David's Review of The Crystal Star

1/5 Rancors - Reading The Crystal Star by Vonda McIntyre led me to wonder how selective the publishing companies were back in the nineties when it came to selecting authors' works to be issued as official Star Wars novels. This book is simply not up to par. I found it to be a complete mishmash, and I had to force myself to wade through it. First of all, I just do not want to read a book where three-year-old and five-year-old kids have been ripped away from their parents and are in serious trouble. Then the plot of the book wanders all over the place, confusingly strange aliens with Godlike traits play a major role, and the small children lead a miraculous escape from the clutches of the book's evil genius. Too much of the book is just impossible to accept. Obviously, being a Star Wars fan means a person has to suspend belief in reality as we currently understand it. However, Ms McIntyre goes way too far.

Key plot points - Han and Leia's twins Jania and Jacen along with their younger brother Anakin are kidnapped. Chewie is seriously injured. Han and Luke have gone off on a guys' vacation trip. Leia makes an effort to follow the kidnappers' trail and stumbles onto a group of disabled refugee ships. We also have the charismatic alien Waru and a powerful Imperial officer who wants to restore the Empire. All of this might seem to bode well for a good tale, but it never comes together.

This is also another book in a stream of books that present Luke as a weak, confused character. The popular plot twist fifteen years ago seems to have been for Luke to lose his grasp of the Force. I cannot wait to read once again about Luke's being a powerful Jedi and dealing with bad guys in an effective manner without whining.

I will give the author credit for making me laugh out loud once. She briefly has an alien described as a hairy being approach Han and beg for money. "Has it got a coin in its pocketses for me?" Then a few lines later the same hairy being says "They're mine. Mine!" I took this as a tribute to Gollum from The Lord of the Rings. That was good, but not enough. The Crystal Star falls way short.