Book Review: Star Wars: Moving Target by Cecil Castellucci and Jason Fry Art by Phil Noto

   Hello, Fellow Book Worms and Book Dragons,

  The next book I read in Disney-Lucasfilm's series of young reader selections was Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure. Written by Cecil Castellucci and Jason Fry with art by Phil Noto, this story takes places between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. The book begins with Leia far in the future during the events of the Force Awakens. She is avoiding telling her memoirs to the protocol droid, PZ-4C0. But after relenting, she begins her tale.

  Han Solo is in Carbonite taken by the bounty hunter, Boba Fett. Luke has survived his battle with Darth Vader, losing his hand and father's lightsaber. Alliance intel has Lando Calrissian setting off for Tatooine. And Leia is brought into a meeting with Alliance High Command only to discover that Emperor Palpatine has ordered the construction of a new Death Star. Could things get any worse for the Princess of Alderaan? The answer is ...of course!

  Mon Mothma, Admiral Ackbar, and a host of other original series characters guest star in this adventure. In order to amass a fleet large enough to attack the Imperial forces at Endor, the Alliance needs a diversion to keep the Empire from discovering their plans. Enter Leia, with what appears to be an insane plan to High Command: Send Leia and a small crew to the outer reaches of space to plant phony beacons calling to arms new allies to participate in Operation Yellow Moon, a new plan to defeat the Empire. With stealth and swiftness no one will be hurt, and the Empire will be chasing Leia and her crew.

  After some thought Chancellor Mothma agrees to allow Leia to gather her crew and head to begin her plan. With old friend, Nien Nunb, and his ship the Mellcrawler Leia departs the Rebel Fleet. Along for the ride is Kidi (a cone-headed alien with a flair for electronics), Lokmarcha (a grumpy commando that is full of surprises that is sent to protect Leia), and Antrot (an eccentric tinkerer with a penchant for explosives). Leia and her crew set off on a journey that not only catches the Empire's attention, but has them send one of their nastiest captains after her, Captain Khione and her Star Destroyer, the Shieldmaiden. 

  This book was a lot of fun to read. We went to many new worlds, and met many new and memorable characters. I was very entertained by the often hilarious banter between Nien Nunb and the crew. And it was great to see this little-used character come to the forefront like he did in Battlefront: Twilight Company. We see Leia struggle with what it means to be a princess to the people of the Rebellion. We watch fellow Rebels give their lives to save her, and see what this does to the princess. I was very satisfied with how Leia was presented. We even get some insight into her Force sensitivity. And we find out how the Rebellion got their hands on the Lamda-Class Shuttle, Tydirium, that we see in Return of the Jedi. 

  This book is my favorite of this series so far. I read this in part with the audiobook, and I loved the narrator, January LaVoy. She was masterful at capturing the characters, and even did an awesome See-Threepio. This book is full of wonderful little tid-bits that not only fleshes out the Force Awakens, but shows us the lead-up to the Battle of Endor. There are many worlds that I hope are explored in future books or movies.  I was smiling a lot during the scenes on the planet Sesid. Let's just saw that flowered shirts and commandos do not mix. 

  This is definitely worth the time to read. And like the others in this series it is in the two hundred page range, so reading can be done in one sitting. And like Weapon of a Jedi, Phil Noto provides excellent artwork that accents this book beautifully. I give this book five out of five stars, and highly recommend this any Star Wars fan.

  Please check out my Galaxy File of Princess Leia for more information on the galaxy's bravest general.

   If you have read this novel or If you have a comment for me, please leave it below. I would love to know how your reading is going so far this year.

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    Because there is always time to read,

   Xepherus3 

   

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