Heirs of the Force: The Lost Ones

The Lost Ones is the third book in the Heirs of the Force series.

The twins are on vacation from their Jedi training, along with Lowbacca and Em Teedee. They plan to meet an old friend Zekk. When they start their adventure with Zekk, he takes them to a city on the lower level of Coruscant, where he starts to scavenge for various things, and explaining that is what he considers his job to be. . They head home, only to be confronted by a group of teenagers who call themselves the Lost Ones. They get away, and Jaina invites Zekk to a dinner that’s being held for a new ambassador. His alienation with the formal world shows at the banquet. He runs off, only for a strange woman to come up to him, asking him a few questions. She scans him with something, and has two men abduct him shortly after. Zekk comes to, and is greeted by Brakiss, who attempts to recruit him for his Shadow Academy.

Jacen and Jaina keep trying to contact Zekk, but continue to fail. Even Zekk’s roommate Peckhum does not know where he is and joins the search effort. Jacen and Tenel Ka go to search the Undercity for him again. They eventually find him giving a speech to Lost Ones, who have been subdued. One of Brakiss’ goons stuns the pair, and they awaken to find no trace of their friend or assumed enemy. Lowbacca and Jaina manage to relocate the base and try to send troops after the Academy, but the members manage to escape. However, they have left behind a pod containing a message.  The twins and their friends retrieve the message, in which Zekk explains his motives in wanting to be trained in the Shadow Academy.  His friends are devastated by his choice, but they don’t have much time to miss him. Shortly after, Luke takes them back into training, completely aware they’re in for a tough fight ahead.

To this day, I’m not quite sure what to think of this book in the series. The writing was good, Zekk was a great character, but while the story progressed steadily, it still managed to feel like it was dragging on. As a writer who doesn’t take kindly to stories that feel too long, I just couldn’t bring myself to enjoy the story completely for that last part. Once again, it’s worth a read, but more to keep up with the series’ continuity more than anything.

Game of Thrones- The Rains of Castamere- Season 3 Episode 9

Lady Catelyn is the picture of a destroyed and beaten woman

Too many feels! Still crying as Robb embraces his Talisa for the last time.

How much did your heart break last night? Did the tears just flow? The moment GoT readers have been dreading finally hit us last night…The Red Wedding. Too much emotion is flowing through me right now. I’m lost and hurt. George R. R. Martin and Steven Moffat do have this in common. They enjoy taking everyone viewers love and cherish and destroying them. Yet we keep watching and reading because they do it so well. Ugh it hurts.

The episode begins with Robb Stark going over strategy with his mother. He’s decided the only way they have a chance of winning is with the help of Walder Frey, the man Robb crossed when he married Talisa instead of one of Frey’s daughters. But Robb wants to attack Casterly Rock and this is the only way. Lady Catelyn ends the scene with the words “show them how it feels to lose what they love.” The statement hits you right in the gut as we think about what’s coming. Ouch.

At the house of Lord Walder Frey, Robb is asking forgiveness for breaking his promise. Frey shows all million of his daughters and said Robb could have had any one he wished and basically dismisses Robb’s words. Frey is angry that he has brought Talisa along although he mentions he would have broken oath to get with her hot body as well. Gross. But then Frey says they will put the incident behind them and move on. Problem solved?

At Dany’s camp Daario is showing her how to get into the city to open the gates for her armies. Daario is clearly smitten and boy does it get on Jorah’s nerves. Daario says he will take 3 men and fight the guards and then open the front gates for everyone else. The leader of the Unsullied trusts him so Dany is ready to sack the city tonight.

North of the Wall Sam and Gilly are together and he tells her of a secret entry through the wall. Apparently this secret entrance no one knows about except Sam since he reads books. She calls him a wizard for knowing everything by “staring at marks on paper”. Awww how cute.

The Hound still has Arya and they come upon a man and his wagon. The Hound helps him fix the wheel and then knocks him out. He goes to kill him but Arya refuses to let him slaughter the random man. The relationship between Arya and the Hound is amusing and odd. The Hound says she is very kind and will one day be killed because of it. The old man starts to rise and she knocks him out again with a stick.

Bran and his crew are still traveling and come upon a tower. They rest there to get shelter from the coming storm. Nearby Jon Snow and the Wildlings have found a man that provides horses for the men of the Night’s Watch. The Wildlings want to kill the horse breeder and take the horses. Jon Snow wants to let him live. He is ignored and the Wildlings rush the farm. But Jon Snow smacks his sword on a rock to alert the man giving him just enough time to get away. He even stops Ygritte from shooting him through the back with an arrow.

