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Jedi
Academy Triology Synopsis
The
Jedi Academy series is one of the best Star Wars novel miniseries
around. A lot of people would argue this point, as the author- Kevin
J. Anderson- is not one of the best-loved SF writers around, to
put it lightly..
I suppose I am biased somewhat, seeing
as the Jedi Academy series is the first set of Star Wars books I
read. I borrowed one of them off a friend when I didn't have a book
to do a book report on in the 5th grade, and I had to read something
fast. I got hooked, and bought the other two in the series. Pretty
soon I wanted more, and I started reading other books, and around
this time the Special Edition came out so I could experience the
movies on the big screen. Before long I was an addict.. and forever
will remain the same.
 But
enough of my nostalgic ramblings. On to the review. The series is
set 7 years after Endor, when the so-called New Republic is off
to a good start in galactic rule and thriving with many new worlds
flocking under their banner every day. Jedi Master Luke Skywalker
sees a need for new Jedi to uphold peace and order in the galaxy,
and proposes the establishment of a Jedi Academy to the High Council.
The idea is welcomed, if reluctantly, and Luke sets off to find
a location for his academy. He ends up choosing Yavin IV, site of
the Massassi temple which housed the Rebels when they destroyed
the first Death Star.
After deciding on the location, he
pores through the endless Imperial archives on Coruscant, searching
for possible links and relatives of long-dead Jedi. His search is
not encouraging, with only a few leads turning up. Eventually he
turns up with several candidates, including Kam Solusar, an ex-Dark
Jedi; Streen, a hilarious old codger from Bespin who hears voices
in his head; and Dorsk 81, a descendant in a long line of clones
from the planet Khomm who is scorned by his people for his 'uniqueness'
that is being the only member of his identical species that can
use the Force.
While Luke is setting up his academy,
Han Solo and Chewbacca have fallen prisoner on Kessel, the spice-mining
planet which is a big part of Han's past. The leader of the newly
independent colony, Moruth Doole, is the man (or frog, rather- read
the book to find out) who sold Han out to the Imperials way back
in the day, causing Han to have to 'drop his cargo at the first
signs of an Imperial entanglement.'
Moruth sends Chewie and Han to work
in the deep, dark spice mines, and there they befriend a gaunt young
lad named Kyp Durron. Kyp had been there since he was a child, sent
there as a penalty for his parents involvement in the public outcry
after the Ghorman massacres, while his brother Zeth was conscripted
into stormtrooper training.
 Chewie,
Han, and Kyp engineer a bold escape from Kessel, stealing a shuttle
and fleeing into the black hole cluster known as The Maw. Kyp navigates
the treacherous Maw using the Jedi powers he had learned of when
an old hag known as Vima-Da-Boda, a fellow prisoner, had taken him
under her wing. Experienced readers will recognise Vima-Da-Boda
as the old woman who gave Leia her lightsaber on Nar Shaddaa in
the Dark Empire comics series.
The wayward three emerge in the middle
of the Maw, a clearing with no black holes, and come across a hidden
Imperial research facility. They are taken aboard and interrogated
by Admiral Daala, the highest ranking female ever in the Empire
(and also Tarkin's lover-see the connection?)
These Imperials had waited inside
the Maw for the past 10 years, without any outside contact. They
had 4 ISDs, and a facility of several asteroids hooked up with life
support, to house their labs. They were shocked when the heard of
the destruction of the first Death Star- their own design- and the
deaths of Tarkin, Palpatine, and Vader.
One of the scientists aboard the facility
is Qwi Xux, a gentle, almost ethereal being with light blue, iridescent
skin. She is unaware of the fact that her own brilliant designs
were used to destroy worlds and further the corrupt tyranny of the
Empire (whose side am I on here?!) Qwi thought the Death Star was
to be used to blow up old, dead worlds and asteroids to mine valuable
minerals inside their cores.
She is disgusted at the true nature of her work, and along with
Han, Kyp, and Chewie, steals the latest weapons design, the Sun
Crusher, to escape the facility. The Sun Crusher is about the size
of a normal fighter, with torpedoes capable of detonating a star
from its core, and quantum armor that makes it invincible. For example,
on their escape, they ram the Sun Crusher through one of Daala's
Star Destroyer's bridges, and destroy it. Quite a formidable little
weapon indeed..
