Jedi Search

Chapter 1 of the Jedi Academy Trilogy. I was expecting this trilogy to be as complex as Timothy Zahn's trilogy, but unfortunately so far it is not. However, it is still extremely entertaining, involving and very easy to picture in your mind. Right from the start we have exciting things happening as Han Solo and Chewbacca are captured. Plus all the other characters make appearances and have exciting things happen. Luke starts an academy for Jedis, Leia has duties as Minister of State, Lando chases a gambler and countless other things occur. Overall the Star Wars mythos is continued and you become entranced with events, eager to learn more. This ended up being a really good novel and I am anxious to get to the two remaining chapters of show more this trilogy. show less

There really isn't much I can say about this, other than the fact that I am simultaneously amused and appalled that my twelve-year-old self liked this book so much. In fairness, it's not that Anderson is a bad writer, though his characterisation makes me want to smack him frequently; it's just that I could only contain my laughter up to the time he describes one of the characters looking out at the city of Coruscant bathed in starlight. You know. Coruscant. The planet the entire surface of which is covered in buildings. And that was about ten pages in.

Strives mightily to replicate the success of Zahn's Thrawn trilogy, but utterly fails. The new batch of Force users are boring, underwritten characters, and the new Imperial military strategist-villain is just miserable, and her grand scheme--another superweapon--is ridiculous.

Luke wants to recreate the Jedi Knights, a mission he feels particularly committed to for his niece and nephew's sakes. After various false leads (and a whole lot of scoundrel-related trouble--oh Han and Lando!), he thinks he might finally be able to start another Jedi Academy.

(Although after seeing the prequel movies, Luke's dream seems completely disconnected from reality. Jedi need training, yes. But the ancient methods were clearly completely idiotic. Raising the Jedi to have no friends or loved ones from the age of babies is just asking for trouble.)

I've read Timothy Zahn's Heir To The Empire and, while I am impressed, I still prefer Kevin J. Anderson's Jedi Search. This book and both of the others in Anderson's Jedi Academy Trilogy are amongst my favorite Star Wars books ever. The whole then new (now well used) concept of a Jedi Academy is quite intriguing to me. I highly recommend this book for two reasons: (1) The most important: It has a great story and (2) It's quite affordable, especially used.

This book is set seven years after the second Death Stars destruction at Endor. Luke is looking to rebuild the Jedi Order and requests permission to search for those able to use the force and a location to train his jedi. Mon Motha approves his mission and Luke heads out to find his first two candidates. Han and Chewbacca are sent to Kessel by Leia to assess if Kessel can be brought into the New Republic. There they are captured and put to work in the spice mines. Lando is out of work and bored, so Leia gets him to help by looking into a possible force user at the "Blob" races. The book culminates with a battle a the "Maw".

I enjoyed the book, a nice introduction to Luke's search for students for the Jedi Academy.

Despite a dumb title, a very solid Star Wars adventure. Doesn't quite capture the feeling of the movies like Zahn's books but comes close. Good job of building tension and jeopardy despite focusing on characters we know no real harm can come to--the mainstays are all here.