Star Wars Young Jedi Knights: Heirs of the Force by Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta

 

Star Wars Young Jedi Knights: Heirs of the Force by Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta

This book is the first in a series that focuses on Jaina and Jacen, Han and Leia's twin children. And their friends Tenel Ka and Lowbacca. And their adventures.

In this book, Jaina, Jacen, and Tenel Ka are all friends attending Luke's Jedi Academy on Yavin 4. One day, Han and Chewie show up with a new student, Lowbacca, Chewie's nephew. For some reason, Chewie gives his nephew a T-23 skyhopper (a little speeder... Remember the model ship that Luke was playing with at the beginning of A New Hope? Kind of like that).

While Lowie was out in the T-23, he spotted something in the forest surrounding the Academy. The next day he took the twins and Tenel Ka out to see what it was. It was a crashed TIE Fighter. And Jaina decides she's going to fix it. As the group works to repair the old ship, the pilot is watching them. It ends up he was a survivor of the Battle of Yavin and has been hiding out in the forests for the past 20 years. He also thinks there is still a rebel base on the moon. 

Everything works out and the book ends with a lovely little scene of Luke talking to the kids about how he used to bullseye womp-rats in his T-16 back on Tatooine.

My only real issue with this book is that Jacen and Jaina have been around Chewbacca since birth, but they need a translator to understand him. Which, the need of a translator means that Lowie comes with Em-Teedee, a little translator droid with a lot of C-3PO's personality. But... In my head, Jacen and Jaina should be able to at least partly understand Chewie and Lowie. And Em-Teedee would still be needed for Lowie to communicate with others. But, oh well, a small issue of mine.

Aside from that, the book is great. It's a kids' book so it's just a fun read about kids having adventures. And each of them have solid personalities (and catchphrases). There were plenty of nods to the original trilogy of movies and previous books. It was a solid first book of the series. It gave each of the main characters enough focus that you really got to know each one. Jacen and Jaina did appear in previous books, but I don't think their personalities got fleshed out much. But with these books, you learn that Jacen loves bad jokes and animals. Jaina is a mechanic. You also learn about Tenel Ka (a very serious Princess of Hapes who prefers her Dathomir heritage) and Lowbacca (a loyal and smart Wookiee). 

I think this series was the first Star Wars books I read. I remember them being released around the same time my brother introduced me to Star Wars. And I remember buying them as they came out up until the last three or four. Just got those a few years ago. I fell in love with these books and the characters as a kid. And I still love them. I have a lot of good feelings about these books. 

“An escalator can never break: It can only become stairs. You should never see an ‘Escalator Temporarily Out Of Order’ sign, just ‘Escalator Temporarily Stairs. Sorry for the convenience.'”

-Mitch Hedberg