Jedi Search by Kevin J. Anderson
book 9 with old friends
I’m jumping back a bit here to book 9 because my reading is topsy-turvy and completely based on mood, so there is no me just reading straight through an entire series anymore, though on the rare occasion you will find me still doing so.
Star Wars Legends - as the mouse overlords have decreed it to now be called - has been a staple in my reading and life since I was about eleven or ten years old. Back when it was called the Star Wars Expanded Universe (it’s still called that, sort of, I think) and I anticipated each new release with breathless excitement. Somewhere in the early or mid 2000s the series was cut off and I honestly didn’t read them for a while.
Also, there’s the Jacen thing - if you know, you know.
As the war between the Republic and the scattered remnants of the Empire continues, two children - the Jedi twins - will come into their powers in a universe on the brink of vast changes and challenges. In this time of turmoil and discovery, an extraordinary new Star Wars saga begins….
While Luke Skywalker takes the first step toward setting up an academy to train a new order of Jedi Knights, Han Solo and Chewbacca are taken prisoner on the planet Kessel and forced to work in the fathomless depths of a spice mine. But when Han and Chewie break away, they flee desperately to a secret Imperial research laboratory surrounded by a cluster of black holes - and go from one danger to a far greater one….
On Kessel, Luke picks up the trail of his two friends, only to come face-to-face with a weapon so awesome, it can wipe out an entire solar system. It is a death ship called the Sun Crusher, invented by a reclusive genius and piloted by none other than Han himself….Summary from Goodreads
My Review
This was a re-read, but I’m honestly not sure how many times I have read this. I want to say at least twice, but the last time was certainly more then 15 years ago, which is odd to think about.
I want to mention something before I go on - I wrote my review philosophy here, and the point I want to focus on is that I am still of the philosophy reviewing books as a writer and reader to “punch up, not down” and I write all this to say: I think the authors of these books will be fine with a little bit of criticism.
That being said - written - the beginning of this book is a little rough. It opens with Han and Chewie crashlanding on Kessel, which is exciting, but the dialogue was weirdly stilted.
Sometimes, in reading this series, you get a bit of whiplash with how a writer will characterize some of the characters, and Han is no exception. It was a little rough in the beginning, but it leveled out over the trilogy.
I vaguely remember my impressions of Han and Leia’s relationship as a teenager, and as an adult I find myself wondering how the hell they kept their relationship together throughout the series. This book starts out with them separated yet again and actually delves into some of the emotional turmoil this causes. It’s an interesting issue in their relationship because so many times the reason they are separated is some problem or incident in the burgeoning New Republic their trying to solve. Lives are on the line, people could die, etc., so it’s not like their relationship is shaky because they are constantly running from each other.
One thing that did stick out to me as an adult is the twins, and baby Anakin, being sequestered on a secret planet with Winter. They spent the first two years of their lives away from their mother and father in a secret facility on a barren wasteland. I mean, I’m no child psychologist, but considering how Jacen turned out . . .
Also, these books are showing the early signs of a huge problem within the Star Wars universe that has irked me a b it: apparently no one believes in therapy in that galaxy.
I’m not saying that the characters never seem emotionally mature, regulated, or empathetic, but in this book alone there are several characters who could use some good trauma therapy, and it’s never even considered. At best, two characters will talk about their feelings or Jedi philosophy, but no one ever mentions PTSD.
This does not work out well.
Luke is his Jedi self, just a full Jedi nerd, still a little naive, but charming. He’s not quite the badass that he becomes, yet, and some of the mistakes he makes in this trilogy are a little bit obvious early on. In a way, Luke at this point is trying to build a new Jedi Order from scratch, while also adhering to the few pieces of Jedi lore he is able to find. This back and forth, between traditional and new, makes his new order seem shaky at first.
But overall, this book was exciting, and I definitely went right into the second, wanting to know what would happen next.
While not the best in the Expanded Universe, this was still a good time, even after the third time around.
What’s a series you haven’t read since you were a teenager? Would you read it again? What did you think? Let me know in the comments!