This is part of the now non-canon series of novels; I hadn't read a Star Wars novel for some time, but written by Tomithy Zahn and including Mara Jade, it seemed like a decent read for a long flight.

This was a pretty nice read, taking place between episodes IV and V, we have a still wide-eyed Luke, a Han trying to figure out his place, if any, in the Rebel Alliance, and Leia just generally being a bad ass because now she's back among her people and fully in charge.

The story wasn't grossly obvious, like so many of the pulp Star Wars novels can be, so that kept it pretty interesting from a plotline perspective. This is pretty obviously a follow-on from some other novel, with references to previous actions by some of the characters. Not having known of or read that book, I didn't find it to be a problem. There's also an interesting group of ex-stormtroopers that really appear to be a model for the Clone Wars' Bad Batch.