What do you think?
Rate this book
Star Wars: The Jedi Academy Trilogy #2
Star Wars: Dark Apprentice
As the New Republic takes devastating losses in the ongoing war with the scattered remnants of the Empire, the galaxy's future depends on three small children—among them the Jedi twins—born to incredible powers and perils, as an extraordinary new Star Wars saga unfolds�.
While the New Republic struggles to decide what to do with the deadly Sun Crusher—a new doomsday weapon stolen from the Empire by Han Solo—the renegade Imperial Admiral Daala uses her fleet of Star Destroyers to conduct guerrilla warfare on peaceful planets. And now she threatens the watery homeworld of Admiral Ackbar.
But as the battle for a planet rages, an even greater danger emerges at Luke Skywalker's Jedi academy. A brilliant student delves dangerously into the dark side of the Force and unleashes the spirit of an ancient master of the evil order that warped Darth Vader himself. Working together, they may become an enemy greater than any the New Republic has ever fought� more powerful than even a Jedi Master can face.
While the New Republic struggles to decide what to do with the deadly Sun Crusher—a new doomsday weapon stolen from the Empire by Han Solo—the renegade Imperial Admiral Daala uses her fleet of Star Destroyers to conduct guerrilla warfare on peaceful planets. And now she threatens the watery homeworld of Admiral Ackbar.
But as the battle for a planet rages, an even greater danger emerges at Luke Skywalker's Jedi academy. A brilliant student delves dangerously into the dark side of the Force and unleashes the spirit of an ancient master of the evil order that warped Darth Vader himself. Working together, they may become an enemy greater than any the New Republic has ever fought� more powerful than even a Jedi Master can face.
368 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 1, 1994
288 people are currently reading
4,007 people want to read
About the author
Kevin J. Anderson
942Ìýbooks3,032ÌýfollowersYes, I have a lot of books, and if this is your first visit to my amazon author page, it can be a little overwhelming. If you are new to my work, let me recommend a few titles as good places to start. I love my Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. series, humorous horror/mysteries, which begin with DEATH WARMED OVER. My steampunk fantasy adventures, CLOCKWORK ANGELS and CLOCKWORK LIVES, written with Neil Peart, legendary drummer from Rush, are two of my very favorite novels ever. And my magnum opus, the science fiction epic The Saga of Seven Suns, begins with HIDDEN EMPIRE. After you've tried those, I hope you'll check out some of my other series.
I have written spin-off novels for Star Wars, StarCraft, Titan A.E., and The X-Files, and I'm the co-author of the Dune prequels. My original works include the Saga of Seven Suns series and the Nebula Award-nominated Assemblers of Infinity. I have also written several comic books including the Dark Horse Star Wars collection Tales of the Jedi written in collaboration with Tom Veitch, Predator titles (also for Dark Horse), and X-Files titles for Topps.
I serve as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest.
My wife is author Rebecca Moesta. We currently reside near Monument, Colorado.
I have written spin-off novels for Star Wars, StarCraft, Titan A.E., and The X-Files, and I'm the co-author of the Dune prequels. My original works include the Saga of Seven Suns series and the Nebula Award-nominated Assemblers of Infinity. I have also written several comic books including the Dark Horse Star Wars collection Tales of the Jedi written in collaboration with Tom Veitch, Predator titles (also for Dark Horse), and X-Files titles for Topps.
I serve as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest.
My wife is author Rebecca Moesta. We currently reside near Monument, Colorado.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 311 reviews
May 20, 2024
The Good: This second outing is just as much spacefaring fun as the first one. The ending makes me glad I have the next and final installment already on hand. I liked the writing as well.
The Bad: Nothing, really; I just save the highest score for truly amazing works.
Conclusion: The Star Wars Expanded Universe has been around so long that everyone has already formed an opinion on it. If you've read other books in the series, and enjoyed them, you'll probably like this one, too.
The Bad: Nothing, really; I just save the highest score for truly amazing works.
Conclusion: The Star Wars Expanded Universe has been around so long that everyone has already formed an opinion on it. If you've read other books in the series, and enjoyed them, you'll probably like this one, too.
February 7, 2017
Ugh, this was bad. So, so, so, so bad. I can’t believe I never knew how bad this was when I read it fourteen years ago. The first one wasn’t this bad! What’s going on? I mean, this is just BAD WRITING 101. If I was teaching a How to Write Fiction class, I would use this book as the perfect example of what NOT to do.
This is going to be a bit different than my normal reviewing style; I’m going to do one with actual quotes and stuff, because I attacked my copy of the book with a pen and wrote angry profane notes the whole time I was reading, and I don’t want all that effort to go to waste. For those of you who don’t want to read what I’m sure will be an epically long review full of complaining, here’s a general overview of the stuff that I’m going to say about Dark Apprentice, the second book in KJA’s Jedi Academy trilogy:
*some good ideas, all bad execution of everything
*shit character work, INSULTINGLY bad character work
*repetitive, no attention to detail
*laughable dialogue
*uses callbacks to the movies in place of being smart and original, thinks such callbacks are fun and clever, but they are just hacky
*everything is stupid
*sexist (his treatment of Leia, Mara Jade, and his own Admiral Daala, especially)
*he fills the book with pointless storylines when he should be focusing on fleshing out the main ones, like the Jedi Academy, Kyp going bad, etc.
So let’s elaborate.
[Click for the full review, because it's so long it won't fit in the GR review space. Whoooooops.]
[1.5 stars]
This is going to be a bit different than my normal reviewing style; I’m going to do one with actual quotes and stuff, because I attacked my copy of the book with a pen and wrote angry profane notes the whole time I was reading, and I don’t want all that effort to go to waste. For those of you who don’t want to read what I’m sure will be an epically long review full of complaining, here’s a general overview of the stuff that I’m going to say about Dark Apprentice, the second book in KJA’s Jedi Academy trilogy:
*some good ideas, all bad execution of everything
*shit character work, INSULTINGLY bad character work
*repetitive, no attention to detail
*laughable dialogue
*uses callbacks to the movies in place of being smart and original, thinks such callbacks are fun and clever, but they are just hacky
*everything is stupid
*sexist (his treatment of Leia, Mara Jade, and his own Admiral Daala, especially)
*he fills the book with pointless storylines when he should be focusing on fleshing out the main ones, like the Jedi Academy, Kyp going bad, etc.
So let’s elaborate.
[Click for the full review, because it's so long it won't fit in the GR review space. Whoooooops.]
[1.5 stars]
October 13, 2024
[In dramatic radio announcer voice]
You’ve seen the movies. You’ve read the books. Now experience the next exciting chapter in the Star Wars saga.
Rediscover the thrill of the original trilogy as the characters you know and love embark on such fun-filled, action packed adventures as:
� Han skiing with his friend Kyp
� Han playing cards with his friend Lando
� Luke bathing in a spring with his students
� Luke hiking in the woods with his students
� Leia swimming in the ocean with her new friend Cilghal
� Chewie and Threepio taking Han’s kids to the zoo
� Wedge having a picnic with his girlfriend Qwi
and
� Han reading Dr. Seuss to his children!
Witness Luke Skywalker’s shocking incompetence as a teacher as he: (1) guides his students with seemingly no preparation, (2) repeatedly puts his students� lives in danger for no reason, (3) fails to notice that one of his students is attracted to the Dark Side of the Force, (4) fails to take any precautionary measures after that same student is brutally murdered right under his nose, and (5) fails to notice the presence of a Sith Lord in his own Jedi Academy, even after said Sith Lord appears to him in a vision!
Experience Han Solo’s equally shocking inadequacy as a husband and father as he: (1) plays cards with his friend instead of picking his wife up after a traumatic accident, (2) plays cards with his friend again on the way to rescuing his wife from a life-threatening assault, (3) leaves his children with under-qualified guardians who promptly lose them and should really have been charged with criminal negligence, (4) risks his life recklessly on a ski slope with no regard for the two toddlers and newborn baby he has a responsibility to help raise!
Prepare to experience the awe of your childhood heroes turning into impotent mystics and deadbeat dads! The thrill of Qwi Xux and Admiral Daala's creepy romantic thoughts setting feminism back at least 70 years! The marvel of characters acting with no discernible motive, causing you to wonder if they might all be robots trapped in some sick galactic chess simulation! And the wonder of Kyp Durron, the coolest new character since Grand Admiral Thrawn, being so underused that you have to wade through 320 pages of boring, pointless, embarrassing filler before he gets anything interesting to do even though he is literally in the title of the novel!
Star Wars: Dark Apprentice: the best answer to who to acknowledge Disney Star Wars as canon.
You’ve seen the movies. You’ve read the books. Now experience the next exciting chapter in the Star Wars saga.
Rediscover the thrill of the original trilogy as the characters you know and love embark on such fun-filled, action packed adventures as:
� Han skiing with his friend Kyp
� Han playing cards with his friend Lando
� Luke bathing in a spring with his students
� Luke hiking in the woods with his students
� Leia swimming in the ocean with her new friend Cilghal
� Chewie and Threepio taking Han’s kids to the zoo
� Wedge having a picnic with his girlfriend Qwi
and
� Han reading Dr. Seuss to his children!
Witness Luke Skywalker’s shocking incompetence as a teacher as he: (1) guides his students with seemingly no preparation, (2) repeatedly puts his students� lives in danger for no reason, (3) fails to notice that one of his students is attracted to the Dark Side of the Force, (4) fails to take any precautionary measures after that same student is brutally murdered right under his nose, and (5) fails to notice the presence of a Sith Lord in his own Jedi Academy, even after said Sith Lord appears to him in a vision!
