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This book, besides everything else, is a stunning example of what the Expanded Universe novelists could do if they paid attention to each other and worked not only to make a good story but make a good story that complements the rest of the EU stories.
Michael Stackpole, the author, is mostly known for his novels in the X-Wing series. I, Jedi manages to combine the awesomeness of those books, along with a lot of Jedi mumbo-jumbo (I say this affectionately), a rescue mission, a character journey, and the entire Jedi Academy trilogy....into one book. Several characters created by other authors, notably Mara Jade and Kyp Durron, make small or large appearances in the book, and Stackpole manages to stay true to their characters while still keeping them sidelined to Corran Horn's story. I knew SOMEONE out there should be able to do it. It seems like the EU is a lot more categorized and boxed-up nowadays. For instance, Troy Denning is only "allowed" to write about bugs and Ewoks, Timothy Zahn keeps to his Chiss, Mara Jade, and Talon Karrde, and Kevin J. Anderson keeps to his Academy. This irritates me. Why shouldn't the EU authors be able to overlap better? Stackpole can.
I had to remind myself several times that this wasn't a big space epic, like the Corellian Trilogy (or the original trilogy, for that matter), it wasn't a adventure story like Outbound Flight. I, Jedi is exactly what it sounds like: a look into a character who is becoming a Jedi, how he gets there and how he deals with the powers and the philosophy. Since it's more about Corran's character journey rather than any particular super-weapon that needs destroying or Dark Lord that needs vanquishing, the storyline does suffer at some points.
But this book does the character-journey line EXCELLENTLY. It reminded me how very much I love Corran Horn. He's a pilot, he's an investigator, and, in this book, he's becoming a Jedi. All awesome powers rolled into one.
The book begins with Corran returning from a Rogue mission to discover that not only is his wife, Mirax, gone, but he can't feel her in the Force, either, other than she's alive. Persuaded by friends that if he goes after her she'll just be put in danger, Corran goes to Luke's shiny new Jedi Academy on Yavin 4 to learn freakish powers so he can save his wife.
This is where the JA trilogy comes in. The first half of I, Jedi, chronicles Corran's part in those events, which I thought was a fascinating way to write a book. You get a lot of insight into how the "normal" trainees reacted to all the insanity, and, more importantly (to me) you get out of Luke's head, which got pretty insufferable in that trilogy In My Opinion.
Again, I liked Mara Jade's various appearances in the book. She stayed true to herself, and I liked her silly camaraderie with Corran and her caring for Luke. *hugs Mara Jade*
Elegos' appearance in the later parts of the book was interesting because I thought he was a Timothy Zahn creation. Nope! I, Jedi, was published before Vision of the Future. Again, it shows that some authors can work together and keep the character the same even in different books and by different people. Although, on second thought, I think Stackpole did a better job with hitting the fine line between pacificism and just letting the bad guys do whatever they want: Elegos was prepared to do what was necessary to protect himself and others, but he just prefers not to. Zahn seemed to say that Elegos would always be a passive bystander no matter what.
ANYWAY back to I, Jedi. There were a couple things I didn't like. The fact that Mirax is kidnapped for most of the book means we don't get to see much of her, which is a shame because she's a great character. There was a lot of life when she got back in the game. Ah, well. Also, the climax and ending felt rather tacked-on to me, for various reasons that would be spoiler-ish to mention.
But that was really my only big complaint. Oh, just kidding: I was also mildly annoyed at how Corran is very careful to kill the least amount of people during the whole book, but then at the end with the stormtroopers he's just like trigger-happy. Er, lightsaber-happy. Either it was a cheap shot from Stackpole to make the ending more exciting, or everyone really DOES think stormtroopers are sub-human. Either way, a tad annoying.
Corran really does get the Best Jedi award from me. He always chooses the path that protects the most people and keeps the most people from dying. He has an ego and is sometimes selfish but he works around it. He doesn't rely on JUST the Force but also his piloting ability, his investigative skills, and his heart (to use a cheesy overused phrase). I think just about every other Jedi I've ever "met" could learn a LOT from Corran.
