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Jedi Search (Star Wars: The Jedi Academy Trilogy, Vol. 1) | 
 enlarge | Author: Kevin Anderson
Publisher: Spectra
Category: Book
List Price: $6.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  153 reviews
Sales Rank: 277931
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 384
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.1
ISBN: 0553297988
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780553297980
ASIN: 0553297988
Publication Date: February 1, 1994
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Product Description
As the war between the Republic and the scattered remnants of the Empire continues, two children--Princess Leia's Jedi twins--come into their powers in a universe on the brink of vast changes.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 148 more reviews...
 Fun for fanboys December 31, 2008
My expectations were not high, and this book exceeded them. I thought Anderson's writing was usually crisp, with just enough call-backs to the original trilogy to make a fanboy happy. As usual for me, the non-Jedi characters were the most interesting. Given that those characters -- Han, Leia, Lando, Chewie, and some new baddies -- are the focus of this book, it was right up my alley.
Luke starts building his Jedi Academy October 24, 2008
Kevin J. Anderson played a prominent role in the Star Wars Expanded Universe for a few years in the mid-1990s. His projects included the Tales of the Jedi comics published by Dark Horse, the Illustrated Guide to the Star Wars Universe, editorial and authorial duties on three Tales collections, various youth-oriented fiction, and a few of the adult novels. Jedi Search was his first book in the Jedi Academy Trilogy, set after the pivotal events of Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy and the Dark Empire comic series. This trilogy typifies many of the characteristics often associated with the 90s Bantam Spectra era of Star Wars publishing, following the main movie characters as they battle a newly emerged ex-Imperial leader and throwing a new super weapon or two into the mix.
This first part of the trilogy opens with the New Republic in the process of re-claiming Coruscant after the recent Imperial reoccupation. It's interesting how openly the book ties to the Dark Empire comics series in some of the early scenes. Readers who stick only to the books will be quite confused when things such as the Emperor's resurrection and Luke Skywalker's fall to the dark side are mentioned. For my part, I applaud the inclusion of story points from multiple media in these books. Star Wars is unusual in that there is a concerted effort to create a single unified chronology where everything is at one level of canon or another.
Han and Chewbacca are sent on a mission to Kessel to negotiate a possible alliance when their plans go awry and they find themselves enslaved to work the spice mines. They meet Kyp Durron, a teen with untrained Force potential who will go on to be an enduring figure of the later Expanded Universe. Kessel is evocatively portrayed, especially the chilling lightless mines and the monsters that lurk within. Later in the book our heroes find themselves in the Maw, an old Imperial research facility hidden by a veritable nest of black holes. The primary new Imperial adversary for this trilogy, Admiral Daala, is in charge of the facility and is shocked to discover the Emperor is dead and the galaxy has a new order. Kudos for coming up with this facility and the plot device of its isolation. It brings a realistic new threat to the galaxy in the wake of classic ones such as Thrawn and the resurrected Emperor.
Not so realistic is the new super weapon in development. Subtly named the Sun Crusher, it's a small fighter-size craft capable of sending a star into supernova phase and thereby destroying entire solar systems. It's a massive reach in believability to accept the Death Star required such a massive scale to house a planet-destroying weapon but only a few years later this dinky little craft can do so much more. Held in reserve is also a prototype Death Star, mentioned but not used in the plot of this particular volume.
Luke spends this book laying the foundations for his new Jedi Academy. His first step is finding quality candidates, so he embarks on the titular Jedi search. Two encounters are depicted in detail. The first, on a wasteland of a mining planet with a leader named Gantoris, is not well executed. Gantoris puts Luke through a series of life-threatening and cruel tests to ascertain if he will allow himself to be trained. This has the effect of making Luke's character very weak and in no way do I accept Luke would permit Gantoris the latitude he does here. The second, with a gas miner named Streen on the fringes of Bespin, is much better: interesting setting, good new character, and believable actions.
This book is a rapid read. Scenes are brisk and there is never much of a lull between action sequences. Anderson writes in a plain-spoken, easily digestible manner and keeps the pace fluid. The two major storylines come together at the end in a big, if tactically unsound, space battle. Where the book struggles most is in accurately characterizing the familiar cast from the films and in relying too much on super weapons and thinly developed new villains. The events of this trilogy are too big to ignore if you're interested in understanding the larger Expanded Universe, but expect a fairly light, brisk read that probably won't leave a strong impact on you.
 Fun in spite of continuity conflicts with the films (that came after this book was written) August 16, 2008
After spending their first two years of life isolated for their own safety, the Jedi twins Jacen and Jaina - children of Leia Organa and Han Solo - are coming home to Coruscant, where their parents now live in what was once the Emperor's palace. Han isn't there to greet them, though. He's off on a trip to the spice mining planet of Kessel, acting as the New Republic's ambassador as well as having a vacation from the confining life he now lives for Leia's sake. Leia knows that, and becomes angry instead of worried as his failure to contact her persists.
While Leia tries to learn the art of mothering two-year-olds who don't yet know her, Luke Skywalker searches for candidates to train at his Jedi Academy. He's also looking for a place to establish that academy, and it can't be anywhere on crowded Coruscant.
That's the setup for a fast-paced adventure tale peopled by the familiar Star Wars characters. I found it enjoyable, but inevitably out of sync with the SW universe as we now know it - a fault not in any way the author's, since the trilogy of prequel films has since contradicted much of what he postulates about the Jedi. I'm glad I didn't let those disconnects spoil an otherwise fun read.
 Librarian MS June 9, 2008
Some of the boys really like the smaller Star Wars novels. I have tried to get what they request for summer reading.
Not Free SF Reader September 2, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I think this is around when Star Wars publishing started to explode, and I gave up as it was looking to be not too interesting.
The Ambiguously Evil Woman vs Luke is a bit of fun, though.
As I have found out, Anderson writes things at a furious pace, so that he makes a nice living, so this is what you have to expect.
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