After they make it back to Coruscant,
the Sun Crusher is locked up and studied by Republic scientists,
who cannot unravel the weapon's secrets no matter how hard they
try. Kyp Durron suggests to plunge it into the depths of the gas
planet Yavin, where no other craft could go to retrieve it.
So off Kyp goes to Yavin, setting
the Sun Crusher on auto-pilot for Yavin's core. He then goes down
to Yavin IV and enlists in Skywalker's academy, proving himself
quite capable and the most powerful of Luke's students.
 Soon
after, the spirit of the ancient Sith Lord Exar Kun, trapped in
the very walls of the Massassi temples, is woken, and Kun is hungry
for revenge and power. He attempts to persuade several of the Jedi
trainees to do his bidding, and almost succeeds when he convinces
Streen to rip apart Skywalker's body with his inherent control of
the wind and weather patterns. Skywalker is saves just in time by
his loyal apprentices. Cute.
Kun succeeds, however, in luring Kyp
Durron to the Dark Side. He persuades Kyp to retrieve the Sun Crusher
from Yavin's unfathomable depths, using nothing but the sheer power
of the Force to rip the craft from Yavin's depths.
Kyp then leaves Yavin IV after a grisly
confrontation with Luke, and goes out into the galaxy with a chip
on his shoulder and the means to rectify it. He preys on remnants
of the Empire, taking out the entire Carida system to destroy the
academy when he finds out they don't have his older brother Zeth.
At the last minute, however, Zeth appears on the comm console, and
Kyp frantically tries to rescue him but his actions get the better
of him and Carida is blown up by the artificial supernova before
he can get Zeth aboard the Sun Crusher.
Kyp then tracks down Admiral Daala,
who has fled the Maw with plans to defeat the New Republic, and
attempts to destroy her fleet. Daala had, by this time, destroyed
a colony on Dantooine and severely damaged the Calamari homeworld
on her relentless drive for victory. Kyp manages to take out one
of her ISDs in another Sun Crusher-aided nova, and Daala escapes
with her last two Star Destroyers. She devises a plan to bring the
Republic to its knees. One of her ISDs, the now-crippled Basilisk,
was going to be manned with a skeleton crew of volunteers and rammed
into the main area of Coruscant, which housed the senate chambers
and all the important buildings. The crash, and ensuing fires, would
decimate at least a third of Coruscant's city mass, and the Empire
could swoop in from there and reclaim its throne. Her plan never
went ahead, and she returned to the Maw Installation instead, to
defend it from Republic attack.
Han Solo, meanwhile, tries to find
Kyp Durron and bring him back before he can cause any more harm
to the galaxy. He eventually succeeds, and Kyp returns with him.
Back on Yavin IV, the Jedi are engaged in a massive fight with Exar
Kun, during which Luke is knocked into a coma and his spirit is
separated from his body, only his nephew and niece, Jacen and Jaina
Solo, being able to see him.
The Jedi apprentices eventually dispose
Kun, filling him with light from their combined powers until he
could no longer exist in the spiritual plane. His old master from
4000 years ago, Jedi Vodo Siosk-Baas, returned to claim him and
take him to become one with the Force.
Back to the Maw now, and the New Republic
has launched a full scale offensive on the installation led by General
Wedge Antilles. Luke and Kyp come along after the Republic emerges
victorious, destroying both the Death Star prototype left in the
Maw, and the Sun Crusher, by plunging both weapons into a black
hole. Unfortunately, Kyp Durron is piloting the Sun Crusher when
it is swallowed by the black hole, and all that remains of him is
a message pod he ejected from the ship with his last words encased.
Luke retrieves the pod, and on opening
it is surprised to find Kyp himself ensconced in the small cargo
compartment, almost every bone in his body broken to be able to
fit, and his skin frostbitten from vacuum exposure.
They all go back to Yavin IV after
this, and all is well. But where is Daala? That's a tale for another
time, another novel. 'Darksaber', namely.
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