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Heir to the Jedi: Star Wars Paperback – November 24, 2015
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A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. . . .
A thrilling new adventure set between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, and—for the first time ever—written entirely from Luke Skywalker’s first-person point of view.
Luke Skywalker’s game-changing destruction of the Death Star has made him not only a hero of the Rebel Alliance but a valuable asset in the ongoing battle against the Empire. Though he’s a long way from mastering the power of the Force, there’s no denying his phenomenal skills as a pilot—and in the eyes of Rebel leaders Princess Leia Organa and Admiral Ackbar, there’s no one better qualified to carry out a daring rescue mission crucial to the Alliance cause.
A brilliant alien cryptographer renowned for her ability to breach even the most advanced communications systems is being detained by Imperial agents determined to exploit her exceptional talents for the Empire’s purposes. But the prospective spy’s sympathies lie with the Rebels, and she’s willing to join their effort in exchange for being reunited with her family. It’s an opportunity to gain a critical edge against the Empire that’s too precious to pass up. It’s also a job that demands the element of surprise. So Luke and the ever-resourceful droid R2-D2 swap their trusty X-wing fighter for a sleek space yacht piloted by brash recruit Nakari Kelen, daughter of a biotech mogul, who’s got a score of her own to settle with the Empire.
Challenged by ruthless Imperial bodyguards, death-dealing enemy battleships, merciless bounty hunters, and monstrous brain-eating parasites, Luke plunges head-on into a high-stakes espionage operation that will push his abilities as a Rebel fighter and would-be Jedi to the limit. If ever he needed the wisdom of Obi-Wan Kenobi to shepherd him through danger, it’s now. But Luke will have to rely on himself, his friends, and his own burgeoning relationship with the Force to survive.
Praise for Heir to the Jedi
“Utterly compelling . . . [The novel] plants readers in Luke Skywalker’s boots in the early days of his heroism, during the weeks after he blew up the Death Star.”—New York Daily News
“An excellent book with rich characters, bubbling humor and poignant emotion.”—Roqoo Depot
“Entertaining . . . action-packed . . . suspenseful.”—New York Journal of Books
“Great . . . [an] entertaining introduction into understanding Luke’s character . . . There are moments in The Empire Strikes Back that I now point to and say, ‘I understand how he got there,’ and it’s because of this novel.”—The Wookiee Gunner
“Pure Star Wars . . . From shoot-outs to narrow escapes, I could practically hear John Williams’s score playing in my head—a credit to Kevin Hearne, to be sure.”—Coffee with Kenobi
“A must-read for fans . . . I left with a much closer understanding of who Luke Skywalker is, and an even deeper admiration for the character. All things are connected in the Force, and I feel more connected to Luke after reading Heir to the Jedi.”—Comicbook
- Print length320 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherRandom House Worlds
- Publication dateNovember 24, 2015
- Dimensions4.27 x 0.72 x 7.46 inches
- ISBN-100345544862
- ISBN-13978-0345544865
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Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens and discover what happened after the events of 1983’s Return of the Jedi. | Set after Return of the Jedi, Alphabet Squadron follows a team of veteran pilots as they struggle to defeat the Empire once and for all. | Set in the aftermath of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, this action-packed prequel to the videogame Battlefront II introduces the Empire’s elite force: Inferno Squad. | More than forty contributors lend their vision to this retelling of A New Hope. Each of the forty short stories reimagines a moment from the original film, but through the eyes of a supporting character. |
Editorial Reviews
Review
“An excellent book with rich characters, bubbling humor and poignant emotion.”—Roqoo Depot
“Entertaining . . . action-packed . . . suspenseful.”—New York Journal of Books
“Great . . . [an] entertaining introduction into understanding Luke’s character . . . There are moments in The Empire Strikes Back that I now point to and say, ‘I understand how he got there,’ and it’s because of this novel.”—The Wookiee Gunner
“Pure Star Wars . . . From shoot-outs to narrow escapes, I could practically hear John Williams’s score playing in my head—a credit to Kevin Hearne, to be sure.”—Coffee with Kenobi
“A must-read for fans . . . I left with a much closer understanding of who Luke Skywalker is, and an even deeper admiration for the character. All things are connected in the Force, and I feel more connected to Luke after reading Heir to the Jedi.”—Comicbook.com
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Luke Skywalker, hero of the Battle of Yavin, has cast his lot with the rebels, lending his formidable piloting skills to whatever missions his leaders assign him. But he is haunted by his all-too-brief lessons with Obi-Wan Kenobi and the growing certainty that mastery of the Force will be his path to victory over the Empire.
