Heir to the Jedi: Star Wars

It’s always a gamble introducing a new author to Star Wars, and when that author decides to change things up even more by writing their book in a different narrative, the odds get stacked against them. Add on top of that the fact that this is now a part of canon and it stars one of the most famous characters in all of Star Wars, and you get an almost insurmountable hurdle. How can anyone hope to meet those expectations? Well, luckily Kevin Hearne knows what he’s doing. He knows how to tap into characters, make them immensely enjoyable for the readers, and tug on people’s emotions. Heir to the Jedi takes Luke on an adventure but raises the bar by not only making him likeable, but by making his journey something of significance. show more While on the surface this might be another throwaway adventure, Hearne adds an element that ties this story into the mythos of Star Wars. This book becomes one of the pivotal steps in Luke’s journey to being a Jedi.

For those who don’t know, Kevin Hearne is the author of the Iron Druid Chronicles series, a great line of books mixing fantasy and reality. All of those books are written in first person narrative, so it’s no surprise that he would continue to do so when given the opportunity to write Star Wars. To this date, the only other Star Wars adult novel to be told from the first person narrative is I, Jedi by Michael A. Stackpole. As a long time reader of Star Wars books, I have to admit it was a little odd diving into Heir to the Jedi and reading the story from Luke’s perspective at first. After 200 books, you get used to they way the narratives are structured. But after a while, the style of narration disappears and the story and characters come to the forefront. It no longer mattered that Luke is recounting everything, instead, it was fun to see these new and old characters come into play. It was enlightening to get glimpses into Luke’s head and to see his own thoughts on the Force, the events that unfolded in A New Hope, and how all of that has affected him. By the end, you’re left shocked that there was actually a meaningful story left for a Luke Skywalker tale at such an early point in the timeline, and all thoughts of narration fall completely by the wayside.

The magic of the story is the characters. In A New Hope, Luke was pretty whiney. Heck, he was still kind of whiney in The Empire Strikes Back. In Heir to the Jedi, there is no whiney Luke. This is a Skywalker who has been introduced to the Force, blown up a Death Star, and is now trying to live in the wake of all that. He’s had some time to deflate his ego, appreciate how much he’s matured from his whiney self, and come to realize just how much about the Force he doesn’t know. These are all topics that are brought up and tackled in the book. Of greatest importance is Luke’s challenge with the Force. Without Obi-Wan to teach him, how can he make any progress with learning the ways of the Force? How does Luke get to the point in The Empire Strikes Back–hanging upside down in the wampa cave–where he can close his eyes, relax, and call his lightsaber to his hand? This book answers that. But it does one better than just giving a simple answer, it fully approaches the problem and turns the idea into an entire subplot for the story. Mix in Luke’s own wry humor, frank honesty, and willingness to help others, and you get a Luke Skywalker who feels like the Luke we grew up with. Hearne nails it.

So what about new characters? In this regard, Heir to the Jedi opts for a small, tight-knit cast. There are lots of smaller roles, from cameos like Ackbar and Leia, to new characters like Rodian weapon dealers and Kupohan spies, but there are also characters of real significance. One of them is Drusil Bephorin, a Given slicer and cryptographer who becomes a supporting character late in the book. The other character of importance–and the second most important character in the book next to Luke–is Nakari Kelen. Nakari is a bit of a treasure hunter, but with a scientific bent. Her father runs a biolab corporation and she made a living hunting down interesting scientific finds on various worlds. Having joined the Rebel Alliance, she offers her ship to help out on missions. Eventually, her and Luke team up to rescue Drusil from the Empire. Through the story, her character is explored and she becomes a central part of the story and a key source of humor. Nakari had me laughing out loud at numerous points and her antics with Luke were some of the best parts of the story. But Nakari isn’t just a humorous companion. When thrown into combat, a completely different side of Nakari is revealed. She’s no nonsense and straight to business. When you put someone down, you shoot them twice to make sure they stay down. It’s a stark contrast between her playful joking side, and I couldn’t help but be reminded of the way Aaron Allston wrote the characters of Wraith Squadron. Rather than being one dimensional, Nakari is fully developed and thereby completely engrossing. She’s my favorite character in the novel and Hearne does a terrific job writing her.

