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Champions of the Force (Star Wars: The Jedi Academy Trilogy, Vol. 3)
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Manufacturer: Spectra
Author: Kevin Anderson
Publisher: Spectra
Average Customer Rating:
Our Price: $6.99
You Save: $ ( % )
Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Spectra
Author: Kevin Anderson
Publisher: Spectra
Average Customer Rating:
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Champions of the Force (Star Wars: The Jedi Academy Trilogy, Vol. 3) Description
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780553298024
ISBN: 055329802X
Label: Spectra
Manufacturer: Spectra
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 368
Publication Date: 1994-09-01
Publisher: Spectra
Product Release Date: 1994-09-01
Studio: Spectra
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780553298024
ISBN: 055329802X
Label: Spectra
Manufacturer: Spectra
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 368
Publication Date: 1994-09-01
Publisher: Spectra
Product Release Date: 1994-09-01
Studio: Spectra
Editorial Review of Champions of the Force (Star Wars: The Jedi Academy Trilogy, Vol. 3)
Suspended helplessly between life and death, Luke Skywalker lies in state at the Jedi academy. But on the spirit plane, Luke fights desperately for survival, reaching out physically to the Jedi twins. At the same time, Leia is on a life-and-death mission of her own, a race against Imperial agents hoping to destroy a third Jedi child -- Leia and Han's baby Anakin -- hidden on the planet Anoth. Meanwhile, Luke's former protÚgÚ Kyp Durron has pirated the deadly Sun Crusher on an apocalyptic mission of mass destruction, convinced he is fighting for a just cause. Hunting down the rogue warrior, Han must persuade Kyp to renounce his dark crusade and regain his lost honor. To do it, Kyp must take the Sun Crusher on a suicide mission against the awesome Death Star prototype -- a battle Han knows they may be unable to win... even with Luke Skywalker at their side!
Customer Reviews of Champions of the Force (Star Wars: The Jedi Academy Trilogy, Vol. 3)
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Great book, hidden comedy
Review: I thought his entire trilogy was a pretty good read. I couldn't help but laugh at the scientists in the Death Star Prototype who kept saying "We should have a meeting about this right away!" during the middle of a space battle. I couldn't help but think that Kevin Anderson's inspiration for that was maybe his work at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: The Jedi Academy Trilogy sputters to a halt
Review: Champions of the Force is the final book in Kevin J. Anderson's Jedi Academy Trilogy. It continues much in the vein of the first two novels: a somewhat promising and engaging storyline is dragged down by pedestrian writing and some very hokey scenes. The 300-some pages of this book are essentially one extended climax to the trilogy. One battle in particular, the assault on the Imperial facility in the Maw, almost stretches the entire length of the story.
The Bantam Spectra era of Star Wars novels was noted for the authors' predilection to invent "superweapons-of-the-week." True to form, this trilogy contains not one but two in the form of a prototype (but fully functional) Death Star and the even more powerful Sun Crusher. It's not that hard to swallow the existence of a prototype Death Star, although the idea feels a trifle overused after seeing them in A New Hope and Return of the Jedi. However, the Sun Crusher concept goes beyond the pale. Anderson asks the reader to accept it took a 100+ kilometer wide sphere to support a laser that could destroy a planet, but this tiny fighter-sized craft carries the power to cause supernovas. Ick.
The Imperials of this story are sadly incompetent. Admiral Daala continually praises her own abilities and chuckles diabolically at the havoc she is about to unleash on the New Republic, but her tactics are weak and her plans fail time after time. The other key Imperial character, Ambassador Furgan from the Imperial training world Carida, is similarly depicted. Both are a long step down from Grand Admiral Thrawn.