Adrift without Old Ben’s mentorship, determined to serve the Rebellion any way he can, Luke searches for ways to improve his skills in the Force . . .
CHAPTER 1
There’s no one around to answer all my questions now that Ben’s gone. It’s a stark fact that reasserts itself each time I wonder what I’m supposed to do now. That brown robe he wore might as well have been made of pure mystery; he clothed himself in it and then left nothing else behind on the Death Star. I know Han likes to scoff at the idea of the Force, but when a man’s body simply disappears at the touch of a lightsaber, that’s more than “simple tricks and nonsense.”
And I know the Force is real. I’ve felt it.
I still feel it, actually, but I think it’s like knowing there’s something hidden in the sand while you’re skimming above it. You see ripples on the surface, hints that something is moving down there—maybe something small, maybe something huge—living a completely different life out of your sight. And going after it to see what’s underneath the surface might be safe and rewarding, or it might be the last thing you ever do. I need someone to tell me when to dive into those ripples and when to back off.
I thought I heard Ben’s voice a couple of times during the Battle of Yavin, but I’m wondering now if that really happened. Maybe I only thought it did; maybe that was my subconscious speaking to me—a kind of wishful thinking. He’s been silent since, and I don’t feel I can talk to anyone else about the Force. My confidants at this point consist of one blue-and-white astromech droid.
Han and Chewie are off somewhere trying to earn enough credits to pay off Jabba the Hutt. They lost all their reward money from the Battle of Yavin and they’re back to being broke and desperate—the galaxy should beware.
Leia is cloistered with the leaders of the Alliance in the fleet, which is currently hiding in the Sujimis sector around an ice planet no one has paid any attention to since the Clone Wars. Not that she would want to hear about my worries any more than I would like to speak them. She has much more important things to do than to waste time putting a bandage on my insecurities. Threepio is with her, no doubt feeling unappreciated for his predictions of imminent doom in over six million forms of communication. That leaves Artoo and me free to run an errand for Admiral Ackbar.
I’ve been dispatched to Rodia in an effort to open a secret supply line to the Alliance. I’m not supposed to call it smuggling—Ackbar has serious issues with the very concept, but the truth is the Alliance can’t operate without it. Since the Empire is trying to shut down our lines of supply in the Outer Rim by going after smugglers’ dens, and the established black markets in the Core are a bit too risky for us to employ, we have to look for other sources to exploit. Rodia is under Imperial control, but Leia suggested that the Chekkoo clan on the Betu continent might be open to working with us. She said they despise the ruling Chattza clan and are highly skilled at manufacturing weapons, armor, and other hardware we could use to fight the Empire. Leia was betting they’d defy the Empire to spite the Chattza clan, and we stood to benefit. Mon Mothma was unsure of the idea, but Ackbar surprised everyone and weighed in with Leia, and that decided it.
I don’t know what it is about Ackbar that tends to quash arguments. He has a kind of moist charisma, I guess, that no one wants to challenge. I know I don’t want to dispute him, anyway.
Once it was agreed, I volunteered for the mission, and they loaned me a beautiful personal yacht to fly in. My X-wing would set off all kinds of alarms if I dared to enter Rodian space in it, but a small transport with minimal weapons would be no big deal. Both Artoo and I whistled when we first saw it in the docking bay of the Promise, one of the Alliance’s frigates. It was less of a yacht and more of a showpiece.
