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bradland's review against another edition
2.0
My 'Interpretive Study' for Year 11 English in 1998 for Children of the Jedi (warts and all):
The second book I am writing about is called ‘Star Wars – Children of the Jedi’ written by Barbara Hambly This noel was not meant to be part of a trilogy like ‘Heir to the Empire’ when it was first written and released. Over the next couple of years though, two other books based on the events in Children of the Jedi continued on the story There was a reason for this and the reason is there were already other books released before COTJ that were set sometime after. If COTJ were to be left like it was all the Star Wars novels would not connect to each other the way there meant to.
Children of the Jedi is set eight years after ‘Return of the Jedi’ and thee years after Heir to the Empire. During that three year period Luke Skywalker has established a Jedi Academy to teach potential Jedi students the ways of the Force and to become Jedi Knights. Princess Leia has become the Chief of State of the New Republic government during that time as well. Han Solo and Leia have had another child called Anakin, named after Luke and Leia’s father Anakin Skywalker before he became the evil dark load, Darth Vader.
The story is about Luke and Leia hearing a rumour about lost Children of the Jedi from the past who were in hiding when Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader were hunting down and killing any Force User. The lost children were also rumoured to be situated on the planet Ithor.
Luke, accompanied with two of his students Cray and Nichol and the golden droid C-3PO took a spaceship on a mission to investigate this rumour. Han, Leia, Chewie and R2-D2 were to meet up with Luke on Ithor later on in the Millennium Falcon
As Luke and the gang were travelling to their destination they received a radio transmission from another spacecraft that prompted them to investigate. This led to Luke’s ship being shot down and crash landing on the unknown ship that had sent the transmission and who had shot them down.
It turns out the unknown spaceship is a thirty year old Dreadnaught-Class Cruiser called the ‘Eye of Palpatine’ (dreadnaughts were considered the most powerful star-cruisers in the known galaxy in the past). This cruiser had been programmed thirty years ago by the Empire to attack Ithor because of the Jedi located there, but it near completed its mission for some unknown reason.
To complete this feat the dreadnaught was also programmed to pick up al of the Empire’s stormtroopers situated on particular planets on the way to Ithor. Since all of the stormtroopers would have either left or died years ago on each planet, ‘The Eye of Palpatine’ picked up other different species from each planet, and brain-washed them into being loyal servant to the Empire/
Luke eventually discovers that a spirit of a Jedi Knight is on board the cruiser. Her name is Callista and she released her spirit from her body through the Force and into the gunnery compute, preventing anyone else from activating the deadly weapon. She existed in a dreamlike suspension for nearly thirty years. Luke and Callista join forces to stop the ‘Eye of Palpatine’ from fulfilling its mission.
When I read through this book I found it difficult to follow the plot. I kept having to go back through the booking thinking I have missed an important paragraph somewhere and discovering I hadn’t. The story was very hard to understand and it took me the longest time to read compared with the other Star Wars boos I have read. The plot also tended to drag on a bit, not like Timothy Zahn’s ‘Heir to the Empire.’
The follow on books ‘Darksaber’ by Kevin J Anderson and ‘Planet of Twilight’ by Barbara Hambly are slightly better than Children of the Jedi.
The second book I am writing about is called ‘Star Wars – Children of the Jedi’ written by Barbara Hambly This noel was not meant to be part of a trilogy like ‘Heir to the Empire’ when it was first written and released. Over the next couple of years though, two other books based on the events in Children of the Jedi continued on the story There was a reason for this and the reason is there were already other books released before COTJ that were set sometime after. If COTJ were to be left like it was all the Star Wars novels would not connect to each other the way there meant to.
Children of the Jedi is set eight years after ‘Return of the Jedi’ and thee years after Heir to the Empire. During that three year period Luke Skywalker has established a Jedi Academy to teach potential Jedi students the ways of the Force and to become Jedi Knights. Princess Leia has become the Chief of State of the New Republic government during that time as well. Han Solo and Leia have had another child called Anakin, named after Luke and Leia’s father Anakin Skywalker before he became the evil dark load, Darth Vader.
The story is about Luke and Leia hearing a rumour about lost Children of the Jedi from the past who were in hiding when Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader were hunting down and killing any Force User. The lost children were also rumoured to be situated on the planet Ithor.
