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Star Wars: The Jedi Academy Trilogy #1 - 3
Star Wars Jedi Academy Trilogy (Champions of the Force, Dark Apprentice, and Jedi Search) by Kevin Anderson
Seven years after the founding of the New Republic, Princess Leia Organa Solo is Minister of State and has borne three Jedi children -- the twins, Jacen and Jaina, and baby Anakin. Han Solo is an official envoy for the new government, traveling the galaxy on diplomatic missions. And Luke has been given leave to seek out candidates for a Jedi Academy that will not only herald a renaissance of the Jedi Knights, but also provide future champions of the Force to protect the New Republic.
Yet the peaceful and benign reign of the Republic is far from secure....
Though the Empire was finally vanquished, remnants of the Imperial forces are scattered throughout the galaxy. Die-hard loyalists, they're intent on waging a brutal guerrilla war against the New Republic.
Among the most dangerous is Imperial Admiral Daala, who has added the ultimate weapon to her fleet of Star Destroyers. More powerful than the Death Star, the Sun Crusher, a small ship, is capable of annihilating an entire solar system by triggering its sun to supernova.
To make matters worse, there are those from Han's bad old days still anxious to avenge the past. And, as Luke will soon discover, even the most promising Jedi recruit can be unwisely tempted by the dark side of the Force.....
Includes "Jedi Search," "Dark Apprentice," and "Champions of the Force".
Yet the peaceful and benign reign of the Republic is far from secure....
Though the Empire was finally vanquished, remnants of the Imperial forces are scattered throughout the galaxy. Die-hard loyalists, they're intent on waging a brutal guerrilla war against the New Republic.
Among the most dangerous is Imperial Admiral Daala, who has added the ultimate weapon to her fleet of Star Destroyers. More powerful than the Death Star, the Sun Crusher, a small ship, is capable of annihilating an entire solar system by triggering its sun to supernova.
To make matters worse, there are those from Han's bad old days still anxious to avenge the past. And, as Luke will soon discover, even the most promising Jedi recruit can be unwisely tempted by the dark side of the Force.....
Includes "Jedi Search," "Dark Apprentice," and "Champions of the Force".
Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 1994
6 people are currently reading
663 people want to read
About the author
Kevin J. Anderson
1,033 books3,112 followersYes, I have a lot of books, and if this is your first visit to my amazon author page, it can be a little overwhelming. If you are new to my work, let me recommend a few titles as good places to start. I love my Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I. series, humorous horror/mysteries, which begin with DEATH WARMED OVER. My steampunk fantasy adventures, CLOCKWORK ANGELS and CLOCKWORK LIVES, written with Neil Peart, legendary drummer from Rush, are two of my very favorite novels ever. And my magnum opus, the science fiction epic The Saga of Seven Suns, begins with HIDDEN EMPIRE. After you've tried those, I hope you'll check out some of my other series.
I have written spin-off novels for Star Wars, StarCraft, Titan A.E., and The X-Files, and I'm the co-author of the Dune prequels. My original works include the Saga of Seven Suns series and the Nebula Award-nominated Assemblers of Infinity. I have also written several comic books including the Dark Horse Star Wars collection Tales of the Jedi written in collaboration with Tom Veitch, Predator titles (also for Dark Horse), and X-Files titles for Topps.
I serve as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest.
My wife is author Rebecca Moesta. We currently reside near Monument, Colorado.
I have written spin-off novels for Star Wars, StarCraft, Titan A.E., and The X-Files, and I'm the co-author of the Dune prequels. My original works include the Saga of Seven Suns series and the Nebula Award-nominated Assemblers of Infinity. I have also written several comic books including the Dark Horse Star Wars collection Tales of the Jedi written in collaboration with Tom Veitch, Predator titles (also for Dark Horse), and X-Files titles for Topps.
I serve as a judge in the Writers of the Future contest.
My wife is author Rebecca Moesta. We currently reside near Monument, Colorado.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
July 20, 2024
I’ll start with the negatives, it was predictable, cookie-cutter and cliched. But maybe I’d rather use the terms careful, assiduous and by the book. I’d rather use those because while I have to admit it felt like a story I’d read before that’s exactly what I wanted it to be; I didn’t pick up a Star Wars book expecting it to break new ground, I picked it up because I wanted space battles and Jedi, which is exactly what it delivered to me.
Perhaps this makes me biased in my reviewing since if I was to be objective it was likely a worse book than some I’ve rated lower, but the difference in my eyes is that it doesn’t pretend to be anything more than it is, which I can’t say for others.
