Heir to the Jedi is a novel written by Kevin Hearne. The book was originally intended for the Star Wars novel series Star Wars: Empire and Rebellion, but it was published as a stand-alone story and originally released on March 3, 2015. The novel is written from the first-person perspective of Luke Skywalker and follows him as the Rebels search for a new base in the aftermath of the Battle of Yavin.
Publisher’s Summary: Luke Skywalker’s game-changing destruction of the Death Star has made him not only a hero of the Rebel Alliance but a valuable asset in the ongoing battle against the Empire. Though he’s a long way from mastering the power of the Force, there’s no denying his phenomenal skills as a pilot—and in the eyes of Rebel leaders Princess Leia Organa and Admiral Ackbar, there’s no one better qualified to carry out a daring rescue mission crucial to the Alliance cause.
A brilliant alien cryptographer renowned for her ability to breach even the most advanced communications systems is being detained by Imperial agents determined to exploit her exceptional talents for the Empire’s purposes. But the prospective spy’s sympathies lie with the Rebels, and she’s willing to join their effort in exchange for being reunited with her family. It’s an opportunity to gain a critical edge against the Empire that’s too precious to pass up. It’s also a job that demands the element of surprise. So Luke and the ever-resourceful droid R2-D2 swap their trusty X-wing fighter for a sleek space yacht piloted by brash recruit Nakari Kelen, daughter of a biotech mogul, who’s got a score of her own to settle with the Empire.
Challenged by ruthless Imperial bodyguards, death-dealing enemy battleships, merciless bounty hunters, and monstrous brain-eating parasites, Luke plunges head-on into a high-stakes espionage operation that will push his abilities as a Rebel fighter and would-be Jedi to the limit. If ever he needed the wisdom of Obi-Wan Kenobi to shepherd him through danger, it’s now. But Luke will have to rely on himself, his friends, and his own burgeoning relationship with the Force to survive.
Review: I have done a couple of these reviews so far and I’m focusing on the Disney canon books. I’m going to start doing them in the order that they were released. Heir to the Jedi happens to be the first book released in canon for Disney, even though it was written before Disney bought the property. It is kind of weird in that aspect but the book and story itself isn’t weird at all. It actually fills in a little gap that I didn’t think needed to be filled and that is the time between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back. You know how some of us wonder how Luke knew how to pull his saber out of the snow during the Wampa cave scene on Hoth well in this book, we find out that he sort of taught himself how to do that with the help of a couple of friends. Nakari Kelen and Drusil, two people Luke meets during his journey through this novel, are the two friends that help him learn things about himself and the Force even though they themselves can’t use it. Which I find interesting in itself. You also have Luke starting to like someone in the ways the Jedi shouldn’t in this novel as he slowly starts to fall for the human Nakari Kelen.
There are some great starship scenes as Luke and his friends battle and escape from a couple of different situations. And, of course, times when he has to use the lightsaber to defend himself against the different foes he faces. But there is one part of this book that he didn’t need to use the lightsaber as much and that is when he has to go to a place called Fet and there they encounter some different species that likes to eat, yes you guessed it, brains. It was probably one of the most horrific things I’ve witnessed in the Star Wars galaxy. Me being a horror fan, of course I loved every second of it. Really didn’t see that coming at all when I started this book. And it was also cool how he went to visit the tomb of a dead Rodian Jedi and he acquires his lightsaber to use down the line on trying to discover how he will eventually make his own lightsaber.
Mainly, I feel like this book is a good read overall. It isn’t going to blow you away but the little insights on how Luke starts to try and learn how to become a Jedi and how he, as many young men throughout our lifetimes, finds someone he is attracted to on a deeper level is actually cooler to see than I would have envisioned. This is also the only book that is strictly from the point of view of Luke so you get all of his feelings and inner dialogue with himself, which is pretty insightful as well. If you are a big Luke fan, you should get this book and learn all you can about the young Jedi. If you aren’t a Luke Skywalker fan but love Star Wars, you still may want to pick this one up and have some fun with it.
Tell me what you think if you decide to read it. Like I said, it was surprisingly enjoyable. Even though I’m not the biggest Luke fan, it was insightful nonetheless.
