Star Wars: The Jedi Academy Trilogy, Volume 1: Jedi Search

By: Kevin J. Anderson

Narrated by: Anthony Heald

Length: 3 hrs

Publisher's summary

As the war between the Republic and the scattered remnants of the Empire continues, two children, the Jedi twins, will come into their powers in a galaxy on the brink of vast changes and challenges. In this time of turmoil and discovery, an extraordinary new Star Wars saga begins.

While Luke Skywalker takes the first step toward setting up an academy to train a new order of Jedi Knights, Han Solo and Chewbacca are taken prisoner on the planet Kessel and forced to work in the fathomless depths of a spice mine. But when Han and Chewie break away, they flee to a secret Imperial research laboratory surrounded by a cluster of black holes - going from one danger to a far greater one.

On Kessel, Luke picks up the trail of his two friends, only to come face to face with a weapon so awesome it can wipe out an entire solar system. It is a death ship called the Sun Crusher, invented by a reclusive genius and piloted by none other than Han himself.

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The story is okay, but the narrator, mmm.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

This series of stories are very short and not as in-depth as other novels. While the stories aren't bad, they don't paint complete images. However, to be fair to the author, I believe this was due - in some small part - to the Narration, which I will expand upon in that section.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Changed Narrator.

How could the performance have been better?

I'm unfamiliar with Anthony Heald's other works, I'm sure he's a competent reader, and in some other genres he's probably quite entertaining.

In this series however, I expect my narrator to at least be familiar with the movies and characters. It seemed as though Mr Heald has never seen Star Wars. ANY Star Wars movie for that matter. His continuous mispronunciation of known worlds and objects, combined with the use of voices completely unfitting of the characters, is like being punched in the face every five minutes. It throws you completely out of the story. Which is difficult to get into in the first place.

I understand that not everyone can do voice acting, and I don't expect that from my narrators. But I do expect that they have a little clue about the characters they are mimicking (IF the characters have been previously established in popular culture) instead of just making up something completely different and not even in the same ballpark. You'd be surprised how forgiving our imaginations are, if you at least try. In all actuality, I'd have preferred he just read it in monotone.

Mr. Heald, I'm sorry if this hurts your feelings. But Star Wars is not your forte. And that's okay. Just don't do any more of them. Please.

Do you think Star Wars: The Jedi Academy Trilogy, Volume 1: Jedi Search needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

The series needs to be redone using a narrator more familiar with the original content.

Any additional comments?

I"m sorry, I don't normally leave negative reviews, but I have two more books in this series to go, and I am not looking forward to them.

narrower

I didn't like the performance of the narrower. He had really bad voice over, but I did enjoy the story

very good story; pronunciation was distracting

thought I was getting full story, rather than abridged. the narrator's pronunciation was terrible. mispronouncing Han...Coruscant (C is silent)...and it's not Bee-Spin, it's Bespin! Distracting.

narrator....have you ever seen star wars?

narrator... have you ever seen star wars...story was a quick fun one. but the narrator has bad impressions. and sometimes the sound effects were dorky

Good story, please learn how to pronounce Coruscant

Title says it all. Nails on chalkboard dreading the authors use of the pivotal planet’s name in the Star Wars saga. Is it really that hard to research how to pronounce common, established names in a beloved story? Other than that, great job.

The story is great, but……

I love this book, but the narrator was absolutely horrible! His pronunciation of planet’s was off, and his different voices that he tired to use for the characters all kinda sounded the same.

The Narrator was horrible

Big fan of Star Wars Books, but this was , by far, the worst narrated SW story I ever heard.

The narration really put a damper on an otherwise decent story line and I’m truly hoping they change the narrator for the following books in the series.

KJA Nails It, Luke rebuilds Jedi, but abridged version

I will avoid leaving too many spoilers, but this is a unique and excellent story involving all of the crew from the original trilogy. Kevin J. Anderson’s presentation of the characters is spot on, and we learn about where some of the Empire’s most sinister ideas came from. We learn more about how Han got into trouble with Jabba (this book was what introduced us to Kessel and the Maw) and also how Luke rebuilds the Jedi Order and fulfills the commission given him by Yoda in ROTJ. A must read book and trilogy (plus Darksaber) for any true Star Wars fan.

Great story, but narrator ruins it for me

What did you like best about Star Wars: The Jedi Academy Trilogy, Volume 1: Jedi Search? What did you like least?

Great story, but bad narration with multiple mispronunciations. Coruscant is pronounced "CorusKant", Han Solo sounds like a 1940's gangster, and Wedge Antilles sounds like Scotty from Star Trek. Very distracting after hearing the amazing Mark Thompson in so many great readings.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Luke Skywalker

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Anthony Heald?

Mark Thompson! PLEASE!

Do you think Star Wars: The Jedi Academy Trilogy, Volume 1: Jedi Search needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

It already has one

Great book, underprouced.

The books are amazing. The reader is ok. Reboot these in the same style as the special edition version as the Thrawn Trilogy and you'll make a fortune from those who are not so pleased with the less than ideal movie story arc we have been Forced to live with.