Luke, accompanied with two of his students Cray and Nichol and the golden droid C-3PO took a spaceship on a mission to investigate this rumour. Han, Leia, Chewie and R2-D2 were to meet up with Luke on Ithor later on in the Millennium Falcon
As Luke and the gang were travelling to their destination they received a radio transmission from another spacecraft that prompted them to investigate. This led to Luke’s ship being shot down and crash landing on the unknown ship that had sent the transmission and who had shot them down.
It turns out the unknown spaceship is a thirty year old Dreadnaught-Class Cruiser called the ‘Eye of Palpatine’ (dreadnaughts were considered the most powerful star-cruisers in the known galaxy in the past). This cruiser had been programmed thirty years ago by the Empire to attack Ithor because of the Jedi located there, but it near completed its mission for some unknown reason.
To complete this feat the dreadnaught was also programmed to pick up al of the Empire’s stormtroopers situated on particular planets on the way to Ithor. Since all of the stormtroopers would have either left or died years ago on each planet, ‘The Eye of Palpatine’ picked up other different species from each planet, and brain-washed them into being loyal servant to the Empire/
Luke eventually discovers that a spirit of a Jedi Knight is on board the cruiser. Her name is Callista and she released her spirit from her body through the Force and into the gunnery compute, preventing anyone else from activating the deadly weapon. She existed in a dreamlike suspension for nearly thirty years. Luke and Callista join forces to stop the ‘Eye of Palpatine’ from fulfilling its mission.
When I read through this book I found it difficult to follow the plot. I kept having to go back through the booking thinking I have missed an important paragraph somewhere and discovering I hadn’t. The story was very hard to understand and it took me the longest time to read compared with the other Star Wars boos I have read. The plot also tended to drag on a bit, not like Timothy Zahn’s ‘Heir to the Empire.’
The follow on books ‘Darksaber’ by Kevin J Anderson and ‘Planet of Twilight’ by Barbara Hambly are slightly better than Children of the Jedi.
cyris_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
kauck's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
kb_208's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This was a little difficult to start. Something about the writing style. But once I was able to adjust it turned out to be a rather interesting story. After a dire warning from a former acquaintance of Han's, he and Leia go to planet to look for what he was warning about. It was the planet where the children of the Jedi were supposed to have been hiding. Meanwhile, one of Luke's jedi students, who is mostly a droid, has visions of coordinates, which takes them to a giant asteroid that almost shoots them down, but they land on a nearby planet. From there the asteroid, which turns out to be a decades old ship run by AI on a mission to destroy the children of the jedi, which started before the emperor was destroyed. Luke and his companions get picked up by this ship and some of them are brainwashed into thinking they have a mission to destroy the jedi. On board with many different creatures, Luke must find a way to stop the ship.
Pretty good story overall. I enjoyed it.
Pretty good story overall. I enjoyed it.
twilliamson's review
1.0
If Vonda McIntyre's The Crystal Star is the worst Star Wars novel ever, Barbara Hambly's Children of the Jedi desperately wants to try for the title. It takes a lot to make a book as bad, but virtually every decision Hambly makes for Luke and company is the wrong one.
The books flaws are multitude, but it bears repeating the worst parts:
1) Luke spends the entire novel passing out, with almost every one of his chapters ending with a fade to black, as if that helps build narrative tension;
2) Luke has a wet dream about a Force ghost and then decides he is in love with her in spite of only knowing her Force ghost self for, like, three days or something;
3) Luke's Force ghost girlfriend inhabits the corpse of one of Luke's hot students;
4) Luke's hot student only gives up her body because she can't stand to live without her boyfriend;
5) Mara Jade gets mad that she wasn't the only one of Palpatine's side pieces;
6) The main antagonist of the novel doesn't show up for almost 60% of the book;
7) The main crisis of the book is yet another stupid megaweapon lost by the Emperor somewhere;
8) The main antagonist of the novel is believed to be one of Palpatine's heirs;
9) The book retroactively decides that the Galactic Civil War, which ended prior to Kevin J. Anderson's Jedi Academy trilogy, isn't over anymore;
10) All the Gamorreans speak Galactic Basic now for no reason whatsoever;
11) Tusken Raiders show up on the giant spaceship superweapon, along with Jawas and plant people, for absolutely no fucking reason other than to add length to an already overwrought plot.