Experience Han Solo’s equally shocking inadequacy as a husband and father as he: (1) plays cards with his friend instead of picking his wife up after a traumatic accident, (2) plays cards with his friend again on the way to rescuing his wife from a life-threatening assault, (3) leaves his children with under-qualified guardians who promptly lose them and should really have been charged with criminal negligence, (4) risks his life recklessly on a ski slope with no regard for the two toddlers and newborn baby he has a responsibility to help raise!
Prepare to experience the awe of your childhood heroes turning into impotent mystics and deadbeat dads! The thrill of Qwi Xux and Admiral Daala's creepy romantic thoughts setting feminism back at least 70 years! The marvel of characters acting with no discernible motive, causing you to wonder if they might all be robots trapped in some sick galactic chess simulation! And the wonder of Kyp Durron, the coolest new character since Grand Admiral Thrawn, being so underused that you have to wade through 320 pages of boring, pointless, embarrassing filler before he gets anything interesting to do even though he is literally in the title of the novel!
Star Wars: Dark Apprentice: the best answer to who to acknowledge Disney Star Wars as canon.
September 17, 2023
4.25 stars
July 16, 2010
Luke Skywalker has gathered up his troops and headed to Yavin 4 to begin training. Only problem is that his most promising student, Gantoris, is now burned to a crisp and no one is sure why. Meanwhile, a mission fails, causing Ackbar to leave his command in shame, and Daala decides to wreak havoc on the New Republic.
NOTE: I listened to the audio book, and it was abridged so some scenes I may have A) forgotten since I last read the book and B) have not heard because they omitted it from the audiobook.
I Liked:
The last book was called Jedi Search, but honestly, it mostly focused on Han Solo and Kyp Durron. Kinda missed the mark to me, even if it were exciting in its own way. This book however gets into the actual training, which is particularly interesting. I enjoy seeing the new characters, particularly Kam Solusar, and wonder how he in particular fits into the new continuity with the prequels.
Kyp Durron is a fair character. I actually enjoyed seeing how he turned to the Dark Side. It was surprisingly reminiscent of Anakin Skywalker in the prequels and pretty well done in general.
I Didn't Like:
Like my title says, it seems every character in this novel was given an idiot ball and refused to let it go. Ackbar gets all huffy about crashing on Vortex and leaves. One incident, one mistake and he leaves in shame. I know we don't see him much in the movies, but the Ackbar there, I'm sure, wouldn't leave after one incident. Heck, the Ackbar in Zahn's books wouldn't leave after one mistake. And then, Ackbar's stupidity forces Leia to spend more time away from her family to coax him back into the military. In my opinion, if he's gonna be that huffy, I say we don't need him!
Han goes on a yelling spree with Lando like he's a PMSing woman and loses the Falcon in the most ludicrous game of sabacc ever. I was ashamed to read this part. Even if Leia were in danger (and she was), Han wouldn't jump on the Falcon, start a yelling match with Lando, and lose the Falcon. He'd go on the Falcon, yell that Leia was in trouble and everyone would be off to rescue her.
While Leia is on a mission, Han dumps his twins on Chewie, after not seeing them for months, and decides to go skiing with Kyp Durron, a kid he just met. Uh, yeah. So much for that father that Zahn set him up to be. If my dad did that...well...yeah.
Luke sees Gantoris (and later Kyp) has problems with the Dark Side and just decides to ignore it. I don't mind Luke always thinking someone can come back to the Dark Side, but I don't think Luke would ignore the clear signs of Dark Side usage and not try to swerve them off the path. Plus, Luke, as always, vacillates between too powerful and too stupid to live.
Absolute worst romantic couple of the year goes to Qui Xux and Wedge. Wedge must have forgotten all his wingmates he lost while piloting against BOTH Death Stars in order to fall in love with this air head. These sections made me cringe. A general protecting some nobody scientist? Going to Ithor, the lover's getaway? Cue eyeroll!
Lastly, Daala is said to be a military genius. So she attacks an unarmed planet (Dantooine) with refugees? Brilliant military work. It's the only engagement she ever wins, as she can't help but win against a world that has no army! Her attack against Mon Calamari was too reliant on old tactics (doesn't she realize that her tactics are TEN years old) and then when she said she was going to attack Coruscant? Uh, girlfriend, if you couldn't beat Mon Calamari, there is NO WAY you will beat Coruscant, the most heavily guarded and populated world in the galaxy. Even Thrawn waited until he had the Katana fleet and even then, he never took the world, only confused it. Plus, who says "Let's go hunting" and is met with resounding cheers? Lamest. Dialogue. Ever.
Dialogue/Sexual Situations/Violence:
Some h*** and d*** (I think, I listened to the audiobook and can't remember).
Daala slept with Tarkin. Qui Xux and Wedge are basically a lame attempt at a love story.
Many die on the crash on Vortex. Daala attacks Dantooine.
Overall:
I had problems with Star Wars: Jedi Search (Vol. 1 of the Jedi Academy Trilogy), but there were some aspects that were cool enough to garner a three star review.
Not so here. I can't believe how out of character all these guys are. And the new original characters are so pathetic and lame. Cringeworthy. I don't recommend you read, but if you do, please follow up with a good dose of I, Jedi (Star Wars), where Stackpole calls Anderson out on a few of these stupidities.
NOTE: I listened to the audio book, and it was abridged so some scenes I may have A) forgotten since I last read the book and B) have not heard because they omitted it from the audiobook.
I Liked:
The last book was called Jedi Search, but honestly, it mostly focused on Han Solo and Kyp Durron. Kinda missed the mark to me, even if it were exciting in its own way. This book however gets into the actual training, which is particularly interesting. I enjoy seeing the new characters, particularly Kam Solusar, and wonder how he in particular fits into the new continuity with the prequels.
Kyp Durron is a fair character. I actually enjoyed seeing how he turned to the Dark Side. It was surprisingly reminiscent of Anakin Skywalker in the prequels and pretty well done in general.
I Didn't Like:
Like my title says, it seems every character in this novel was given an idiot ball and refused to let it go. Ackbar gets all huffy about crashing on Vortex and leaves. One incident, one mistake and he leaves in shame. I know we don't see him much in the movies, but the Ackbar there, I'm sure, wouldn't leave after one incident. Heck, the Ackbar in Zahn's books wouldn't leave after one mistake. And then, Ackbar's stupidity forces Leia to spend more time away from her family to coax him back into the military. In my opinion, if he's gonna be that huffy, I say we don't need him!
Han goes on a yelling spree with Lando like he's a PMSing woman and loses the Falcon in the most ludicrous game of sabacc ever. I was ashamed to read this part. Even if Leia were in danger (and she was), Han wouldn't jump on the Falcon, start a yelling match with Lando, and lose the Falcon. He'd go on the Falcon, yell that Leia was in trouble and everyone would be off to rescue her.
While Leia is on a mission, Han dumps his twins on Chewie, after not seeing them for months, and decides to go skiing with Kyp Durron, a kid he just met. Uh, yeah. So much for that father that Zahn set him up to be. If my dad did that...well...yeah.
Luke sees Gantoris (and later Kyp) has problems with the Dark Side and just decides to ignore it. I don't mind Luke always thinking someone can come back to the Dark Side, but I don't think Luke would ignore the clear signs of Dark Side usage and not try to swerve them off the path. Plus, Luke, as always, vacillates between too powerful and too stupid to live.
Absolute worst romantic couple of the year goes to Qui Xux and Wedge. Wedge must have forgotten all his wingmates he lost while piloting against BOTH Death Stars in order to fall in love with this air head. These sections made me cringe. A general protecting some nobody scientist? Going to Ithor, the lover's getaway? Cue eyeroll!
Lastly, Daala is said to be a military genius. So she attacks an unarmed planet (Dantooine) with refugees? Brilliant military work. It's the only engagement she ever wins, as she can't help but win against a world that has no army! Her attack against Mon Calamari was too reliant on old tactics (doesn't she realize that her tactics are TEN years old) and then when she said she was going to attack Coruscant? Uh, girlfriend, if you couldn't beat Mon Calamari, there is NO WAY you will beat Coruscant, the most heavily guarded and populated world in the galaxy. Even Thrawn waited until he had the Katana fleet and even then, he never took the world, only confused it. Plus, who says "Let's go hunting" and is met with resounding cheers? Lamest. Dialogue. Ever.
Dialogue/Sexual Situations/Violence:
Some h*** and d*** (I think, I listened to the audiobook and can't remember).
Daala slept with Tarkin. Qui Xux and Wedge are basically a lame attempt at a love story.
Many die on the crash on Vortex. Daala attacks Dantooine.
Overall:
I had problems with Star Wars: Jedi Search (Vol. 1 of the Jedi Academy Trilogy), but there were some aspects that were cool enough to garner a three star review.
Not so here. I can't believe how out of character all these guys are. And the new original characters are so pathetic and lame. Cringeworthy. I don't recommend you read, but if you do, please follow up with a good dose of I, Jedi (Star Wars), where Stackpole calls Anderson out on a few of these stupidities.
February 2, 2024
Star Wars: Dark Apprentice, book two of the Jedi Academy trilogy, written by bestselling author, Kevin J. Anderson. This Expanded Universe tale takes place during the New Republic era, eleven years after the Battle of Yavin (ABY).
SUMMARY
The Jedi Temple on Yavin IV has been active with the resurrection of a new Jedi Order for a few months now. Luke Skywalker is burdened with the task of rebuilding the order, training force sensitives to have control of the power within them. The location of the new Jedi temple is on ancient Massassi grounds. A haunting presence works to destroy all that Luke is attempting to build.