Against great odds, Kevin Hearne manages to pull it off with Heir to the Jedi. It’s an excellent book with rich characters, bubbling humor and poignant emotion. It may take a bit to get sucked into the story, but once you’re there, Hearne keeps you there for an entertaining ride. When the book was first announced, I wasn’t sure there was that much that could be done with a Luke Skywalker novel since he’s one of the most used characters in the franchise. To my surprise, it turns out that there was a lot left to be explored, and thankfully Kevin Hearne finds that angle and brings it to light. I give Heir to the Jedi a five out of five. show less

This Star Wars novel is set in between the original film and The Empire Strikes Back when the Rebel Alliance is looking for a new base of operations. Luke Skywalker is dealing with the comedown after his initial success of destroying the Death Star and having no one to train him to use the Force. Luke is assigned a mission to recover the brilliant cryptographer Drusil Bephorin (from a species who talk about math for fun) who is being forced to work for the Empire. Accompanying him on his journey is the sharpshooter Nakari Kelen, the daughter of a wealthy industrialist who supports the rebel cause. They fly on her souped-up yacht, the Desert Jewel.

The narrative overall is episodic adventures of Luke, Nakari, and Drusil using their show more strengths to avoid entanglements with Imperials and bounty hunters. Uniquely, the story is narrated from the first person point of view of Luke Skywalker, and does a good job of capturing his uncertainty and impulsiveness. Luke's relationship with Nakari helps him realize things about himself in his effort to learn more about becoming a Jedi. They also have an amusing, quippy relationship that leads to romance. The idea introduced in the prequels that Jedi were like Catholic priests who could have no romantic attachments always bothered me so it's nice to see it subverted here.

While this novel is ultimately a light and frivolous thing, I did enjoy it. show less

Note: Even though this is Book 12 in the series, it works perfectly fine as a stand alone novel.

This story is set in between the original tales of New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. Told from Luke Skywalker’s viewpoint, there’s plenty of daring piloting, espionage, laser blasts, and a touch of flirting. Luke is running several small missions for Admiral Ackbar and Princess Leia Organa. Then this much more important, and dangerous, mission comes along: rescue an Empire cryptographer, Drusil, who is under constant surveillance. Skywalker will have to team up with new recruit Nakari Kelen, who has a rather fancy space yacht.

This is my first Star Wars novel and it was a lot of fun. I was interested in this book because I have read show more Hearne’s Iron Druid Chronicles and really enjoyed them, and I really enjoy Star Wars, so I figured if you put the two together, you’d have something I really enjoyed. And, indeed, it was quite a bit of fun. There’s no major game changers or reveals in this novel, but considering where it’s placed in the Star Wars timeline, that’s to be expected.

I like the addition of the character Nakari. She’s independent, assertive, and competent. Also, the Rebel Alliance isn’t too sure how far they can trust her so for much of the book I had to wonder if she was a double agent and would betray the mission in some way. This added some suspense to the novel. She also brought some humor to the story line with her jokes and gentle teasing of her father, a bio mogul who practically has an army himself – an army of scientists and explorers that search out new life forms to study for his pharmaceutical labs.

There were several smaller ‘missions’ that had to be accomplished first in order to go after the big target (rescuing the cryptologist) and I liked that this was a multi-layered space adventure. First, Skywalker is being sent off to negotiate with a group of weapons dealers and along the way he interferes in the Imperial pursuit of an unknown ship (just because he can). Once he receives this cryptologist mission, the space yacht needs upgrades and that means running some errands for Nakari’s dad. So there’s plenty of opportunities for mistakes to happen, death to creep in, dismemberment to be claimed later on the insurance forms.

Luke is also still exploring his abilities with the Force. He doesn’t have a current Jedi teacher and he feels a little lost in this area. He does carry his lightsaber that his father left him and a few others he comes across in this adventure know what one is on sight. Luckily, the lightsaber wins him some much-needed allies even as he has to cut down foes with it. Little nuggets of wisdom come from various sources and Luke puts them to use in getting in touch with the Force. In this book, he’s still a bit unsure of himself, awkward in romance, and just a touch naive. It’s totally how I picture him in my mind at this point in the Star Wars timeline.

The book is well balanced with plenty of action, moments of reflection (mostly Force related), some well-timed humor, and perhaps a budding romance. I also enjoyed that R2D2 was around for most of the story as he is one of my favorite characters. Other original characters make cameos in this book, either in person or as memories of Luke’s. All in all, it struck the perfect Star Wars tone and it was a great fix for my Rebel Alliance need. Now, all I need are some Nerf Nuggets.

A fellow blogger (thanks Audio Book Reviewer) sent me a box of bookish goodies a few months ago as a get well present and this is one of those books. This is not a review copy but I felt like reviewing it anyways. As always, my opinions are my own.

