Splinter of the Mind's Eye (Star Wars)

The book starts off as realistic and normal, as one would expect after A New Hope. By the end, it is completely unrealistic. There is no way things would take place as they did. Vader being so emotional? Never. While he was more emotional in A New Hope than any other time, he still was far colder than shown here. In Empire, Vader is pure darkness and evil, perhaps shown best when he jumps down at Luke during their duel, flying from above, like a dark raven. He has almost no dialogue in comparison, and the thought of him doing and saying all he did in Mind's Eye is not realistic. Vader did not seem all that strong in Mind's Eye, and Luke and Leia seemed stronger than they should have. In reality, Vader could have cut all of them up almost instantly. Luke had almost no training, and Leia none. Way too unrealistic.

There are a couple reasons to read SOTME and there are a couple reason not to. If you're into Star Wars (and I don't refer here to anything that developed after the theatrical release of Jedi except, perhaps, the Zahn trilogy or Dark Empire), you will probably find interest and entertainment in it. Don't expect anything similar to those stories, however. This is no tale of the wars among the stars. The details here are mainly concerned with the landscapes of an alien world and its main protagonists' hearts. As long as you can brush aside the fact that Luke and Leia are siblings, as well as the fact that they are rather grown, you will enjoy the burgeoning of awkward adolescent desire between them. And if you like reading about ancient places and alien worlds, Foster does a descent job of writing it. It's nothing spectacular. Science-fiction fans will probably find things a bit boring and those excited by the enigmas of lost civilizations will not be mystified, but Foster does a good job of making his world both normal/familiar enough that it becomes believable and alien enough that it seems wondrous. The book isn't particularly well written, but not particularly bad either. One could say it was slightly artistically done. Up until the point of arrest and after the point of fleeing the mining town on Mimban, the story is engaging. The other fourth of the text, however, is dull, plodding along in a dry and predicable fashion. Exposition comes into play many times throughout the book, which can become a little irritating. Even if this were written as if it might become the second Star Wars film, theoretically, movies as a visual medium shouldn't require exposition. The whole point of motion picture is showing, not telling. The main antagonist, Grammel, is simply "the bad guy" who will enter the story to play his part and then leave the story without much difference either to the reader or the narrative. Things get much more interesting when Vader, a character already developed elsewhere, comes onto the scene to steal the show. There is, however, some good character development for L&L. We get to see in this story the awakening of Luke's relationship with the Force and his inner struggle to understand and work with it. Personally, I think that is what the "mind's eye" is all about. It doesn't really have anything to do with the crystal except insofar as the splinter and the crystal serve as catalysts for that development. What could and probably should have been left out was Luke's sudden ability to speak and understand an alien language when it became advantageous. And here we get some more of that wonderful exposition: one way of dealing with the boredom of growing up on a desert planet was learning the languages of some of the races he would never encounter. Ooooh-kaaaay. Was there really any point to those two giant hairballs other than the conceptual link between them and the first giant hairball, who would've made the story a lot more interesting if he were part of it? I'll give a little, though, for the old woman's ability to chatter up the Coway. Leia's development was also pretty well done (although it could have been spectacular if the story had been told through her perspective instead of Luke's). We get to see her dealing with the trauma of her torture on the first Death Star, the duty and violence that weighs on her as Rebel, Princess, Senator, and last survivor of Alderaan, and are even treated to circumstances and events that expand her back-story and explain her motives. The climax is great and 3PO's lament at the end is satisfying. I wish Vader's defeat had been dealt with differently. The only thing that allows me to accept his fall was the way Foster foreshadowed it earlier with another sort of being. But what of the crystal? What does the future hold for its power? How will that affect Luke? What will it mean for the Alliance? And how is it that neither L nor L ever need to relieve themselves whilst being stranded together and confined in such limited spaces for so very, very long, but Halla is ready to erupt after being tied up for a few hours? There is a lot more story here to be told...

My father purchased Splinter of the Mind's eye when it was published in 1978. After watching Star Wars four times in a row in the local movie theater upon its release, he obtained a copy of the novelization from from a book club and I guess you could say it all went downhill (uphill?) from there.

He introduced me to the franchise well before I can remember. There is no concrete point where I can say that Star Wars entered my life. It's just always been there. I had probably watched each of the original films a few dozen times before Episode I was released when I was five years old. Along with the movie came my first ever Star Wars book, a picture book and accompanying cassette tape audio drama of the film. What followed was a frenzy of what I can now only think to describe as Star Wars 'Readers'. Very simple books with plots derived from really shallow expanded universe content. Since I already read well above my age level at 5, it wasn't long before my parents started buying me the slightly beefier novels like the excellent Jedi Prince series.