Painted a metallic red and trimmed in silver, the cockpit and living quarters of the ship sat forward and the wings swept back in an unbroken arc, like a half-moon thinking about going crescent. The rear end looked a bit like someone had taken a bite out of a cookie, and it was packed with big sublight engines, jammers, sensor arrays, and shield generators. The power was all invisible from the front or the sides—it spoke of luxury and decadence—but the back told anyone pursuing that they wouldn’t be keeping up for very long. It was built for speed and quite possibly spying while doing its best to look like a rich person’s pleasure craft.
“Nice, isn’t she?” a voice said, causing me to tear my eyes away. “That’s the Desert Jewel. You fly her safely, now.” The speaker was a tall woman with dark skin and a cascade of tightly curled ringlets framing a narrow face. She gave me a friendly smile and I smiled back.
“Is she yours?” I asked.
“Yep! Well, I guess I should say she’s my father’s. But both his ship and his daughter are at the disposal of the Alliance now. Just got here last week.” She extended a hand. “Nakari Kelen. Glad to meet you.”
“Kelen?” I said, taking her hand and shaking it. She had a strong grip, and I tilted my head to the side as I connected her name and the ship’s to a memory. “Any relation to the Kelen Biolabs on Pasher?”
Her eyes widened. “Yes! Fayet Kelen is my father. Are you from Pasher?”
“No, I’m from Tatooine.”
“Ah, another desert planet. So you understand all about my fascination with ships and how they can take me far away from home.”
“Yeah, I understand that very well. I’m Luke Skywalker.”
“Oh, I know who you are,” she said, finally letting her hand slip from mine. “They told me you’d be taking my ship out for some kind of spooky mission, but no one told me you hailed from Tatooine.”
“Ha. It’s not really spooky. Kind of a boring business trip, in fact, but this looks like it will prevent any Imperials from thinking I’m with the Alliance.”
“I should hope so. My baby’s classy and elegant and ill disposed to rebellion.”
“Hey, speaking of ill disposed, mind if I ask you something?”
Nakari nodded once, inviting me to proceed.
“I’ve always wondered why your dad chose Pasher for his biolabs. You’d think a jungle planet would be better suited simply because there’s more actual biology there.”
She shrugged. “He started small and local. The poison and glands of sandstone scorpions and spine spiders turned out to have medical applications.” She chucked her chin at the Desert Jewel. “Very profitable applications.”
“I’ll say.”
“What did you do on Tatooine?”
“Moisture farming. Spectacularly dull. Some weeks were so boring that I actually looked forward to going into Tosche Station to pick up some . . . power converters. Huh!”
“What?”
“I just remembered I never did pick up my last shipment. Wonder if they’re still there.”
“We all have unfinished business, don’t we?” That was an unexpected turn to the conversation, and I wondered what she meant by it. I wondered why she was there at all, frankly. The comfortably wealthy rarely stir themselves to get involved in rebellions. But I had to admit she wasn’t dressed like the privileged child of a biotech magnate. She wore desert camo fatigues tucked into thick-soled brown boots, a blaster strapped to her left hip, and what looked like a compact slug rifle strapped to her back, held in place by a leather band crossing diagonally across her torso.
I flicked a finger at the rifle. “You hunt sandstone scorpions with that?”
“Yep. Can’t use a blaster on them. Their armor deflects heat too well.”
“I’d heard that.”
“And since so many people are wearing blaster armor these days, a throwback weapon that punches through it is surprisingly effective if you know how to shoot one.”
“Hunt anything else?”
“Of course. I’ve been to Tatooine, actually, and bagged a krayt dragon there. Its pearls paid for the upgrades on the Jewel. She’s still Dad’s ship, but I’ve modified her quite a bit, and I hope to have the credits soon to buy her from him outright. Come on, I’ll show you.”
