Content for AE-Xsite-ILM-Prime-NPA
Currently unavailable.
We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock.

Star Wars: Children of the Jedi Hardcover – 11 May 1995

by Barbara Hambly (Author)
One of the series of novels which continue the "Star Wars" adventure. Princess Leia, Han Solo and Chewbacca set out for the once-vibrant stronghold of Belsavis, on a mission vital to the survival of the fragile New Republic. They are searching for the long-lost children of the Jedi.
Previous slide of product details
  1. Print length
    352 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Bantam Press
  4. Publication date
    11 May 1995
  5. ISBN-10
    0593037642
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0593037645
Next slide of product details

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bantam Press (11 May 1995)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0593037642
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0593037645

Customer Reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
139 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers
Write a customer review

Top reviews from United Arab Emirates

There are 0 reviews and 0 ratings from United Arab Emirates

Top reviews from other countries

  • Paul Bedard
    5.0 out of 5 stars Unfairly Judged!
    Reviewed in the United States on 2 June 2017
    Verified Purchase
    I'm not sure why this wonderful book has been so harshly reviewed. It is certainly the best Star Wars novel I have read; it has more of the emphasis on character and spiritual issues and less of the "military" focus of the (also excellent) Zahn books. Many reviewers focus on the perceived flaw of "too much description." Perhaps the issue here is that many Star Wars readers really want a movie and not a book. And many Star Wars novels attempt to satisfy this desire. So, don't pick this up unless you enjoy books as literature. The descriptions are beautiful and really carry the reader to truly alien places. The subplots about what it means to be authentically who you are weave together without feeling like they were constructed to do so. The characters of Cray and Nichos are well-drawn and their dilemma creates both existential and romantic angst. The vanished Jedi children, visible as "ghosts" to Leia, in their happiness and freedom, contrast with the terrible, pitiable " creatures" in the tunnels. Luke's "mission impossible" aboard the asteroid spaceship, and the humor and horror of the mind-altered aliens aboard, is exciting and memorable. The characterization of classic Star Wars alien races like Jawas, Sand People, and Gamorreans is very good. Overall, the dreamy and often depressing style which put so many other reviewers off is remarkably effective and does not make the book any less Star Wars-like.
    For me, one of the big flaws of the Expanded Universe has been that many of the adventures seem like mere trivial episodes which don't have lasting implications, don't show us anything new about the characters, aren't truly thought-provoking, and just don't need to have happened. Children of the Jedi feels like a series of really significant events in the lives of the characters. I feel I know more about even C3PO and R2D2.
    I'll close this review with a debate topic for Star Wars novel fans. Was it a good idea to link all the novels into one universe, so that each author was required to take into account the events of all the other books? While it's nice to have a continuity to follow and see new characters like Mara Jade pop up, it also seems to hamstring the authors, limiting what their imaginations can show us. No big changes can occur because the drawing board has to be left open for other writers. What if, instead, there had been no imposed continuity? Then each author would be beholden only to the movies, and could do whatever they wanted without fear of contradicting other authors or changing the universe to much for future authors. The the readers would truly not know what to expect- Luke could die, Vader could turn out to be alive, Earth could be discovered, and so on. Then when the book ended those ideas wouldn't ruin future novels.
    Perhaps even if the large continuity was maintained, there could have been "imaginary" stories, the way the old DC comics used to do - stories where Superman and Lois got married or Batman died, that were outside the continuity.
    Report
  • Jeff F
    4.0 out of 5 stars Solid and fast-paced read that genuinely feels like Star Wars.
    Reviewed in the United States on 20 November 2014
    Verified Purchase
    Many of the Expanded Universe novels reused the same story tropes, quickly transforming them into cliches. In Children of the Jedi, author Barbara Hambly thankfully avoids using a kidnapping of Han and Leia's children as the central plot (Luke actually forbids their tagging along on the adventure). Although Hambly does use forgotten Imperial agents as the central villains, there is at least an attempt on her part to turn the villains into fully realized characters. As for the Star Wars staple of deadly superweapons, Hambly does utilize that well-worn plotline; however, the automated battleship Eye of Palpatine, staffed by all manner of bizarre alien creatures and controlled by a malevolent A.I. called the Will, provides a unique take on the superweapon trope, and I found myself genuinely enjoying the adventures of Luke and his Jedi students Cray and Nichos (both of whom could have used greater characterization, especially considering their actions at the novel's conclusion) in attempting to stop the ship from completing its mission. Also introduced in Children of the Jedi is Callista, a Jedi from the era of the Old Republic who has survived as a ghost aboard the ship and is Luke's love interest; Callista is another intriguing character whose potential is perhaps not fully realized in this novel. However, the author does show a gift for depicting the characters we all love from the movies; there's plenty of soul-searching and ruminations on the past from both Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia, and while Hambly's Han Solo is a bit weakly characterized, she is also able to make C-3PO vital to the plot. Despite the use of too much technobabble in the early chapters of the novel, I found Children of the Jedi to be a fast-paced and entertaining read, and a much better Star Wars "love story" than The Courtship of Princess Leia. It's not The Thrawn Trilogy, and Hambly is second to Timothy Zahn when it comes to getting inside these characters' heads, but it is light years ahead of most of the other Expanded Universe novels.
    Report
  • Mark
    3.0 out of 5 stars Not as bad as everyone says, but not great either.
    Reviewed in the United States on 16 October 2016
    Verified Purchase
    I don't think that this book is horrible. I think that it is fairly comparable to one of Zahn's books, which I also only think are okay, neglecting the romance with Callista.