Back to Arya and the Hound. He is eating some of the pig on the wagon. They start talking about fear. He says Arya is afraid that she is so close to her family that she might miss her chance to be reunited once again. She retorts with the fact she knows he is afraid of fire. He brings up the death of her father and Arya turns lets him know one day she will be the one to kill the Hound.

The storm has started and  the thunder scares Hodor. He is going crazy making too much noise. Jon and the Wildlings have arrived at the tower. They are so close! But they don’t know Jon is with the Wildlings so they are afraid. Hodor is making more and more noise so Bran gets him to calm down by going all psychic and getting into his mind. What is his power?

The Wildlings caught up to the horse breeder and tell Jon Snow to kill him. Jon can’t do it so Ygritte does it for him. They start to attack Jon and he pushes Ygritte out of the way. In the tower Jojen tells Bran to set the direwolves on the Wildlings so they don’t find them hiding. The direwolves end up saving Jon and then stabs Orell and says “you were right the whole time”. Orell uses his warg powers to have an eagle attack Jon Snow but he manages to fend it off, he gets on a horse and runs off leaving Ygritte in the dust. She knows nothing now.

Bran and his people are talking in the tower now about his new-found ability to control people’s minds as well as animals. He then tells Osha that she needs to take Rickon to a Stark bannerman while Bran and the others continue to go north of the Wall. More Starks splitting up. No one wants this family to be together!

In Yunkai Daario is sneaking through the gate and tells Jorah he is the greatest whistler in the world so he will be able to hear the signal. He kills the guards but more keep coming. It’s Daario, Grey Worm, and Jorah against a bunch of guys and they are killing it. Dany is getting worried but suddenly Jorah shows up covered in blood and she asks about Daario. He comes in, kneels at her feet and proclaims the city is now hers.

It’s finally time for the wedding at The Twins. Edmure’s bride to be is actually quite pretty and he is pleased. The wedding takes place and it’s time for the feast. Everyone is merry and drinking and Frey announces that it is now time for the bedding to take place. During the festivities Robb asks Talisa if she knows if her baby is a boy or a girl. She doesn’t know (obviously) but says if it’s a boy she will name him Eddard. Stop right now and begin crying. Catelyn sees this and actually seems happy for them. Continue tears.

A man closes the giant doors to the party and it seems ominous. Lady Catelyn is starting to get concerned and then the band starts playing the Lannister’s song, The Rains of Castamere. Sensing something is wrong (seriously I need to get me a direwolf) Robb’s wolf is starting to whine but is trapped in a cage. Arya and the Hound finally arrive but are told the party is over and watch as soldiers run into the castle. Things are not looking good. Keep breathing. The music has stopped and Frey starts speaking with Robb. Catelyn shoots a glance at Roose Bolton and the looks exchanged are not good. She pulls his sleeve back and sees he is wearing chain mail. Catelyn screams and all hell breaks loose.

A man runs to Talisa and stabs her way more than necessary right in her stomach leading us to have to say goodbye to Ned Stark again! Tears are flowing now in between horrified gasps. Robb is standing frozen and can’t understand what just happens. Arrows start flying and Robb is hit twice. Around him his drunken men are being slaughtered. Frey is enjoying every minute of the slaughter like the sick perverted man he is. It’s disgusting.

Arya can see Robb’s soldiers being killed and watches as more of Frey’s men kill the the direwolf. Noooooooooooo!! Still crying and watching the terror unfold. The Hound says to Arya “it’s too late” and knocks her unconscious and takes her away. This essentially saves her life. But inside no one is being saved.

Robb crawls to Talisa and just holds her as her blood surrounds him. THIS IS UNFAIR. Lady Catelyn grabs Frey’s wife who was hiding under a table and screams at Frey to let Robb go or she will kill his wife. I am not sure how Lady Catelyn is still sane at this point but she is screaming and begging Robb to run away and try to escape this madness. She is losing everyone. She lost her husband, she still thinks her two youngest are dead, her girls are lost, so she cannot lose Robb too. The emotion in her voice and face is raw and unrelenting. Every part of you aches for this mother watching her son being murdered. Again she screams that she will kill this woman. Frey looks at her with so much malice and just says “I’ll find another”.