Luke spends much of this novel in a comatose state while his spirit mystically wanders free. Anderson sets up a big confrontation between Luke's spirit and that of Exar Kun, the 4000-year old Sith Lord from his comic series Tales of the Jedi. There's potential here but when the climax comes it is underwhelming. It makes the point that the Jedi candidates will have to go beyond themselves and work together to succeed, but these characters are so one-dimensional it's hard to care. I appreciate what Anderson tried to do in this trilogy by exploring Luke's uncertainty about resurrecting the Jedi and charting a course for the future, but I don't like the weakness he coupled with the indecision. It takes Luke too far from the hero so loved in the films.
As I mentioned in my prior reviews of the Jedi Academy Trilogy, the events contained within are too big to ignore to understand the Star Wars Expanded Universe fully. The books are easy to read and won't require a whole lot of time or much deep thought. However, there are some definite flaws preventing me from recommending these books to a more casual reader.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Unbelievably bad writing.
Review: I love Star Wars. I really, really do. And there had to be a series about the reignition of the Jedi Order. But this was unbelievably bad.
The problem is that this whole trilogy could literally have been written in one book. Every other page is a shallow re-explanation of the information provided in the previous chapters and novels. I mean, for god's sake, how many times do you have to have it explained in DFR and CotF that Kyp Durron was caught in the Maw with Han and Chewie, imprisoned, interrogated, and made a vow that he'd never be that weak and helpless again? I'm pretty sure that I could find you at least three passages in DFR and at least two in CotF that say the Exact. Same. Thing. If you've already read it once in the book, do you need to see it the second and third times? Unless you suffer from short-term memory loss, I'll bet not.
It is poor writing at best. Worse, it is a ridiculous attempt to try to soak a multi-book deal out of a publisher, and it shouldn't have happened.
For shame.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Champions of a Flop
Review: I was really excited to read this trilogy. Last summer I read through the Thrawn trilogy and was pleased by a nice realistic story. Right after that i picked up the first of this trilogy and was so disappointed. Well after getting through that book the second one, Dark Apprentice, which was more i style i could enjoy.
I felt great getting into this book. I was anticipating some good jedi battles, and the forging of the new jedi academy. Well guess what to all those who haven't read this...it happens within the first 150 pages.
I haven't finished reading this yet and i really don't know why I want to.
The chapters jump around every 5-10 pages, the secondary plot line never interested me, and I have notice rehashed lines from the movies. On top of these obvious problems with the writing the worst part of it all is the predictability. The New Republic gets in some problems, and guess what? They come out with out any major problems.
The one character that i really started to like and still do is Kyp. He is a character that i like as much a Mara Jade for one reason...He isn't in the movies and he will re-appear through out the series. I am interested to see where his character goes and how the effects in these last books will effect the over all out come of story.
I gave this book 3 star because i felt like it had potential but ran out of steam really fast. I hope for the next books to be much better, and more enjoyable, but this was a good try.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Read it if you must
Review: Good story, terrible writing.
Anderson's prose is trite, unimaginative, and, far too often, simply laughable. Which is a shame because the story is compelling.
This is a key part of the Star Wars extended universe, however. So, read it if you must. But you've been warned.
Review Summary: Great book, hidden comedy
Review: I thought his entire trilogy was a pretty good read. I couldn't help but laugh at the scientists in the Death Star Prototype who kept saying "We should have a meeting about this right away!" during the middle of a space battle. I couldn't help but think that Kevin Anderson's inspiration for that was maybe his work at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: The Jedi Academy Trilogy sputters to a halt
Review: Champions of the Force is the final book in Kevin J. Anderson's Jedi Academy Trilogy. It continues much in the vein of the first two novels: a somewhat promising and engaging storyline is dragged down by pedestrian writing and some very hokey scenes. The 300-some pages of this book are essentially one extended climax to the trilogy. One battle in particular, the assault on the Imperial facility in the Maw, almost stretches the entire length of the story.