But enough of my meta-commentary back to the actual review. I’m glad I read it as a omnibus instead of three separate books since it started slowly with a lot of set up throughout the first book, which would have frustrated me if I’d finished an entire book with no payoff. Luckily that’s a situation I only need to imagine as I was straight onto the second book which picked up heavily and really put the trilogy in gear, with the antagonists establishing their threat and the protagonists at their lowest. The third book then paid it all off with the protagonists coming back and vanquishing evil. This was a standard hero’s journey that worked really well for me because the scope of the trilogy allowed for about 4 protagonists and 3 villains. This number of main characters could make a lesser book confusing but it was balanced really well so kept things flowing between them all. What I also enjoyed was that the antagonists were realistically also opposed to each other which added an extra layer to the stakes.
Now onto the actual negatives this time, the ‘sun crusher’ itself unbalanced the stakes of the novel, it’s a small ship with indestructible armour that can shoot torpedoes that cause a sun to explode and destroy its surrounding system and ships, which then also has a hyperdrive so can get anywhere it needs to. I understand what the author was trying to do by making it something every side would want and explaining how a second one can never be built, but it is simply too perfect for a story like this. It’s hard to be invested in a space battle where one side cannot lose. My other complaint is more of an annoyance that the largest villain who is established to have been able to drain an entire planet’s life force was destroyed by the power of friendship, but this is more forgivable since his power mostly came from influencing other people.
All together I thought it was a good book that I’d recommend to Star Wars fans. If you aren’t a Star Wars fan it’s probably not worth the read as you’d need to know who all of the pre-established characters are and there are a lot
Perhaps this makes me biased in my reviewing since if I was to be objective it was likely a worse book than some I’ve rated lower, but the difference in my eyes is that it doesn’t pretend to be anything more than it is, which I can’t say for others.
But enough of my meta-commentary back to the actual review. I’m glad I read it as a omnibus instead of three separate books since it started slowly with a lot of set up throughout the first book, which would have frustrated me if I’d finished an entire book with no payoff. Luckily that’s a situation I only need to imagine as I was straight onto the second book which picked up heavily and really put the trilogy in gear, with the antagonists establishing their threat and the protagonists at their lowest. The third book then paid it all off with the protagonists coming back and vanquishing evil. This was a standard hero’s journey that worked really well for me because the scope of the trilogy allowed for about 4 protagonists and 3 villains. This number of main characters could make a lesser book confusing but it was balanced really well so kept things flowing between them all. What I also enjoyed was that the antagonists were realistically also opposed to each other which added an extra layer to the stakes.
Now onto the actual negatives this time, the ‘sun crusher’ itself unbalanced the stakes of the novel, it’s a small ship with indestructible armour that can shoot torpedoes that cause a sun to explode and destroy its surrounding system and ships, which then also has a hyperdrive so can get anywhere it needs to. I understand what the author was trying to do by making it something every side would want and explaining how a second one can never be built, but it is simply too perfect for a story like this. It’s hard to be invested in a space battle where one side cannot lose. My other complaint is more of an annoyance that the largest villain who is established to have been able to drain an entire planet’s life force was destroyed by the power of friendship, but this is more forgivable since his power mostly came from influencing other people.
All together I thought it was a good book that I’d recommend to Star Wars fans. If you aren’t a Star Wars fan it’s probably not worth the read as you’d need to know who all of the pre-established characters are and there are a lot
August 20, 2012
I found these books really disappointing. Poorly plotted, starting with the introduction of a Mary-Sue character named Kyp Durron, who is *stronger* in the Force than Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. Add to that we also get a weapon that one ups the Deathstar in the Suncrusher, and it just feels like Anderson couldn't come up with anything, so he decided to one-up Lucas.
And then there is the villain, Admiral Daala. So we're supposed to believe that she was given the command of a fleet of Star Destroyers, despite having zero command experience outside of tactical simulators? Oh, and she's been sitting in a secret facility for 11 years just waiting for Tarkin to return, not getting the slightest bit curious and sending someone out to get a newspaper or something to find out that the Empire has fallen?
And then there's the fact that we are told that Daala and Tarkin were lovers. I don't want to think about Tarkin having sex ever, thanks, but no we get treated to the line (which shall be forever burned into my brain by the sheer ick factor) "After Tarkin, fantasizing had been enough." *shudder*
Add to that that the first book starts out by going on about what a mystery the Yavin pyramids are, only to have a character who has been around the whole time people have been talking about this mystery, suddenly spill the whole story when asked. Really?
