Michael A. Stackpole

This book, besides everything else, is a stunning example of what the Expanded Universe novelists could do if they paid attention to each other and worked not only to make a good story but make a good story that complements the rest of the EU stories.
Michael Stackpole, the author, is mostly known for his novels in the X-Wing series. I, Jedi manages to combine the awesomeness of those books, along with a lot of Jedi mumbo-jumbo (I say this affectionately), a rescue mission, a character show more journey, and the entire Jedi Academy trilogy....into one book. Several characters created by other authors, notably Mara Jade and Kyp Durron, make small or large appearances in the book, and Stackpole manages to stay true to their characters while still keeping them sidelined to Corran Horn's story. I knew SOMEONE out there should be able to do it. It seems like the EU is a lot more categorized and boxed-up nowadays. For instance, Troy Denning is only "allowed" to write about bugs and Ewoks, Timothy Zahn keeps to his Chiss, Mara Jade, and Talon Karrde, and Kevin J. Anderson keeps to his Academy. This irritates me. Why shouldn't the EU authors be able to overlap better? Stackpole can.
I had to remind myself several times that this wasn't a big space epic, like the Corellian Trilogy (or the original trilogy, for that matter), it wasn't a adventure story like Outbound Flight. I, Jedi is exactly what it sounds like: a look into a character who is becoming a Jedi, how he gets there and how he deals with the powers and the philosophy. Since it's more about Corran's character journey rather than any particular super-weapon that needs destroying or Dark Lord that needs vanquishing, the storyline does suffer at some points.
But this book does the character-journey line EXCELLENTLY. It reminded me how very much I love Corran Horn. He's a pilot, he's an investigator, and, in this book, he's becoming a Jedi. All awesome powers rolled into one.
The book begins with Corran returning from a Rogue mission to discover that not only is his wife, Mirax, gone, but he can't feel her in the Force, either, other than she's alive. Persuaded by friends that if he goes after her she'll just be put in danger, Corran goes to Luke's shiny new Jedi Academy on Yavin 4 to learn freakish powers so he can save his wife.
This is where the JA trilogy comes in. The first half of I, Jedi, chronicles Corran's part in those events, which I thought was a fascinating way to write a book. You get a lot of insight into how the "normal" trainees reacted to all the insanity, and, more importantly (to me) you get out of Luke's head, which got pretty insufferable in that trilogy In My Opinion.
Again, I liked Mara Jade's various appearances in the book. She stayed true to herself, and I liked her silly camaraderie with Corran and her caring for Luke. *hugs Mara Jade*
Elegos' appearance in the later parts of the book was interesting because I thought he was a Timothy Zahn creation. Nope! I, Jedi, was published before Vision of the Future. Again, it shows that some authors can work together and keep the character the same even in different books and by different people. Although, on second thought, I think Stackpole did a better job with hitting the fine line between pacificism and just letting the bad guys do whatever they want: Elegos was prepared to do what was necessary to protect himself and others, but he just prefers not to. Zahn seemed to say that Elegos would always be a passive bystander no matter what.
ANYWAY back to I, Jedi. There were a couple things I didn't like. The fact that Mirax is kidnapped for most of the book means we don't get to see much of her, which is a shame because she's a great character. There was a lot of life when she got back in the game. Ah, well. Also, the climax and ending felt rather tacked-on to me, for various reasons that would be spoiler-ish to mention.
But that was really my only big complaint. Oh, just kidding: I was also mildly annoyed at how Corran is very careful to kill the least amount of people during the whole book, but then at the end with the stormtroopers he's just like trigger-happy. Er, lightsaber-happy. Either it was a cheap shot from Stackpole to make the ending more exciting, or everyone really DOES think stormtroopers are sub-human. Either way, a tad annoying.
Corran really does get the Best Jedi award from me. He always chooses the path that protects the most people and keeps the most people from dying. He has an ego and is sometimes selfish but he works around it. He doesn't rely on JUST the Force but also his piloting ability, his investigative skills, and his heart (to use a cheesy overused phrase). I think just about every other Jedi I've ever "met" could learn a LOT from Corran. show less

Reading this validated my belief that the timeline I'm going off is miscalibrated; there's no way that the first two volumes of Invasion could fit between this and Vector Prime, as the Yuuzhan Vong have clearly not been heard from since then.

