Oh man… it’s almost time for Star Wars: The Force Awakens!

I’ve been rationing the new books, as they’ve come out, and so trying to keep pace with them. We all know I wasn’t the biggest fan of Aftermath (though I’ll no doubt read the sequel when it comes along), that I loved Lost Stars, and now, I’ve dug into another of the ‘Young Adult’ titles, this one, Moving Target, follows Princess Leia, in the events between Empire and Jedi. Actually, this feels like it begins just days before Jedi…

We also get some tie-ins with the new film, as one of the new droids we’ve seen in clips from the film, is conversing with General Leia Organa at the book’s beginning, and is asking for her to start on her memoirs. From there the story plunges into a story of sacrifice and duty.

As the Rebel fleet begins to gather at Sullust, they need a distraction to keep the Empire’s eyes off of them, while they plan their assault on the still under construction second Death Star. Princess Leia, symbol of the Rebellion, comes up with a plan.

She’s a recognizable target, and suggests having her travel to the far side of the galaxy, with a small group of operatives, in an attempt to recruit new ships to the battle. But all of this is a show, they just want to make sure the eyes of the Empire are off the fleet, and on Leia.

As lives are lost as our heroes travel from planet to planet, Leia wrestles with the responsibility to something bigger than a single life, but she’s not sure how many more innocent lives can be lost, and she also wants to go on a personal mission – a rescue mission to Tatooine.

There are a bunch of things I loved in this book, which is way too short in my opinion, but rockets along in true Star Wars fashion, but the one that sticks out most is the sense of continuity that this new Expanded Universe is already incorporating. Nien Numb, recognizable as Lando’s co-pilot in Jedi is one of the primary characters, and a good friend of Leia’s in this book.

This is cool because, we see how they met, and their friendship was created in the Princess Leia comic mini-series from Marvel, which this book directly references. Cool!

Sure, somewhere down the line, some of the continuity may get tangled, but right now, it’s a whole new open universe, and I love the way they are filling in the stories of these characters anew. Sure, I miss the old EU, but if we continue to get stories like Castelucci and Fry have created here, as well as those being told in the comics… I’d say we’re off to a good start.

This one was fun, well-paced, exciting, and it was great to see Leia front and center in a story.

What a time to be a Star Wars fan!!