    I think that Hambly has a good grasp of the characters. She writes Han well, her Luke is the Luke that has defeated Thrawn, fallen to the Dark Side and defeated the resurrected emperor, and established the Jedi Academy on Yavin, having watched Gantoris die under his watch and Kyp murder billions with the Sun Crusher. As such, Luke is a brooding and experienced character.

    He is rendered incapable much of the book due to an injury. This is a very Zahn-like trope, for in Heir to the Empire Luke is also rendered incapable due to the ysalamiri. As such, his effectiveness is greatly diminished as a Jedi. Provided that I want to see Luke blazing in glory as a mighty hero, I am sort of annoyed that he is so frequently put into narrative circumstances where he is a weak character. I'm not sure if this is just a coincidence or because the writers are hesitant to develop him as a Jedi as jarringly as Veitch did in Dark Empire, but it's not something I particularly appreciate.

    Hambly's Leia is a character strong and confident in the force. She is able to physically separate from her body through the Force, just like Luke in the Jedi Academy trilogy. She is also able to use the force kinetically, drawing towards her a blaster with the Force.

    Unrealistically, she is the Chief of State of the New Republic traveling without ANY state-supplied bodyguards. For being such an important galactic figure, this strains credulity. Think about the movement of kings in the Middle Ages or how the president travels on Air Force One surrounded at all times by highly trained operatives. I know that Leia is allowed to be free of these things wholly owing to narrative caprice, but I would like to see her in more of an overt political leadership role rather than continuing as a "rebel princess" as she functions as here.

    It is nice that Hambly includes Mara and further develops the Emperor's Hand(s) concept, but it is unfortunate that she forgets how Thrawn taunted Mara Jade by alluding to the fact that are likely other Emperor's Hands. That Hambley didn't make this connection is unfortunate.

    Finally, Luke's romance with Callista. This happens rather suddenly, but I do think it is consistent with Luke's character development. Up to this point he has gone through a lot of darkness, stress, and strain, and it seems plausible that he would be particularly receptive to romantic companionship, especially from another Jedi. I think the writing of the romance could have been done a little better, but I'm genuinely happy for Luke at this point, ignoring the romantic developments that occur further down the road.