Like Vector Prime, this book suffers from starting dully, with lots of political scenes and squabbling; I'm not sure why the powers-that-be behind The New Jedi Order were so into story thread of government denial of the Yuuzhan Vong threat, because it show more is utterly dull. Who wants to see our heroes constantly arguing with a bunch of idiots?

I remember liking Stackpole's X-Wing novels, but I don't think he's at his best when away from that milieu. Things are a little too mechanical in his writing, a little too black-and-white, and while that's suited for stories for fighter pilots, it doesn't really work for the Jedi: the Force doesn't come across as a mystical presence, but a tool: in his books, Jedi always talk about "TK" (i.e., telekinesis), and that just feels so incredibly un-Star Wars to me. Can you imagine Alec Guinness saying it? Also, characters are constantly lecturing each other on its correct use. Again, it's hard to be interested in the philosophical debate between Luke Skywalker and Kyp Durron when the narrative clearly thinks Luke is right and Kyp is an idiot.

Stackpole's at his best when dealing with Corran Horn, the Jedi without telekinesis but with great mind powers, which leads to some inventive scenes, and there's a great ground battle on Dantooine near the end of the novel, but it just takes too long for everything to get there and get going.

The New Jedi Order: « Previous in sequence | Next in sequence » show less

I love the character Trick Molloy and I wish there was a whole series of books based on him. I read a short story with him in it in another collection of short stories by various authors, and I enjoyed it so much that I searched for more and found this. The stories are good, but it only makes me wish there were more.

I really like the worldbuilding and how magic is acquired. People who are born with a talent might not even know it. And even if they are born talented, they have to find their show more "trigger"... what makes their magic strong and powerful. For Trick it's Irish whiskey. The better the booze, the better the power. And those with power have different access to certain elements like fire or water. The tidbits about his background and his family, especially his brother Harry, are so fascinating and they are perfect antagonists. Also love Trick's relationship and banter with his mother, which is snarky and sarcastic and hilarious. He is clearly the black sheep and the child she wishes she could forget.

And Trick's grandmother comes up in some of the stories and is especially interesting in the ways she uses her magic and her love and relationship with Trick. Would love to know more about her background and life... heck, she'd be a thick book on her own I imagine.

And to add to the list of fascinating characters, some of Trick's cousins have stories begging to be told as well, especially his cousin Loki, whose trigger is pain, and who is so powerful that the lust for pain and destruction can take him over in a way that can be extremely dangerous, both to friends and foe, and to his own mind as well. Trick seems one of the very few people who can manage to help him regain his control, but it's clear that it may not always be the case.

So many cool ideas and people and stories still waiting to be told. Like I said... I wish the author would write a series and expand on these short glimpses into the cool dark and gritty world of crime and magic he's created around this charcter. show less

Excellent collection of short stories all featuring one talented Trick Molloy. Irish ancestry, but currently working in the City (unspecified) as a bouncer at a skin club, after being booted off the force for bribery. He claims he was set-up, but that story doesn't feature here. The talent is his ability to channel life force in a variety of ways - providing he's suitable loaded on his trigger - in this case Irish Whiskey.Having this explained in each story becomes repetitive, but I suspect show more the stories were first written separately rather than as an anthology. Other people have other channels, and other triggers and most have none at all. Unsurprisingly all the people Trick ends up dealing with a talented to some degree.

There's a degree of consistency between the stories with some exploiting favours mentioned in previous events, and a few re-occurring characters, but at times there are also people and events thrown in that aren't mentioned again, and this detracts from the appeal as an anthology, although they work well as individual stories. He does seem to be able to craft a great deal more with magic than any other character he meets, with little explanation for how he is so skilled and the other's merely powerful. The sense of grade inflation along the story lines is also a bit annoying.

Trick's an interesting character, mostly a hero of course, but not too good with plenty of rough edges, and used to dealing with various shady characters in their own worlds. Trick has very few male acquaintances, merely antagonists which is odd. But the variety of accomplished female friends he associates with does give the characters some chemistry and the author writes the dialogues well. The stories all have their own pace and work well as individual tales, balanced in pace and power. None of them leave you thoughtful, but they are all enjoyable.

I'd be very interesting in reading a trilogy of novels on Trick's lifestyle, as the author has created a fascinating world - just needs a little bit more attention paying to the consistency. show less