Customer Reviews

Champions of the Force (Star Wars: The Jedi Academy Trilogy, Vol. 3)

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

The climactic novel of Kevin J. Anderson's Jedi Academy Trilogy is probably the best of the series, but in the end it is something of a disappointment.

The book picks up where Dark Apprentice leaves off, namely with yet another super weapon on the loose, this time in the hands of a would-be Jedi with revenge on his mind, while Luke lays in a helpless trance on Yavin 4. Meanwhile, a plot is in motion to kidnap Leia and Han's third child (Anakin Solo), the Republic finally gets around to moving against that hidden weapon's research facility from Book #1, and Admiral Daala continues to fail miserably in her Honor Harrington imitation (why does anyone in their right minds follow her?). All of these plot lines lead to that perennial Big Climactic Space Battle, which are a trademark of the Star Wars series. On the plus side, the action works well, the characters are much more interesting, and there's actually a good deal of humor (more so, IMHO, than in either of the previous two books). However, on the negative side...

To give Anderson credit, he does manage to tie in all the threads he began in the previous two books, which is in some ways a marvel. But the ending feels rushed, and the novel loses much of its steam because of it. Going into the end of such a series, there should be a feeling of tension and excitement, a build-up to the final confrontations about to take place. There is little of that here, just a feeling that we're finally reaching a conclusion. Anderson does achieve his primary task of re-establishing the Jedi order, but once he has them back he doesn't really have much for them to do -- which is a shame, because that was supposedly the point of the series in the first place. At least he sets things up adequately for subsequent novels.

If you've managed to get through the first two books of the Jedi Academy Trilogy, Champions of the Force is an adequate ending. Even if you were wavering on reading the third book because Dark Apprentice was not quite up to snuff, going on to the last will at least satisfy your curiosity about how things turn out. But once you're finished, don't expect to want to ever go back to the books again. This isn't the kind of series that's likely to occupy a permanent place on your shelves unless you are a Star Wars completest.

The Jedi Acadamy series as a whole was a truly amazing series (really!). Throughout the whole series, I was continually surprised. Anderson has accomplished some things in this series which I thought would be impossible to do in a book.

Okay. Some people may be wondering why I just gave the review a negative title and a one star review, then started heaping praise on it. Let me explain. The amazing thing about this series, and the rerason I was continually surprised, was that somehow, the always managed to get worse as the series progressed. I never would have imagined that someone could start with a book as bad a Jedi Search, go even lower with Dark Apprentice, and still manage to find new deapths with Champions of the Force.

For anyone who didn't head my warnings and read through the first two anyway, this book is plagued by some of the same problems that hit the first two, such as the surplus of superweapons, Daala, and the omnipotence of the force, plus a few new ones.

For starters, there was Exar Kun. A powerful but dead Sith Lord who began to influence Luke's students with the Dark Side. He even granted the ever insinuating Kyp engough power to take Luke down. So, why does this powerful dead guy then lose to a bunch of trainees barely a hundred pages into the book?

With Kun gone, Kyp, who has busied himself by blowing up stars with the Suncrusher (I will talk about that later), suddenly has a change of heart and decides that everything he has been doing under Exar Kun's influence was wrong. So he apologizes and, in a section which clearly demonstrates that the legal system in the Star Wars universe is as corrupt as our own, strikes a deal with Luke. All he has to do is cast the suncrusher into a black hole, and he will recieve a pardon. The murderer of billions, forgiven just like that! Now I ask: does this mean that if I shoot a couple people but then drop the gun I did it with to the bottom of the ocean that I, too, can be forgiven?

Of course, mentioning the suncrusher, I can't help but observe that there seem to be a lot of superweapons floating around in this trillogy. Are we really so uncreative that we have to rely on the same plot device over and over and over again? Guess so, because there's another in Darksaber.

In the plus category (if there is one for this book), Daala seems a little less imcompetent than in the previous books. Though, of course, this may just be that she is in this one less. Actually, it probably would have been better for her character had she died in this episode. At least then she would have gone out a hero, rather than screwing up again in Darksaber and finally finishing with a weak conclusion at the end of Planet of Twilight.

Oh well. I guess the dream of having the whole body of Star Wars literature live up to the standards of The Thrawn Trillogy was just not meant to be. Despite the fact that I am not a fan of the series, I am not the all mighty whose opinions are the absolute last word. Therefore, I encourage you to form your own opinions.

I'll get right to it: the problem here, is that Anderson writes novels with plots worthy of comic books. Depth, complexity, introspection, dimension are all foreign to him. This would be OK, if, at least, the action scenes were interesting. Unfortunately they're not. It's not exactly a spoiler here, but the good guys win. Every engagement. Every battle. Sure, we want the Republic to win in the end, but someone ought to tell KJA that there's nothing terribly gripping about reading the Empire lose time and time again. In Zahn's trilogy he created a palpable threat. A strong bad guy. KJA does not, consequently his books lack any tension.