Michael Stackpole, the author, is mostly known for his novels in the X-Wing series. I, Jedi manages to combine the awesomeness of those books, along with a lot of Jedi mumbo-jumbo (I say this affectionately), a rescue mission, a character journey, and the entire Jedi Academy trilogy....into one book. Several characters created by other authors, notably Mara Jade and Kyp Durron, make small or large appearances in the book, and Stackpole manages to stay true to their characters while still keeping them sidelined to Corran Horn's story. I knew SOMEONE out there should be able to do it. It seems like the EU is a lot more categorized and boxed-up nowadays. For instance, Troy Denning is only "allowed" to write about bugs and Ewoks, Timothy Zahn keeps to his Chiss, Mara Jade, and Talon Karrde, and Kevin J. Anderson keeps to his Academy. This irritates me. Why shouldn't the EU authors be able to overlap better? Stackpole can.
I had to remind myself several times that this wasn't a big space epic, like the Corellian Trilogy (or the original trilogy, for that matter), it wasn't a adventure story like Outbound Flight. I, Jedi is exactly what it sounds like: a look into a character who is becoming a Jedi, how he gets there and how he deals with the powers and the philosophy. Since it's more about Corran's character journey rather than any particular super-weapon that needs destroying or Dark Lord that needs vanquishing, the storyline does suffer at some points.
But this book does the character-journey line EXCELLENTLY. It reminded me how very much I love Corran Horn. He's a pilot, he's an investigator, and, in this book, he's becoming a Jedi. All awesome powers rolled into one.
The book begins with Corran returning from a Rogue mission to discover that not only is his wife, Mirax, gone, but he can't feel her in the Force, either, other than she's alive. Persuaded by friends that if he goes after her she'll just be put in danger, Corran goes to Luke's shiny new Jedi Academy on Yavin 4 to learn freakish powers so he can save his wife.
This is where the JA trilogy comes in. The first half of I, Jedi, chronicles Corran's part in those events, which I thought was a fascinating way to write a book. You get a lot of insight into how the "normal" trainees reacted to all the insanity, and, more importantly (to me) you get out of Luke's head, which got pretty insufferable in that trilogy In My Opinion.
Again, I liked Mara Jade's various appearances in the book. She stayed true to herself, and I liked her silly camaraderie with Corran and her caring for Luke. *hugs Mara Jade*
Elegos' appearance in the later parts of the book was interesting because I thought he was a Timothy Zahn creation. Nope! I, Jedi, was published before Vision of the Future. Again, it shows that some authors can work together and keep the character the same even in different books and by different people. Although, on second thought, I think Stackpole did a better job with hitting the fine line between pacificism and just letting the bad guys do whatever they want: Elegos was prepared to do what was necessary to protect himself and others, but he just prefers not to. Zahn seemed to say that Elegos would always be a passive bystander no matter what.
ANYWAY back to I, Jedi. There were a couple things I didn't like. The fact that Mirax is kidnapped for most of the book means we don't get to see much of her, which is a shame because she's a great character. There was a lot of life when she got back in the game. Ah, well. Also, the climax and ending felt rather tacked-on to me, for various reasons that would be spoiler-ish to mention.
But that was really my only big complaint. Oh, just kidding: I was also mildly annoyed at how Corran is very careful to kill the least amount of people during the whole book, but then at the end with the stormtroopers he's just like trigger-happy. Er, lightsaber-happy. Either it was a cheap shot from Stackpole to make the ending more exciting, or everyone really DOES think stormtroopers are sub-human. Either way, a tad annoying.
Corran really does get the Best Jedi award from me. He always chooses the path that protects the most people and keeps the most people from dying. He has an ego and is sometimes selfish but he works around it. He doesn't rely on JUST the Force but also his piloting ability, his investigative skills, and his heart (to use a cheesy overused phrase). I think just about every other Jedi I've ever "met" could learn a LOT from Corran.