If this is what the new Star Wars canon is going to look like, sign me up.
Of course, I’m sort of being facetious, because Kevin Hearne isn’t going to be writing all of those books, and he’s largely why this book works as well as it does.
Heir to the Jedi is the third book in the Empire and Rebellion series, but because this one was published after Disney bought Star Wars, it’s the only one that is still considered canon. I have no idea how that has affected the content of the book. For all I know, the book would have been exactly the same, or it could be completely different now. Anyway, I suppose it doesn’t matter. It’s completely delightful.
The book follows Luke on a mission to rescue an asset for the Rebellion from Empire custody. He pairs up with a woman named Nakari whose father is rich, and who has her own cause to hate the Empire. The woman they’re rescuing is a cryptographic genius, and she is the best ever. I laughed out loud so many times while reading this book, and most of those times she was the reason. I also liked Nakari as a character, even though she made me feel like Luke was cheating on Mara Jade, even though Mara Jade, oh god, Mara Jade doesn’t even exist anymore. BURN EVERYTHING TO THE GROUND, Y’ALL. SOW THE FIELDS WITH SALT.
Anyway I liked the book. The only thing I didn’t like about it was the very end. A potentially impactful climax was undercut by sort of re-feeding us stuff we’d already gotten from a previous scene. But really it’s a small complaint. The book was funny, it had a great arc for Luke, who is trying to figure things out in the wake of destroying the Death Star and learning he’s a Jedi, and the secondary characters were great, which can really make or break a book like this.
I haven’t read anything in the SW universe for probably ten years, but, I did not love Mara Jade. She was ok, but the relationship with Luke was just not for me. Am I wrong?
I can’t tell you for sure because it’s been since 2004 that I last read a book with her and Luke in it, but at the time she was my absolute favorite. The best one for me was the Hand of Thrawn duology, Specter of the Past and Vision of the Future. I get the feeling the relationship mellows out after that, but boy did those two books get me going.