Disaster shakes the New Republic leadership when Akbar crashes a ship while on a diplomatic mission, which leaves thousands dead. Akbar then leaves his role in the New Republic, seeking seclusion on his home-world. Leia takes on more responsibility as Mon Mothma slowly steps out of the limelight. Yet, she wastes no time in attempting to bring Akbar back into the action.
Admiral Daalla and her imperial fleet go back to the drawing board on war tactics. Things have been changing rapidly and drastically for this fleet. After learning what's happened throughout the galaxy during an interrogation of Han Solo and research, they find that the remnants of the Empire are preoccupied with fighting each other instead of the "rebellion."
It appears that history is beginning to repeat itself, will the New Republic or resurrected Jedi Order survive?
OVERALL THOUGHTS
There are so many cool moments in this book, things I wish we could have seen on the big screen. Kevin J. Anderson went dark in some places with this book, and I love it. The story is exciting, taking us to a new place with the characters, putting them in uncomfortable positions and throwing real challenges at them.
While I'm not too impressed with the characterization Luke, not just because he's struggling with how to do the task set before him, but just the way he handles people and events regularly. I get the "Luke speaking to Jabba" vibes, I don't care for his demeanor. I believe other, original characters to this story were handled very well.
This is a thing that just annoys me, it happens a lot in Star Wars, not just this story. I don't like it when phrases that Yoda said are repeated by others, as Yoda said it. "Size matters not." No one else talks like that, i just doesn't flow right when others repeat it like that, they'd say, "size doesn't matter." I know... I'm being petty, but that's just a Star Wars pet peeve of mine.
Kip Durran, one of Luke's students, is eager to learn more, he appears to to be almost like a "new chosen one." Once he makes it to the Yavin Jedi training area, what Luke calls the Praxium, he shuts himself off from socializing to focus on his abilities and studies. The spirit of Exar Kun, an ancient Sith Loard roams the Massasi grounds, seeking whom he may manipulate. Some of Luke's students are tempted by Exar Kun... with knowledge that would exceed what Luke Skywalker could ever teach.
Do I recommend Star Wars Dark Apprentice? Yes.
RATING
I give Star Wars Jedi Academy: Dark Apprentice a B+.
SUMMARY
The Jedi Temple on Yavin IV has been active with the resurrection of a new Jedi Order for a few months now. Luke Skywalker is burdened with the task of rebuilding the order, training force sensitives to have control of the power within them. The location of the new Jedi temple is on ancient Massassi grounds. A haunting presence works to destroy all that Luke is attempting to build.
Disaster shakes the New Republic leadership when Akbar crashes a ship while on a diplomatic mission, which leaves thousands dead. Akbar then leaves his role in the New Republic, seeking seclusion on his home-world. Leia takes on more responsibility as Mon Mothma slowly steps out of the limelight. Yet, she wastes no time in attempting to bring Akbar back into the action.
Admiral Daalla and her imperial fleet go back to the drawing board on war tactics. Things have been changing rapidly and drastically for this fleet. After learning what's happened throughout the galaxy during an interrogation of Han Solo and research, they find that the remnants of the Empire are preoccupied with fighting each other instead of the "rebellion."
It appears that history is beginning to repeat itself, will the New Republic or resurrected Jedi Order survive?
OVERALL THOUGHTS
There are so many cool moments in this book, things I wish we could have seen on the big screen. Kevin J. Anderson went dark in some places with this book, and I love it. The story is exciting, taking us to a new place with the characters, putting them in uncomfortable positions and throwing real challenges at them.
While I'm not too impressed with the characterization Luke, not just because he's struggling with how to do the task set before him, but just the way he handles people and events regularly. I get the "Luke speaking to Jabba" vibes, I don't care for his demeanor. I believe other, original characters to this story were handled very well.
This is a thing that just annoys me, it happens a lot in Star Wars, not just this story. I don't like it when phrases that Yoda said are repeated by others, as Yoda said it. "Size matters not." No one else talks like that, i just doesn't flow right when others repeat it like that, they'd say, "size doesn't matter." I know... I'm being petty, but that's just a Star Wars pet peeve of mine.
Kip Durran, one of Luke's students, is eager to learn more, he appears to to be almost like a "new chosen one." Once he makes it to the Yavin Jedi training area, what Luke calls the Praxium, he shuts himself off from socializing to focus on his abilities and studies. The spirit of Exar Kun, an ancient Sith Loard roams the Massasi grounds, seeking whom he may manipulate. Some of Luke's students are tempted by Exar Kun... with knowledge that would exceed what Luke Skywalker could ever teach.
Do I recommend Star Wars Dark Apprentice? Yes.
RATING
I give Star Wars Jedi Academy: Dark Apprentice a B+.
November 19, 2023
I am giving this a 4/5 stars
I really enjoyed this book more than the first in the series, Jedi Search. Star Wars has a (positive) knack for turning out dark, interesting stories in the middle of their trilogies.
I really liked all of the POV chapters that occurred on Yavin 4 and with the Luke and the Jedi initiates. Luke’s burgeoning academy and his struggles with reforming the Order were a high point of the novel. I also really enjoyed the false-flag of Gantoris being the Dark Apprentice before Kyp Durron’s incredible transformation. It didn’t feel wholly like a well hidden secret, but it felt well done. Durron is an incredibly well written character who seems to serve almost as a blueprint for Anakin Skywalker in the Prequel Era.
I also felt that Admiral Daala felt more fleshed out in this novel than in Jedi Search. She seems a better tactician (even in multiple defeats) than just hero-fodder from the first novel.
I will say, I felt the Jacen/Jaina “Baby’s Day Out� chapters and Han and Lando’s back and forth with the Falcon are what lost a star for me in the rating. The felt mildly juvenile compared to the dark, mature themes of the rest of the book.
I would LOVE to know how the ending of this was taken in terms of Luke’s defeat in its original publishing because it obviously loses a little of its luster knowing there are about 40-50 subsequent legends novels to this.
What this really did for me was take a novel that felt like it tried to hard to be a Thrawn successor and craft a perfect tale that makes me eager to read the concluding novel Champions of the Force.
I really enjoyed this book more than the first in the series, Jedi Search. Star Wars has a (positive) knack for turning out dark, interesting stories in the middle of their trilogies.
I really liked all of the POV chapters that occurred on Yavin 4 and with the Luke and the Jedi initiates. Luke’s burgeoning academy and his struggles with reforming the Order were a high point of the novel. I also really enjoyed the false-flag of Gantoris being the Dark Apprentice before Kyp Durron’s incredible transformation. It didn’t feel wholly like a well hidden secret, but it felt well done. Durron is an incredibly well written character who seems to serve almost as a blueprint for Anakin Skywalker in the Prequel Era.
I also felt that Admiral Daala felt more fleshed out in this novel than in Jedi Search. She seems a better tactician (even in multiple defeats) than just hero-fodder from the first novel.
I will say, I felt the Jacen/Jaina “Baby’s Day Out� chapters and Han and Lando’s back and forth with the Falcon are what lost a star for me in the rating. The felt mildly juvenile compared to the dark, mature themes of the rest of the book.
I would LOVE to know how the ending of this was taken in terms of Luke’s defeat in its original publishing because it obviously loses a little of its luster knowing there are about 40-50 subsequent legends novels to this.
What this really did for me was take a novel that felt like it tried to hard to be a Thrawn successor and craft a perfect tale that makes me eager to read the concluding novel Champions of the Force.
October 16, 2024
The Good:
Another great entry for the Jedi Academy. This book has many plot lines and most are enjoyable. You have Luke on Yavin 4 beginning the Jedi academy. Kyp Dorron begins his training at Luke’s academy and shows great promise. He is quickly persuaded by a dark Jedi spirit to step away from Luke’s teachings. Admiral Ackbar is involved in a terrible accident that we as the reader know is not his fault. He spends a majority of the book working thru his grief while still thinking he caused the accident.
The Bad:
Lando and Han don’t have a lot to do in this book. They trade the Millennium Falcon back and forth a few times over games of Sabacc. In the end Han only wins because Lando is trying to impress Mara Jade. Jacen and Jaina have a storyline that is only a few chapters where they get lost at a holo zoo on Coruscant that is beat for beat the same story that Han reads to them earlier in the book.
Overall:
This is a bridge book with some character building and Luke’s final chapter caught me by surprise. I’m not positive where we have left off with Daala but she did have a lot of character growth thru defeat in this book. I’m going to give this book a 4/5.
Another great entry for the Jedi Academy. This book has many plot lines and most are enjoyable. You have Luke on Yavin 4 beginning the Jedi academy. Kyp Dorron begins his training at Luke’s academy and shows great promise. He is quickly persuaded by a dark Jedi spirit to step away from Luke’s teachings. Admiral Ackbar is involved in a terrible accident that we as the reader know is not his fault. He spends a majority of the book working thru his grief while still thinking he caused the accident.
The Bad:
Lando and Han don’t have a lot to do in this book. They trade the Millennium Falcon back and forth a few times over games of Sabacc. In the end Han only wins because Lando is trying to impress Mara Jade. Jacen and Jaina have a storyline that is only a few chapters where they get lost at a holo zoo on Coruscant that is beat for beat the same story that Han reads to them earlier in the book.
Overall:
This is a bridge book with some character building and Luke’s final chapter caught me by surprise. I’m not positive where we have left off with Daala but she did have a lot of character growth thru defeat in this book. I’m going to give this book a 4/5.
