Image from NetGalley
Heir to the Jedi is the latest Star Wars book in the official canon, due out in March. I've already expressed my love of Kevin Hearne novels, so I was looking forward to reading this one. In the story, Luke is sent on a mission for the alliance to save a genius alien programmer from Imperial captivity, in exchange for her services for the Alliance. Along the way he meets a rich girl who's decided to do something to help the rebels and the two need to go on a couple of side quests to help raise the money to complete their mission. Hearne does a great job depicting the early Alliance is a realistic setting: no home base, not much money, and still trying to build a group of allies and operatives to continue their war against the Empire.
I loved this look inside the early years of Luke Skywalker. In the movies and older novels we jump from inexperienced farm boy to budding Jedi knight, but what about in between? Aside from having a great story and good look at Luke outside the immediate settings of the rebellion, I really enjoyed reading about his musings about the force and what it was capable of. Seeing Luke question whether the force is useful for more than just dodging blasters and TIE fighters drives home the idea that he grew up in a galaxy where knowledge of the force has been ruthlessly repressed.
This is a different direction for Kevin Hearne, author of the Iron Druid series and one of my favorite new authors. This isn't the best Star Wars book I've ever read. It feels more like an interlude, a cool story filling in the gap between other, more substantial works, but that doesn't mean it wasn't an enjoyable read. Taking on the Star Wars universe isn't easy, and there's a lot of expectations surrounding the new canon books, but I think Hearne did a great job on his first Star Wars novel. I will definitely be buying a copy in March.
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