I, Jedi by Michael A. Stackpole
Book 13 - when your younger self reads with rose-colored glasses
Sometimes, when you read a book from your younger years you think yes, as wonderful as I remembered and other times you wonder what the heck your teen self was thinking.
I want to preface this review with the statement that I have read other books by Michael A. Stackpole and have enjoyed them immensely. He’s amazing at action scenes and a lot of his stories have heart, action, thrills, and good character work in them.
So, don’t take this review as an indictment of his skill as an author. Take it as the difference between a somewhat sheltered, excitable teen reading this as compared to a more knowledgeable, slightly more introspective 37-year-old who has long lost patience with excuses.
Don’t worry, I’ll explain.
The dramatic story of an X-wing pilot on the razor’s edge between the hero he once was and the power he could have—if he’s willing to embrace the Dark Side
Corran Horn was an officer in the Corellian Security Force before casting his lot with the New Republic. As the grandson of a legendary Jedi hero, he has latent Force powers that have yet to be developed. But he has managed to distinguish himself with Rogue Squadron, the X-wing fighter force that has become the scourge of the Empire and of the pirates that prey on Republic shipping.
When his wife, Mirax, vanishes on a covert mission for the New Republic, Corran vows to find her. He begins Jedi training at Luke Skywalker’s Jedi academy, hoping to develop his untapped powers. But as Corran grows dissatisfied with the Jedi master’s methods, he chooses to break with the academy before his training is finished.
Now Corran is on his own. Using his undercover experience, he must infiltrate, sabotage, and destroy a ruthless organization in order to find his wife. But to succeed, Corran will have to come to terms with his Jedi heritage—and make a terrible surrender to the Dark Side . . . or dieSummary from Goodreads
My Review
As a teen I remember being enthralled by the Mission Impossible undertones. His wife is kidnapped, he is learning new powers to save her, he infiltrates a pirate band led by a psychotic woman with a giant Star Destroyer at her disposal. I was geeked that we got a different perspective of the whole Exar Kun ordeal and that Mara Jade made another appearance.
This time around, I kept finding myself wondering why he was wasting so much time! This whole operation took months and even now I’m not sure of the timeline. Sure, he was trying to find his wife who was kidnapped somewhere in an entire galaxy, but the man lollygagged to the Jedi academy, then lollygagged to Corellia, and it was all focused on his inner growth as a Jedi and as a man. And I’m like, your wife is in danger.
Don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t expecting this to be quick and easy, and it shouldn’t have been, but it was too dragged out. The Jedi Academy, the visit to Corellia, even his initial time with the Survivors, all seemed like distractions from his true purpose.
I did find the philosophical conversations between Corran and Luke about the Force really interesting, and I definitely think Luke benefited from Corran’s frankness, even though he (Corran) also seemed kind of like a jerk when it was happening.
Corran’s time at the academy I think would have been better served outside of the Exar Kun situation. I think it makes sense for him to want to develop his Force abilities, especially since he used them to find his wife or at least know where to start looking. But his heavy involvement in the Kyp/Exar Kun scenario seemed more like a side quest than a strategic choice to develop his latent Force abilities in order to find his wife.
The frustrating thing is that each of these scenarios, the academy, his jaunt to Corellia, his time with the pirates, were all interesting scenarios and individually were something I enjoyed. But together they seemed piecemeal and at times I was not sure that one had to do with the other, especially since the book started with his wife missing and half the time he’s barely focused on her. It almost feels like the kidnapping was the original premise of the book and then got derailed by the direction that the story really wanted to go, which was an introspective journey about a man finding his way through legacy, family history, self-identity, and the specter of fatherhood.
Speaking of which, the novel starts with Corran struggling with the concept of fatherhood. Mirax, his wife, has broached the subject of children and Corran finds himself having to grapple with the “what ifs” of it all. Having lost his own father in a brutal way, he is afraid to put his own children through the same thing, knowing that becoming a father will not stop him being a member of Rogue Squadron or a fighter pilot. He mulls over the possibility of them being Force sensitive, and therefore vulnerable to the Dark side. He wonders what it will do to the relationship he and Mirax has.
These are all valid, rational, normal fears for a man to go through and Stackpole reveals them in a poignant way. Corran’s hesitation causes friction with his wife, but their relationship does not falter over this.
Through his journey, he realizes that his fears are just that—fears, and though they are valid, he doesn’t know the future and shouldn’t base his entire life on it.
So, that works out. Then comes one of most annoying moments in all of Star Wars, at least to me.
At one point in the novel, Corran has long been entrenched with the Survivors, a splinter pirate band from a larger group that had been slaughtered by Imperials. They now served under pseudo-Admiral Leonia Tavira, a hypersexual psychopath with almost no other characterization than how I just described her.
Though annoying, that is not what’s most annoying about this scenario. In a scene that reads like a middle-school boy’s fantasy, Tavira tells Corran he’s going to sleep with her and then kisses him on the lips.
Like, okay, fine, he’s in disguise and she’s kind of the leader of the group. He can’t exactly drop-kick her in the face. But it’s his reaction that I find annoying. Because after all the build-up in previous books of his relationship with his wife Mirax and the conflict he felt over having children with her in the beginning of this very novel, Corran is so turned on by the kiss from this narcissistic psychopath that he has to practically talk himself out of wanting to sleep with her.
The argument he uses to make excuses for this brain damaged way of thinking is even more annoying. He makes the biological/genetic argument, all “males are wired to pass on their genetic code to a willing female, blah, blah, blah”. I’m sorry, Corran, what?!
First of all, Tavira is not the sort of woman who seems even mildly interested in having children. If Corran had slept with her and gotten her pregnant, she’d probably be more likely to shove him out an airlock. Not to mention, he had just gone through a whole existential crisis about having children with Mirax - you remember, his wife? - who has literally requested to have children with him. Honestly, this scene really cheapens all that inner conflict Corran had about having children at all. The fact that he uses this “biological imperative” argument to excuse him getting turned on by a kiss is . . . weird.
Secondly, and the weirdest part of all, is that this entire scene is so obviously non-consensual. She threatens his life and the life of his friends if he doesn’t sleep with her. She waltzes into the room and tells him he is going to sleep with her. He has already refused her by the time she kisses him.
And yet Corran gets turned on. And not in a “my body reacted even though I was disgusted/scared way”.
I think what annoys me about this type of scene the most is how common it is, with male characters especially. I’m not sure if Stackpole was trying to raise the tension, point to how hot Corran supposedly is (yet again), or map out some hard-core, sci-fi dominatrix fantasy for the fanboys, but it did not come off well on this second read.
Back to Tavira. As a villain, she was mediocre at best. She was a caricature of a woman, barely a character, and what’s worse is that her defining characteristics is her tragic past (which features grooming and child abuse), her hypersexuality, and her complete lack of morals.
The end section, surprisingly, was weirdly fun, and read like an adventure buddy-comedy, with Luke (who joins Corran later), Ooryl (who somehow finds him), and their new friend Elogos, basically running through the place where Mirax is being held kicking ass and taking names.
There were so many moments that were so well-done, that were entertaining and dynamic, and Corran as a character, overall, is still a pretty great character.
I’m going to be honest though, when I reread the Expanded Universe/Legends series again, I’m probably going to skip this one.
Which is hilarious, because there’s quite a few, in the X-Wing series in particular, by Michael A. Stackpole that I’ve just read and enjoyed and that I will read again.
What’s a book you read when you were younger that you’ve reread recently and was disappointed by? Is there a book from when you were younger you plan on reading again? Let me know in the comments!