May 11, 2011
This book leaves me conflicted. That’ll be the crux of this review, really. In most ways it is a definite step up from Jedi Search, just in terms of pacing and narrative engagment, but at the same time much of what happens doesn’t seem to mesh well with what we’ve been told in the previous book. I think that Kevin J. Anderson wrote it this way to surprise us but it really doesn’t work that way.
I’m speaking of course about the titular dark apprentice who turns to the dark side almost inexplicably over the course of maybe five pages. The abrupt turnaround in the character’s nature seems implausible knowing what we do about jedi who wind up going down the dark path. It took years of manipulation by Palpatine to turn innocent Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader. Luke’s brief brush with the dark side came after long bouts with self doubt. Here, a formerly eager protagonist who echoed Luke’s innocent demeanor gets angry and then all of a sudden he’s a sith. It does not sit right.
It feels like Anderson was building one character to turn to the dark side and the buildup was organic and natural. You could understand why he might be tempted. It made sense. Then that character is tossed aside for the one who just doesn’t mesh and that part of the story seems like a bust. Everything that comes after leaves you shaking your head wondering what the purpose of the sudden shift in direction serves.
Other elements of the book are quite intriguing. Admiral Daala’s military assaults and Admiral Ackbar’s tribulations make for some of the more interesting parts of the novel. But considering that this is the Jedi Academy trilogy, the fact that the a-plot falls apart drops the overal score down a few notches.
I’m speaking of course about the titular dark apprentice who turns to the dark side almost inexplicably over the course of maybe five pages. The abrupt turnaround in the character’s nature seems implausible knowing what we do about jedi who wind up going down the dark path. It took years of manipulation by Palpatine to turn innocent Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader. Luke’s brief brush with the dark side came after long bouts with self doubt. Here, a formerly eager protagonist who echoed Luke’s innocent demeanor gets angry and then all of a sudden he’s a sith. It does not sit right.
It feels like Anderson was building one character to turn to the dark side and the buildup was organic and natural. You could understand why he might be tempted. It made sense. Then that character is tossed aside for the one who just doesn’t mesh and that part of the story seems like a bust. Everything that comes after leaves you shaking your head wondering what the purpose of the sudden shift in direction serves.
Other elements of the book are quite intriguing. Admiral Daala’s military assaults and Admiral Ackbar’s tribulations make for some of the more interesting parts of the novel. But considering that this is the Jedi Academy trilogy, the fact that the a-plot falls apart drops the overal score down a few notches.
October 12, 2013
The second book in Kevin Anderson's Jedi Academy trilogy, "Dark Apprentice" continues the story of Luke's search for Jedi knight apprentices.
Having set up his new academy on planet Yavin, Luke discovers an evil presence lurking in the shadows. After the mysterious death of one Jedi apprentice, Luke finds out that the spirit of a long-dead Sith Lord haunts the planet. He confronts the evil spirit, only to be subsumed by the Dark Side. Stuck in a coma, Luke's unanchored life-force is forced to watch as the Sith Lord possesses one of his apprentices, Kyp Durron, who steals the doomsday-weapon Sun Crusher in order to exact vengeance on the Empire.
Meanwhile, an Imperial plot to kidnap Han and Leia's youngest son, Annakin, is hatched by a ruthless Imperial General. Admiral Daala, still alive but suffering serious losses to her fleet of Imperial ships, decides to take the fight to the New Republic by planning an attack on Coruscant.
"Dark Apprentice" is a fun read but not as solid a narrative as the first book. Being the second in the series, Anderson sets up a lot of tangential plotlines that are either unnecessary or don't have closure because they are to be continued in the next book. In essence, "Dark Apprentice" is a bridge book, only integral in that it connects book one to book three. Still, Anderson does provide some interesting history to the Star Wars universe, namely the ancient Jedi battles that led to the creation of the Siths.
Having set up his new academy on planet Yavin, Luke discovers an evil presence lurking in the shadows. After the mysterious death of one Jedi apprentice, Luke finds out that the spirit of a long-dead Sith Lord haunts the planet. He confronts the evil spirit, only to be subsumed by the Dark Side. Stuck in a coma, Luke's unanchored life-force is forced to watch as the Sith Lord possesses one of his apprentices, Kyp Durron, who steals the doomsday-weapon Sun Crusher in order to exact vengeance on the Empire.
Meanwhile, an Imperial plot to kidnap Han and Leia's youngest son, Annakin, is hatched by a ruthless Imperial General. Admiral Daala, still alive but suffering serious losses to her fleet of Imperial ships, decides to take the fight to the New Republic by planning an attack on Coruscant.
"Dark Apprentice" is a fun read but not as solid a narrative as the first book. Being the second in the series, Anderson sets up a lot of tangential plotlines that are either unnecessary or don't have closure because they are to be continued in the next book. In essence, "Dark Apprentice" is a bridge book, only integral in that it connects book one to book three. Still, Anderson does provide some interesting history to the Star Wars universe, namely the ancient Jedi battles that led to the creation of the Siths.
April 20, 2020
For 2020, I decided to reread (in publication order) all the Bantam-era Star Wars books that were released between 1991 and 1999; that shakes out to 38 adult novels and 5 anthologies of short stories & novellas.
This week’s focus: Dark Apprentice by Kevin J. Anderson.
SOME HISTORY:
A mere two months after was released in hardcover, Bantam dropped the second volume of the Jedi Academy trilogy in June 1994. Dark Apprentice simultaneously did better and worse than . It made it to number two on the New York Times paperback bestseller list for the week of June 26, 1994, and ultimately stayed on the NYT list for 6 weeks.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
I mistakenly thought that...more...happened in this book. Luke’s academy is definitely a highlights-only reel; I guess I assumed that we saw more of how everything functioned before it fell apart, but actually we didn’t! At least Leia had something to do this time around.
PRINCESS LEIA COSTUME CHANGE COUNT:
Other than the futuristic organic tech wetsuit that she wore on Calamari, we once again have a book with few descriptions of her costumes. However, Han goes skiing, and gives Kyp a rad black cloak!
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
Luke Skywalker opens his Jedi praxeum on Yavin IV and begins to instruct the next generation of Jedi, but an evil shadow lurks nearby. Admiral Ackbar quits after his personal involvement in a deadly accident. And Admiral Daala starts her one-woman guerilla campaign against the New Republic.
THE CHARACTERS:
I did not like Anderson’s portrayal of Luke in the first book, and I really didn’t like how he built on that here. Luke is remarkably ineffective and indecisive as the Master of this new Academy. Gantoris constructs a lightsaber and challenges him to a duel, and Luke barely intervenes. Gantoris then apparently self-combusts and Luke doesn’t contact any one?? Kyp Durron is giving off loads of warning signs but Luke also does pretty much nothing. He’s also very reliant on the Jedi Holocron, another carryover from the , and we get few examples of him actually teaching. He seems to mostly just set around and let his students instruct themselves. By the end of the book, he’s barely alive, and after all his idiocy it’s a little hard to sympathize with his fate.
After having very little to do in , Leia actually has an interesting plotline in this book! Leia is a direct witness to Ackbar’s accident—which we as the reader know was a setup, but no one else does—and is feeling especially stressed by all the responsibilities Mon Mothma is offloading on her. Once she learns about Mothma’s illness, though, she heads to Ackbar’s home world to beg for his return; and in turn, she becomes a bystander during Daala’s attack. I think I prefer when Leia can mix diplomacy with action, so I enjoyed her scenes here.
Remember how I praised Anderson’s portrayal of Han in the previous book? Unfortunately, that didn’t continue into this book. Han gets irrationally annoyed at Lando in the beginning of Dark Apprentice, which leads to them playing sabacc THREE times to decide who owns the Falcon. It’s particularly pointless because the only reason that Han has the Falcon in the end is because Lando wanted to impress Mara Jade with his generosity.
Lando once again has little to do, other than gamble with Han and flirt with Mara Jade. Mara, in turn, is less nuanced than Zahn’s depiction of her, and I feel like this is the first appearance of “sexy Mara,� a characterization we will unfortunately see other authors adopt as well.
Of Luke’s potential Jedi: Gantoris clearly chose poorly in the end. Kyp’s fall to the Dark Side is so abbreviated that it’s hard for me to buy it. Luke has a dozen students, but Anderson only gives us the names of half of them, which will be very useful when Michael A. Stackpole decides to retcon Corran Horn into the Jedi Academy.
Leia and Han’s twins run away from a zoo and wander the lower levels of Coruscant. I hate this! They’re two and a half! Why is Anderson devoting time to this subplot?
Admiral Daala started off this trilogy with four Star Destroyers. She lost one at Kessel, and then loses two more in this book. Would she have ever made Admiral were it not for some weird romantic form of nepotism? And why does she continue to be a presence in later books? (I’m looking at you !) She’s a strategic moron.
Exar Kun is a shadowy presence in more ways than one. His goal is evil dominance, I guess. But his evil is restricted to Yavin IV. Why he didn’t show up while the Rebellion was based there, and why Luke didn’t remove his students at the first sign of trouble is anyone’s guess.
ISSUES:
Not an issue, but an actual praise: I like how Anderson developed Calamari! It’s interesting and alien and felt new. I also like Ackbar’s accident on Vortex, and the aftermath.
On the whole, though, Anderson’s writing style is just aggressively clunky. It’s almost like he knew the main points he needed to hit, and then just never bothered to sufficiently flesh them out. Things don’t flow, more lurch from subplot to subplot.