And then there is the villain, Admiral Daala. So we're supposed to believe that she was given the command of a fleet of Star Destroyers, despite having zero command experience outside of tactical simulators? Oh, and she's been sitting in a secret facility for 11 years just waiting for Tarkin to return, not getting the slightest bit curious and sending someone out to get a newspaper or something to find out that the Empire has fallen?
And then there's the fact that we are told that Daala and Tarkin were lovers. I don't want to think about Tarkin having sex ever, thanks, but no we get treated to the line (which shall be forever burned into my brain by the sheer ick factor) "After Tarkin, fantasizing had been enough." *shudder*
Add to that that the first book starts out by going on about what a mystery the Yavin pyramids are, only to have a character who has been around the whole time people have been talking about this mystery, suddenly spill the whole story when asked. Really?
February 26, 2015
Not the worst of the extended universe books I've read but certainly nowhere near the top half. Characters are bland and 2 dimensional, the dialogue/narrative is poor and repetative, and well established characters behave in ways which are not in keeping with their character traits.
I usually get immersed when reading Star Wars books but found myself regularly skimming these ones.
I usually get immersed when reading Star Wars books but found myself regularly skimming these ones.
November 3, 2010
I though that this was a really good book. It took it past the high bar that the movies had set. Though there were some flaws in the ideas, It was well rounded and it peaked my interest. I would recommend it only after you have seen the original movies.
February 15, 2017
It's fine. Not the best trilogy of Star Wars novels by any stretch of the imagination but it's a decent enough fix if you want something that reminds you of the high points of the original trilogy. Sadly that's where this whole thing falls down. It's just too familiar. The big conflict in Champions of the Force is taking down ANOTHER Death Star making this the Empire's third attempt at making one and the third time it's been overthrown by the rebels. Kyp is definitely the star of the show and could've been an interesting character to evolve, but he's very much a small part of a bigger picture in this. We also revisit the energy spiders of the first book who were definitely one of the best antagonists of that title, but did we really need to revisit that struggle in the same series? The Jedi Academy trilogy had some decent ideas but they're sadly spread too thin over these 3 books.
October 29, 2012
This book is a great Star Wars addition.
October 6, 2013
Very good from start to finish. One of my favorite trilogies in the Expanded Universe!
March 1, 2019
This one kind of hurts.
I went in to this book so excited, it really did have a lot of potential.
Way to many storylines going on all at once here, never letting you really get involved with the story before yanking you to another group of characters just when you started to feel invested in what was going on.
Don't get me wrong there is some good stuff in here. A ton of ideas that could have been really cool, but sadly just end up being wasted potential.
I very much doubt that if I wasn't as big a star wars fan as I am, I more than likely wouldn't have even come close finished this one.
Sadly this one ended up being a boring and disappointing grind to finish.
I went in to this book so excited, it really did have a lot of potential.
Way to many storylines going on all at once here, never letting you really get involved with the story before yanking you to another group of characters just when you started to feel invested in what was going on.
Don't get me wrong there is some good stuff in here. A ton of ideas that could have been really cool, but sadly just end up being wasted potential.
I very much doubt that if I wasn't as big a star wars fan as I am, I more than likely wouldn't have even come close finished this one.
Sadly this one ended up being a boring and disappointing grind to finish.
July 29, 2025
I've finally finished reading this trilogy, and it was entertaining enough. A popcorn read, and the best thing about it was the pacing. It's basically fast, brainless fun.
I have to admit, though, I ended up rolling my eyes a lot at how the Dark Side of the Force is basically a get-out-of-jail free card in all the books here. You're a Jedi and you do appalling things? It was the Dark Side! No blame accrues to you, and there's certainly no punishment. You can destroy worlds and basically commit ecocide but you've suffered enough doing these terrible things, and it's all over now anyway. Back into the fold you come! We'll even name a baby after you.
I just cannot credit it.
I have to admit, though, I ended up rolling my eyes a lot at how the Dark Side of the Force is basically a get-out-of-jail free card in all the books here. You're a Jedi and you do appalling things? It was the Dark Side! No blame accrues to you, and there's certainly no punishment. You can destroy worlds and basically commit ecocide but you've suffered enough doing these terrible things, and it's all over now anyway. Back into the fold you come! We'll even name a baby after you.
I just cannot credit it.
July 7, 2020
So I did the abridged audio books of the story. All in all like 6 hours for all three books (it would have taken at least a week to read the books traditionally. Obviously not "reading" the whole thing I lost some of the fluff that many people found boring. All in all not a bad star wars series. Not the best I have read but it served its purpose of entertaining me on a beautiful day at the lake.
