Star Wars: Dark Apprentice (The Jedi Academy Trilogy, #2) in The Expanded Universe

Apr 06, 2011 Linda rated it liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, star-wars

Anger, fear, aggression; the dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan's apprentice. *cough* And Luke's too. *cough*

I believe, that it was somewhat better than the first book of the trilogy, but still retains a certain level of mediocrity. It's a good continuation, we get to know the characters better and learn a bit more about what has happen ...more

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Apr 06, 2008 Keith rated it it was ok

Shelves: star-wars

Stars: 2
Re-read? Only if the last book in the trilogy really picks up.
Recommend to: Only people who are really into the decent first book in the trilogy, but this one is a major downgrade.

The first book in the series had some flaws, but this one has far more flaws than highlights. Entire sections of the book should have been removed. This was also one of the worst examples of an author doing a poor job fitting his work into the EU. I was wondering if they bothered having someone with knowledge o Stars: 2
Re-read? Only if the last book in the trilogy really picks up.
Recommend to: Only people who are really into the decent first book in the trilogy, but this one is a major downgrade.

The first book in the series had some flaws, but this one has far more flaws than highlights. Entire sections of the book should have been removed. This was also one of the worst examples of an author doing a poor job fitting his work into the EU. I was wondering if they bothered having someone with knowledge of the universe read this because it is just full of stuff where the reader is irritated because things just don't work that way. There were portions of the story that were entertaining, but almost the entire book was just silly.

I'll just lay out my thoughts with bullet points:
- Anderson's treatment of Wedge is just ludicrous. The last book had him being in charge of a construction crew. Now he is doing things like being a delivery man to Luke and then personal escort of Qwi as they tour the galaxy. It'd be like if General Patton was tasked with driving around the US with a Nazi scientist. In one scene, they are on Vors helping to clean up the destruction of the temple that was destroyed by Ackbar. Why? Why would they have a general and a high level prisoner do this?
- Speaking of Qwi, why in the world would they treat her the way that they do. (view spoiler)
- There are many instances where Anderson gets characters and events just plain wrong. (view spoiler)
- (view spoiler)
-Anderson has a bad habit of wanting a character to be in a particular circumstance, but he'll make some absurd reason to get that character there. (view spoiler)
- (view spoiler)
- The Sun Crusher is perhaps the most ludicrous thing in all of Star Wars. (view spoiler)
- Anderson's use of the Force is hit and miss. (view spoiler)
- So much of the plot is just insane convenience. (view spoiler)
- Some stuff was silly without being that irritating. (view spoiler)
- It would've been far better to just leave the twins almost completely out of the story. (view spoiler)
- Ultimately, the entire trilogy should've been hyper-focused on Luke and the Jedi Academy. (view spoiler)
- I still don't buy that (view spoiler)
- (view spoiler)
- Also for reasons known only to Anderson, (view spoiler)
- Anderson just had to have Ackbar say "It is a trap."
- There is a scene that is so badly written, it is jarring. (view spoiler)
- (view spoiler)
- Far too much of this book was needless fluff, and Anderson goes through the important stuff way too quickly. (view spoiler)
- Admiral Daala might be the worst villain in all of Star Wars. She is a genius allegedly but she fails at everything she tries in the most comical fashion. (view spoiler)
- This line made me question is Anderson had ever watched Star Wars. (view spoiler)
- There was a line in the book that practically made me scream. (view spoiler)
- I did like that Anderson brought over a character from his Tales from Mos Eisley Cantina into this book.
- I can't get over how poor of a teacher Luke is. He is completely ignorant of what is going on around him and seems to be teaching his students by having them wander the forests.

First Reads: 3 Stars (2001/2008)
There are a number of reasons that I was disappointed in this book. The biggest reason was that the plot lines were not very interesting. There is not a major plot line, it is more like a bunch of really short stories. There are also some really unbelievable scenarios. For instance, Lando Calrissian and Han Solo are always making bets that do not make any sense because at least one of them has nothing to gain if they win. Also, the villian in the story, Admiral Daala, just seems stupid and incompetent. The story does pick up in the end. ...more

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