Both of us were grinning and I was excited, happy to have found someone with a similar background way out here in an icy part of the galaxy. I couldn’t speak for Nakari, but meeting someone with shared experience filled up a measure of its emptiness for me, especially since she clearly understood why ships are important: They take you away from the deserts, even if it’s just for a little while, allowing you to think that maybe you won’t shrivel and waste away there, emotionally and physically. Not that the rest of the galaxy is any more friendly than the dunes. My old friend Biggs, for example, loved to fly as much as I did, and he escaped Tatooine only to die in the Battle of Yavin. I miss him and wonder sometimes if he would have done anything differently if he’d known he’d never set foot on a planet again once he climbed into that X-wing. I console myself with the guess that he would have gone anyway, that the cause was worth dying for and the risk acceptable, but I suppose I’ll never know for sure. The Empire didn’t fall and the rebellion continues, and all I can do is hope the next mission will prove to be the one that topples the Emperor somehow and validates my friend’s sacrifice.
A walk-up loading ramp into the Desert Jewel put us in the narrow corridor behind the cockpit. Unfortunately the ramp was also the floor and with it down we couldn’t move forward—a clear shortcoming in design—so we had to close it and leave poor Artoo on the hangar deck before we could enter the cockpit.
Nakari pointed to hatches on either side of the corridor. “Galley and head on the left, bunks and maintenance access on the right,” she said. “Your droid can plug in there. There’s a lot of emergency supplies, too, survival gear that comes in handy when I’m scouting planets for Dad. Breathing masks and an inflatable raft and suchlike. The bunks are kind of basic, sorry to say. I spent all my credits on speed and spoofs.”
“A wise investment,” I assured her. “Can’t enjoy any kind of bunk, much less a luxurious one, if you can’t survive a panicked flight from a Star Destroyer.”
She sawed a finger back and forth between our heads. “Yes! Yes. We are thinking alike here. This is good, because I want to see my ship again.”
“I’d—” I stopped cold because I almost said I’d like to see you again as an unconscious reply, but fortunately realized in time that she might misinterpret that as an incredibly inept pass at her. I finished with, “—think that would be good for both of us,” and hoped she didn’t notice the awkward pause.
“Indeed.” She waved me forward. “After you.”
“Thanks.” Five steps brought me into the cockpit, where I slid into the seat on the left side. Nakari rested a hand on the back of my seat and used the other to point at the banks of instruments. “She’s got top-of-the-line jammers and sensors from Sullust, a holodisplay here, which is kind of low-end because I’d rather have these high-end deflector shields, and twin sublight engines on either side that will shoot you through space faster than an X-wing. Oh, and she’s got a point-eight hyperdrive for the long hauls.”
“Wow. Any weapons?”
“One laser cannon hidden underneath where I’m standing. You activate it right there, and a targeting display pops up.”
I winced. “Just one cannon?”
“She’s built to run and keep you alive until you jump out of trouble. Best not to get into any trouble.”
“Got it.”
“Good.” She clapped me on the shoulder. “Be safe, Luke.”
I turned in my seat, surprised that the tour was over so quickly. “Hey, thanks. What will you be doing in the meantime?”
She opened the boarding ramp and then jerked a thumb at the rifle stock behind her shoulder. “I’m training some of the soldiers in sharpshooting. Heading dirtside to shoot frozentargets on Orto Plutonia. I’ll be plenty busy.” Her eyes flicked down to the hangar deck, where something made her smile. “I think your droid is ready to come aboard.”
“Is he in your way?”
“A bit.”
She began to descend, and I called after her as she disappeared from view. “Sorry! He’ll move.”
Artoo rolled up a few moments later, and I found the button that would secure the ramp behind him. He chirped and sounded impatient with me, but as usual I couldn’t understand him. “You can jack in to the right,” I said, and he scooted in there while continuing his electronic scolding.
We had to navigate several different hyperspace lanes to get to Rodia from the Sujimis sector and I was getting used to the way the Jewel handled, so our trip probably took more time than strictly necessary. Fortunately, we weren’t in a hurry and I enjoyed every minute of it. The Jewel was sheer pleasure to fly; the cockpit was quiet, unlike the high-pitched electronic whine of my X-wing.
