By: Michael A. Stackpole Publisher: Spectra Average Rating: Binding: Mass Market Paperback Label: Spectra Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 608 Publication Date: June 01, 1999 Release Date: June 01, 1999
Product Description: New York Times bestselling author Michael A. Stackpole presents a stirring new tale set in the Star Wars® universe: the dramatic story of a heroic X-wing pilot on the razor's edge between the Force--and the dark side.
Corran Horn has distinguished himself as one of the best and brightest of Rogue Squadron's elite fighting force. Then his wife, Mirax, vanishes on a covert mission for the New Republic, and Corran vows to find her. To do so, he knows he must develop the latent Force powers inherited from his grandfather, a legendary Jedi hero. He joins Luke Skywalker's famed Jedi academy to begin training, only to quit in frustration at Skywalker's methods. Now Corran is on his own. Using his Corellian undercover experience, he must infiltrate, sabotage, and destroy a ruthless organization in order to find his wife. But to succeed, Corran will have to come to terms with his Jedi heritage--and make a terrible choice: surrender to the dark side...or die.
Amazon.com Review: Corran Horn, hero of Rogue Squadron and former Corellian Security Force officer, has a problem: his wife, Mirax, has disappeared while on a secret mission. In his struggle to rescue his wife, Horn joins Luke Skywalker's Jedi academy as a charter recruit, befriends Mara Jade, tangles with a 4,000-year-old Sith lord, and goes undercover to infiltrate a notorious band of pirates. But what will he do when he finds himself faced with a dilemma--surrender to the dark side of the force or risk losing Mirax forever?
This abridgment (though approved by the licensor) causes some serious gaps in the story--major events are merely mentioned in passing, while others are described in great detail--but fans may be placated by sound effects and John Williams's music from the original Star Wars Trilogy. Tony Award-nominee Anthony Heald performs with his usual aplomb, providing distinctive voices for a wide range of characters and heightening the tension when necessary. (Running time: three hours, two cassettes) --C.B. Delaney
good is a good story to go along with the jedi academy trilogy, tells a bit more about what was going on in that time and from a new perspective.
Woot Wow...I've read this book twice, and now I own it, and it is amazing! If more Star Wars books could give better insight into the use of the force and jedi training, the world would be a better place. This novel especially interested me because it taught me a bit of how the force is used and introduced me to the pirates of Star Wars. Also the connection between the reader and the main character that Stackpole creates adds more, and makes it harder to put down. If I was to write a short review of the book that covers the story line it would go as follows:
Very interesting book, in first person narrative, from the perspective of a Correllian Rogue Squadron pilot, who trains to be a Jedi in order to save his wife. Takes place when Luke is first starting his Jedi Academy (if you know nothing of this academy I recommend the game "Jedi Academy" as well), several years after the "Return of the Jedi"
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Fantastic novel My favorite star wars novel. Successfully interwoven in the Jedi Academy trilogy and written in the first person Stackpole has put together a great story. Highly Recommended!
this book let me down Let me first say this: I love everything of Stackpole's that I've read before, and I really love Corran Horn. That being said, this book was a disappointment to me. Stackpole may do a fine job of patching up the shoddy work of the Jedi Academy Trilogy, but I was left with the feeling that all I was reading for half the book was just that: clean-up. The entire account of the Academy in I, Jedi seemed half-heartedly written, and I just couldn't get into it. This was the experience for half of the book until I finally reached the advertised plot. Once there, I got the feeling that this was the story the author wanted to tell, but in the end he was left half the space he needed to do it in, and the results weren't stellar. Furthermore, much of the action in the novel just seemed highly unlikely. I realize this is science fiction and there's always an element of the suspension of belief, but nevertheless, I'd like for the stories to be believable within their own universe, and much of what happens in I, Jedi simply was not. I wanted the characters to *be* characters instead of plot devices, and they weren't. Luke or Mara or Booster showed up when they were needed, not when or how they'd really show up. Elegos's history was incredible... literally. I could go on. I was really looking forward to this novel, and I was really wanting to enjoy it, but I received little encouragement from the book itself and in the end had to force myself to finish it. That's a let down.
A review of the abridged audiobook I was not a fan of this book. I'm not sure if it was the abridgement or the writing style, but I'll give the author the benefit of the doubt and blame the abridgement.
Like most abridged books, it was too abridged (where are the Reader's Digest abridgers when you need them?). Characters, ships and situations show up without preamble but we're expected to be familiar with them. The whole book seemed hurried.
The typical special effects that Lucasfilms provides their audiobooks are a bonus, but they were somewhat haphazardly applied in this case - sometimes the music overpowered the text and jungle background noises were on a continous loop that was too loud and too repetitive. The lightsaber sound effects are wonderful, but they were not timed with the text very well - sabers were being turned on before the text mentioned danger and off during battles (which made me wonder if someone was trying to do the Obi Wan Kenobi thing from Star Wars Episode IV). Anthony Heald read the text and did a strong job as he always does. But, there was only so much he could do with this one...
Corran Horn's quick welcome into the secretive pirate group (the Survivors) as a pirate seemed contrived and I'll credit that to the abridgement. Think of pirates as a street gang and try to imagine joining a street gang as a full-fledged member over a drink at a bar and you'll see what I mean.
Also, the use of a Star Destroyer as a smuggler ship boggles my mind, and not in a positive way. Smugglers depend on the importation of small quantities of goods to keep the price high to justify the risks they take. They use stealth to avoid the law. A Star Destroyer is neither small nor stealthy. It would overwhelm the market and make prices plummet and it would be so obvious that it would demand government attention. Think of a drug smuggler pulling into San Diego harbor with an aircraft carrier full of drugs. It would be: A) super obvious; and B) a disaster for the local drug market prices. But, you'd have to unload the product there because the cost of operating such a ship precludes stopping off at little ports all over the coast and doling out little amounts.
I did like this quote: "Selflessness is the only antidote to evil."
So, I cannot recommend this one - I listened to it and liked parts of it, but on the whole, it was unsatisfying.
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