Children of the Jedi

'Children of the Jedi' by Barbara Hambly

Bantam Press 1995

Set 8 years after RotJ

Story -- Leia, Han and Chewie go off in search of descendants of Jedi on the planet Belsavis. Luke has found an automated Imperial Dreadnought 'The Eye of Palpatine', governed by a computer/AI system called The Will, which has awoken and is out to destroy Belsavis. But the computer is inhabited by the spirit of a Jedi Knight (Callista). Luke falls in love - yet again.

Original characters from the movies -- not bad. Luke is still a bit 'weak'. And I'll never forgive Hambly for some of the stuff she puts him through!

New characters -- Callista has her moments. The baddies on Belsavis are OK - nothing special. Mara's in this, but not much.

Cover art -- very nice!

Chicks -- Leia, Callista (brave and intelligent, a Jedi Knight of old), Cray (Force-sensitive, very bright, good-looking!). However, none of these characters had me jumping up and down. Chick baddie, Roganda, also fell a bit 'flat' for me.

Any good? -- well written, although I felt the plot was VERY contrived, especially the ending. And Luke being in pain a lot of the time was a bit overdone.

Read it? -- Callista's a big part of the next couple of books, so it's worth reading for that. And to see exactly how far-fetched Star Wars authors can get!

Rating -- 5 out of 10

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