After burning through pretty much every available piece of children's and young adult Star Wars literature by the time I was 12, I was forced to turn to my parent's bookshelf for more material. To my amazement, what did I find but TWO Star Wars books! One was the novelization of A New Hope, and the other, Splinter of the Mind's Eye. I had already seen A New Hope more times than I could possibly count, so I put off reading the novelization (It's an excellent adaptation, and really worth a read). The cover of Splinter is really what drew me in. To my 12 year old mind, the ominous figure of Darth Vader standing before Luke and Leia in ruins shrouded with fog was just about the coolest thing I had ever seen.

The content of the novel thrilled me just as much as the cover did. I don't want to give out any spoilers, but Alan Dean Foster is a well known and very talented author of science fiction and fantasy novels, so who better to write a novel for a universe that combines the two so perfectly?

If you came to the franchise late, like I did, you should make a point of reading as much of this older expanded universe literature as possible. It gives a lot of fascinating insight into what the culture around the films (film, in this case) was like, before you had entire book store shelves devoted exclusively to Star Wars novels. With only one movie's worth of content to build upon, Foster exercised a tremendous amount of creativity and produced a gem that still shines brightly in the vast horde of the expanded universe.

Splinter of the Mind's Eye was written before the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi and it's obvious. As most Star Wars fan knows, the novel was intended as a squeal to A New Hope if the movie was not a success.

The story's plot revolves around Luke and Leia finding the Kaiburr Crystal, a crystal in which has power over the Force. In my opinion, something having power over the Force doesn't make much sense to me. If that weren't enough, Luke and Leia aren't true to their characters. I can't imagine any of the dialogue being said in one of the motion pictures.

It's decent enough, but I would only recommend it for Star Wars enthusiasts since you must understand this doesn't match up with the later films. Luke and Leia do have a slight romance in the first film, but judging from the book's depiction it doesn't match up with the later films. Of course, I don't blame Foster for that since he was unaware they were brother and sister.

I don't consider this part of the cannon, since it doesn't match up with the movies. I would consider this a sort of rough draft of the Star Wars universe. If you think of it that way it doesn't bother you much. Even so, Luke's dialogue irked me through the whole read since it did not match his character. Leia, as well acted so unlike herself. If you can brush the uncharacteristic dialogue away to the point that you only comprehend the facts, then the book's a good read.

Being the first novel that added to the ever expanding Star Wars masterpiece, Splinter of the Minds Eye captured some very exciting moments for fans while waiting for the next film(when the book was first published in 1978). Telling the story of the events told between Episode IV and Episode V of the classic trilogy, it offers a very scary, unpredictable, and twisting adventure on one of the best planets ever created. The planet of Mimban which the book takes place on is unlike most of the new planets and enviorments you'll find in post 1990 Star Wars novels. The plot is somewhat simple, easy to follow...with some twists and turns...and all the characters are very unique and somewhat all strange and a bit spooky themselves. The story revolves only around Luke and Leia after they crashed landed on their way to take care of some business. Not only being the foundation to what will be inspiring for dozens of other contributing SW authors over the years...Splinter is a very entertaing mini epic of one of the first adventures of two very important Star Wars heroes.

The first novel to take the adventures of Luke Skywalker beyond what we now call Episode IV: A New Hope, "Splinter of the Mind's Eye" drops Luke and Leia onto a primitive jungle planet where the stranded duo must contend with bizarre alien tribesmen, ravenous monsters, labrynthine caves, and roving bands of Imperial stormtroopers--all the while coming ever closer to the romance early Star Wars fans thought was written in the stars. While fleeing the Empire's soldiers, Luke and Leia learn from a Force-sensitive old woman that the backwater planet they've chanced on is home to a mythical crystal that can give its wielder heretofore unimagined power over the Force itself. But Luke and Leia aren't the only ones in on the revelation: the promise of even greater power lures Darth Vader himself, setting up a spell-binding climax including a lightsaber duel that compares favorably with any the films have offered thus far. Naturally, no novel written in '78 can jive with the Star Wars continuity as the movies have developed it since then, but that's not the author's fault. Alan Dean Foster has been of the world's best sci-fi writers for years, and "Splinter of the Mind's Eye" is first class storytelling. Contitnuity nothwithstanding, this is an outstanding and thoroughly entertaining stand-alone novel. What else matters?

