Dark Apprentice

Again, a fun jaunt into the Star Wars universe. This time, however, I feel I was slightly less than ecstatic with some of the plot decisions that Anderson made. At the beginning of the book, one of Luke's trainees was acting as the major source of tension at the Jedi Academy; by the end of the book, that role had been transferred almost needlessly to a completely different character. The second character effectively abandoned his entire personality almost instantly to take on the personality of the character that originally served that role, and this disappointed me. I liked the character better as he was originally, and while I think the decision to change him would have been fine if developed properly, I wanted to see more of a show more transitional period rather than a direct jump. Frankly, I think we would have been better off if the first character had never existed at all and the whole span of the book was just devoted to the slow development of the second character, because I'm left at the end wondering what the point of having two really was in the first place.

Another issue that I had with this plot was the constant gambling between Han and Lando over ownership of the Millenium Falcon. I know that both characters gamble a lot and both characters also love the Falcon, but it felt unrealistically comical--almost cartoonish--that they were gambling so frequently. The first instance, especially, also felt out of character for Han, who was rushing around to get to Leia after she was in a flying accident, only to drop everything and play cards.

There were also, as in the previous book, a few instances here and there of repetitive/awkward language. "He was stunned to feel ____. It stunned him." Okay, we get it. He's feeling a little stunned. This wasn't too painfully common, but it was noticeable and still bears mentioning. There were some unnecessary exclamation points, too.

All in all, I enjoyed the read, but I'm definitely not taking the trilogy too seriously, either. show less

Chapter 2 of the Jedi Academy Trilogy. OK, so Anderson took a bit longer to build up the complexity than I expected. It is now here. And like any middle chapter, this is the most darkest with regards to what happens: a prime character has her memory wiped clean, Han Solo loses the Millennium Falcon, Luke Skywalker is struck down by one of his students, and the head of state, Mon Mothma, is quickly dying. And these are just a few of the things happening! There is so much more going on that I can't list it all! All of it though is very enjoyable and kept me on the edge of my seat. Now I'm dying to read the final chapter!

The chapters are quite short, and the story flits from one perspective to another, it ultimately feels very slight and sedate and about nothing, even though there are some momentous events in the novel. All the characters are flat. Wedge Antilles falling in love with the person who designed the Death Star without knowing it would be used to destroy planets was really something, and him grieving when she loses her memories and identity was pretty underwhelming. Still, Anderson is a fairly competent story-teller, at least on the level of dialogue and sentence construction.

Star Wars The Jedi Academy Trilogy Volume 2: Dark Apprentice reminds me of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back in many ways. First of all, it's somewhat darker than Jedi search, just as The Empire Strikes Back was darker than A New Hope. Also I think it took me a little longer to read than the first, which is similar to the how Star Wars V is a little longer than episode IV. One of my favorite things about this novel is the Dark Jedi spirit found living on Yavin 4, but I won't go into detail so that as not to spoil it for those who haven't read this book yet.

All in all I'd say it's a worthy sequel to Jedi Search but, while it's not worse, I'm not sure that it's superior to the first either. Still, I recommend this book to any show more Star Wars enthusiast. show less

The 2nd book in the Jedi Academy Trilogy. Admiral Ackbar destroys a planets landmark and then retires to his home planet which is then attacked by Admiral Daala. Luke is confused by what happened to one of his apprentices, and even more mystified when a 2nd apprentice goes to the darkside. Jacen and Jaina Solo go for an adventure in the bowels of Coruscant.

As with many trilogies, I always find the 2nd one a step down from the 1st. It's not bad, it's not great, it just continues the story. I feel maybe the kids getting lost or the Wedge romance could have been left out to streamline the story. It tries to do too much.

The spirit of a long-dead Jedi returns to haunt the newly formed Jedi Academy--and unfortunately, the Jedi is totally Dark Sided. By the end of the book, former-slave Kyp has become consumed by revenge, and Luke is in a coma. Woops!

This book was kind of slow and had a lot more "dead space" than other star wars books i've read, but it ended with enough promise to convince me to continue on and read the 3rd book.