    Stylistically, I think that Hambly focuses too much on flowery description while ignoring geometrical, cardinal, and placement descriptions. Compare to Stackpole, who, if you really take the time to build his descriptions in your mind, you can really picture where everything is in relation to everything else, what the building looks like, what's in the room, what spacecraft look like, how far things are apart from everything else, etc. I appreciate this. Hambly on the other hand is describing a world as foreign and exotic as Morrowind and uses descriptive adjectives that are just puzzling enough to prevent me from cinematically seeing what she's trying to show me. I had to rely on Wookiepedia to try and picture some of the strange creatures she describes (like Affytechans). I don't appreciate that she almost intends to make it frustrating for the reader to really see the scenes she is describing. I really struggled to visualize the scene with the flower-bed gondolas with vines and catwalks, as well as the scene with Luke ascending a shaft with a trackball with some balloon-sled trailing him with trackers overhead shooting at him while he deflected the bolts with some handheld mirror -- it's just too many strange variables that aren't well-enough described to allow me to picture it all cinematically.

    I'd categorize this as an average book. I don't hate it, as others do, but I feel that Hambly's style of writing isn't comparable to the cinematic clarity of Stackpole's.
    Report
  • Chip Roberts
    2.0 out of 5 stars Dreamlike Atmosphere Ruins Plot
    Reviewed in the United States on 22 September 2016
    Verified Purchase
    Shortly before the bastardization of the Star Wars Expanded Universe by Disney and JJ Abrams, I set forth to read just about every main entry after the Battle of Endor beginning with the Thrawn Trilogy. While I found Timothy Zahn's books to be on the slower end of the spectrum and at times confusing, Kevin J. Anderson seemed to have a better idea for the "feel" of the universe. After reading both the Thrawn books and the Academy books, I was curious to see how Barbara Hambly would contribute to the universe. The answer is none - none contributions. If you're a Star Wars completest, I would say give this a read, but you can skip both this and Planet of Twilight and not be lost in any way. Though to be fair, Hambly does have a style all her own; a dark, gloomy atmosphere that seems to hypnotize and soothe the reader into a dreamlike state. This dreaminess, however, proves to be a detriment to the novel. Segments where Luke is aboard the Eye of Palpatine, an Imperial superweapon with an ambiguous function (and purpose) are broken up by sequences of Jedi visions and details of his exploits aboard the vessel. Such a murky atmosphere makes the reader question what's reality and what's a dream within this universe, and this goes all throughout the end when they get Sandpeople drunk and put them on a shuttle for evacuation...wait, what?
    The B plot, which follows Leia, Han, Chewie, and R2 on a resort planet doesn't seem to help make the plot any more clear either. It seems they're there because of some kind of vision or message about the Children of the Jedi. During their time on Belsavis, more and more random characters from the noble families of Star Wars are introduced as Leia goes sneaking around a swanky party. Father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommates galore, given context only by long-winded anecdotes in Leia's memory about seeing them at some Alderaanian diplomatic soiree, are now the antagonists of the book introduced 2/3rds of the way through. Apparently they're planning to blow up the planet with the Eye of Palpatine or something, I don't know-
    And there's a lady with Palpatine's illegitimate son who can use the force and he's a big jerk and then Han comes and Luke escapes the Eye of Palpatine, or controls it using the ghost of a dead Jedi who was there during the Clone Wars or something, and they rescue Leia and shake their fingers at the Emperor's former consort and that's the end. Did I mention this book was convoluted?
    Report
  • Amelia G. Varner
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Story!
    Reviewed in the United States on 21 May 2016
    Verified Purchase
    The story begins with a beautiful description of the planet Ithor (home of the Ithorians). The adventures of Luke, Han and Leia then take you to places where there is danger lurking in the shadows and secrets to unveil. I couldn't put the book down. It is a very good story with sweet references back to the original Star Wars movies that will make you smile as you read.
    Report