This is set immediately after Return of the Jedi, in that scant days after the Battle of Endor, Luke, Leia and co. are sent off to defend an Imperial world from alien attack. The aliens are basically giant, xenophobic reptiles who plan to forcibly extract mental energy from humans in order to power electronics. That whole part of it isn't terribly convincing, but the real issue is Bakura, which has an Imperial garrison and a population which is ready for uprising. As nearly always, I prefer the political issues, which are more Leia's remit, to the Force stuff which is Luke's. It's not that I don't enjoy the genre side of Star Wars, because I do, but politics is more interesting as far as I'm concerned.

There's one issue here, though, that irks, though admittedly it's a very minor plot thread. Darth Vader does the sparkly death Jedi thing, appearing to Leia and asking for forgiveness, and she (justifiably) tells him to take a running jump. Luke has clearly forgiven him, and he seems to think that Leia should too, but I'm solidly with her on this one. He murdered billions of people in front of her when he destroyed Alderaan, and that's just the tip of the iceberg with him. A ten minute change of heart before he died changes nothing as far as I'm concerned, and I was pleased to see Leia share the same opinion. Except towards the end, there's a comment that she's making peace with Anakin Skywalker, if not Darth Vader. They're the same damn person!!! You don't get to discount responsibility for your own actions just because you put on a creepy mask. Ugh. I haven't read further in this tie-in series yet, but I know by osmosis that Leia eventually has a son she calls Anakin and I just want to shake her, because clearly the rot has started here in Bakura. She had a father - a decent, ethical man in Bail Organa. Why anyone - Luke or author - thinks she should waste even a fraction of a second considering forgiveness for the monstrous Darth Vader is a total fucking mystery to me, and no happy clappy wittering about hate and the Dark Side is going to make me change my mind.