Customer Reviews

Splinter of the Mind's Eye (Star Wars)

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(20)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I read this book in 1978, when I was seven years old, and I thought it was terrific. I read it again three years ago, and I still think it's terrific. I'm delighted to see that it's still (back?) in print, because I think it has a heck of a lot more spirit and energy than most of the Star Wars franchise drivel being pumped out nowadays.

Reading through the other reviews I see a lot of "I liked it a lot, but"--followed by some complaint about an inconsistency with the subsequently established Star Wars canon. I know that there's a bit of popular mythology out there that George Lucas had the entire Star Wars series plotted out before he put the first one on celluloid, but I'm here to tell you it ain't so (check out Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays by Laurent Bouzereau for the skinny on this). That is, there was no way for Alan Dean Foster to know that Luke, Leia, and Vader were family, or that Vader was a cyborg under all that armor, or that Leia and Han were going to get romantic, or that Luke would get his lightsaber-wielding butt stomped in the next movie, or that Leia would develop beyond the sarcastic damsel in distress we saw in the first movie.

Which is all to say that DESPITE what you read in these other reviews, Foster actually does a pretty terrific job of making this consistent with the characters AS THEY ARE PORTRAYED IN THE FIRST MOVIE. The reason they're different from their portrayals in Empire, Jedi, etc. is that, well, the characterization in the original film was pretty thin. Luke, Leia, Han, Vader--even the droids and Chewbacca--really only developed three dimensional personalities in the second film. So this is a decidedly different Luke and Leia than the ones you're used to, and--swamp planet aside--this doesn't feel like most of the Star Wars that's come since. If the Star Wars that's come since can be compared to Lord of the Rings (epic scope, huge conflict), this is more like one of those original, great Conan novels by Robert E. Howard--well done, fun stuff, but a bit raw.

And THAT'S why you should buy it. ...

The first novel to take the adventures of Luke Skywalker beyond what we now call Episode IV: A New Hope, "Splinter of the Mind's Eye" drops Luke and Leia onto a primitive jungle planet where the stranded duo must contend with bizarre alien tribesmen, ravenous monsters, labrynthine caves, and roving bands of Imperial stormtroopers--all the while coming ever closer to the romance early Star Wars fans thought was written in the stars. While fleeing the Empire's soldiers, Luke and Leia learn from a Force-sensitive old woman that the backwater planet they've chanced on is home to a mythical crystal that can give its wielder heretofore unimagined power over the Force itself. But Luke and Leia aren't the only ones in on the revelation: the promise of even greater power lures Darth Vader himself, setting up a spell-binding climax including a lightsaber duel that compares favorably with any the films have offered thus far. Naturally, no novel written in '78 can jive with the Star Wars continuity as the movies have developed it since then, but that's not the author's fault. Alan Dean Foster has been of the world's best sci-fi writers for years, and "Splinter of the Mind's Eye" is first class storytelling. Contitnuity nothwithstanding, this is an outstanding and thoroughly entertaining stand-alone novel. What else matters?

This book was the first one authorized by Lucasfilm after the release of Star Wars: A New Hope and it is very good. Alan Dean Foster introduced us to a great sidestory with this and he must have helped many people out back in 1978 by tiding them over till the release of The Empire Strikes Back.

The story is interesting enough. Luke and Leia go on a search for the Kaiburr crystal, which is said to make someone indestructible with the Force. Obviously, they have to find it first, to keep it out of the Empire's hands, especially those of Darth Vader.

The best part of this book happens to be the best reason to buy this book: Luke's confrontation with Vader. All I'll say is that there is some great foreshadowing in this meeting. Read it and see what I mean.

Another interesting thing about this book is that it was written in 1978, so Foster only had the first movie to go on. That makes for some interesting interaction between Luke and Leia. Remember, nobody knew they were related yet.

I thoroughly enjoy this book. I'm positive that any Star Wars fan out there would too, so do yourself a favor and buy this excellent book!

Recently re-read SOTME after reading it on its original release in 78. Although the characterizations and story line seem crazy after all the newer accumulated SW lore, I tried to re-read it with the perspective that this was really the only 'expanded universe' we had in 1978.

It seems like lots of people have issues with Vader's personality and talents in this book, but keep in mind what we had seen last. Luke had developed force powers strong enough to allow him to guide a torpedo into an un-hittable exhaust port, while Vader had been almost blown away in a surprise attack by Solo's Falcon. We see it now as beginner's luck by Luke and a fury-inducing lapse by an all-powerful Vader, but I think Foster made a pretty logical extension of what we saw at the end of SW.