Take Kyp’s descent into darkness: we get one scene of him on Yavin IV, pushing himself to learn more than anyone else. Then immediately afterwards he’s listening to Exar Kun and learning hidden knowledge (which is 100% hidden to the reader too). There’s no time to build or for his impatience to grow, because Anderson makes him go from 0 to 60 in one chapter.
Anderson also introduces some interesting romantic pairings to the GFFA. We have Wedge Antilles and Qwi Xux, which...why? What do they see in each other? And while I can buy Lando trying to schmooze Mara Jade, I can’t quite see her reciprocating.
IN CONCLUSION:
Dark Apprentice is second book filler of the worst kind. Characters cycle in place, none more obviously than Han and Lando with their endless card games, and it ends on a cliffhanger—or rather, a pyramid-summit hanger. Hopefully there will be a little more action in the third book.
Next up: , the conclusion to the Jedi Academy trilogy.
My YouTube review:
This week’s focus: Dark Apprentice by Kevin J. Anderson.
SOME HISTORY:
A mere two months after was released in hardcover, Bantam dropped the second volume of the Jedi Academy trilogy in June 1994. Dark Apprentice simultaneously did better and worse than . It made it to number two on the New York Times paperback bestseller list for the week of June 26, 1994, and ultimately stayed on the NYT list for 6 weeks.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
I mistakenly thought that...more...happened in this book. Luke’s academy is definitely a highlights-only reel; I guess I assumed that we saw more of how everything functioned before it fell apart, but actually we didn’t! At least Leia had something to do this time around.
PRINCESS LEIA COSTUME CHANGE COUNT:
Other than the futuristic organic tech wetsuit that she wore on Calamari, we once again have a book with few descriptions of her costumes. However, Han goes skiing, and gives Kyp a rad black cloak!
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
Luke Skywalker opens his Jedi praxeum on Yavin IV and begins to instruct the next generation of Jedi, but an evil shadow lurks nearby. Admiral Ackbar quits after his personal involvement in a deadly accident. And Admiral Daala starts her one-woman guerilla campaign against the New Republic.
THE CHARACTERS:
I did not like Anderson’s portrayal of Luke in the first book, and I really didn’t like how he built on that here. Luke is remarkably ineffective and indecisive as the Master of this new Academy. Gantoris constructs a lightsaber and challenges him to a duel, and Luke barely intervenes. Gantoris then apparently self-combusts and Luke doesn’t contact any one?? Kyp Durron is giving off loads of warning signs but Luke also does pretty much nothing. He’s also very reliant on the Jedi Holocron, another carryover from the , and we get few examples of him actually teaching. He seems to mostly just set around and let his students instruct themselves. By the end of the book, he’s barely alive, and after all his idiocy it’s a little hard to sympathize with his fate.
After having very little to do in , Leia actually has an interesting plotline in this book! Leia is a direct witness to Ackbar’s accident—which we as the reader know was a setup, but no one else does—and is feeling especially stressed by all the responsibilities Mon Mothma is offloading on her. Once she learns about Mothma’s illness, though, she heads to Ackbar’s home world to beg for his return; and in turn, she becomes a bystander during Daala’s attack. I think I prefer when Leia can mix diplomacy with action, so I enjoyed her scenes here.
Remember how I praised Anderson’s portrayal of Han in the previous book? Unfortunately, that didn’t continue into this book. Han gets irrationally annoyed at Lando in the beginning of Dark Apprentice, which leads to them playing sabacc THREE times to decide who owns the Falcon. It’s particularly pointless because the only reason that Han has the Falcon in the end is because Lando wanted to impress Mara Jade with his generosity.
Lando once again has little to do, other than gamble with Han and flirt with Mara Jade. Mara, in turn, is less nuanced than Zahn’s depiction of her, and I feel like this is the first appearance of “sexy Mara,� a characterization we will unfortunately see other authors adopt as well.
Of Luke’s potential Jedi: Gantoris clearly chose poorly in the end. Kyp’s fall to the Dark Side is so abbreviated that it’s hard for me to buy it. Luke has a dozen students, but Anderson only gives us the names of half of them, which will be very useful when Michael A. Stackpole decides to retcon Corran Horn into the Jedi Academy.
Leia and Han’s twins run away from a zoo and wander the lower levels of Coruscant. I hate this! They’re two and a half! Why is Anderson devoting time to this subplot?
Admiral Daala started off this trilogy with four Star Destroyers. She lost one at Kessel, and then loses two more in this book. Would she have ever made Admiral were it not for some weird romantic form of nepotism? And why does she continue to be a presence in later books? (I’m looking at you !) She’s a strategic moron.
Exar Kun is a shadowy presence in more ways than one. His goal is evil dominance, I guess. But his evil is restricted to Yavin IV. Why he didn’t show up while the Rebellion was based there, and why Luke didn’t remove his students at the first sign of trouble is anyone’s guess.
ISSUES:
Not an issue, but an actual praise: I like how Anderson developed Calamari! It’s interesting and alien and felt new. I also like Ackbar’s accident on Vortex, and the aftermath.
On the whole, though, Anderson’s writing style is just aggressively clunky. It’s almost like he knew the main points he needed to hit, and then just never bothered to sufficiently flesh them out. Things don’t flow, more lurch from subplot to subplot.
Take Kyp’s descent into darkness: we get one scene of him on Yavin IV, pushing himself to learn more than anyone else. Then immediately afterwards he’s listening to Exar Kun and learning hidden knowledge (which is 100% hidden to the reader too). There’s no time to build or for his impatience to grow, because Anderson makes him go from 0 to 60 in one chapter.
Anderson also introduces some interesting romantic pairings to the GFFA. We have Wedge Antilles and Qwi Xux, which...why? What do they see in each other? And while I can buy Lando trying to schmooze Mara Jade, I can’t quite see her reciprocating.
IN CONCLUSION:
Dark Apprentice is second book filler of the worst kind. Characters cycle in place, none more obviously than Han and Lando with their endless card games, and it ends on a cliffhanger—or rather, a pyramid-summit hanger. Hopefully there will be a little more action in the third book.
Next up: , the conclusion to the Jedi Academy trilogy.
My YouTube review:
December 7, 2021
Once again I’m going to treat a Kevin J. Anderson novel as YA, just so I can give it the benefit of a reappraisal from a new perspective.
This is a continuation from the previous volume in both kid-oriented plot and unsubtle style. An example of the clunky dialogue Anderson peppers the story with is, �'I’m glad we’ve had so much fun, Han,' [Kyp] said, �,'I’ve done a lifetime’s worth of healing since you rescued me.'� George Lucas wrote some plain, unsophisticated dialogue for the movies, but nothing quite so dripping with unintended innuendo.
Aside from the dialogue, the writing itself has a rather juvenile quality to it, e.g. “Luke watched the students file toward him along the broad promenade. Wearing dark-brown Jedi robes, the candidates walked in eerie silence across the slick floor that had long ago been polished smooth by the mysterious Massassi.� Appropriate for YA, I suppose, but not artful.
One of the main problems with this trilogy is the character of the principal Imperial antagonist—Admiral Daala is so breathtakingly incompetent that she gives nepotism a bad name. Despite Anderson bigging up her reputation (via backstory relating to Imperial Academy simulation achievements, not actual tangible victories), she shows such monstrous tactical and strategic incompetence that the only explanation for Tarkin’s interest in her must have been a penchant for severe redheads in uniform. (I would wager she is nearly as bad a leader as General Leia in the new Disney canon!) Not only that, but when she orders a captured ship destroyed, she seems to expect the adulation of her crew. Anderson writes this as if it is a magnificent victory, three Imperial Star Destroyers against a single CR90 Corellian Corvette. I suppose he could have intended the reader to interpret this as a self-important overblown assessment made by the admiral herself, but Anderson’s writing is so typically devoid of subtext that it is safe to assume that this is the actual assessment he is intending to convey.
Additionally, this is an example of Anderson’s abuse of the contrived coincidental circumstances. In a galaxy of hundreds of billions of planets, Daala’s first capture is this corvette taking supplies to a colony of 50 people closely related to one of Luke’s new Jedi apprentices, one who is already teetering on the edge of falling to the Dark Side. This makes the world feel claustrophobic and small, with everything coincidentally revolving around the author’s characters instead of there being a reasonable chain of events to bring peril to characters we’ve been introduced to.
Unfortunately, Daala is not the only character whom Anderson writes as unfit for duty. Take Ackbar for example. One wonders why the commander of the New Republic Fleet has the duty of chauffeuring Leia around. Regardless of threat to her person, he is also a personage of importance, and their travelling together, alone, makes no sense whatsoever.
And Han also has a firm grip on the idiot ball—why on earth does he hot-headedly gamble away the Falcon at just the precise moment he needs to go and pick his wife up after a terrible accident?
Still, this book benefits from being fun. Ridiculous and off-the-wall though the story may be, it has a wacky creativity that keeps it barrelling along. It has none of the po-faced sterility of the vast majority of the Mouse-canon novels—just a stream of wtf moments that ratchet up from brazen to befuddling, with stops at barmy and bizarre along the way. One minute the author could be undramatically revealing a character to be a secret cyborg spy in only their second scene in the novel, the next there might be a group of Jedi trainees having a pitch-dark skinny dip together in a hot spring.
