Many characters, many plots, but little depth. This was fast but slight. ( )

this trilogy was one of the first Star Wars novels I read.
It is (obviously) about rebuilding the Jedi Order after the defeat of the empire.

the main theme of the book is how you find and Train new Jedi, and adapt the schooling to the needs of every individual, and creating a learning environment outside class rooms and through activities. This means that Luke Skywalker (the teacher) has to consider which traditions of the old ways to keep, and which to renew.
This can be seen as very parallel to what is being debated in many schools in the real world.

Having said all this, the book is of course about much more than schooling, it gives a good image of the intricacies and workings of the Force, and contains all that a space opera needs, in terms of intergalactic villians, super weapons, plans in plans, good versus bad etc.

as to the writing it is very typical Anderson, that means fast pace, many parallel story lines, large persona gallery, inventive plots.
Charcters are characterized by their actions and morals more that physical appearence ( )

This wasn't a bad book but it seemed hallow after reading the hand of Thrawn Trilogy. The story had a good premise to work with but just never came through. It seemed to me that a lot of the book was from everyone's perspective but Luke's there were times but not as much as I would have liked. There's really not that much of the training of the students either which I don't understand, the series is (Jedi Academy) after all. That's not to say that the rest of the book is just pages that need to be passed over the story of Han's escape from Kessel and Leia's s struggles with keeping the New Republic together and working are interesting in their own right, but I just really expected there to be much more about Luke and the training of his Jedi students. ( )

Pages Read: 351/351. In the first book of the Star Wars Trilogy after Episode VI, Luke Skywalker goes to the council on Coruscant and asks permission to create a Jedi Academy so the Jedi will come back after Darth Vader killed them all. He is granted permission and goes out to seek new trainees for his academy. As he goes out to look for new people, Han Solo and Chewbaca are taken hostage by Moruth Doole, and send Han and Chewie into the spice mines of Kessel, to mine for the rest of their life. Leia is deeply worried for the fact, and has Luke and Lando Calrissian to go to the Kessel and see if they can find Han. As Han and Chewie escape Kessel with Kyp Durron, they run into the Imperial Navy, who have a weapon so destructive, it is far more superior to the Death Star. Luke Skywalker changes completely as he used to be a young boy who was always impatient, yet now, after he became a Jedi Master, he became more patient, and didn't even show a hint that he was the once young naive boy who always got into trouble. Luke also has all the potential a Jedi Master would have. As Luke goes onto his journey, he finds that his students represent him in the same way when he was younger. I relate to Luke because when I was young, less then a year ago, I used to be impatient, but not anymore. I started to become more patient, and calm. I didn't like how the story kept skipping from one place in the story to the next, and then another, and then back again. I would recommend this book to anyone who is a Star Wars fan or someone who likes Sci-Fi Stories.

As source material for running a Star Wars game, this has a fair number of useful ideas, and the plot does keep me turning pages. Sadly, Anderson's writing isn't very good-- he frequently uses telling instead of showing, and his portrayals of the characters are lacking in depth. ( )