SW fans who weren't alive back then need to remember that not only didn't we know the whole Skywalker family tree, we'd never heard of Coruscant, Palpatine, or Yoda, didn't know the Emperor was a force-powerful Sith, had never seen an AT-AT or a green lightsaber, etc.

If you read this from that perspective and pretend you're enjoying a first glimpse at a SW universe outside of what you saw in Ep. 4, you might enjoy it.

I have to say this was a great book. It is even greater when you relfect on that it was written in 1978! The author had Luke deflect laser blasts, even though that wasn't shown in Star Wars: A New Hope(he only blocked, not deflected).

I have read other reviews by other readers saying that they were mad because Leia had no force powers and Luke put himself before everyone else. Well, think about it. You don't discover Leia is Luke's sister until 1983, 5 years later. Luke was not a Jedi, so he could put himself before others and not pull himself to the dark side.

Another said they were mad because Vader killed with his lightsaber, not his Force chocking. Well, I have news for you -- Vader never killed anyone with force choke in SW:ANH, he just killed one with a physical choke and another WITH HIS LIGHTSABER!

That pretty much sums up my thoughts on this book.

This is one of my favorite Star Wars books its filled with action, excitement, and adventure. Its the one of the few Star Wars book to feature Luke, Leia and Darth Vader with none of them knowing their relation to each other (Vader may know about Luke but he doesn't know about Leia) they actually have scenes together. That for me makes it the most exciting part. You can see hints towards Leia being Force Sensitive when she duels her father. Sure Vader's just toying with her but she don't know that. Leia does pretty good for someone who doesn't know she has Force abilities anyone else would be dead after Vader toyed with them. I liked how Vader realizes at the end how strong Luke really is and that he really could bring down the Empire. There's also a hint towards Vader knowing C3PO having shut the droid down according to Threepio knowing all of the correct codes to do so. I also liked Luke still interested in Leia because he doesn't know the relation. It would be more weird if after being attracted to her in A New Hope to suddenly become not interested. Luke does realize he would do anything to protect her which I liked and could possibly a hint. Its a great book.

My opinion of Alan Dean Foster's "Splinter of the Mind's Eye" gradually got worse as I progressed throughout the novel. It's the very first Star Wars Expanded Universe novel, and at that, it's not bad. It details the adventure of Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Organa between "Star Wars (1977)" and "The Empire Strikes Back (1980)" as they search for a mysterious crystal that gives the wielder special powers over the Force; they are aided by two hairy things called Yuzzems, their two faithful droids, and an old woman named Halla. At first as I was reading it, it had a good, classic feel to it. But as the novel went on, things started to hinder it.

The book begins with Luke and Leia heading in their X- and Y-Wing spaceships to an underground meeting to secure an alliance, and ship problems are experienced, forcing the two down on the closest planet Mimban. They are stranded there, so they have to get to the nearest station. They come to a small mining town where they meet the eccentric Halla. Off they go to find the Kaiburr crystal to satisfy this woman's desires.... So far so good: the book has distinct characters that are well described--Captain-Supervisor Grammel, Halla, and Leia all have precise personalities, some with which people can connect, but Luke has and always will have the same boyish shallowness. "Splinter" gets weird in parts where we know from future films that Luke and Leia are brother and sister; the book was written in 1978, one year after the original "Star Wars," so the author did not know yet that they're siblings. They seem to fall in love with each other, which is certainly not desirable, but if you're going to read this book, you have to simply accept that it was written before we had any knowledge of Darth Vader's, Luke's, and Leia's biological relations to each other. Creepy, but understandable, love.

My opinion of the book thusfar in the plot was four stars out of four. It then gradually made its way down to two and a half out of four as the book kept getting murky in its plot, descriptions, or credibility. When Luke and Leia make their escape from a prison, the two hairy Yuzzem creatures return Luke and Leia's weapons to them. How did the Yuzzem just 'know' which weapons belonged to Luke? There are plenty of weapons held for safe-keeping in a prison; there's no given reason why the two Yuzzem should know that Luke owns a lightsaber that was confiscated from him. Also, as Halla and two fuzzy Yuzzem creatures are running in one direction from a large worm-like creature called a wandrella, Luke and Leia are running in another direction. I had no problem with Luke and Leia's escape from the wandrella, but how old is this Halla woman; how fast can she run? What about See-Threepio and Artoo-Detoo; were they being carried by the two Yuzzem, or did they uncover speed never seen in the original "Star Wars"? I'll never know. I didn't like this part of the book because Foster never gave me a clear picture of what happened.