Robb looks up at Catelyn all big eyed and hurt. AHH my heart can’t take it. He says “mother…” and is stopped short as Bolton comes up to him and stabs him in the stomach giving the last needed push towards death and says “the Lannisters send their regards”.

Catelyn watches Robb fall then slits the girls throat. Then someone comes up and slits her throat which almost seems merciful at this point since she has lost everything. It burns. I can no longer see through my furious and broken tears. The scene unfolds so fast and yet it is still so powerful and heart wrenching.

Silent credits roll. Boom. How can anyone go on? More tears. Silence. Black.

Star Wars Episode VII—A Newer Hope?

Alright, force devotees the news of day is as follows: Michael Kaplan, the costume designer for Star Trek Into Darkness has revealed that he has joined the Star Wars Episode VII production crew.  The famed designer work is also showcased in: Blade Runner, Star Trek and Fight Club. Although, the Star Trek costumes were indeed stylish, it still makes me wonder where JJ Abrams plans on going with this new series.  With Michael Kaplan joining the crew, it just seems that JJ Abrams is trying to bring Star Trek into Star Wars. Personally, I believe that JJ Abrams should have production crew members that previously worked on the original Star Wars series as to have a good balance amongst the crew.  It is hard to imagine with the rivalry between the two franchises and one director working on both, that certain themes will not overlap. If that does happen I am sure that devotees of the Force will not be pleased.  JJ Abrams has proven himself as a great director with the Star Trek franchise, which gives us all hope that the revamped Star Wars series will be brilliant as long as he remembers that Star Wars is NOT Star Trek! Episode VII is due out in cinemas in the summer of 2015; I’m very interested in seeing how it turns out.

Let me know your thoughts below.

Parallel Universe/Time Travel Theories: Multiverse Theory

Recently, two friends and I got talking about differing Universes in Doctor Who, which led to one of the theories about time travel/space/relativity that people seemed split about. We talked about a bunch, but the one that we spent the most time on was the Parallel Universe/Multi-Universe Theory- the idea that the world is comprised of infinite universes based on choices/general outcomes alone. It’s one of the most popular and heard about theories- the one that relates to the question “What if…?” or “If I had/hadn’t done _____, what would’ve happened?”.  It’s a Hollywood favorite as well, spawning movies like Sliding Doors , Next and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, along with many TV shows. On a darker note, it’s also what comes from “survivors guilt” (“What would’ve happened if I got hurt/died instead of this person/these people?”) While I can’t exactly recall who said what, I can essentially draw out the example one friend and I used, which may help clear the theory up for those who don’t understand it.

When you have to choose between three things, going with one of the three choices creates three different universes.  Let’s take picking up various household objects into consideration  since that’s what my friend and I used to describe it. Let’s say You have a glass of soda, a TV remote, and a magazine in front of you. There are two different ways you can look at this/you’re already looking at two ways this situation could create parallel universes. .One,  just using the remote as the example, one universe is created where you don’t pick up the remote, but another is created where you if you do pick it up. Then comes the second way-  if you pick up the remote instead of the glass or the magazine, you create a different universe for choosing the remote over the other two, and another for choosing one of the others over the remote, and so on.

For fellow visual learners, take this into consideration. We’re about to revisit tree diagrams from middle school math class:

Overall, the idea is that every little thing that happens, intentional or not, creates a new universe- you move one way, you hurt yourself, you turn one way on a two way street, you say something- your world is always splitting up into separate universes every moment as you go along. One could consider that as you’re reading this, there’s now another Universe going on outside of this one that  a) I never made this blog entry, and/or b) you never read this. Get it?

As a whole, the number of  multi-universe/parallel universe theories are near endless. I plan to continue describing more of them, as well as visiting those dreaded time travel theories, but I figured make what I assume is the simplest first.

Game of Thrones- The Bear and the Maiden Fair- Season 3 Episode 7

Oh the love between Brienne and Jamie is so endearing now. It’s like Jamie actually has a heart. I love it. GoT does so well to give so many sides to a character that you can feel hatred and likability at the same time. Nice work.

So back to the beginning of the show. Robb and crew are on the way to the Frey’s home for his uncle’s wedding but the weather is slowing them down. After the talk everyone leaves the tent and Robb and Talisa have the classiest bang session I’ve seen on the show thus far. That’s real love people. Then Talisa confesses she is pregnant! Here comes a little prince or princess.