Artoo successfully installed a program into the Jewel’s computer that would translate his digital beeps into readable language. His words streamed on the holodisplay that Nakari had pointed out to me, and I kept the ship’s intercom on so that he could hear my words.
“Artoo, take us to Llanic, will you? We need to stop there to see if we can find someone to smuggle for us if the deal in Rodia works out.”
Situated at the intersection of the Llanic Spice Route and the Triellus Trade Route, Llanic bustled with smugglers and other ne’er-do-wells in a way that might have moved Ben Kenobi to call it a “wretched hive of scum and villainy,” even if it was not quite as wretched as Mos Eisley. Plenty of illicit credits flew through there, and because of that the Empire kept a watch on it. Leia had given me a briefing, warning me that Moff Abran Balfour patrolled the spice route often, and he represented the nearest Imperial presence to the current location of the Alliance fleet. I was not supposed to give him the idea that perhaps the fleet was somewhere in his sector.
I was expecting a lively screen full of contacts when I entered the system, but perhaps not quite so lively as it proved to be. One of Moff Balfour’s Star Destroyers showed up immediately, though it was too far away to pull me in with a tractor beam or engage in any meaningful way. Flying much closer to me were two TIE fighters, pursuing a ship that didn’t appear able to put up much resistance. They were firing on it, and its shields were holding for the time being, but I doubted that would continue for much longer, especially since it was slower than the TIEs. I imagined there would be unidentified rattling noises on the ship, not indicating anything dire, just a general statement of decrepitude and imminent destruction. Didn’t seem like a fair fight to me, but I wasn’t going to make it my problem until I realized the ship was of Kupohan manufacture. The Kupohans had helped the Alliance in the past, and might do so again.
Not that there were necessarily Kupohans inside, or even Kupohans that were friendly to the Alliance. I had innumerable reasons to mind my own business and leave the ship to its fate, but I decided to dive in anyway on two guiding principles: If they annoyed the Empire this much, they were at least margin- ally on my side; and since I could help them, I should—and no one was around to argue with me about that last principle.
“Artoo, plot us a course out of the system right away,” I said, and accelerated to intercept speed. “We’re going to have to get out of here in a hurry after this. And hold on to something.” The artificial gravity generator would keep him glued to the floor, but it wouldn’t prevent torsion from the extreme maneuvers ahead. Normally he’s wedged snugly into my X-wing and there would be no worry about such things.
I engaged the ship’s baby laser cannon and waited until I got a system go-ahead, then dived on the lateral axis toward the TIE fighters. I flipped on the deflector shields and locked on the targeting computer. One look at the ships and I knew the TIE pi- lots were hanging on to the orientation of the Star Destroyer from which they had deployed; they had a sense of which way was “up” and they were sticking to it, which is a limiting and even dangerous perception to hold on to in space. Up and down don’t really have a meaningful use until you’re in atmosphere. I deliberately rolled as I dived, adjusted my nose so that the leading TIE fighter was in my sights, and fired.
The Desert Jewel’s bolts turned out to be blue and shot in bursts of three. The first burst missed entirely, but the second tagged the TIE fighter and destroyed it. The second TIE rolled away to the left in an evasive maneuver and I pulled up, planning to flip a loop and dive again; the Kupohan ship was still moving, free of Imperial pursuit for a few moments.
I expected the TIE to bank around and try to acquire a firing solution on me, and for a couple of seconds it looked like it was going to, but then it veered away to reestablish an attack vector on the Kupohan ship. That struck me as very strange behavior— to ignore a mortal threat and give someone a free shot at your unshielded ship while you pursued a fleeing target. I almost didn’t believe it and checked to make sure there wasn’t another ship on my scanners that I’d missed somehow, something waiting in ambush, but there was only me, the remaining TIE, and the Kupohan in the immediate vicinity. It looked like the Star Destroyer had just launched an entire squadron of additional TIEs, but it would take them a while to catch up.