April 16, 2022
While this trilogy wasn't quite up to par as the Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn (realistically though, that was a bar set so high it was almost impossible to reach), it was a great read and a proper continuation of the Star Wars saga. A set of books I do recommend if you are a fan of the original Star Wars trilogy.
May 23, 2019
Awful-Boring, not how I imagined the story going, the characters are bland and all off, very shallow. I did not finish
July 6, 2019
Enjoyed this trilogy, maybe even more than Heir to the empire trilogy due to the many similarities to this current era of Star Wars movies. Fast paced and good characters.
April 19, 2022
Just a normal Star Wars adventure. You know what you're gonna get
August 4, 2024
Une continuation sympathique de l'après épisode 6, sans être si marquante
December 5, 2011
Après avoir lu Darksaber, je suis tomber amoureux du style de l'auteur et je voulais en avoir plus. Comme mon amis n'avait pas l'intention de faire venir ce livre (que je voulais lire absolument), j'ai décidé de m'abonner au SC-Fiction Book Club. J'ai commander 7 libre qui me revenaient à environt 3.50$ chaque (1$ par livre, + taxe + livraison) et l'un de ceux-là était Jedi Academy Trilogy.
Sachant que c'était le roman avant Darksaber dans la chronologie j'avais beaucoup d'attentes et autant j'en avait autant j'ai été satisfait.
Le premier livre traite de Luke qui se retrouve prisonier de la mine de Kessell (depuis le temps qu'on en parle) et il rencontre un jeune homme dont la force est forte en lui. D'un autre point on voit la création d'un nouveau super-weapon appeler le Sun Crusher(qui détruit des soleil et le system solaire avec). Sans trop en dire l'histoire abouti à Luke qui sort de la mine et fonde son academy sur Yavin 4.
Le jeune Kip Duron qu'il a découvert dans le mine trouve un holocron et libère l'âme de Exar Khun un ancien Sith Lord qui le fait passer du côté obscure.
Armée de la puissance du côté Obscure Kip prend possession du Sun Crusher et décide de faire ce que les autre ne sont pas capable de faire, le ménage de la galaxie...
Vraiment plein de rebondissement et les scène d'action son superbe.
Je le recommande à tout le monde.
Encore une fois seul hic, le finale ne représente pas la noirceur du roman, mais c'est mineur.
Sachant que c'était le roman avant Darksaber dans la chronologie j'avais beaucoup d'attentes et autant j'en avait autant j'ai été satisfait.
Le premier livre traite de Luke qui se retrouve prisonier de la mine de Kessell (depuis le temps qu'on en parle) et il rencontre un jeune homme dont la force est forte en lui. D'un autre point on voit la création d'un nouveau super-weapon appeler le Sun Crusher(qui détruit des soleil et le system solaire avec). Sans trop en dire l'histoire abouti à Luke qui sort de la mine et fonde son academy sur Yavin 4.
Le jeune Kip Duron qu'il a découvert dans le mine trouve un holocron et libère l'âme de Exar Khun un ancien Sith Lord qui le fait passer du côté obscure.
Armée de la puissance du côté Obscure Kip prend possession du Sun Crusher et décide de faire ce que les autre ne sont pas capable de faire, le ménage de la galaxie...
Vraiment plein de rebondissement et les scène d'action son superbe.
Je le recommande à tout le monde.
Encore une fois seul hic, le finale ne représente pas la noirceur du roman, mais c'est mineur.
September 22, 2012
This trilogy was bad and Kevin Anderson should feel bad. Aside from the Han story from the first book most of the time it feels like characters just shuffling from A to B.
There's no way for anyone to take the bad guys seriously on these books. Daala, who's made to look like this badass super Admiral who runs her crew like clockwork, loses every single battle she's in and never against the main characters. Exar Kun was defeated by hugs from side characters. Kyp's fall could've been handled way better (maybe by NOT killing Gantoris and adding the elements of his fall to Kyp's?) and Tol Sivron is at best comic relief.
Given that the crappy bad guys never fight against the main characters there's never any conflict in the story which also means no character development/growth. Every time there's any struggle for the main characters its quickly resolved by the end with no change whatsoever in them. The last book felt like it was done about halfway through, so the only motivation for finishing it is mostly for completions sake.
Oh and before I leave, a two year old saved a Jedi Master. That was marvelous to read.