Probably the weakest element of the story is the titular “dark apprentice� (and second of Luke’s students to fall to the Dark Side in the space of a week), Kyp Durron. Aside from the fact that, for a villain, this is the least threatening collection of phonemes in Star Wars until “Kylo Ren� (which makes me think of a tiny cartoon bird who’s emigrated from Dublin to Boston � Kyle O’Wren) Kyp, as a character is both insipid and unsavoury. At least Gantoris has some foreshadowing, and a bit of an edge. Kyp is written like a boy scout who drinks Dr. Jekyll’s elixir and becomes evil just because. Sure, his background as a child slave orphaned by the Empire certainly gives him better motivation to turn than Kyle O’Wren, but the change does come incredibly abruptly. The YA-ness probably excuses this, and the writing is clearly setting him up for a redemption in the third volume, but with his mind rape of Qwi Xux (another victim, like Skynxnex, of a “space name�) takes him perilously onto to the event horizon of “throw this scumbag in the trash compactor because he’s truly irredeemable� territory, if not over.
All this being said, as a book for kids it is not the worst—far from dull and with some creativity. Viewed from a certain point of view, it it better than I’d previously rated it. It still falls short of entry to my headcanon because: a) I don’t like planet destroying superweapons other than the Death Star I and II; b) this story references Dark Empire, and I can’t accept any story where Palpatine somehow survives Endor; c) the characters don’t really feel like themselves (not offensively so like how they were written in the Disney trilogy, just more like characters in a children’s book).
So far, I think this trilogy would make for a fun Star Wars: Infinities comic book story.
3 stars, on account of me treating it as YA. Consider your expectations managed!
This is a continuation from the previous volume in both kid-oriented plot and unsubtle style. An example of the clunky dialogue Anderson peppers the story with is, �'I’m glad we’ve had so much fun, Han,' [Kyp] said, �,'I’ve done a lifetime’s worth of healing since you rescued me.'� George Lucas wrote some plain, unsophisticated dialogue for the movies, but nothing quite so dripping with unintended innuendo.
Aside from the dialogue, the writing itself has a rather juvenile quality to it, e.g. “Luke watched the students file toward him along the broad promenade. Wearing dark-brown Jedi robes, the candidates walked in eerie silence across the slick floor that had long ago been polished smooth by the mysterious Massassi.� Appropriate for YA, I suppose, but not artful.
One of the main problems with this trilogy is the character of the principal Imperial antagonist—Admiral Daala is so breathtakingly incompetent that she gives nepotism a bad name. Despite Anderson bigging up her reputation (via backstory relating to Imperial Academy simulation achievements, not actual tangible victories), she shows such monstrous tactical and strategic incompetence that the only explanation for Tarkin’s interest in her must have been a penchant for severe redheads in uniform. (I would wager she is nearly as bad a leader as General Leia in the new Disney canon!) Not only that, but when she orders a captured ship destroyed, she seems to expect the adulation of her crew. Anderson writes this as if it is a magnificent victory, three Imperial Star Destroyers against a single CR90 Corellian Corvette. I suppose he could have intended the reader to interpret this as a self-important overblown assessment made by the admiral herself, but Anderson’s writing is so typically devoid of subtext that it is safe to assume that this is the actual assessment he is intending to convey.
Additionally, this is an example of Anderson’s abuse of the contrived coincidental circumstances. In a galaxy of hundreds of billions of planets, Daala’s first capture is this corvette taking supplies to a colony of 50 people closely related to one of Luke’s new Jedi apprentices, one who is already teetering on the edge of falling to the Dark Side. This makes the world feel claustrophobic and small, with everything coincidentally revolving around the author’s characters instead of there being a reasonable chain of events to bring peril to characters we’ve been introduced to.
Unfortunately, Daala is not the only character whom Anderson writes as unfit for duty. Take Ackbar for example. One wonders why the commander of the New Republic Fleet has the duty of chauffeuring Leia around. Regardless of threat to her person, he is also a personage of importance, and their travelling together, alone, makes no sense whatsoever.
And Han also has a firm grip on the idiot ball—why on earth does he hot-headedly gamble away the Falcon at just the precise moment he needs to go and pick his wife up after a terrible accident?
Still, this book benefits from being fun. Ridiculous and off-the-wall though the story may be, it has a wacky creativity that keeps it barrelling along. It has none of the po-faced sterility of the vast majority of the Mouse-canon novels—just a stream of wtf moments that ratchet up from brazen to befuddling, with stops at barmy and bizarre along the way. One minute the author could be undramatically revealing a character to be a secret cyborg spy in only their second scene in the novel, the next there might be a group of Jedi trainees having a pitch-dark skinny dip together in a hot spring.
Probably the weakest element of the story is the titular “dark apprentice� (and second of Luke’s students to fall to the Dark Side in the space of a week), Kyp Durron. Aside from the fact that, for a villain, this is the least threatening collection of phonemes in Star Wars until “Kylo Ren� (which makes me think of a tiny cartoon bird who’s emigrated from Dublin to Boston � Kyle O’Wren) Kyp, as a character is both insipid and unsavoury. At least Gantoris has some foreshadowing, and a bit of an edge. Kyp is written like a boy scout who drinks Dr. Jekyll’s elixir and becomes evil just because. Sure, his background as a child slave orphaned by the Empire certainly gives him better motivation to turn than Kyle O’Wren, but the change does come incredibly abruptly. The YA-ness probably excuses this, and the writing is clearly setting him up for a redemption in the third volume, but with his mind rape of Qwi Xux (another victim, like Skynxnex, of a “space name�) takes him perilously onto to the event horizon of “throw this scumbag in the trash compactor because he’s truly irredeemable� territory, if not over.
All this being said, as a book for kids it is not the worst—far from dull and with some creativity. Viewed from a certain point of view, it it better than I’d previously rated it. It still falls short of entry to my headcanon because: a) I don’t like planet destroying superweapons other than the Death Star I and II; b) this story references Dark Empire, and I can’t accept any story where Palpatine somehow survives Endor; c) the characters don’t really feel like themselves (not offensively so like how they were written in the Disney trilogy, just more like characters in a children’s book).
So far, I think this trilogy would make for a fun Star Wars: Infinities comic book story.
3 stars, on account of me treating it as YA. Consider your expectations managed!
July 2, 2023
3.75 stars
July 9, 2021
This has been on my to-read list far longer than GoodReads has existed. And whether it's a great novel or not (spoiler alert: not great, and vexingly so; but certainly fun for me), it feels really good to have got(ten) it off my chest. I feel... lighter, somehow. More complete.
(No, I don't. Got you there, didn't I? But I am satisfied.)
October 22, 2020, page 7: After (much) more than two decades of procrastinating -- and, recently, jogging my memory* a bit -- I finally started in the 2nd part of this trilogy. (*: See my review for the companion novel, I, Jedi for the how & why of all that.) Let's see what I currently think of this much-discussed and anticipated Legends cycle...
October 28, p.52: Reading/listening to two books in tandem that both have Wedge (yay!) & a strong Imp admiral female character, leads to confusion. (Or doesn't it...? LOL!) Hence, I'm pausing this novel for now.
Notes to self, story so far: Wedge suggests Luke that Leia might visit Yavin 4 praxeum w/ twins. Han & Kyp go turbo-skiing (that was drag scene; the rest is okay). Leia & Ackbar crash into an important cultural heritage; navcomp sabotage? Han lost his (and mine) beloved Falcon to Lando in a frantic Sabbacc bet.
April 13, 2021, p.59: C'ued. (Admiral Daala's ImpStar squadron attacks a CEC Corvette.)
April 19, p.103: Notes to self; On Yavin 4, Luke shows holocron to padawans; Master Vodo introduces ancient Exar Kun. Gantoris builds sabre and duels Luke (after volcanic pool eruption). Ackbar's fate is decided while his fellow Mon Cal, Terpfen, "inadvertantly" commandeers a B-Wing. On Coruscant, Kyp views the Sun Crusher.
April 24, p.158: Note to self; Vima-Da-Boda (Dark Empire; descendant of Vima Sunrider, KotOR?) introduced Kyp to preliminary Force lessons in the mines on Kessel.
May 4, p.190: Alien SCUBA. Mini-sub (submarine!) vs. probot (Hoth recall!) dogfig-- ah, fishfight. Examples of awesome ideas; great atmosphere, Wars worthy. But at times, atrocious writing. Words repeated on the same page or in nearby paragraphs. Not very literary reading, as such. Didn't expect that, either; just FYI. When reading part 1 in the 90s, I was obviously a bit less critical of such things. Still, nice to finally read.
May 12, p.247: In the preceding chapters, I encountered less of the aforementioned annoyances, and a fair amount of ditto entertainment elements. It remains light pulp, but within its premise, I like it.
I was reminded of a statement I recently wrote in a forum about this simpler trilogy being hypothetically more suitable to be adapted to a film trilogy than is the complex, original Thrawn trilogy; I stand by that judgment.
And while came in from the Thrawn (and hypothetical film) side, I must here add that I found the two Jedi Academy novels to be more in the vein of actual Star Wars, where atmosphere, story and overall feeling are concerned. Zahn's book are more SF than fantasy, and more militaristic in nature (which I liked in its own right, but I feel Wars is less about that).
To reiterate -- as novels, the Thrawn books are far superior and I loved them more. But Anderson's books also have their merits, and they fit into the franchise slightly better -- perhaps because they are more pulpy.
Then again, I read the Thrawn series nigh on 3 decades ago, so I might well misremember.
May 17, p.278: Paused. Notes to self: Momaw Nadon entered the stage! Welcomes Wedge & Qwi on Ithor; nice! Ambassador Furgan of Carida Imp Academy aims to kidnap Solo baby. Falcon (Han, Lando, Leia) left Ackbar on Mon Calamari. Cilghal goes to Yavin? Kyp stole Mara's Z-95 on Y4. 3PO and Chewie must search for Solo twins, lost in Coruscant underground."