“They must want to erase that ship in the worst way,” I said, thinking aloud. The TIE pilot had probably been given an order from the Star Destroyer that amounted to “Kill the Kupohans, or don’t come back.” From my perspective, that was all the more reason to help out.
Without the danger of being fired upon, I lined up another run and pulled the trigger on the TIE fighter, even as it was doing its best to blast the Kupohan ship to pieces. The Kupohan’s shields held under the onslaught, but the TIE fighter came apart at the first touch of my lasers.
“There,” I said, and checked the position of the Star Destroyer again. It wasn’t in range yet, but it was moving full-speed to catch up, and the squadron of TIEs were still a couple of standard minutes out. “Maybe I can get some answers. Artoo, prepare the next jump and see if you can raise the Kupohan ship.”
The droid’s reply appeared on my holodisplay: jump ready now. initiating contact.
“Good. I hope that they can still—” I cut off as the Kupohan ship jumped to hyperspace without so much as a thank-you. “Well, I guess they can still jump. We should do the same. Take us to hyperspace as soon as you’re ready, Artoo.”
The tension drained from my shoulders as I disengaged the laser cannon, but my mouth twisted in regret as the stars blurred and streamed past the cockpit window during the jump. I couldn’t help but feeling somewhat disappointed. I wondered who was on that ship and why they mattered so much to the Empire—and whether compromising my mission and putting this ship on Imperial wanted lists was worth it. It was worth it to the crew of the Kupohan ship, no doubt—they still had their lives. But I wasn’t sure if I’d done the Alliance any favors with that particular episode, and now, with the opportunity to evaluate it coolly, I saw how rash the decision had been. Now I had to skip Llanic entirely and go straight to Rodia, hopefully ahead of any Imperial alert to be on the lookout for me.
Perhaps I’d do well enough there that Leia and Admiral Ackbar would forgive me for tweaking the Empire’s nose when we were supposed to be hiding.
Product details
- Publisher : Random House Worlds (November 24, 2015)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 320 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0345544862
- ISBN-13 : 978-0345544865
- Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
- Dimensions : 4.27 x 0.72 x 7.46 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #257,101 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,638 in TV, Movie & Game Tie-In Fiction
- #4,777 in Space Operas
- #7,466 in Science Fiction Adventures
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
![Kevin Hearne](https://cdn.statically.io/img/m.media-amazon.com/images/I/B1lkXvuAQiS._SY600_.jpg)
KEVIN HEARNE hugs trees, pets doggies, and rocks out to heavy metal. He also thinks tacos are a pretty nifty idea. He is the author of the New York Times bestselling series the Iron Druid Chronicles, the Seven Kennings trilogy that begins with A PLAGUE OF GIANTS, and co-author of the Tales of Pell with Delilah S. Dawson.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the pacing slow and the storyline unmoving. They also say the characters are great and interesting, while others find them dull and uninteresting. Opinions are mixed on the research, with some finding it exceptional and giving nice insight, while other say it provides almost zero useful information. Readers also disagree on the writing style, with others finding it fantastic and self-contained, while still others find the prose terrible.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers have mixed opinions about the characters in the book. Some find them great, while others find them dull and uninteresting.
"...Characters were good with the reader getting a new insight into a younger Luke Skywalker and rooting not only for him to get better with using the..." Read more
"...Both very interesting characters in their own right. And both help Luke in ways on to becoming a Jedi...." Read more
"...Even Luke's companion in the story was a very dull, uninteresting character. I honestly don't even remember her name.SPOILERS:..." Read more
"...The author's portrayal of Luke was spot on, and the book introduced some great new characters, had an interesting story, and was a very unique Star..." Read more
Customers are mixed about the writing style. Some mention that Kevin did a fantastic job of writing, with snappy dialogue, great characters, and keeping the action. They also say the pieces came together well and set up the new series fantastically. However, some say that the prose is terrible, the terminology and phrasing were not in sync, and the inner dialog for Luke is bad.
