Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
challenging
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Upon my second read of this novel, I'm dropping my rating from 4 to 3.5 stars.
The first third of the story sums up the Jedi Academy Trilogy (by Kevin J Anderson)...from a certain point of view - Corran's...rather quickly. If you've never read them, you might be a little lost.
The rest of the book seems to drag a little bit until Corran comes to the conclusion that he does indeed need his Jedi heritage to find Mirax.
First person stories aren't a favorite of mine, but this one wasn't bad.
I think the many, many years I've had in between reading has altered what I consider "good" in the Star Wars EU...jus my dropping half a star from my first reading.
The first third of the story sums up the Jedi Academy Trilogy (by Kevin J Anderson)...from a certain point of view - Corran's...rather quickly. If you've never read them, you might be a little lost.
The rest of the book seems to drag a little bit until Corran comes to the conclusion that he does indeed need his Jedi heritage to find Mirax.
First person stories aren't a favorite of mine, but this one wasn't bad.
I think the many, many years I've had in between reading has altered what I consider "good" in the Star Wars EU...jus my dropping half a star from my first reading.
Star Wars novels are my guilty pleasure reading, so of course I don’t expect great literature from them. But, to be quite frank, Michael A. Stackpole is probably my least favorite Star Wars novelist. His dialogue is poor, his exposition over-explains everything, he tends to “tell” when he should “show,” and he overuses references to the original films. (Yes, Michael, I know Han Solo said “Never show me the odds” in the movie, but that doesn’t mean every Corellian character has to constantly say they don’t care about the odds either.) All that being said, I’ve read all five of his X-Wing novels before this one, and, with the exception of Isard’s Revenge, I mostly found enjoyment in them, despite all their flaws. But unfortunately, I can’t say the same for I, Jedi. In fact, this may be the worst Star Wars book I’ve read so far.
At first, I thought the premise of this book had potential: Corran Horn, the hotshot pilot protagonist of Stackpole's X-Wing novels, is forced to train to become a Jedi in order to rescue his kidnapped wife, Mirax. But in addition to all my normal objections to Stackpole's writing style, the story of I, Jedi takes some turns that are not only bad, they are truly bizarre. In particular, there's the fact that nearly the entire first half of this book is a rehash of Luke Skywalker's efforts to train a new class of Jedi, all of which was covered over the course of Kevin J. Anderson's Jedi Academy trilogy. I don't mean those events were simply referenced in this book, I mean Stackpole retold the exact same story, only this time he awkwardly inserted Corran Horn into the action. Why do this? I mean, it's honestly perplexing to me that Stackpole's editors would have even let him do this. And Corran Horn is not only retconned into the Jedi Academy storyline, but it now turns out most of the major developments of that story were directly because of his actions. It takes a special kind of arrogance for a writer to take another writer's novel, essentially steal and repeat the whole story, and then make his own protagonist the most important character in it. It's like reading a work on fan fiction, not a legitimate Star Wars novel.
The character of Corran Horn himself is another reason I, Jedi occasionally borders on insufferable. Even in the X-Wing novels, Horn has never been an especially interesting character to me. He's basically a two-dimensional invincible-badass-Corsec-agent turned invincible-badass-pilot destined to become an invincible-badass-Jedi, and Stackpole ALWAYS makes him the smartest guy in the room who is NEVER wrong. This is particularly apparent in the most infuriating chapter in the entire book: when Corran Horn quits Luke Skywalker's Jedi Academy, then proceeds to lecture him on why his teaching methods are bad, even going so far as to suggest Luke doesn't really understand the Force all that well. And worst of all, Luke is reduced to an emotional, bumbling wreck as Corran cuts him down to size. It's an utterly ridiculous moment and a low point in the novel.
Additionally, I, Jedi is FAR too long and easily could have been edited down, probably by as much as a third, especially if much of the recycled Jedi Academy material had been reduced. Other elements of the story make little sense, like the way Corran Horn, by pure chance, happens to stumble upon a secondary character who has intimate knowledge of his Jedi ancestors. And finally, the ending is a complete anti-climax: after literally months of working undercover to find the location of his wife, he essentially just slices-and-hacks his way in with a lightsaber to get her back. There are a few things I liked about this book, including the Leonia Tavira character (who is essentially just a sociopathic space slut with a high military rank, but she's still somewhat amusing), but for the most part, I, Jedi was a bizarrely bad, overlong slog of a read.
At first, I thought the premise of this book had potential: Corran Horn, the hotshot pilot protagonist of Stackpole's X-Wing novels, is forced to train to become a Jedi in order to rescue his kidnapped wife, Mirax. But in addition to all my normal objections to Stackpole's writing style, the story of I, Jedi takes some turns that are not only bad, they are truly bizarre. In particular, there's the fact that nearly the entire first half of this book is a rehash of Luke Skywalker's efforts to train a new class of Jedi, all of which was covered over the course of Kevin J. Anderson's Jedi Academy trilogy. I don't mean those events were simply referenced in this book, I mean Stackpole retold the exact same story, only this time he awkwardly inserted Corran Horn into the action. Why do this? I mean, it's honestly perplexing to me that Stackpole's editors would have even let him do this. And Corran Horn is not only retconned into the Jedi Academy storyline, but it now turns out most of the major developments of that story were directly because of his actions. It takes a special kind of arrogance for a writer to take another writer's novel, essentially steal and repeat the whole story, and then make his own protagonist the most important character in it. It's like reading a work on fan fiction, not a legitimate Star Wars novel.