June 1st: Side note; on p.336, most if not all of Luke's named students are mentioned (among which the 'witch Dathomiri', Kirana Ti -- see my recent notes for the Sith Book).
Conclusion: Not as great as the first part. (Or rather: how I experienced that first installment, some whopping two-and-a-half decades ago!) But still: fun, colourful and entertaining. And it really still feels like worthy (for goodor and worse) Wars to me, perfectly in tune with the films. Would've got 4* if it had been written better on the micro level; it's repetitive, boasts not very well-crafted language, is not poetic nor stylish. Then again, it's not gunning to be literature. But, honestly -- and while the overall vision suits me: on the page level, it's messy and mediocre writing.
On to the next -- and last -- one!
(No, I don't. Got you there, didn't I? But I am satisfied.)
October 22, 2020, page 7: After (much) more than two decades of procrastinating -- and, recently, jogging my memory* a bit -- I finally started in the 2nd part of this trilogy. (*: See my review for the companion novel, I, Jedi for the how & why of all that.) Let's see what I currently think of this much-discussed and anticipated Legends cycle...
October 28, p.52: Reading/listening to two books in tandem that both have Wedge (yay!) & a strong Imp admiral female character, leads to confusion. (Or doesn't it...? LOL!) Hence, I'm pausing this novel for now.
Notes to self, story so far: Wedge suggests Luke that Leia might visit Yavin 4 praxeum w/ twins. Han & Kyp go turbo-skiing (that was drag scene; the rest is okay). Leia & Ackbar crash into an important cultural heritage; navcomp sabotage? Han lost his (and mine) beloved Falcon to Lando in a frantic Sabbacc bet.
April 13, 2021, p.59: C'ued. (Admiral Daala's ImpStar squadron attacks a CEC Corvette.)
April 19, p.103: Notes to self; On Yavin 4, Luke shows holocron to padawans; Master Vodo introduces ancient Exar Kun. Gantoris builds sabre and duels Luke (after volcanic pool eruption). Ackbar's fate is decided while his fellow Mon Cal, Terpfen, "inadvertantly" commandeers a B-Wing. On Coruscant, Kyp views the Sun Crusher.
April 24, p.158: Note to self; Vima-Da-Boda (Dark Empire; descendant of Vima Sunrider, KotOR?) introduced Kyp to preliminary Force lessons in the mines on Kessel.
May 4, p.190: Alien SCUBA. Mini-sub (submarine!) vs. probot (Hoth recall!) dogfig-- ah, fishfight. Examples of awesome ideas; great atmosphere, Wars worthy. But at times, atrocious writing. Words repeated on the same page or in nearby paragraphs. Not very literary reading, as such. Didn't expect that, either; just FYI. When reading part 1 in the 90s, I was obviously a bit less critical of such things. Still, nice to finally read.
May 12, p.247: In the preceding chapters, I encountered less of the aforementioned annoyances, and a fair amount of ditto entertainment elements. It remains light pulp, but within its premise, I like it.
I was reminded of a statement I recently wrote in a forum about this simpler trilogy being hypothetically more suitable to be adapted to a film trilogy than is the complex, original Thrawn trilogy; I stand by that judgment.
And while came in from the Thrawn (and hypothetical film) side, I must here add that I found the two Jedi Academy novels to be more in the vein of actual Star Wars, where atmosphere, story and overall feeling are concerned. Zahn's book are more SF than fantasy, and more militaristic in nature (which I liked in its own right, but I feel Wars is less about that).
To reiterate -- as novels, the Thrawn books are far superior and I loved them more. But Anderson's books also have their merits, and they fit into the franchise slightly better -- perhaps because they are more pulpy.
Then again, I read the Thrawn series nigh on 3 decades ago, so I might well misremember.
May 17, p.278: Paused. Notes to self: Momaw Nadon entered the stage! Welcomes Wedge & Qwi on Ithor; nice! Ambassador Furgan of Carida Imp Academy aims to kidnap Solo baby. Falcon (Han, Lando, Leia) left Ackbar on Mon Calamari. Cilghal goes to Yavin? Kyp stole Mara's Z-95 on Y4. 3PO and Chewie must search for Solo twins, lost in Coruscant underground."
June 1st: Side note; on p.336, most if not all of Luke's named students are mentioned (among which the 'witch Dathomiri', Kirana Ti -- see my recent notes for the Sith Book).
Conclusion: Not as great as the first part. (Or rather: how I experienced that first installment, some whopping two-and-a-half decades ago!) But still: fun, colourful and entertaining. And it really still feels like worthy (for good
On to the next -- and last -- one!
August 19, 2023
I fucking love Star Wars. This book was incredible. The ending had me reeling though and I have already started the third book. But reading this series has me even more angry with the new movies because they could have been following these books instead of whatever they ended up doing.
December 29, 2015
FIRST THOUGHTS: I think the reason I preferred this one over the first is because I'm already familiar with the general set-up of the world and with the characters. It's certainly a strong second book for this series, and I became solidly invested in many of the plots.
March 17, 2024
The second installment of the Jedi Academy trilogy is dog water. Between meaningless subplots and an incompetent antagonist, this book doesn't have many positive elements to offer. You can tell that Anderson needed to reach a certain page count because a huge chunk of the story is filler. The subplots were dull and boring to read, which can discourage someone from even finishing this. Some Characters act like completely different people compared to previous books and movies they were in. For some reason, Anderson also feels obligated to remind the reader about the detailed history of each character in every chapter, it can get easily repetitive.The best way to describe this book is that it reads like a comic book.
February 6, 2021
Ytterst spännande
March 19, 2024
3.5 stars.
A big improvement from the first book in the trilogy, but it still suffered from some overly fantastical plot points and disjointed storytelling/tone-shifting. It also lacked any kind of proper ending, but maybe that's better than the obligatory space battle of every other Star Wars novel. Looking forward to the conclusion of the series.
A big improvement from the first book in the trilogy, but it still suffered from some overly fantastical plot points and disjointed storytelling/tone-shifting. It also lacked any kind of proper ending, but maybe that's better than the obligatory space battle of every other Star Wars novel. Looking forward to the conclusion of the series.
November 19, 2023
Had a lot of plot lines that seemed to exist solely for the purpose of filling up a minimum word count? Poor writing, turned me off from the finishing the trilogy.
August 8, 2022
This book wasn't bad, it wasn't really good. The characters were all acting stupid and out of character (especially Han), the villain is showing no growth, and there was a zero stakes sub story about Han and Leia's kids getting lost and recreating the scene in their favorite picture book where they ask anything and everything how to get home.
The writing and story telling was mediocre. But I'm an easy person to please, they continues to build on the interconnectivity of the expanded setting, which is something I absolutely love in a Star Wars book.
The writing and story telling was mediocre. But I'm an easy person to please, they continues to build on the interconnectivity of the expanded setting, which is something I absolutely love in a Star Wars book.
May 3, 2015
More basic sci-fi entertainment from the Star Wars Universe. I enjoyed it and look forward to the conclusion of the trilogy.
July 26, 2020
Not great
September 18, 2022
Hell hath no fury.
Admiral Daala is on the loose and she is pissed. The Galactic Empire is no more. What remains are tattered remnants led by warlords at each other’s throats. But Natasi Daala had spent 10 years guarding Maw Installation—a secret thinktank of weapons specialists hidden inside a stable island of space nestled between dozens of black holes. In that time, her Empire had fallen into chaos and the Rebel Alliance stepped in to form a new government—the New Republic. Daala sees herself as the sole inheritor of the Imperial legacy. Motivated by a lust for revenge, she embarks on a personal mission of destruction.
Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker is attempting to teach a new generation of Jedi at the academy on Yavin 4. One of his charges, however, is more interested in exacting revenge on what remains of the Empire. Kyp Duron goes very quickly from sad, sallow emo-kid into full blown sociopath—with a little help from the spirit of a long dead Sith Lord named Exar Kun. Encouraged by Kun, Duron goes off on his own and engages in what is the most extensive mission of mass murder ever depicted in Star Wars lore. Despite the fact that he is a Jedi, Duron is far more unhinged than any character in the literary universe. Possessing the Sun Crusher, a weapon liberated from Maw Installation, Duron is unstoppable.
Kevin J Anderson delivers an even more fascinating follow-up story in Star Wars: Dark Apprentice. The title refers to the fall of Kyp Duron, who was too emotional and damaged to have become a Jedi in the first place. His fall to the Dark Side was no surprise. His actions parallel Daala’s as she engages in a series of raids against New Republic targets. Her only goal, instill fear and chaos in the usurper government. Kyp’s goal is to kill as many people as possible.
There is more emotion in this narrative, as the characters are given a chance to come into their own. The tertiary characters from the first novel move to center stage, while our familiar heroes act as foils for their actions. There are monsters on both sides. Taking the actions of the two central new characters and looking at them from a fresh perspective, it’s easier to sympathize with Admiral Daala. Her actions are petty, and her tactics outdated, but she at least possesses a form of restraint absent in willful Duron. She is out gunned, outmanned, and basically the sole representative of what she believes is the best of the Galactic Empire. As Han Solo tries to reason with Duron, he slips further away. Luke falls under attack from the spirit of Exar Kun.
