I, Jedi

'I, Jedi' by Michael A. Stackpole

Bantam Press 1998

Set 7 years after RotJ, during the events of Anderson's 'Jedi Academy' trilogy

Story -- Corran Horn is one of Rogue Squadron's best pilots - he's force-sensitive, but would rather stay a pilot than become a Jedi Knight. But then his wife Mirax vanishes while on a mission for the New Republic and he decides to go to Luke's Academy to develop his Force talents so that he can find/rescue her. Here he befriends Mara Jade, gets into bother with a 4,000-year-old Sith Lord, before leaving to infiltrate a pirate gang. This book provides a different perspective on the 'Jedi Academy' trilogy.

Original characters from the movies -- pretty good, although they've all obviously matured since the movies. Luke is 'different' (possibly because of 'dark side' influences?). Wedge is in this one!

New characters -- Corran is excellent; the book is from his perspective, so you feel like you know him. Mara's here and reminds me of the Mara we knew in Zahn's 'Thrawn' trilogy.

Cover art -- yup, liked this one!

Chicks -- Leia's not in this one much. Mara's good but isn't around for long. Mirax is cool, although she's not in the book a whole lot, either. Admiral Tavira (baddie) is a good character. There's also a couple of female students at the Academy. Qwi's in this one just a smidge...

Any good? -- Yes! Stackpole normally writes X-wing novels (which I hadn't read before reading this) so I was expecting lots of 'dogfights' and little else. But he's a great writer, and yes the space battles are great, but the 'character' bits are also superb. This 'felt' more like Zahn's vision than any of the other books. It's the first Star Wars novel to be written in first-person.

Read it? -- Yes, either after or instead of Anderson's trilogy.

Rating -- 8 out of 10

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