"...First person is notoriously difficult to write and, when a fan has already seen movies, read comic books and novels, all showcasing their favorite..." Read more
"...My Favorite thing about Heir to the Jedi was the ending. The pieces came together well...." Read more
"...My biggest drawback to this book is it's written in first person, which just didn't work for me. For $7, sure, the Star Wars fan will like it...." Read more
"...Overall, I'd put it on a par with A New Dawn. Hearne does a good job of writing action, even though for this reader action is best suited to a more..." Read more
Customers are mixed about the research. Some mention the book gives nice insight to Luke's early understanding and perspective, while others say the storyline is ok and the first person perspective doesn't work for Star Wars.
"...It was interesting to get into Luke's mind during the story and learn about his thoughts and the beginning of himself learning to tap into the force." Read more
"...The first person perspective just doesn't work for Star Wars. I didn't find being in Luke's head was as great as it could be...." Read more
"...a really well done book, it was fast pace [just like the movies], informative, and extremely enjoyable...." Read more
"...The book is in first person perspective also, which I found disorienting bc I felt that Hearne’s inner monologue of Luke was not at all how a..." Read more
Customers are mixed about the Luke voice. Some mention that Hearne captures Luke's voice well, and he still has that farm boy demeanor about him. However, others say that it doesn't sound like Luke, and that there is too much sappy dialogue.
"...None of this was there. Sadly, he seemed a bit whiny. I would not recommend this to a friend...." Read more
"...the audiobook and Marc Thompson(Narrator) does such an exceptional job at the voices that I could swear it was Hamil or Ford talking...." Read more
"...Written in a first person style, this sounds NOTHING like the Luke we've come to know...." Read more
"...Hearne captures Luke's voice well, and he still has that farm boy demeanor about him...." Read more
Customers find the storyline utterly unmoving, mundane, and predictable. They also mention that the narrative doesn't sound like Luke Skywalker, there's an unnecessary love story, and there're not many Jedi stuff in the book.
"...Story telling was there but no excitement and it felt like the author was going by a script of this is what happens now write...." Read more
"...That would be interesting in and of itself but the story doesn't exactly dive right in...." Read more
"...The Story won't blow you away. This is kind of been an issue since the rebooting of Star Wars books. They have a very supplemental feel to them...." Read more
"...hopeful with Heir to the Jedi, Kevin Hearne has a solid pedigree of great novels, the title mirrors one of my favorite EU novels of all time..." Read more
Customers find the pacing of the book somewhat slow and hard to get through. They also say it has no sense of urgency.
"...It did lag in a few places, mainly the aerial skirmishes, but that's a minor point in the bigger picture...." Read more
"...was a chapter or two in the first half of the book that I had a hard time getting through - it took me back to struggling to get through "I,..." Read more
"...The book is a bit of an uneven read. There are a bunch of side missions that Luke and Nakari end up going on in order to locate the cryptographer...." Read more
"...The book is by no means awful but the pacing feels off(too slow)..." Read more
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If there was ever a niggle of a doubt of my love for him, this book cemented it permanently in my heart. His awkwardness was especially endearing; as readers, we like to think of the Jedi as these mystical warriors whose intense training leaves little room for anything else. But the fact of the matter is, even with the best mentors and Masters, Padawans and others just learning about the Force must be like newborn giraffes: all gangly limbs and not knowing what to do with them, falling quite a few times before finally finding their footing.
And that's what Luke is in HttJ, a baby giraffe trying to find solid ground. It's an absolute joy to read his interactions with Nakari Kelen (whom I fell in love with from her introduction), his awkwardness multiplied tenfold and making me smile so much my face hurt. The humor in the story isn't forced or shoehorned, which helped make it such a quick and enjoyable read for me (unlike Tarkin, which, while good as well, at times felt like a shore simply because of the heaviness of the story and the walls-o'-text). It did lag in a few places, mainly the aerial skirmishes, but that's a minor point in the bigger picture.
While the last ten pages broke my heart, I look forward to reading this again anytime I need a pick-me-up.