The new generation of Jedi are under threat. A madman is on a killing spree. An equally unhinged woman is trying to fight a war lost long ago. These are just a few of the many intersecting and independent plot threads jammed into the narrative. The author does a much better job of pulling the plotlines closer together. Star Wars: Dark Apprentice is a fantastic follow-up. Its rising action leaves the reader salivating for the denouement.
This book is from my personal collection, but I am leaving a professional review
Admiral Daala is on the loose and she is pissed. The Galactic Empire is no more. What remains are tattered remnants led by warlords at each other’s throats. But Natasi Daala had spent 10 years guarding Maw Installation—a secret thinktank of weapons specialists hidden inside a stable island of space nestled between dozens of black holes. In that time, her Empire had fallen into chaos and the Rebel Alliance stepped in to form a new government—the New Republic. Daala sees herself as the sole inheritor of the Imperial legacy. Motivated by a lust for revenge, she embarks on a personal mission of destruction.
Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker is attempting to teach a new generation of Jedi at the academy on Yavin 4. One of his charges, however, is more interested in exacting revenge on what remains of the Empire. Kyp Duron goes very quickly from sad, sallow emo-kid into full blown sociopath—with a little help from the spirit of a long dead Sith Lord named Exar Kun. Encouraged by Kun, Duron goes off on his own and engages in what is the most extensive mission of mass murder ever depicted in Star Wars lore. Despite the fact that he is a Jedi, Duron is far more unhinged than any character in the literary universe. Possessing the Sun Crusher, a weapon liberated from Maw Installation, Duron is unstoppable.
Kevin J Anderson delivers an even more fascinating follow-up story in Star Wars: Dark Apprentice. The title refers to the fall of Kyp Duron, who was too emotional and damaged to have become a Jedi in the first place. His fall to the Dark Side was no surprise. His actions parallel Daala’s as she engages in a series of raids against New Republic targets. Her only goal, instill fear and chaos in the usurper government. Kyp’s goal is to kill as many people as possible.
There is more emotion in this narrative, as the characters are given a chance to come into their own. The tertiary characters from the first novel move to center stage, while our familiar heroes act as foils for their actions. There are monsters on both sides. Taking the actions of the two central new characters and looking at them from a fresh perspective, it’s easier to sympathize with Admiral Daala. Her actions are petty, and her tactics outdated, but she at least possesses a form of restraint absent in willful Duron. She is out gunned, outmanned, and basically the sole representative of what she believes is the best of the Galactic Empire. As Han Solo tries to reason with Duron, he slips further away. Luke falls under attack from the spirit of Exar Kun.
The new generation of Jedi are under threat. A madman is on a killing spree. An equally unhinged woman is trying to fight a war lost long ago. These are just a few of the many intersecting and independent plot threads jammed into the narrative. The author does a much better job of pulling the plotlines closer together. Star Wars: Dark Apprentice is a fantastic follow-up. Its rising action leaves the reader salivating for the denouement.
This book is from my personal collection, but I am leaving a professional review
June 27, 2023
This book is entertaining but all over the place for me. It feels like the narrative was just not well mapped out or even given a second draft for that matter. There is WAAAY too much going on that just feels disconnected. There is good here. The descriptions and world building are great. We do get a lot more of Luke Skywalker training new Jedi, which I wanted more of in the last book. It makes sense to me why Luke would not be the most competent teacher right away as he has never trained before, but certain character actions and transitions regarding his students just don’t make sense and feel like they come out of nowhere. Akbar has an integral arc concerning his place in the New Republic which is interesting� but I could care less about Han and Lando’s pointless bickering over who owns the Falcon� or C3P0 and Chewie’s wacky babysitting misadventures with the Solo twins at the zoo� I don’t care Anderson. This book book would have been far stronger if it just focused its page time on the Luke and Akbar plots. Admiral Daala is a pathetic non-intimidating villain to me, with terrible strategy, constantly losing Star destroyers and having to retreat from every battle.
January 9, 2019
Ok, now I get why fans have hated on the new trilogy so much; knowing that this material was available and then overlooked is beyond disappointing!
The characters are consistent with the original films, the development of force skills and abilities is very enjoyable - if not excessive - but let’s be honest, I came here for overpowered space wizards with lightning swords and insane magical powers.
The drama with Luke and his students gets intense, and the feeling of loss amongst the crisis is strong and believable.
// SPOILER WARNING //
the cliff-hanger ending is delivered in a very masterful way, and the feelings of certainty and security are truly shaken.
The person who we assumed was now the most powerful in the galaxy has been defeated, and a fresh new apprentice has just destroyed a solar system?!
The characters are consistent with the original films, the development of force skills and abilities is very enjoyable - if not excessive - but let’s be honest, I came here for overpowered space wizards with lightning swords and insane magical powers.
The drama with Luke and his students gets intense, and the feeling of loss amongst the crisis is strong and believable.
// SPOILER WARNING //
the cliff-hanger ending is delivered in a very masterful way, and the feelings of certainty and security are truly shaken.
The person who we assumed was now the most powerful in the galaxy has been defeated, and a fresh new apprentice has just destroyed a solar system?!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 19, 2019
The middle books are always the darkest.
Luke's new Jedi Academy on Yavin 4 is established, and he has a talented group of students. He also, unknowingly, has a huge problem, the spirit of a long dead Sith Lord, Exar Kun. Kun was killed in a battle with the Jedi years ago, but his spirit remained trapped on Yavin 4. That spirit is now corrupting Luke's students, one by one. That corruption will render Luke in a seemingly precarious position.
At the same time, Admiral Daala is using her small fleet to harass, and attack peaceful New Republic worlds, and when she attacks Admiral Ackbar's, the stakes are raised. Then, you have the issue of Kyp and the Sun Crusher, and Kyp's action with regards to Exar Kun and the Sun Crusher will have devastating consequences.
Finally, we have Jaina, Jacen and Anakin. The twins are back with their parents, still learning about their abilities, while Anakin is in hiding with Winter on a desolate world. Anakin's situation will become paramount in the final book in the trilogy.
One aspect of this book that I really liked was the visit to Vortex. A fascinating world, with a unique construction, the Cathedral of the Winds. The scenes that took place there were so intriguing.
Luke's new Jedi Academy on Yavin 4 is established, and he has a talented group of students. He also, unknowingly, has a huge problem, the spirit of a long dead Sith Lord, Exar Kun. Kun was killed in a battle with the Jedi years ago, but his spirit remained trapped on Yavin 4. That spirit is now corrupting Luke's students, one by one. That corruption will render Luke in a seemingly precarious position.
At the same time, Admiral Daala is using her small fleet to harass, and attack peaceful New Republic worlds, and when she attacks Admiral Ackbar's, the stakes are raised. Then, you have the issue of Kyp and the Sun Crusher, and Kyp's action with regards to Exar Kun and the Sun Crusher will have devastating consequences.
Finally, we have Jaina, Jacen and Anakin. The twins are back with their parents, still learning about their abilities, while Anakin is in hiding with Winter on a desolate world. Anakin's situation will become paramount in the final book in the trilogy.
One aspect of this book that I really liked was the visit to Vortex. A fascinating world, with a unique construction, the Cathedral of the Winds. The scenes that took place there were so intriguing.
March 10, 2025
This is the sequel to the Jedi academy trilogy. Almost halfway thru the book I felt that this was one of the weaker novel of the Star Wars legends universe but by the end I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I thought it showed the dynamic between Han and lando quite well and I found it entertaining. I also enjoyed seeing Luke grow in his role as Jedi master and the struggles he faces training the next generation of Jedi knights. I like the introduction of the Sith Lord exar kin and the bigger role that kyp from the first book plays in this one. In particular I thought the ending of the books does a great job of making the reader interested in the next novel wondering which way the story will go.
March 11, 2024
It’s rare for me to be glad I’ve finished a book, yet reaching the end of this book felt like a weight off my shoulders, only made less relaxing with the knowledge I still have one more book in this trilogy to go
Given that I did enjoy the first book overall I’m not sure what went wrong in this one, but the overall pace of the story feels way off, with the stories that are actually interesting and feel important being crammed in between chapters upon chapters of what could only be called page filler, for example the titular “Dark Apprentice� goes from Light to Dark in the space of 1.5 chapters
It seems such a strange decision from the author to barrel through the legitimately good bits of story they’ve crafted to just go off on a tangent every other chapter, I can honestly say frustration was my main feeling throughout this book
Given that I did enjoy the first book overall I’m not sure what went wrong in this one, but the overall pace of the story feels way off, with the stories that are actually interesting and feel important being crammed in between chapters upon chapters of what could only be called page filler, for example the titular “Dark Apprentice� goes from Light to Dark in the space of 1.5 chapters
It seems such a strange decision from the author to barrel through the legitimately good bits of story they’ve crafted to just go off on a tangent every other chapter, I can honestly say frustration was my main feeling throughout this book
June 5, 2024
The second book in the Jedi Academy trilogy, this book continues the story of Luke trying to start a Jedi Academy, while Leia and Han work to rebuild the Republic. All while they are facing new threats from the Empire and the dark side of the force.
It sounds like a solid premise but this book was very disappointing. The characters say and do things that are completely unlike them, to the point that they feel like poor representations of the source material. Again, Anderson relies heavily on the overuse of movie references.
I will still finish the trilogy but I'm pretty unhappy with how things are progressing in this second book.
It sounds like a solid premise but this book was very disappointing. The characters say and do things that are completely unlike them, to the point that they feel like poor representations of the source material. Again, Anderson relies heavily on the overuse of movie references.
I will still finish the trilogy but I'm pretty unhappy with how things are progressing in this second book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 311 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.