Just south of the Wall Ygritte and Jon are walking together and Ygritte sees a windmill. You would think she just discovered aliens or her first double stuf oreo. She goes absolutely mental seeing this glorious building. Jon pokes fun at her but it doesn’t work out that well since she doesn’t know what “swooning” or “fainting” mean. So the statement loses its punch when you have to explain each word. The Wildlings comment on this new relationship and Orell is very bitter about it. Later Jon confronts Ygritte and tells her the Wildlings won’t win in a battle against the Night’s Watch. Ygritte basically tells him we’re in this together so if that’s the case they will die together. Good luck with that Jon Snow.

Bran is still being led north to the Wall by Jojen. Jojen says they need to go north of the Wall to find the three-eyed raven Bran keeps seeing. Osha is upset because she wants to take Bran to Castle Black and to Jon Snow. Osha is also wary of the White Walkers. Why isn’t anyone else concerned about ZOMBIES? They are due to make a strong and scary reappearance soon.

In King’s Landing Sansa is having a meltdown about having to marry Tyrion and Margaery is there to comfort her. She says Tyrion is “far from the worst Lannister.” Good point Margaery because he is my favorite Lannister. Your fiance Margaery is the worst Lannister. Ugh. Sansa then worries about having to sleep with Tyrion and Margaery again reassures her the she may enjoy his…experience.

Tyrion is discussing this new arrangement with Bronn. Bronn doesn’t see a problem with having to marry Sansa and keeping Shae around as well. Of course he wouldn’t. On the other hand Shae is furious. What will she do when he marries Sansa? Interesting position the men of Westeros are in. Tyrion, Robb, and Jon all having to choose love or duty. Or if you are Dany, you choose both and says screw you with a dragon burn to the face to anyone who says otherwise.

In the throne room Tywin meets with Joffrey who is sitting on the Iron Throne. Joffrey doesn’t like that he doesn’t know what the Small Council is doing and also that the meetings have been moved to the Hand of the King’s tower. He then asks Tywin about Dany and the dragons she has and Tywin says it’s nothing to be concerned about. Uh oh. Be careful there.

Speaking of Dany, she is now outside another city called Yunkai. The emissary comes to meet Dany and offer her a gift. The gift is a chest of gold and a fleet of ships and in turn she just leaves them alone. Dany’s counter offer is that he release every slave in the city and give them land and food and she will spare his life. Harsh Dany.

Oh Theon is still alive? Two servant girls take him off the cross and try seducing him. Theon knows this is a set-up but who can resist two naked girls? Then the mystery boy comes in again interrupting the activities. He says he knows Theon’s manhood is his most prized possession and takes a knife in hand saying he wants to “make a few alterations”. Theon tries weakly to get away screaming. Are they really going to mutilate him?! The torture doesn’t end for the poor Greyjoy.

Arya is still upset that the Brotherhood without Banners sold Gendry to the red lady. In fact, she is furious, so when the group goes to hunt some Lannisters instead of taking her to Riverrun, she takes off. She runs into the forest and runs right into the Hound. Oh no! He does not like her very much since she tried to have him killed.

At Harrenhal Jamie is finally being released to go to King’s Landing but has to leave Brienne behind. It’s unsettling for both of them and you can tell Jamie clearly wants her with him. Brienne says if he promises to reunite the Stark women with their mother, his debt will be paid. He promises to do so and then leaves. Later on the men transporting Jamie reveal that Brienne’s father offered ransom money and it was rejected because of his earlier lie about the island having a ton of sapphires. His plan to save her backfired twice now. So he goes back to Hareenhal to rescue her and finds her in a pit with a grizzly bear and she is only armed with a wooden sword. Brienne has already been scratched a few times by the bear and is bleeding in her dress. So of course Jamie does the only sensible thing. He jumps down into the pit with her. He rescues her from the bear and he gets out of the pit just before getting almost eaten. Geez.

Avatar: The Last Airbender, Volume 1: The Promis-Part 1

DISCLAIMER: Spoilers, if you have not read the Avatar comic books, they are available on Amazon and through the Dark Horse Comic Book app.

 

The hundred year war is over, the Avatar has triumphed, and now Aang and friends have the tricky little issue of returning the world to the way it was before the war. To start with, Fire Lord Zuko has agreed to help Earth King Kuei remove the Fire Nation colonies from the Earth Kingdom. Aang knows that this is going to disrupt a lot of people’s lives, so he volunteers to oversee everything to make sure it all goes peacefully. Sokka cleverly names the project the Harmony Restoration Movement. The Earth King plans some festivities to announce the HRM and Aang is feeling pretty good about himself.

