Darksaber [Library Binding]

Kevin J. Anderson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 9, 2008

The author of the best-selling Jedi Academy trilogy presents a new Star Wars adventure that pits Luke Skywalker and the beautiful Callista against a ruthless mining baron and an evil Imperial warlord. 300,000 first printing. $300,000 ad/promo.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

You know what they say: build a better a Death Star and the Hutts will beat a path to your door. Poor Bevel Lemelisk, the inventor of the Empire's signature moon-size battle station, has done just that, and now he's in the service of Durga the Hutt (only a marginal improvement over working for Emperor Palpatine, who was in the habit of gruesomely executing Lemelisk, only to recombobulate him into a newly cloned body).

It's eight years after the battle of Endor, and the Hutts are hoping to make a galactic power play using Lemelisk's latest project, a sort of cylindrical Death Star superlaser-on-steroids, dubbed Darksaber. But the newly empowered Rebels and the recovering Empire aren't sitting idle. As the book opens, Han and Luke are sneaking their way across Tatooine's Dune Sea, dressed in Tusken drag. Luke's looking to commune with Obi-Wan to learn how to save his Jedi squeeze, Callista, recently rescued from the innards of the ship computer on Palpatine's super-duper Star Destroyer. Meanwhile, the ranks of the Imperial Fleet swell under the charismatic Admiral Daala. Will Luke help Callista touch the Force again? Where will Daala's fleet strike a blow against the New Republic? Will Lemelisk's new invention hold together long enough to save his own hide? The skilled Kevin J. Anderson sure makes it fun to find out. --Paul Hughes --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Anderson, whose Jedi Academy trilogy of Star Wars paperbacks were all bestsellers, makes his Star Wars hardcover debut with this novel. Unlike many of the previous series hardcovers, Darksaber often harkens back to the time of the Star Wars movies, invoking familiar scenes and flourishes (Princess Leia being forced to wear a "humiliating costume" after she's captured by Jabba the Hutt; Han Solo entreating, "It's not my fault!"). Anderson is careful, though, to include plenty of present-day action. Set just after the events of Barbara Hambly's Children of the Jedi, this novel follows the quest of Luke Skywalker and Callista to reestablish the latter's Jedi powers. Meanwhile, Durga the Hutt is using Bevel Lemelisk, co-designer of the original Death Star, to create a similar weapon for his own nefarious purposes, and the still-living Admiral Daala is working to reunite various factions of the Empire to reassert their glory. Anderson manages to keep everything fast-paced, yet the whole never coheres into a properly exciting story. This is probably the most accessible of the Star Wars hardcovers; fans of the movies should experience nostalgic delight, but it often comes off as more of a marketing device than a novel proper, especially with George Lucas's three-part prequel to the Star Wars movies now in the works.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Library Binding
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1435270126
• ISBN-13: 978-1435270121
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.3 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (210 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #11,169,081 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kevin J. Anderson has written 46 national bestsellers and has over 20 million books in print worldwide in thirty languages. He has been nominated for the Nebula Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the SFX Readers' Choice Award. Find out more about Kevin Anderson at www.wordfire.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars not really worth the effort, June 15, 2006

By 

Joe Sherry (Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Darksaber (Star Wars) (Mass Market Paperback)

Uh oh. The remnants of the Empire are gathering together to form a threat to the New Republic. Uh oh. There is a giant superweapon being constructed using the original plans and scientists who worked on the Death Star. Sigh. Out of all the possible stories that able to be told in the Star Wars Universe (see the Medstar Duology and the Republic Commando novels for examples), this is the story that Darksaber tells. For Star Wars, one must say "how prosaic". It's all been done before. Two movies and danced around in the novels. This is the best that Kevin Anderson and Lucasfilm could come up with for the novel?

Oh, well. Here's the deal: The Hutts are gathering components to build said superweapon, the title weapon. Remnants of the Empire, Admiral Daala and Pallaeon (second in command to Grand Admiral Thrawn) are pulling together various warlords to strike at the heart of the New Republic and hurt the New Republic bad. Luke Skywalker is seeking to find a way to restore the Jedi Powers of his love Callista. Leia, Han, and Chewbacca are investigating the Hutts to find out what the Hutts are planning. This all comes together with a major threat to the New Republic.

If it wasn't for the fact that this book is much of the same old same old for Star Wars fiction Darksaber wouldn't be that bad. Kevin Anderson has crafted a fast paced classic feeling Star Wars novel. The word "classic" is used here in the sense that the style is reminiscent of the original Star Wars trilogy. So, the action is fun and there are quips and back talk and little guys vs the Big Bad, but the novel just felt like a retread. It is a tired story. Anderson's writing isn't strong enough to overcome a story that does not add anything significant to the Star Wars Universe. It's middle of the road Star Wars. Nothing special to see here. Not truly worth the effort.

-Joe Sherry

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Fair, if a bit sappy, January 16, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Darksaber (Star Wars) (Mass Market Paperback)

Bluntly put, this story is about what you would expect from the Kevin J. Anderson school of Star Wars:slightly tacky writing, overabundant superweapons, lacking villians, and grossly overemphized and exaggerated use of the Force.

Kevin J. Anderson writes a fast paced tale, but the devolpment and ideas are lacking. I grow tired of the constant use of superweapons as plot centers in the Star Wars universe. This was no different. Worse was the title weapon failing to work. One of my greatest frustrations, though, is the character of Daala. While she is constantly refered to as a grand tactician, she manages to lose in situations where the odds are tipped in her failure. I like the original idea behind her, a female with skill, competance and command in a sexist environment. But Kevin J. Anderson either has no idea how to portray those attributes or else simply belives in the rumors of her relationship with Tarkin. This breeds another problem in Pellaeon. His portrayal in Tim Zahn's Star Wars novels makes it very unrealistic that he would be serving under Daala since all I've rfead suggests him to be far and away a superior tactician, adding to my previous theory that KJA has no idea how to portray tacticians. Thirdly is the overplay of the force. As with KJA's previous Star Wars novels, the Jedi are vastly exaggerated in their abilities. Never is this exaggeration better exemplified than when the Jedi trainees hurl seventeen star destroyers across lightyears of space. Still, on a fast-paced action level, where the "good guys" always win and the "bad guys" always lose this is a fair read. Consider what type of story you are looking for before you buy this.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Authors like Kevin J. Anderson are soiling Star Wars, December 3, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Darksaber (Star Wars) (Mass Market Paperback)

The people who like this book are the same people who like anything with the name "Star Wars". If you've glanced through the Star Wars Encyclopedia, you've probably noticed how many bad stories/characters have been dumped into the Star Wars universe by people like Anderson. I remember before his Jedi Academy Trilogy came out and seeing a picture of him laying on the floor surrounded by West End Games Star Wars sourcebooks, digging for material. I had a bad feeling about it, and the books sucked. But Kevin Anderson proves that ANYBODY can write a Star Wars novel. Just use the easy to follow outline below: 1. Invent a new superweapon for the bad guys (or borrow a previously used one!) 2. Invent new, uninteresting characters (or borrow old ones and misuse them) 3. Devise idiotic plot twists (for example, Luke and Callista are surrounded by Wampas, led by the one who's arm Luke cut off in EMPIRE. Now come on! That is truly idiotic! The next thing you know, IG-88 will be transferring his escence into the 2nd Death Star to take it over and...oh, that's already been done.) 4. Describe your characters as being one thing, then write them in a completely different way (example: "military genious" Daala is incompetent.) 5. Write bad action sequences, abuse any and all characters, kill them, and have a disappointing ending.

I rest my case.