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A review by todd_bissell
Splinter of the Mind's Eye by Alan Dean Foster
1.0
This is the weird bastard child book of the original Star Wars, that dates back to a time when "The Empire Strikes Back" was just a gleam in George Lucas' eye (his mind's eye, get it?). Okay, I'll stop there. No more puns: onto the task at hand.
As this was written in a existential vacuum, separate from the original trilogy, the Star Wars Expanded Universe storyline(s), and pretty much everything else Star Wars adjacent..., it stands to reason that nothing here is or was even considered to be canon. For the sake of the series, that's a good thing. But even in a bubble, separate from everything else Star Wars related, this is not a good book.
At various times Leia is beaten up, slapped, goes into PTSD mode recalling her torture aboard the Death Star, plus has doses of survivor guilt after Alderaan was turned into space chunks. At no time do we see her being the brassy and take-charge "Into the garbage chute flyboy!" rebel leader..., and too often we get a wilting princess/damsel-in-distress. This book does Leia's character no favors.
(Aside: Leia the pampered princess can't swim, but Luke the moisture farmer bumpkin straight off a desert world can; huh?)
Another character that gets spun in a totally non-canon manner is Darth Vader. He's entirely too verbose and cliched here. Another reviewer put it perfectly: you half expect him to twirl his evil character mustache while over-explaining his dastardly plot as he ties up Leia to the train tracks. I half expected him to exclaim "Curses! Foiled again!"
Luke is written as a horny teenager lusting after Leia (who wisely has pretty much zero interest). He's got his light saber (and little clue how to use it), but otherwise this novel could have been written without any references at all to Star Wars. "Farmboy and the Damsel in Distress crash land on a swamp world; wacky hi-jinx ensure!".
1.5 stars if seen as a throw-away stand-alone sci-fi pulp -- 1 star if you try to tie this to anything else Star Wars related. An utterly avoidable book, either way.
As this was written in a existential vacuum, separate from the original trilogy, the Star Wars Expanded Universe storyline(s), and pretty much everything else Star Wars adjacent..., it stands to reason that nothing here is or was even considered to be canon. For the sake of the series, that's a good thing. But even in a bubble, separate from everything else Star Wars related, this is not a good book.
At various times Leia is beaten up, slapped, goes into PTSD mode recalling her torture aboard the Death Star, plus has doses of survivor guilt after Alderaan was turned into space chunks. At no time do we see her being the brassy and take-charge "Into the garbage chute flyboy!" rebel leader..., and too often we get a wilting princess/damsel-in-distress. This book does Leia's character no favors.
(Aside: Leia the pampered princess can't swim, but Luke the moisture farmer bumpkin straight off a desert world can; huh?)
Another character that gets spun in a totally non-canon manner is Darth Vader. He's entirely too verbose and cliched here. Another reviewer put it perfectly: you half expect him to twirl his evil character mustache while over-explaining his dastardly plot as he ties up Leia to the train tracks. I half expected him to exclaim "Curses! Foiled again!"
Luke is written as a horny teenager lusting after Leia (who wisely has pretty much zero interest). He's got his light saber (and little clue how to use it), but otherwise this novel could have been written without any references at all to Star Wars. "Farmboy and the Damsel in Distress crash land on a swamp world; wacky hi-jinx ensure!".
1.5 stars if seen as a throw-away stand-alone sci-fi pulp -- 1 star if you try to tie this to anything else Star Wars related. An utterly avoidable book, either way.