The Narration: Marc Thompson was a great pick for this book. He sounded like a young Luke Skywalker and his voice impersonations of other classic Star Wars characters were pretty good as well. I loved his light snark for Nakari. He had to come up with some inventive alien voices and I am sure his throat was raw after some of those sounds he came up with! There were lots of sound effects and music for this audiobook. Mostly, they were on target though there are a few places where the effects drowned out the narration. Also, sometimes the music would be playing in the background and I couldn’t figure out why – it just seemed off. Most of the time, it was perfect, reflecting a poignant or triumphant or anxious moment. Yet a few times the music was not reflective of the moment and I wondered why it was there distracting from the story. Still, all in all, it was like listening to a Star Wars movie and Thompson’s performance was excellent. show less

I received this advanced-release ebook through NetGalley.

I requested this book because it's by Kevin Hearne. He's a friend and a darn good writer. I was really curious to see how he would write Luke in a book set between Episode IV and V. I haven't read a Star Wars book since the Episode III novelization, but back in the 1990s I read a ton of books in the expanded universe before burning out on them.

Hearne does a great job granting Luke a first person voice during that awkward time soon after the destruction of the first Death Star. This is Luke as he matures. He's still that misfit farm boy from Tatooine, but he's also a hotshot pilot who wants to be genuinely useful to the Alliance. He's trying to find out more about the Jedi and how show more lightsabers work. Some of the suspense is gone because you know he'll survive and that other major characters are the ones in imminent peril, but it's still a fast, enjoyable read.

Hearne isn't able to drop the pop culture wisecracks that add so much to his Iron Druid books, but he does add humor where he can. I, for one, hope to see a nerf nuggets recipe on the Holy Taco Church at some point in the near future. show less

To be perfectly honest, I was never really all that interested in Empire Era stories. My love always laid with the prequel and Clone Wars timeframes. However, with Heir to the Jedi I was hooked right from the beginning. Despite my indifference towards Empire Era tales, I have always loved Luke. His innocence, his realism as a character (what teenager wasn't whiny and restless and looking to do greater things than stay at home all the time?), and his emotional and internal development throughout the original trilogy was great.

If there was ever a niggle of a doubt of my love for him, this book cemented it permanently in my heart. His awkwardness was especially endearing; as readers, we like to think of the Jedi as these mystical warriors show more whose intense training leaves little room for anything else. But the fact of the matter is, even with the best mentors and Masters, Padawans and others just learning about the Force must be like newborn giraffes: all gangly limbs and not knowing what to do with them, falling quite a few times before finally finding their footing.

And that's what Luke is in HttJ, a baby giraffe trying to find solid ground. It's an absolute joy to read his interactions with Nakari Kelen (whom I fell in love with from her introduction), his awkwardness multiplied tenfold and making me smile so much my face hurt. The humor in the story isn't forced or shoehorned, which helped make it such a quick and enjoyable read for me (unlike Tarkin, which, while good as well, at times felt like a shore simply because of the heaviness of the story and the walls-o'-text). It did lag in a few places, mainly the aerial skirmishes, but that's a minor point in the bigger picture.

While the last ten pages broke my heart, I look forward to reading this again anytime I need a pick-me-up. show less

As part of the "new" canon, I was intrigued by [Heir to the Jedi]; excited that it was a new Star Wars book, but wary that it was written from Luke point of view. The first part of the book was quite good and the story was interesting. I found myself looking forward to listening to it which is always a good thing. I was disappointed by one aspect of the book and that was with Luke's love interest. It just made very little sense and seemed forced (no pun intended). Also, the book kept hinting that Han and Chewie were not currently with the Alliance, but that doesn't make sense given the timeline of the movies. The assumption is that Han goes to pay off Jabba right before the Battle of Hoth, while the book alludes to the fact that he has show more already left for that purpose (and it is only after the Battle of Yavin IV). I would say that this book was certainly not as good as [Tarkin] but if a fan is willing to choke down the love interest angle, then they might be able to enjoy the book. show less

I was interested in the premise, but the execution was seriously flawed.

When you write in first person from the perspective of a well-known character, it's absolutely VITAL to capture that character's "voice" (their vocabulary, mannerisms, etc.). This novel fails miserably. It intends to show Luke Skywalker between the destruction of the first Death Star and the Battle of Hoth, but the character we see in this novel isn't a cocky-kid-moisture-farmer-turned-hero; he's an insecure nerd with a knack for using big words in his internal monologue.

It certainly doesn't help that this entire story is a ship in a bottle: nothing in this novel adds to the overall mythos of the Star Wars universe.

I was ready to give up by chapter three, but show more plodded on in the hopes that it would improve. Sadly, it didn't. show less