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A novel expanding the background of the famous Captain Nemo, from Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Mysterious Island.
Kevin J. Anderson’s Darksaber is the second novel in the unofficially named Callista Trilogy. Introduced in Barbara Hambly’s Children of the Jedi, Callista
Buy this Star Wars Book in paper or electronic copy* Andrew: Originally published at: http://www.rancorslovetoread.com/2009/01/andrews-review-of-jedi-academy-trilogy_2371.html 2/5 Rancors – Champions of the Force is the final book in Kevin J. Anderson’s Jedi Academy Trilogy. It continues much in the vein of the first two novels: a somewhat promising and engaging storyline is dragged down by pedestrian writing and some very hokey scenes. The 300-some pages of this book are essentially one extended climax to the trilogy. One battle in particular, the assault on the Imperial facility in the Maw, almost stretches the entire length of the story. The Bantam Spectra era of Star Wars novels was noted for the authors’ predilection to invent “superweapons-of-the-week.” True to form, this trilogy contains not one but two in the form of a prototype (but fully functional) Death Star and the even more powerful Sun Crusher. It’s not that hard to swallow the existence of a prototype Death Star, although the idea feels a trifle overused after seeing them in A New Hope and Return of the Jedi. However, the Sun Crusher concept goes beyond the pale. Anderson asks the reader to accept it took a 100+ kilometer wide sphere to support a laser that could destroy…
Buy this Star Wars Book in paper or electronic copy* Andrew: Originally published at: http://www.rancorslovetoread.com/2009/01/andrews-review-of-jedi-academy-trilogy_30.html 2/5 Rancors – Kevin J. Anderson’s Jedi Academy Trilogy continues in this second volume, Dark Apprentice. At the conclusion of the first entry, Jedi Search, Luke Skywalker had laid the groundwork to start his new academy for training potential Jedi on the planet Yavin IV. Here Anderson explores the early days of the Academy itself, along with continuing the plotline of Admiral Daala’s exploits and also devoting a large amount of the story to a new storyline involving Princess Leia and Admiral Ackbar. There is a reasonably interesting story present in this book. Unfortunately, it is dragged down by pedestrian writing and Anderson’s inclination to directly spell out exactly what the characters are feeling and thinking. There’s not any room for subtlety and what drama there is gets undercut by passages that feel more like summaries than prose. The most engagingly written plotline in this book is the tragedy that befalls Admiral Ackbar on a trip to Vortex to visit the legendary Cathedral of Winds. In the aftermath of the Vortex disaster, Ackbar resigns from the New Republic government and returns home to Mon Calamari. Soon after, Chief of State Mon Mothma falls gravely…
Buy this Star Wars Book in paper or electronic copy* Andrew: Originally published at: http://www.rancorslovetoread.com/2009/01/andrews-review-of-jedi-academy-trilogy.html 3/5 Rancors – Kevin J. Anderson played a prominent role in the Star Wars Expanded Universe for a few years in the mid-1990s. His projects included the Tales of the Jedi comics published by Dark Horse, the Illustrated Guide to the Star Wars Universe, editorial and authorial duties on three Tales collections, various youth-oriented fiction, and a few of the adult novels. Jedi Search was his first book in the Jedi Academy Trilogy, set after the pivotal events of Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn Trilogy and the Dark Empire comic series. This trilogy typifies many of the characteristics often associated with the 90s Bantam Spectra era of Star Wars publishing, following the main movie characters as they battle a newly emerged ex-Imperial leader and throwing a new super weapon or two into the mix. This first part of the trilogy opens with the New Republic in the process of re-claiming Coruscant after the recent Imperial reoccupation. It’s interesting how openly the book ties to the Dark Empire comics series in some of the early scenes. Readers who stick only to the books will be quite confused when…