And why does it seem to take less time to become a Jedi Knight than it does to get a mail-order Associates Degree?

I'm a Star Wars maniac, pure and true, and this book I would not have finished if it weren't for my devotion. I didn't read the rest of the trilogy, and talking to a friend who had, I found out I didn't need to. The story just went in a hundred different directions all at once, which in the beginning was captivating--many Star Wars novels have done this-- but what really turned my attention off was the fact the conflicts--Mon Mothma's disease, Kyp going completely insane and blowing things up, Lukes illness, Anakin's kidnapping, and so on and so forth-- never had anything to do with each other. It was just like the writer, Anderson, said, "Okay, let's write about the everyday lives of some well-known Star Wars characters in a completely random way for no apparent reason in the form of a trilogy." All the plot line really did was run around in little circles over, and over, and over, and over, and over again like hamsters on an exercize wheel. And the ending was really abrupt, like "Blah, blah, everything's going terrible for our heroes, but the book is ending, so we'll just say that everybody lives happily ever after, shall we? Alrighty then-- this and this and this happened, The End!" Whoopie. Absolutely "edge-of-you-seat", gripping, climatic, and altogether totally NOT. Then there are the not-so-small nits; General Garm Bel Iblis's last name is spelled, well, Bel Iblis. In COTF, though, his name is mispelled Bel-Iblis. Then there's the Threkin Horm, whose name is mispelled BIG TIME in COTF as Hrekin Thorm. What in all the worlds is UP WITH THAT?! Then, we have the fact that just about every quote is ended in "!". So I plan to do the same, from here on! I'll write every sentance with over-exaggerating exclamation points! We'll see just how ANNOYING this can get! Finally, that little speech made by Leia in the jadi temple was sappy! That's it; just plain-old sappy! It wouldn't happen, I guarente it! Well, at least the cover art was good! My final word to buyers: don't! Read the Thrawn trilogy instead, and if you've finished, then READ 'EM AGAIN! They're good! And if you really must know what happens in this time period, then read I, JEDI! I think I have made my point with the exclamation marks, haven't I?! I think so! Cya'll!

Ps! Sorry about all the bashing here! I really am a cruel critic here, aren't I?!

This series is bound to draw comparisons to Zahn's trilogy, being the only other trilogy set before the aimless admixture of random hack authors' ideas into the Star Wars universe turned the whole liscense to utter [junk]. And of course, Kevin J. Anderson, who went on to butcher another epic (Dune), manages to take characters I used to like and turn them into two-dimensional cliches. This is the series that turned me off to Star Wars novels, when I realized that no one was screening these authors.

As to the novel itself. Poor plot, poor dialogue, terrible villains, and don't even ask about the protaganists... Working with characters such as Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, Anderson somehow manages to make me hate them. I absolutely can't say enough about this novel and series as a whole. If you have any respect for the Star Wars legacy at all, please pass on this one. Pick up a copy of Zahn's trilogy and try to forget that any other Star Wars books were written.

After reading the first 2 books of the trilogy I wanted something good to wrap it up, Keven J. Anerson did a good job at that. The book made me want to read more chapter after chapter. Althought there were some sad parts in it, it mostly kept me at the edge of my seat.

this series of books are awful. Why? Because a)the plots suck-there are contrived plot twists and melodrama galore; b) the characterizations are pathetic-are we supposed to believe that luke skywalker the Jedi Master can't tell when his students are being turned to the Dark side-twice?!!!; c) finally, how many times can an author write the same line in a book-look no further than one of KJA's books! I must have read "Do, there is no try" at least 500 times in this awful series. the man needs serious help.

A complete waste of time. See my reviews of the first two volumes of this trilogy to read my rantings and ravings. Tell me why everything must come as a "trilogy" now. Lucas spoke of creating the movies in the form of a "trilogy," but did so following the form of a classic three-act drama. Mr. Anderson merely churns out three books, using the same lines and the same situations in each. (How many times must we read someone saying "I've got a bad feeling about this," or someone quoting Yoda???)

Kevin Anderson is so mediocre one is surprised why there are people who give him so much acclaim. The story is weak and the characterizations totally out; he is undoubtedly the worst of all the writers in the Star Wars genre.

I wanted to give this book 1.5 stars but since you can't I settled for 1. Champions of the Force is interesting to a point. There are some space battles that seem to be ok, but the major problems haunting all of Anderson's Star Wars books persist. Another superweapon enters the picture: Death Star prototype, run by beings who are so inept its supposed to be funny but comes off just annoying. Kyp Durron returns to the light side, and Exar Khun is defeated but by the end of the story, Durron is treated like buddy not a mass murderer. It's simply not realistic. Admiral Daala comes back to provide Imperial presence but it's not really needed. Anderson tries but the book is to predictable and simply not all that good. Useless characters and plot lines abound. Really enough is enough. If you wish to read about the opening of the Jedi Academy pick up I, Jedi not this trilogy.