a frozen tundra, so the Alliance sent out delegates to other star systems for opportunities for trade.

Princess Leia and Han Solo are assigned a mission in the Mid Rim, but after an attack on their ship, the group is forced into an area run by pirates. It is there that Leia makes the horrifying discovery that many of the pirates are fellow Alderaanians. After the destruction of their homeworld, many of them felt that they had no choice but to resort to piracy to survive.

Leia must now use her diplomatic skills to convince her fellow Alderaanians to leave the life of piracy and join the Alliance, while also working a deal with the leader of the pirates, a Lorrdian named Viest. The catch? Lorrdians are known for having a highly developed instinct for detecting duplicity.

There is, of course, plenty of action and space battles in “Razor’s Edge” to satisfy the hard-core “Star Wars” fan. Overall, a fun albeit extraneous “Star Wars” adventure. ...more

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Mar 20, 2014 Jim C rated it liked it

A novel that takes place between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back. This book is based on Princess Leia as she deals with pirates, Imperials, and a traitor on her crew while she searches for supplies for Echo Base.

This book showed Leia's strength at leadership and how she is a take action woman and not your damsel in distress. It also showed her vulnerability with her home planet being destroyed and still coming to terms with it. This book contains most of the characters from the original trilo ...more

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Sep 14, 2013 David Horsman rated it liked it

Shelves: star-wars

I received this book in a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.

It kind of breaks my heart to give this an average 3 stars because I loved the Star Wars fandom so much, but this book just wasn't the top for me. It wasn't the author's writing style that took away from it, because Wells didn't appear to be a difficult author to read. I think it was just more that the content wasn't what I thought it would be.

This was presented to me as a story that focused on Leia with a little interaction with Han and L ...more

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Jul 01, 2013 Jim rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2014, 2014-adult

This book was pretty good. It was a very Leia centric novel with Han playing a side role and Chewie and Luke making little more than cameos.

Includes spoilers:

Some of the things I enjoyed about this book was the growing relationship dynamic between Leia and Han pre-ESB. Not many other Rebellion era novels have really explored how their relationship blossomed but this one did, at least in the beginning. It took a back seat later in the novel as the action grew. It was also interesting to see Luke ...more

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Nov 01, 2016 Kent rated it liked it · review of another edition

A good story, mainly centering on Leia and Han after the events of "A New Hope". Their ship is damaged by Imperials on their way to pick up supplies for Echo Base from a contact in Pirate territory. They then get boarded by a group of pirates from Alderaan. The group teams up and tries getting out of a nasty situation at a pirate trading post asteroid without getting killed, and meeting up with their supplies contact.
Overall it is a pretty good story, but I wouldn't say essential reading from t ...more

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