Review: Star Wars- Heir to the Jedi
Quick Summary
Pros: The book offers plenty of opportunities to see Luke Skywalker’s storyline advance. The entire book is a decently entertaining Star Wars adventure.
Cons: The book’s two storylines feel too isolated from each other.
Overall: This is a book that achieves some success, despite a few problems. The main storyline is fun and contains action, drama, and excitement. Meanwhile, it places a good deal of emphasis on Luke Skywalker’s progression. However, it often feels like the book is telling two stories at once, two stories that don’t really complement each other well. In the end, fans of Luke Skywalker will find plenty of enjoyment in this book but it may not be for readers simply looking for the best Star Wars books out there.
Story
Star Wars: Heir to the Jedi, by Kevin Hearne, is an enjoyable, if flawed, read. The volume has two major positives: the way it expands on Luke Skywalker’s personal journey and a moderately exciting narrative. However, these two storylines often feel disconnected in a way that may not appeal to everyone.
About half of Heir to the Jedi is centered around continuing Luke Skywalker’s character development after the events of A New Hope. The volume has him looking for ways to continue his Jedi training, finding a pathway for connecting to the Force, and forging personal connections. For fans of Luke, this volume does quite a bit, as there is plenty of focus on him as an individual.
The other half of Heir to the Jedi is centered around a moderately entertaining Star Wars adventure. The book contains tense investigations into alien worlds, exciting skirmishes with the Empire, and some fun interactions between individual characters. Not everything here is great, as there are scattered moments that feel boring or unnecessary, but the majority of the read is fun.
The problem in Heir to the Jedi comes from the way the separate pieces of the story interact with each other. The book will often have entire chapters devoted to Luke’s progression with his Jedi training, which then has little to no impact on the current storyline. This helps advance the Star Wars universe as a whole but makes this book less enjoyable as an independent read.
Continuity
Star Wars: Heir to the Jedi takes place at some point shortly after the events of Episode IV- A New Hope and before the events of Episode V- The Empire Strikes Back.