My rating is four stars for two simple reasons. As a life long Star Wars fan who has adopted the Jedi philosophy as his own I will never give a Star Wars book less than three stars and the last third of the book was an improvement taking it up another star. I do feel that the book was over priced (in case it goes down in the future I spent $11.99 when I bought it) and since I am on a limited fixed income I will say that I would love a shot at getting an advanced copy and maybe even giving my thoughts to the authors so I could still have a complete collection but not giving up a huge chunk of money.
----------MINOR SPOILER ALERT-------------
Normally i avoid spoilers of any kind but wanted to say that it was disappointing how each planet took two chapters (or close didn't actually count) to go through and after reading A New Dawn and Tarkin the new canon feels like its all written the same way with more facts and not enough story. Take Fex for example. You have them land on a planet with creatures who could eat the brains of their victims but if you had taken the planet out of the the story and given them a different way to get the money they needed then the story wouldn't have changed too much. On top of that this is an opportunity to make a few great chapters where they had to do more than clear the ship of the five creatures and then take off. This is a common element where its a simple land on the planet, do what they went there to do and then leave while having the reader feel like he is reading about it on Wookiepedia.
I was particularly hopeful with Heir to the Jedi, Kevin Hearne has a solid pedigree of great novels, the title mirrors one of my favorite EU novels of all time (Heir to the Empire), and it actually features the heroes of the Rebellion (unlike Aftermath). It all sounds like the making of a great SW novel. Unfortunately, it just doesn't hold together.
First, and foremost, has to do with the central character, Luke Skywalker. While Luke is presented in the novel at times as unsure of himself, a powerful Jedi occasionally emerges, especially at the end of the novel. But it is next to impossible to reconcile the Luke we are presented in the novel with the Luke of A New Hope or the Empire Strikes Back. To complicate matters, the modern Marvel comic books are considered part of the Star Wars Gospel (canon) and even there we see Luke as a boy, unsure of himself and absolutely confused by his powers and he gets his butt kicked more than once. It just doesn't make sense to me.
Second, the story is horribly disjointed. Luke jumps from one end of the galaxy to the other and each piece takes on a different feel, a different genre almost. There are political thriller pieces, jailbreaks, space horror, and romantic comedy moments strewn about the novel. It sounds like a cool idea, but it never comes together. Like a 19 year old running off to backpack through Europe, the novel seems to constantly try to find itself, but never succeeds.
That being said, the novel has its saving graces. We learn a bit more about the SW universe, the Jedi, the Force, and lightsabers. The most interesting parts of the book are the descriptive areas where Luke is learning to use the Force by learning the perspective of another person and when he deconstructs a lightsaber to understand how it is constructed.
All-in-all, the novel is ok. Hardcore SW fans: read this one for the Force edification but don't expect it to end up on your shelf with your other SW favorites, the whole Luke-thing can be rough to get past.
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Can be ok for an animated serie’s episode that need to fill empty space but not so great in a 300 pages book.
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Apesar do Luke ser um dos grandes heróis da minha infância, hoje acho ele um dos Jedis mais chatos do universo Star Wars. Isso talvez não tenha criado grandes expectativas com relação ao livro, ainda bem.
Apesar de bastante interessante o fato da narrativa apresentar o ponto de vista do Luke sobre a batalha entre os rebeldes e o império, seus medos e bem representar seu senso de humor, o livro carece de ritmo. Achei tudo muito arrastado, diferente dos outros livros do novo cânone iniciado pela Disney. Os novos personagens apresentados, em especial a aventureira Nakari Kelen, são legais, mas as escolhas sobre o futuro desses me irritou profundamente (não quero dar spoilers).
Apesar de todas essas críticas negativas o livro não é ruim, existem boas passagens e a narrativa sobre o desenvolvimento do uso da Força tem sua importância, apenas não acrescenta algo realmente relevante ao universo expandido da franquia. Indico para quem já leu outros livros da série.
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I couldn't put it down, and read it from cover to cover in less than six hours.