This is a really cool book in that it gives a simple explanation as to how Luke goes from barely being able to hold a lightsaber in New Hope to mentally reaching for one with the force that is on the ground while he is hung upside down in a cave in The Empire Strikes Back. I have always wondered how this happened with Obi Wan Kenobi dead and Yoda not yet introduced. At the beginning, Hearne reproduces Luke's still, slightly whiney side as he bemoans not having anyone to teach him about the Force and wondering how he will be able to become a Jedi.
Leia sends him on a mission to a planet where one of the small clans would like the Alliance to help them beat their oppressive enemy clans who are mostly in league with the Empire. Luke is given the beautiful, sleek, and fast Desert Jewel to fly. It is owned by Nakari Kelen, whose father owns a huge lab that collects samples of new creatures and botany in order to create new medications. He cannot go up against the Empire directly, as they will destroy him and his business, so he takes their contracts even though he'd rather tear them up. His daughter, however, has no such constraints on her, so she helps the Alliance in numerous ways, including teaching sharpshooting skills. When she does work for her father, the money she gets she uses to upgrade her ship and help the Alliance.
Luke is immediately attracted to both the ship and Nakari. On his way to meeting the clan who has weapons for sale, he notices a Kupohan ship being attacked by the Empire. The Kupohans are on the fence about helping the Alliance, but they have helped them in the past. Even though it will endanger his mission, Luke helps the Kupohan ship escape. This makes his ship put on the list of ones the Empire is now looking for. Luke's mission with the clan is successful and he has set up a source for weapons.
Leia now has a new mission that will include Nakari. The Empire is holding a Given named Drusil, who is an expert cryptologist, probability theorist, and hacker. Givens have a unique introduction ritual that Luke and Nakari will have to learn. They recite a complicated math problem to solve and you give one too. Luckily Leia has a few for them to use. They are to rescue her and take her to Omereth, a mostly oceanic planet filled with monstrous sea creatures, and join her family that the Alliance will get and she will work for the Alliance. First, though, Luke and Nakari need to upgrade the ship to prepare for going up against the Empire. They need weapons and other things for the ship. In order to get the money for that, they go to Nakari's father who offers them a job to go to the unknown planet Fet where he has sent two teams to collect samples and they have not returned. He wants them to find the crew and bring them back.
Fet is a hideous place. They are provided with special suits to protect them from a vicious animal called the skullborer, which does exactly as its name implies and eats brains. They find the second ship and when they enter it, they find mostly dead bodies and a surprise: loose skullborers. These creatures are invisible until you hit them with a blaster or stun stick. Luke and Nakari have quite an adventure trying to complete this mission. Nakari's father gives them a huge sum of money and they go to the clan and load up on supplies.
Next, they go to a planet where a Kupohan spy provides them the information they need about Drusil. Rescuing her is not easy, but when they escape the planet with her, the Empire knows their ship and how many people to look for and begin to search for them. They escape the Empire ships, but the Empire has also put a bounty on their head. Their ship gets damaged and they go to the planet where the Kuphon's live, because the spy gave them a list of names of people who will help them and one of them is on the planet. He does not want to help them, but they offer him information in exchange for parts and repairs. Drusil blocks communications to the Empire to keep his workers from turning them in for the bounty, but she is not quick enough and one man gets through and the Empire sends someone to investigate. Luke and Nakari kidnap them to keep them from turning them in and wait for their ship to be fixed.
While waiting, Nakari and Luke become close and Nakari helps Luke out with his Jedi problem, by giving him advice on how to move objects. With Nakari's support, Luke is more relaxed and is able to move a noodle across the table. While this is not much, it is the first time he has been able to do it. Luke figures out that he is not moving the noodle, the Force is and he is pushing the Force to move the noodle.
Drusil is kind of like C3PO, in that she is readily coming up with probabilities in every situation they find themselves in, but unlike C3PO, she does not anticipate doom and she is quite fascinating and unbelievable in her abilities. Luke eventually begins to trust her and not suspect that she is secretly working for the Empire and they become friends.
More adventures await the group as they try to get to Omereth and hope that the Alliance was able to get her family there because Luke has been unable to get news from them as to whether they have succeeded. Nakari is a very empowered woman that you can look up to. She is good in a fight, has a wonderful sense of humor, and is determined to bring down the Empire, especially Darth Vader, who has hurt her family as much as he has hurt Luke's.
I really enjoyed this book a lot. It is filled with great adventure, fancy flying, strange creatures, bounty hunters, and a mission that continues to become more difficult and possibly unlikely to succeed. Drusil proves to be a very valuable asset to the mission with her math abilities and probability theories that provide them with ways to escape capture. The question is, will they complete their mission all in one piece or get taken down by the Empire or the deadly bounty hunters.
Quotes
Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Heir-Jedi-Star-Kevin-Hearne-ebook/dp/B00MKZ3VMW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1513171943&sr=8-1&keywords=Heir+to+the+jediYes, its’ customary among the Givin to say hello with math. If you can’t at least speak the language of math a Givin will have a difficult time trusting you, so you have to demonstrate your ability right away. Almost anything’s okay, but I advise you t keep it somewhat simple. And whatever you do, don’t ask them to do linear approximations of nonlinear partial differential equations, because they take it as an insult, like you’re mocking them…They object to approximations basically. Asking for approximations instead of precision indicates a lack of faith in their abilities at best, and at worst could be construed as you calling them stupid.
--Kevin Hearne (Heir to the Jedi p 98)
Waiting around with nothing to do is terrible, but waiting around with nothing to do in the sewer is worse.
--Kevin Hearne (Heir to the Jedi p 120)
Technology is always perfectly dependable until it isn’t.
--Kevin Hearne (Heir to the Jedi p 120)
--I do not know for certain—I did say probability, not certainty. But I can make educated guesses as to our destination based on extant variables, and predict that our pursuit shall catch up to us prior to our exit unless they behave stupidly?
--Isn’t that one of your extant variables?
--The worst possible kind. As you may well know, unlike kinetics or time or distance, human stupidity is incalculable.
--Kevin Hearne (Heir to the Jedi p 124)
The problem with conspiracy theories is that they have their own gravity: They are black holes from which one rarely escapes. Caution is advisable at all times, of course, but recognize that sometimes the beings you meet truly are good.
--Kevin Hearne (Heir to the Jedi p 176)
Traveling through the galaxy would be perfectly pleasant were it not for the Empire trying to kill us.
--Kevin Hearne (Heir to the Jedi p 191)
Your senses can be fooled. Math and physics do not lie.
--Kevin Hearne (Heir to the Jedi p 220)
Destiny sometimes finds it amusing to strike at people who believe they’re safe.
--Kevin Hearne (Heir to the Jedi p 235)
No one’s gunning for us. That’s a nice change. Kind of the galaxy I want to live in, honestly.
--Kevin Hearne (Heir to the Jedi p 235)
--Every time you say ‘We made it’, something bad happens.
--Correlation isn’t causation. But yeah. Damn.
--Kevin Hearne (Heir to the Jedi p 243)
Sometimes simple plans are the best ones. Or no plan at all, which is how Han often likes to fight: ‘If your plan never survives the enemy kid, why plan at all?’ he asked me once. ‘Wasting time on something that’s going to die in the first few seconds—I mean the plan—is a waste of time.’ When I told him that was circular logic he said to stop wasting his time. ‘Just blast everything and fly a fast ship. And bring a Wookie. Works for me.’
--Kevin Hearne (Heir to the Jedi p 252)
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