Star Wars Day/ Young Jedi Knights: The Shadow Academy

Being that I’m sure it’s all over whatever social media you all check out, I’ll spare you the big post on it and just say, “Happy Star Wars Day and may the 4^th be with you!”

With that comes a review of the second book in the Heirs of the Force Series, called The Shadow Academy.

When Jacen, Jaine, Lobacca and Em Teedee are going on a tour around one of Lando’s space stations, they are kidnapped by Imperials. Luke hears what has happened and goes on a rescue mission, aided by Tenel Ka. They come across Tamith Kai, a woman who took part in the attack that the kidnapping resulted from. They find they’re on their way to the Shadow Academy, a place where they take students to train as Jedis who use the dark side of the force to the Imperial’s advantage. They get there and meet, Brakiss, one of Luke’s former students and the headmaster of the Shadow Academy. The friends are forced to part ways to their own cells. Luke and Tenel Ka eventually find a lead that brings them closer to finding the friends. Back with the others, Brakiss and Tamith Kai try to get the siblings and  their fellow prisoners to use the dark side of the force, but they hold up, leading to them being split between the teachers for lessons. Brakiss attempts to sway the siblings by giving them what they want, ie a lightsaber, but once again, the attempts fail and the siblings are more focused on trying to be reunited.

Elsewhere, Qorl, the pilot who put the twins and their friends in danger in Heirs of the Force is revealed to be responsible for the kidnaping. He and Brakiss work up a plan to make the twins fight each other, and succeed for a while, much to the twins’ dismay once the plan is revealed.

Tamith Kai finds Lobacca’s weak point with his temper and manipulates him into using that to tap into the dark side. Lobacca does so against his will and  Tamith Kai returns Em Teedee  as a reward, only to have Lobacca find out the droid has been reprogrammed to be loyal to the Empire. Luke and Tenel Ka finally succeed in getting a reliable ride to the Shadow Academy. They arrive.

Jacen works out a plan of escape and the twins and Lobacca go through with it, taking Em Teedee along, but an alarm is raised and tipped off Qorl, Brakiss and Tamith Kai of the attempt.  The ship Luke and Tenel Ka are on picks them up, and they attempt to leave, only to be stopped by storm troopers, Brakiss and Tamith Kai. After a short fight, Qorl tires of the action and lets them go.

They arrive home and start making minor repairs on the ship Luke and Tenel Ka did the rescue on, since they figure having it would be useful. Jacen insists he’s not ready to have a lightsaber of his own yet based on the trouble he went through and how he handled it, but  Luke insists that Jacen might be wrong if Brakiss continues his own plan of destroying them with the fevor he showed before.

Overall, this was one of the few forgettable books of the series. Just flipping through it and looking over some other synopses, I barely could remember sitting down and reading it around ten years ago like I do with a handful of the others. It’s essential for continuity with the storyline, but I feel that’s as far as it goes.

Avatar: The Last Airbender, Book 3: Fire

Sadly, we have now arrived at the final season of Avatar: The Last Airbender: Book 3: Fire. The season starts with Aang waking up and discovering he has hair (!). He and his friends are riding in a stolen ship and wearing Fire Nation clothes and the rest of the world thinks he’s dead (!!). He soon realizes that this is an advantage because now he can pull a sneaky little sneak attack later. Aang, Katara, Toph, and Sokka arrive in the Fire Nation and Aang is mistaken for a school boy and is forced to go to school. There he learns the Fire Nation pledge of loyalty and is exposed to all the Fire Nation propaganda. As the gang makes their way across the Fire Nation, Sokka starts to feel left out because he’s the only one in the group that can’t bend. He finds a sword master named Piandao to train him, but first he has to do seemingly irrelevant tasks like painting and rock-gardening but then realizes these tasks were helping him learn the whole time (very Karate Kid-esque­).

Star Wars Episode III–Revenge of the Sith

Star Wars Episode III— Revenge of the Sith (2005)

Cast: Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid

Director: George Lucas

George Lucas draws the Star Wars film series to a close with the release of the sixth and final installment of the dark sci-fi adventure. From the original series we have always known that Darth Vader is Anakin Skywalker, and that Luke and Leia were his offspring; so that isn’t all that new, however, it is exciting to find out how and why Anakin lost his way. Filled with exciting action scenes and top of the line visual feats, George Lucas really shows us why he is King of Sci-Fi.

