Star Wars Legends Fan Group discussion

June 2022 Legends Group Read

Heirs of the Force by Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta (Young Jedi Knights #1)



The Group read starts on June 1st.


- Book 1 of the Young Jedi Knights series
- First published in June 1995
- Set in the era of the New Republic

Jacen and Jaina. When the Empire died, they were born--a new hope for a New Republic. The young twins of Han Solo and Princess Leia are now fourteen, and enrolled at Luke Skywalker's Jedi academy on Yavin 4. Together with friends both old and new, the future heroes of an already legendary saga begin their training.

hoping to start this one soon.

Because, despite reading very fast, I haven't been reading many SW books lately (though tons of fanfic), for many reasons, I thought I'd at least try to read this and post my thoughts, though, I'm not sure how well I'll do.

Wow, these Dathomirians are much different than the ones that look like Ventress, from some Wookiepedia research.

As for EM-TD, why only 6 forms of communication?

What do you think of the cover? I'm not impressed by the style. But the twins look like they could be Han and Leia's children.



Here they are on another cover from the same series (without the strange red glow in their hair)

Allyssa wrote: "Wow, these Dathomirians are much different than the ones that look like Ventress, from some Wookiepedia research."

I wonder who counts as a Dathomirian female in this era. Dooku annihilated the Nightsisters during the Clone Wars. When Cal Kestis (canon) arrived there in the Jedi:Fallen Order there was only one left - Sister Merrin. Does Dathomir have a "normal" population beside Nightsisters and Nightbrothers (Dathomirian Zabraks)?

I have read a couple of interviews with Kevin J. Anderson and I found out that the Young Jedi Knights could have been adapted into a cartoon series in the 90s. If they did that lots of the post RotJ EU would have been canonized.

"In 1996, Lucasfilm was approached by Fox Kids about adapting the Young Jedi Knights series to television as a cartoon. Fox Kids was fresh off a string of successes (Batman: The Animated Series, X-Men, Spider-Man), and it was during this period of time they were broadcasting many animated hits. However, Lucasfilm was focused at the time on the release of the Special Editions of the original trilogy, as well as the production of the prequel trilogy. As a result, they turned down the proposal. Any preliminary ideas for a young adult television series in the cartoon format were shelved.

Both Anderson and Moesta were quick to report to the public that the proposal was turned down, speaking about it as soon as May 1996. But fans refused to let the idea die, and so, despite no new developments regarding the proposal, rumors swirled about a greenlit YJK TV series for years, up until as late as 1999. These are the baseless rumors that Moesta and Anderson were quick to refute in the above interview."

BTW the co-authors of the series Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta are husband and wife. I didn't know.

Another interesting tidbit this time from Rebecca Moesta. She talks what is it like to co-write books with her husband.

Q: "You often collaborate with your husband Kevin. I’m fascinated to learn how you manage this? Does one of you plot the idea, then the other fleshes it out, or do you plot together, then write alternate chapters, then rewrite together?"

RM: "In most cases, it starts with brainstorming. We talk over story ideas, jot down notes, arrange them and expand on them, we play up on each other’s ideas, and eventually write a detailed outline. Then we break it down into chapters and decide who is best equipped to write the first draft of each particular chapter. Kevin writes half of the chapters, I write the other half, then we edit and swap files and edit each other’s work. It goes back and forth until we’ve got what we consider a finished version. And the collaborative book that comes out is different and better than anything either of us could do individually."

It would be interesting to know which chapters were originally written by Anderson and which ones by Moesta. I need to pay better attention to changes in style.

source: https://www.rowena-cory-daniells.com/...

Okay, ~19% in.
(view spoiler)[Jaina Solo's got priorities.
"Jaina would never have gone to this much trouble for an ambassador or some silly dignitary- but her father was worth the effort."

You mean you dress up more around Han than the ambassadors, girl? (hide spoiler)]

Also, BTW, I'm on tumblr, with a SW blog (although I don't post much on it).

I'm half way through.

So far, it's been a very straightforward adventure. The plot is very simple and lots of aspects are simplified for kids. Its target audience is clearly pre-teen and early teen children. I believe I would have loved it had I read it at 9-12.

I forgot to post my final thoughts.
I hoped for a series similar to Jude Watson's Jedi Apprentice, which is for kids, too, but is written in a way that adult fans might enjoy. Young Jedi Knights is a typical children's adventure in the vein of Astrid Lindgren's Happy Times in Noisy Village / The Children of Noisy Village / Nothing But Fun in Noisy Village (The Children of Bullerbyn Village). It's all very exciting but full of improbabilities.

My major problem with the book: So apparently Luke's idea of educational facility for early teen kids consists of a teacher singing a song to them in the morning and a second one in the evening, gives them one homework assignment per day, and rest of the time the children are absolutely unsupervised, left to their own devices, supposedly practicing their Force connection, in fact free to do whatever they want. I forgot to mention that meals are provided by the Academy, too, so at least the kids are not starved. ;-)