David's Review of The Jedi Academy Trilogy Vol. 1: Jedi Search

4/5 Rancors - Jedi Search by Kevin J. Anderson is Volume 1 of The Jedi Academy Trilogy. The series is set in a time when the Republic is still fighting scattered forces of the old Empire. Leia and Han have three kids with the twins Jacen and Jaina making an appearance in this book. Leia is completely swamped with her responsibilities as the chief diplomat for the Republic but still tries to find time to be a mother to the twins when they are brought to Coruscant. Han spends most of the book with Chewbacca on what was supposed to be a diplomatic mission to Kessel but turns out to be much more than that. Luke’s primary focus in the tale is to reestablish the Jedi Order by finding new potential Jedi and establishing a Jedi academy for their training.

On the whole, I very much enjoyed the book. In the early stages, several different paths of the story are set up. I especially enjoyed a scene where Luke surveys the towers of Coruscant from a shuttle-landing platform while he is biding his time until he walks into the assembly chamber of the New Republic Senate and requests permission to address the assembled delegates. He approaches them with the need to find new Jedi, recreate the Order, and establish an academy. He receives official permission from the Senate to proceed. The concept of actually finding potential new Jedi was fascinating. Luke could get a very good idea of the potential by doing a type of mind meld with individuals. However, you clearly just can’t walk up to random individuals on the street and test them for awareness of the Force. He establishes parameters and enlists the invaluable aid of R2-D2 and C-3PO to search through vast databases to find possible Jedi candidates. Then we are able to follow Luke as he heads off to check out potential new Jedi face to face. Luke goes through his own ordeal in investigating Gantoris before determining that he is an acceptable Jedi candidate. The ordeal is presented in such a way as to make Luke appear to be weak and indecisive. The session with Gantoris was difficult to accept. Luke’s meeting on Bespin with Streen, the second candidate, is much better done. All of this makes you appreciate what a difficult task a search for new Jedi would be.

In the meantime, Han and Chewie arrive at Kessel only to receive an extremely rude welcome and end up working as slaves in the spice mines. Not a good place to be. They manage to make their escape along with Kyp Durron, a fellow prisoner. In their frenzied efforts to escape the planet they end up forced to navigate into the dreaded black holes of the Maw. They succeed in that through the efforts of Kyp only to end up at a secret Imperial base with four Super Destroyers. The base was established under the orders of Grand Moff Tarkin and has been hidden away for ten years under the leadership of Admiral Daala. Her orders were to stay in place and continue their scientific research on a new super weapon until they were told otherwise. No news has come in or gone out during the entire time the base has been in place. The action from this point is pretty much nonstop and involves most of our favorite heroes. I also love the idea of a secret base.

Mr. Anderson also introduces us early in the book to one of the most unforgettable droids ever, a walking factory described as a construction droid. These droids are 40 stories tall, have thousands of articulated arms, and are responsible for the demolition of much of Coruscant that has been destroyed during various battles. The droids wade into derelict buildings, take them apart, absorb all of the wreckage, and then divide it into useful materials and junk. If the droid is shut down, it takes three days to fire it up again. I just love the idea of a 40-story droid.

The only part of the book that I really had any trouble with was the Umgullian blob races. Yes, that’s right – blobs racing around an obstacle. The blob races tie in with the plot OK, but there has to have been a better way. It’s as if Mr. Anderson decided his story needed some comic relief.

Jedi Search is well worth reading but could have been even better with some strengthening in a few places.