It's also worth noting that while Hambly is objectively the best prose writer of any of the Star Wars books from 1976-1995, the book's plot doesn't start to come together until well over half the book's length, at which point the development of the plot barely resembles its original premise. In spite of her prose, the book is a slog of boring exposition, ridiculous subplot elements that do nothing to serve the characters or the setting of Star Wars and its lore, and simply retcons whole developments of the expanded universe timeline for no appreciable reason. Some of that blame surely lies at the feet of the editorial team behind the expanded universe's design, but it seems objectionable that Hambly simply ignores much of the expanded lore in order to shoehorn whatever bad idea she has for the universe--whether it be on the nature of Gamorrean speech or on the truly abominable sexual politics of this novel.
But, hey, at least the cover's bitchin', right?
The books flaws are multitude, but it bears repeating the worst parts:
1) Luke spends the entire novel passing out, with almost every one of his chapters ending with a fade to black, as if that helps build narrative tension;
2) Luke has a wet dream about a Force ghost and then decides he is in love with her in spite of only knowing her Force ghost self for, like, three days or something;
3) Luke's Force ghost girlfriend inhabits the corpse of one of Luke's hot students;
4) Luke's hot student only gives up her body because she can't stand to live without her boyfriend;
5) Mara Jade gets mad that she wasn't the only one of Palpatine's side pieces;
6) The main antagonist of the novel doesn't show up for almost 60% of the book;
7) The main crisis of the book is yet another stupid megaweapon lost by the Emperor somewhere;
8) The main antagonist of the novel is believed to be one of Palpatine's heirs;
9) The book retroactively decides that the Galactic Civil War, which ended prior to Kevin J. Anderson's Jedi Academy trilogy, isn't over anymore;
10) All the Gamorreans speak Galactic Basic now for no reason whatsoever;
11) Tusken Raiders show up on the giant spaceship superweapon, along with Jawas and plant people, for absolutely no fucking reason other than to add length to an already overwrought plot.
It's also worth noting that while Hambly is objectively the best prose writer of any of the Star Wars books from 1976-1995, the book's plot doesn't start to come together until well over half the book's length, at which point the development of the plot barely resembles its original premise. In spite of her prose, the book is a slog of boring exposition, ridiculous subplot elements that do nothing to serve the characters or the setting of Star Wars and its lore, and simply retcons whole developments of the expanded universe timeline for no appreciable reason. Some of that blame surely lies at the feet of the editorial team behind the expanded universe's design, but it seems objectionable that Hambly simply ignores much of the expanded lore in order to shoehorn whatever bad idea she has for the universe--whether it be on the nature of Gamorrean speech or on the truly abominable sexual politics of this novel.
But, hey, at least the cover's bitchin', right?
graff_fuller's review
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This is my further adventure into Star Wars: Legends books/series. For the most part, this story is good, it is just jammed packed with names, places, characters that don't really effect the plot movement.
It is good to be around the main characters, but their adversaries didn't do much for me.
I like seeing Luke being battered/bruised and not at his A game. That was good.
This illusive Calista is a good character in this trilogy. I also am interested in the AI development within this period of time in Star Wars.
Love the banter (as always) with Leia and Han.
The Eye of Palpatine was something I had not known, before reading this book...which was interesting...the collosal asteroid type Death Star. Boy the Empire had a one track mind. Jeesh.
This being the first book in a trilogy, at this rating, I would usually dip out, but I think I will push through. I might regret it, but having exposure to the Legends era/Extended Universe, when it was the Wild West...and pretty much ANYTHING goes mentality of what could happen in a story.
#BucketListathon2023
It is good to be around the main characters, but their adversaries didn't do much for me.
I like seeing Luke being battered/bruised and not at his A game. That was good.
This illusive Calista is a good character in this trilogy. I also am interested in the AI development within this period of time in Star Wars.
Love the banter (as always) with Leia and Han.
The Eye of Palpatine was something I had not known, before reading this book...which was interesting...the collosal asteroid type Death Star. Boy the Empire had a one track mind. Jeesh.
This being the first book in a trilogy, at this rating, I would usually dip out, but I think I will push through. I might regret it, but having exposure to the Legends era/Extended Universe, when it was the Wild West...and pretty much ANYTHING goes mentality of what could happen in a story.
#BucketListathon2023
radioisasoundsalvation's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
kellylynnthomas's review against another edition
5.0
Even though it might not quite fit in with the continuity created by the prequel trilogy, I thought this was a cool story.
silpulsar_lexapro's review against another edition
1.0
Hot mess express. It usually takes a day or two for me to read a Star Wars book. This one took a month. Too many drawn out descriptions and a storyline with Luke on some weird ghost ship. Boring as hell. One of my least favorite so far.