The Bantam Spectra era of Star Wars novels was noted for the authors' predilection to invent "superweapons-of-the-week." True to form, this trilogy contains not one but two in the form of a prototype (but fully functional) Death Star and the even more powerful Sun Crusher. It's not that hard to swallow the existence of a prototype Death Star, although the idea feels a trifle overused after seeing them in A New Hope and Return of the Jedi. However, the Sun Crusher concept goes beyond the pale. Anderson asks the reader to accept it took a 100+ kilometer wide sphere to support a laser that could destroy a planet, but this tiny fighter-sized craft carries the power to cause supernovas. Ick.
The Imperials of this story are sadly incompetent. Admiral Daala continually praises her own abilities and chuckles diabolically at the havoc she is about to unleash on the New Republic, but her tactics are weak and her plans fail time after time. The other key Imperial character, Ambassador Furgan from the Imperial training world Carida, is similarly depicted. Both are a long step down from Grand Admiral Thrawn.
Luke spends much of this novel in a comatose state while his spirit mystically wanders free. Anderson sets up a big confrontation between Luke's spirit and that of Exar Kun, the 4000-year old Sith Lord from his comic series Tales of the Jedi. There's potential here but when the climax comes it is underwhelming. It makes the point that the Jedi candidates will have to go beyond themselves and work together to succeed, but these characters are so one-dimensional it's hard to care. I appreciate what Anderson tried to do in this trilogy by exploring Luke's uncertainty about resurrecting the Jedi and charting a course for the future, but I don't like the weakness he coupled with the indecision. It takes Luke too far from the hero so loved in the films.
As I mentioned in my prior reviews of the Jedi Academy Trilogy, the events contained within are too big to ignore to understand the Star Wars Expanded Universe fully. The books are easy to read and won't require a whole lot of time or much deep thought. However, there are some definite flaws preventing me from recommending these books to a more casual reader.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Unbelievably bad writing.
Review: I love Star Wars. I really, really do. And there had to be a series about the reignition of the Jedi Order. But this was unbelievably bad.
The problem is that this whole trilogy could literally have been written in one book. Every other page is a shallow re-explanation of the information provided in the previous chapters and novels. I mean, for god's sake, how many times do you have to have it explained in DFR and CotF that Kyp Durron was caught in the Maw with Han and Chewie, imprisoned, interrogated, and made a vow that he'd never be that weak and helpless again? I'm pretty sure that I could find you at least three passages in DFR and at least two in CotF that say the Exact. Same. Thing. If you've already read it once in the book, do you need to see it the second and third times? Unless you suffer from short-term memory loss, I'll bet not.
It is poor writing at best. Worse, it is a ridiculous attempt to try to soak a multi-book deal out of a publisher, and it shouldn't have happened.
For shame.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Champions of a Flop
Review: I was really excited to read this trilogy. Last summer I read through the Thrawn trilogy and was pleased by a nice realistic story. Right after that i picked up the first of this trilogy and was so disappointed. Well after getting through that book the second one, Dark Apprentice, which was more i style i could enjoy.
I felt great getting into this book. I was anticipating some good jedi battles, and the forging of the new jedi academy. Well guess what to all those who haven't read this...it happens within the first 150 pages.
I haven't finished reading this yet and i really don't know why I want to.
The chapters jump around every 5-10 pages, the secondary plot line never interested me, and I have notice rehashed lines from the movies. On top of these obvious problems with the writing the worst part of it all is the predictability. The New Republic gets in some problems, and guess what? They come out with out any major problems.
The one character that i really started to like and still do is Kyp. He is a character that i like as much a Mara Jade for one reason...He isn't in the movies and he will re-appear through out the series. I am interested to see where his character goes and how the effects in these last books will effect the over all out come of story.
I gave this book 3 star because i felt like it had potential but ran out of steam really fast. I hope for the next books to be much better, and more enjoyable, but this was a good try.
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: Read it if you must
Review: Good story, terrible writing.
Anderson's prose is trite, unimaginative, and, far too often, simply laughable. Which is a shame because the story is compelling.
This is a key part of the Star Wars extended universe, however. So, read it if you must. But you've been warned.