The book is short, but its plot requires it to be even shorter. After already having read through enough adventures in it, we have to read through Luke and Leia's journey through an underground tunnel and across a lake. It only serves to try and make each character a little less shallow, but it just isn't interesting. The monster that they encounter wasn't exactly frightening; it just went away like a harmless bug that you might shoo away at home; though had it been really frightening, it would be just like the wandrella that they encountered before. It got a little more interesting when they entered the abandoned city and fought the Coway. I sort of liked the tournament held to determine whether the kidnapped remain kidnapped; itself it was plain and usual, but made interesting by the elusive manner in which Luke defeated the Coway champion fighter. It added something to the mystery of the Force, and even better that Foster made sure not to explain exactly how Luke won.

The end scene where Luke and Leia combat Darth Vader is acceptable. I accept that Foster doesn't know how strong Vader is or how weak Luke is at this stage in his Jedi training, and I accept the result of the fight knowing how little we see of Darth Vader's combat skills in the original "Star Wars." But what I don't accept is Vader himself. He's in no way menacing like he was in the original "Star Wars." Foster correctly had Vader deal with the Grammel character, but Vader versus Luke/Leia was weak. I tried and tried to imagine Darth Vader's booming voice as he was engaged in combat and speaking to Luke or Leia, but it just didn't work; his words seemed to be too weak to fit the characterization provided by the original "Star Wars." Darth Vader is supposed to scare you with elegantly structured, short, ominous speech, but instead here he just 'talked.'

The end to the novel was unsatisfying. I was never sure of what Halla was doing while Luke was fighting Vader; she just seemed to skulk around until the fight was over. If she has the Kaiburr crystal in her hands, why didn't she use its power over the Force to help Luke? It all seemed to never come together; Luke and Leia once established their creepy relationship, but by the end of the book it was forgotten, and Halla never seemed to connect as a true friend to Leia or Luke. She was always just like, "Luke, boy! Get over here!" instead of coming to a medium with him. Because of this, I wasn't really sure of where Halla was going at the end of the book. It seemed to explain it, but I didn't buy it because they just didn't seem like buddies. The loose ends of the plot are never tied tightly.

I still found moments to enjoy, nonetheless. I enjoyed Princess Leia's sassiness and how Luke Skywalker and Captain-Supervisor Grammel reacted to it. It was pretty standard sci-fi stuff, but it's still "Star Wars." I liked Halla in general; she's nothing like good ol' Obi-Wan Kenobi, but good enough for this book. It's obvious from where Alan Dean Foster got most of his ideas, but there're never why I have criticized this book.

"Splinter of the Mind's Eye" is okay. I enjoyed it as any "Star Wars" fan should, and I respect the fact that it started the Expanded Universe, but it's just not magical. It has what you'd expect, but nothing more.

Note (5/23/09): I no longer consider Star Wars to be a good use of one's time.

As it has noted, this book came out after the first Star Wars movie but before Empire. Forget that Darth is their father. Forget that Leia is Jedi-born. For those of us who saw Star Wars back in the late 70's and were hungry for more, this book was a much welcomed surprise.
Yes, it definitely does not conform to the story. Then again, watch Episodes 4 through 6 original versions. They don't even fit the complete story. It is worthy read if you can just keep these facts in mind while reading it.

Being the first novel that added to the ever expanding Star Wars masterpiece, Splinter of the Minds Eye captured some very exciting moments for fans while waiting for the next film(when the book was first published in 1978). Telling the story of the events told between Episode IV and Episode V of the classic trilogy, it offers a very scary, unpredictable, and twisting adventure on one of the best planets ever created. The planet of Mimban which the book takes place on is unlike most of the new planets and enviorments you'll find in post 1990 Star Wars novels. The plot is somewhat simple, easy to follow...with some twists and turns...and all the characters are very unique and somewhat all strange and a bit spooky themselves. The story revolves only around Luke and Leia after they crashed landed on their way to take care of some business. Not only being the foundation to what will be inspiring for dozens of other contributing SW authors over the years...Splinter is a very entertaing mini epic of one of the first adventures of two very important Star Wars heroes.

As long as you remember that it was first published back in the early 80s the movies were not done yet. For example things might get a little steamy between Luke and Leia but thats alright because the author didn't know that they were brother and sister. I also liked the idea of an imperial offical that actually CAN THINK. I loved the movies but that little part of the story line where the underdog rebels always beat an over confident empire gets a little tireing. We meet some new charecters in this book that are also well worth the money(because except for the normal charecters you would expect they never show up in a star wars book agian) some are quite memorable.