/endrant
There's no way for anyone to take the bad guys seriously on these books. Daala, who's made to look like this badass super Admiral who runs her crew like clockwork, loses every single battle she's in and never against the main characters. Exar Kun was defeated by hugs from side characters. Kyp's fall could've been handled way better (maybe by NOT killing Gantoris and adding the elements of his fall to Kyp's?) and Tol Sivron is at best comic relief.
Given that the crappy bad guys never fight against the main characters there's never any conflict in the story which also means no character development/growth. Every time there's any struggle for the main characters its quickly resolved by the end with no change whatsoever in them. The last book felt like it was done about halfway through, so the only motivation for finishing it is mostly for completions sake.
Oh and before I leave, a two year old saved a Jedi Master. That was marvelous to read.
/endrant
October 9, 2024
Jedi Search: rating 4/5
Dark Apprentice: rating 3/5
Champions of the Force: rating 2.5/5
I think this trilogy is a perfect case of diminishing returns. The more it goes on, the more some tropes and elements become tiresome and overused. The best part are the ones about the lore and world-building, it’s clear the author is invested and interested in that aspect; instead, the action scenes and the development of the various (too many) subplots are underwhelming. The villains of the story are generic and uninteresting, with the exception of Exar Kun - but even with him, we have a descent toward Scoopy-Doo level of characterization. Some characters go nowhere and are killed off all of the sudden, others are corrupted by the darkside without a real development and then are as easily converted back to the light side. The way Leila’s twins are portrayed and what they do is unbelievable for two-years old children. The more the story goes on, the more these elements are on the surface. Overall is not a horrible experience, but I think it could have been a 4 /4.5 stars stand-alone volume with some cuts.
Dark Apprentice: rating 3/5
Champions of the Force: rating 2.5/5
I think this trilogy is a perfect case of diminishing returns. The more it goes on, the more some tropes and elements become tiresome and overused. The best part are the ones about the lore and world-building, it’s clear the author is invested and interested in that aspect; instead, the action scenes and the development of the various (too many) subplots are underwhelming. The villains of the story are generic and uninteresting, with the exception of Exar Kun - but even with him, we have a descent toward Scoopy-Doo level of characterization. Some characters go nowhere and are killed off all of the sudden, others are corrupted by the darkside without a real development and then are as easily converted back to the light side. The way Leila’s twins are portrayed and what they do is unbelievable for two-years old children. The more the story goes on, the more these elements are on the surface. Overall is not a horrible experience, but I think it could have been a 4 /4.5 stars stand-alone volume with some cuts.
May 9, 2011
This is a really rare book to find currently in good condition. It was only available to members of the science fiction book club for a limited time, while the general public got it broken into a trilogy of paperbacks. The first time ever this was done with star wars, previously the Lando trilogy was released in paperback and only 15 years later put into larger formats.
June 24, 2007
yes, I'm still a Star Wars geek! I wanted know what happens after return of the jedi! hahaha! It is paced just like the movies, and refers back to the original trilogy. An entertaing read if you are a Star Wars dork like me.
January 28, 2011
Very enjoyable and suitably epic. After Timothy Zahn, Kevin J. Anderson should always be the go-to-author if you desire exciting, breathtaking stories that come with a firm & intellignet grasp of the Star Wars universe and its cast of characters.
Read
May 19, 2015LOL I CAN'T BELIEVE SOMEONE ACTUALLY ADMITTED THAT TO ANOTHER PERSON. JEDI ACADEMY IS TRASH.
WHICH EU BOOKS SHOULD I READ BESIDES THRAWN?
I SUPPOSE MEMER SHOULD ALSO READ THE JEDI ACADEMY TRILOGY, BUT THAT'S NOT LOLARIOUS. YOU JUST NEED TO UNDERSTAND OUR RAGE.
WHICH EU BOOKS SHOULD I READ BESIDES THRAWN?
I SUPPOSE MEMER SHOULD ALSO READ THE JEDI ACADEMY TRILOGY, BUT THAT'S NOT LOLARIOUS. YOU JUST NEED TO UNDERSTAND OUR RAGE.
October 19, 2011
I read this series over the summer. The first book was a bit slow, but it picked up about half way through and the last two books kept the story moving.
Read
February 10, 2013Don't remember a whole lot.
September 6, 2016
The characters and concepts introduced within these novels brought something fresh while sticking with the Star Wars formula.
January 7, 2017
Consolidating.
January 4, 2013
I got a little tired of hearing "the resurrected Emperor". I wish he'd not mentioned it at all.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews