Children of the Jedi

Is this one of the worst books ever? Not by a long shot. Is it one of the worst pre-retcon/throwing out of EU Star Wars books? Definitely. I haven't read anything else by Hambly, and I imagine her non-franchise work is a considerably better, as there aren't really any technical problems with her writing here. But it has the feel of an early Abrams-ification of franchise (Star Trek or Star Wars) materiel. I.e. a complete lack of familiarity of the writer with the franchise in which they're working.
While events of the original trilogy and EU material between the trilogy and the events of this book are frequently referenced, any character development that took place over the course of those events seems to have been completely thrown out show more the window. We're presented a Luke that doesn't feel much different from the teenage farm boy of A New Hope. The author also seems almost completely unfamiliar with the workings and lore of the Force and Jedi beyond some very general notions. Also, is this a Lovecraft novel? Because there are more faintings (mostly by Luke) than I've seen anywhere besides Lovecraft or maybe a romance novel. On that point, there is a romance (which, given what we know of Jedi, probably shouldn't be happening) cooked up between Luke and Callista that feels extremely forced, artificial, and more like a late adolescent falling in love for the first time than a 30 year old who's been through a lot in their life. Ultimately, the female love interest is rendered mostly powerless and without agency, leaving another bad taste in ones mouth. We also have a badly re-used trope of rather than figuring out how to use Luke's ever advancing powers in new and interesting ways within the narrative, instead through accident/injury/illness/whatever rendering him mostly powerless. The franchise equivalent of modern horror rendering cell phones without signal rather than incorporating them creatively within the narrative or setting the story in a place or time in which it would be a non-issue.
I am almost sad I own a copy of this. show less

Barbara Hambly’s Star Wars: Children of the Jedi takes place some months after the events of The Jedi Academy Trilogy while also launching a trilogy of stories involving ex-Jedi Knight Callista Ming. The story alternates between events on The Eye of Palpatine – a massive automated battlemoon disguised as an asteroid that exists to wipe out any Jedi colonies after the Empire’s rise to power – and the planet Belsavis – an icy world with tropical cities located around volcanic vents where some Jedi once hid from the Empire. Luke Skywalker and See-Threepio are stuck on The Eye of Palpatine trying to outwit its automated computer, the Will, and evade various aliens that the battlemoon captured and brainwashed into thinking they are show more Imperial stormtroopers and officers. Fortunately, there appears to be a ghost in the machine: Callista, a former Jedi who appears to have died on a mission against The Eye of Palpatine decades prior, but whose consciousness was downloaded and now fights for control against the Will. Meanwhile, on Belsavis, Han Solo, Leia Organa-Solo, Chewbacca, and Artoo-Deetoo search for the remnants of the Jedi colony and uncover a dark secret about Palpatine’s brainwashed minions in caves beneath the settlement.

Callista’s insight into the Force offers a fun moment when she says, “It’s something even the Masters don’t reveal about the inner nature of the secret heart of the universe… The deepest and darkest secret of all that the Force lets you see… The universe has a sense of humor.” To which Luke replies, “I’ll have to be a lot higher-level Jedi than I am before I even want to think about that” (pgs. 191-192). Hambly also included a fun metatextual reference, with the planet “Neelgaimon” referencing the author Neil Gaiman (pg. 158). Hambly later contributed to The Sandman: Book of Dreams, based on Gaiman’s Lord of the Dreaming. Kevin J. Anderson’s Darksaber and Hambly’s Planet of Twilight continue the story following the events of Children of the Jedi. Overall, this is an enjoyable entry in the Bantam Spectra era of Star Wars novels that preceded the Prequel Trilogy. It’s not the strongest, but it’s fun and works well both as a standalone story and the first part of a three-part story. show less

This is the author--and the novel--that got me into reading the Star Wars tie-ins in the first place. Hambly spins enthralling, engaging mysteries and imbues the Jedi's past with a sense of real history and gravitas. She captures, as well, the kind of carpet-bagger era of the New Empire, a period of time when a new civilization is still in uneasy birth-stages and looking for its identity. A dense, lush read.

So I have been a fan of Star Wars since I was 5. I have loved the movies that George Lucas created from his mind. This book did not reflect that world at all.

The author tried too hard to make the world of Star Wars like our worlds. Adding in concubines and courts. It came off very medieval-esque. George Lucas always meant for the world of Star Wars to be different and unrelatable from our world.

I also don't enjoy a quick forced love story. The two major love stories in Star Wars were a while in the making. And yet, in this story its love within only a few days.

Needless to say I was very disappointed in this story. It had the potential to be so much better.

One of my favorite Star Wars novels, this one features the original movie cast, and some new Jedi. To me it seemed like a classic Star Wars adventure novel, though at times Hambly seemed much more comfortable writing fantasy. This is not a good sci-fi novel, but it is a good Star Wars novel.

I enjoyed this book, although I recognize that it won't appeal to every Star Wars fan. I am very uncomfortable with the way things ended. Two deaths were basically ignored so Callista could leave the ship in a new body. All the clues are there, it's just such a horrifying idea it didn't cross my mind.

I'll be honest: I could understand what was happening about three quarters of the time, and I understood *why* most events were happening about one quarter of the time. The parts I understood I liked. But the level of detail that attempts to describe the characters' surroundings tends to obfuscate everything else--and when you don't understand what the detail being described is in the first place, it's a tough read. It took me about a hundred pages to get into this book. Once I did, I was invested enough to plow through the parts I didn't (and still don't) understand. It's rough going, though. (But I did like the ending!)