Star Wars: Heir to the Jedi - Kevin Hearne

The third book to be sanctioned by the new Lucasfilm Story Group was originally intended to be part three of a loose trilogy centred on the main characters from the original Star Wars trilogy. Somehow, this last entry managed to escape its demotion to Legends, and despite a rather dubious storyline, is now considered canon. It is set between the events of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back and is written in first person from the perspective of Luke Skywalker, an intimate viewpoint which really adds nothing. After his recent destruction of the Empire's Death Star, Luke is riding high from his victory when he is tasked by the Rebel Alliance to embark on a new mission. He teams up with rebel volunteer, Nakari Kelen to rescue a renowned codebreaker from Imperial custody. Aboard Nakari's ship, the Desert Jewel, they share a series of adventures that take them across the galaxy encountering brain-sucking parasites, ruthless bounty hunters, and all manner of exotic aliens. Predictably, the pair fall into an excruciatingly awkward romance.

The writing here is quite dreadful, the dialogue between the characters even more so. It becomes painfully obvious that Hearne has never interacted with a woman in his life, as Nakari speaks like a nerd's 'fantasy babe' caricature. He is also overly fond of slipping in distracting modernisms and references to pop culture, along with real world food that really have no place in the Star Wars universe. It seems like someone forgot to brief him on the fundamental rules of writing for Star Wars - the galaxy needs to appear familiar whilst also being different enough to not spoil the reader's immersion. Changing the name of 'coffee' to 'caf' is a lazy attempt at achieving this, and the internet meme style 'cake is happiness' discussion was particularly bad. Since we know that Luke is destined to go onto greater things, the stakes in this adventure are necessarily low, but as an exploration of several unique planets, I found it quite entertaining. I also enjoyed seeing a Halloween mask unused extra from the Mos Eisley cantina becoming a major character.

Rating: 2/5