As Episode III opens, Obi-Wan (McGregor) and Anakin (Christensen) are piloting fighter craft on a mission to rescue Chancellor Palpatine (McDiarmid), who has been captured by General Grievous. Anakin successfully rescues the Chancellor whilst caring for injured Obi-Wan. Back at the Jedi Council, Anakin finds himself not given the title Jedi Master despite his heroics in saving the Chancellor.  The council distrusts the Chancellor and wants Anakin to spy on him. Likewise, the Chancellor wants Anakin to spy on the Council. Who to choose? At this point we began to see Anakin changing for the worse. Palpatine playing the most pivotal role of playing on Anakin’s already wounded ego. He plants the seed of doubt in his mind that the Jedi don’t trust him. Despite the Chancellor’s attempts, we still see Anakin reluctant to join the dark side.

The turning point comes with the discovery of Padmè’s pregnancy. Anakin’s reaction is that of a teenage comedy, looking awkwardly pleased on the outside, but wondering how this will affect all the amazing things he will get to do.  His horrific visions of Padmè dying in child birth are the climax of the film. His inability to accept death as a part of nature and willingness to go through all lengths to stop Padmè from dying marks Anakin’s descent to the dark side of the force.

As always, the dialogue is the weakest point in the entire film and film series. To say George Lucas cannot write a love scene is the understatement of the century. A hallmark card can probably express more passion. Likewise, the action and overall plot trumped the poor dialogue. The special effects of this movie are much more sophisticated than all of the previous movies. Each second of this movie kept you on the edge of your seat, never feeling dragged out. The final battle scene on the planet of Musatafar was spectacular. The movements and fighting is much more complex and really makes you wish light sabers were real. Similarly, we never imagine Yoda in a fight scene as anything that would be cool. But alas, we are mistaken. Animated Yoda can kick some major butt.

While the previous two episodes of the prequel series left us feeling questionable and concerned whether or not George Lucas lost his touch; Episode III truly made it ok to love Star Wars again. George Lucas really brought his all and delivered. The overall plot, graphics, and special effects are truly phenomenal, and disguise the poor dialogue. George Lucas truly achieved what few artists are able to ever do; he created a whole new world that will be appreciated by many generations to come.  Episode III a thriller that deserves 4.5 stars and is a must see film that will leave you wanting more.

Star Wars: Young Jedi Knights: Heirs of the Force

When it comes to the Star Wars: Extended Universe, I’ve always been partial to The Young Jedi Knights series, focusing on the next generation of the heroes from the original series, as well as their friends. The stories follow Han and Leia’s twins, Jacen and Jaina, along with their friends Tenel-Ka and Lobacca, their cousin Ben Skywalker, Luke’s son with a woman by the name of Mara Jade, and other various people along the way. I en joy this bunch the most because I already felt emotionally attached to these characters immediately because I loved the former generation so much. The series is straightforward and made what would eventually end up being a cliché storyline a success that I didn’t mind it being cliché at all. If anything, it fit the series well.

The twins have been training to be Jedi for a month. A new recruit, Chewie’s nephew Lobacca comes across a T-23 ship and he, the twins, and Tenel-Ka go to investigate. They eventually find it and toy with it, along with the wreckage of a TIE fighter. They remain oblivious that the fighter’s pilot, Qorl, is watching then. The man’s been trapped there for years and is bent on being able to return to the civilized world to destroy the rebellion. Jacen puts the pieces of that mystery together too late, because Qorl takes them hostage moments after Jacen tries to warn his friends. Lowbacca  and Tenel-Ka escape, and the former  tries to free them, but fails. He still gets away and goes to inform Han and Leia of the situation. Meanwhile, Qorl take Jacen and Jaina to his home. They catch him up on the twenty odd years he has missed. He insists they repair his ship so he can still return to the Empire. They do and he takes off on the ship with every intention to destroy the Jedi academy. The twins are left behind. Han and Chewie arrive for a rescue mission with Lowbacca and Tenel-Ka in tow. They pick up the twins, but the threat that Qorl is on his mission still looms in the air.

The first few books in the Young Jedi Knight is geared towards children and young adults, so it’s a simplistic, easy read. It’s worth it, as well. Even if you just want to meet most of the characters to see what happened after the original series, it’s fun, and takes no time at all. This is one of my favorites in the bunch just because of the nostalgia it caused me as a kid, and it will probably have the same effect on most Star Wars fans.