The character of Corran Horn himself is another reason I, Jedi occasionally borders on insufferable. Even in the X-Wing novels, Horn has never been an especially interesting character to me. He's basically a two-dimensional invincible-badass-Corsec-agent turned invincible-badass-pilot destined to become an invincible-badass-Jedi, and Stackpole ALWAYS makes him the smartest guy in the room who is NEVER wrong. This is particularly apparent in the most infuriating chapter in the entire book: when Corran Horn quits Luke Skywalker's Jedi Academy, then proceeds to lecture him on why his teaching methods are bad, even going so far as to suggest Luke doesn't really understand the Force all that well. And worst of all, Luke is reduced to an emotional, bumbling wreck as Corran cuts him down to size. It's an utterly ridiculous moment and a low point in the novel.
Additionally, I, Jedi is FAR too long and easily could have been edited down, probably by as much as a third, especially if much of the recycled Jedi Academy material had been reduced. Other elements of the story make little sense, like the way Corran Horn, by pure chance, happens to stumble upon a secondary character who has intimate knowledge of his Jedi ancestors. And finally, the ending is a complete anti-climax: after literally months of working undercover to find the location of his wife, he essentially just slices-and-hacks his way in with a lightsaber to get her back. There are a few things I liked about this book, including the Leonia Tavira character (who is essentially just a sociopathic space slut with a high military rank, but she's still somewhat amusing), but for the most part, I, Jedi was a bizarrely bad, overlong slog of a read.
Good book. Not as good as Talion: Revenant, which is also by Mr. Stackpole. It is also the first Star Wars novel that I have ever read. It might be the last. Not because the book was bad, but because I have a hard time not picturing the movies. Stackpole did a good job referencing some things in the book to the original movies which was pretty cool. I don't know. Read it if you like Star Wars. It's definitely not bad. Just don't expect to get blown away.
This was a big book at nearly 600 pages and probably the biggest Star Wars book I’ve read to date. Also, this had a slightly different feel in that it was told from the first person, Corran’s I did enjoy this book, but did find that it did meander for a bit and took a long time to get going. It didn’t help that a goodly chunk of the story followed Corran at the Jedi temple on Yavin 4 and was just a rehash of the events chronicled in the Jedi Apprentice trilogy but told from Corran’s point of view.
Apart from that, it was quite enjoyable.
Apart from that, it was quite enjoyable.
It was an interesting book, introducing an important jedi character in the same way they did with Mara Jade, Kyp Durron or even with Kyle Katarn. Now we have the honor to meet the starfighter ace Corran Horn in his journey to become a Jedi Knight. To do so, he must find his wife, Mirax Terrik, who has disappeared on a secret mission. By the way, this book follows the events of Kevin Anderson's Jedi Academy Trilogy, but from the perspective of Horn (which is nice, for the remembrance).
I think there are several similarities between Horn and Katarn: they aren't jedi at the beginning and they must find and deal with their inner selves to finish their jedi training. Katarn is the most independent character I've ever seen (he doesn't even need the aid of Master Luke Skywalker to become a Jedi; his hero's journey is quite odd and very interesting in the same way)... Corran seeks Luke at the beginning, but becomes quite dissatisfied with his jedi training: he's desperate to find the missing Mirax... by the way, such a cool name, uh, Mirax?
It's not the best book I've ever read, but it's quite entertaining and well written (a fast read and definitely better than the Dark Forces comic book/audiobook trilogy, if you want to compare with Katarn's journey). Written in first person, it seems a jedi pupil personal diary (without being tacky), which is... unusual if we take all the other Star Wars books by comparison, but introduces new dynamics and possibilities for the reader to understand the Star Wars Expanded Universe.
When talking about Star Wars books, well, I must confess that Timothy Zahn and Michael Stackpole are ma favorites, so... But anyway, nice read, lot of fun.
I think there are several similarities between Horn and Katarn: they aren't jedi at the beginning and they must find and deal with their inner selves to finish their jedi training. Katarn is the most independent character I've ever seen (he doesn't even need the aid of Master Luke Skywalker to become a Jedi; his hero's journey is quite odd and very interesting in the same way)... Corran seeks Luke at the beginning, but becomes quite dissatisfied with his jedi training: he's desperate to find the missing Mirax... by the way, such a cool name, uh, Mirax?
It's not the best book I've ever read, but it's quite entertaining and well written (a fast read and definitely better than the Dark Forces comic book/audiobook trilogy, if you want to compare with Katarn's journey). Written in first person, it seems a jedi pupil personal diary (without being tacky), which is... unusual if we take all the other Star Wars books by comparison, but introduces new dynamics and possibilities for the reader to understand the Star Wars Expanded Universe.
When talking about Star Wars books, well, I must confess that Timothy Zahn and Michael Stackpole are ma favorites, so... But anyway, nice read, lot of fun.
This was MUCH better than I expected! I've never been a real fan of Corran Horn--he's always seemed to be the author's golden boy and hard to relate to. I'm so glad this book changed my mind. I liked Corran here (except for a quibble, which I'll get to in a moment). His awkward relationship with his father-in-law and devotion to his wife. His fantastic argument with Luke Skywalker, when Luke told Corran he was on the road to the Dark Side--. The way he dealt with the space pirates. His friendship with Ooryl. I LIKE this guy.
I liked Luke here as well--eventually accepting that there are multiple paths to take to the Force. Good stuff.
The only issue I had with the book was
Spoiler
and Corran replied that he'd seen the Dark Side every day in CorSec and deliberately chosen the other pathI liked Luke here as well--eventually accepting that there are multiple paths to take to the Force. Good stuff.
The only issue I had with the book was
Spoiler
Corran's instant, intense, and persistent physical attraction to the pirate leader. I'm sorry, but if the person I loved, married, and was planning children with was taken by possibly-evil unknown forces who wanted to destroy me and my friends, I would NOT be thinking about, ahem, relations with someone else.
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
They tried. I like Corran Horn but could they at least have kept things consistent?