As long as you remember that it was first published back in the early 80s the movies were not done yet. For example things might get a little steamy between Luke and Leia but thats alright because the author didn't know that they were brother and sister. I also liked the idea of an imperial offical that actually CAN THINK. I loved the movies but that little part of the story line where the underdog rebels always beat an over confident empire gets a little tireing. We meet some new charecters in this book that are also well worth the money(because except for the normal charecters you would expect they never show up in a star wars book agian) some are quite memorable.

As a gap filling episode of the original sw series written as a fall back saga if episode 4 failed. It paints an entierly fresh pov of the sw univers and its limited understanding of lucas's concept of the force. Luke and Leia's adventure becomes more involved and emotions under stressful situations emerge that can lead to other potential outcomes evolve within this series. Vader once again is portrayed the evil overlord determined to master the universe but is not in control of all he governs.

This review features moderate to heavy spoilers.

Plot
Splinter Of The Mind's Eye concerns Leia and Luke's relationship post New Hope. After crash landing on the jungle world of Circarpous V, they must search for the Kaiburr crystal in order to keep it out of Vader's hands. This aspect of the plot is simple but effective, adding Darth Vader to anything is usually a good idea, and at least they aren't trying to stop yet another super weapon or something. The author uses the all new setting to introduce new creatures to threaten our heroes with. The creatures are mostly interesting, however the encounters with the wildlife of Circarpous got somewhat old by the end, probably around the time when a tribe of Ewok-esque warriors defeat the Empire in ridiculous fashion. The author also introduces some very awkward sexual tension between Luke and Leia. Although it wasn't seen as such when the novel was published (after A New Hope but before Empire Strikes Back), in retrospect these scenes are very weird and hurt the novel's credibility, at times reading more like ambitious fan fiction as opposed to a licensed story. There is also a duel between Vader and Luke at the end of the novel. The action itself is well written, if HIGHLY implausible once you consider the outcome when Luke and Vader duel in Episode V. Luke manages to defeat Vader somewhat easily, which is a sharp contrast to the events of Episode V, where Luke is soundly beaten by Vader. Other inconsistencies like Halla, the force sensitive hermit, being unable to sense any force sensitivity in Leia (not the fault of the author), and Vader claiming that Luke was the one that shot down his fighter in the battle of Yavin IV (author's error) further hurt the novel's entertainment value.

Characterization
Luke and Leia suffer greatly from the misguided sexual tension that colors the novel. They are also portrayed as being somewhat stupid, the way they are imprisoned by the Imperials is absolutely unbelievable and completely out of line with what we would expect of them even after the first movie (spoiler alert: they randomly mud wrestle outside of a bar, directing attention to themselves and subsequently getting arrested by the Imperials). The author took these characters in a much different direction then what Lucas would ultimately choose, and the inconsistencies of these characters when compared to their actions in Episodes V and VI, and the other novels, are inconsolable. Vader is also given somewhat of a weird character, mostly due to some very odd sounding dialogue during the climactic battle. Two of the strangest lines are "Come girl-woman...amuse me." and "I am truly sorry I have nothing elaborate to treat you to at this time However, one can do some interesting things with a lightsaber, you know. I'll do my best to show you all of them if you'll cooperate by not passing out." Lines like the above are more in line with a villain in a children's movie, and do not even begin to sound right when imagined in Vader's iconic voice. Among the new characters, Halla is probably the standout. A force sensitive hermit (but lacking the power and training of an Obi-Wan Kenobi) Halla serves as Luke's mentor during the course of this novel. Halla is an adequate character for this role, although her passive behavior during the final conflict left me wanting, she played virtually no role in repelling Vader and that was somewhat disappointing. Hin and Kee, two Yuzzem being held captive by the Empire, don't anything to the story, the only thing we really know about them are that they are alien and very strong. Grammel, the Imperial ruler of Circarpous V, enters the story very powerfully, but, after a rather dramatic entrance, falls flat as he is manipulated by Luke, and reduced to easy subservience beneath Vader and an Imperial governor.

Prose
Dialogue and descriptive phrases are littered with sci-fi stock terms that aren't really appropriate in the Star Wars universe. They don't necessarily make the novel harder to read, it just seems out of place in a universe that now has so many modified or invented terms to itself. Strange descriptions of Vader's suit and lightsaber power functions are the worst results of this re imagining of the Star Wars universe, but at several points it just doesn't feel like Star Wars. This language is still effective at explaining settings and the like. One thing I didn't care for, was the fact that the author writes in several large passages of times to make the world of Circarpous V feel more expansive. Instead, it just makes the novel feel incomplete. It left me wanting to know what happened during the days that were completely excluded, considering Hin and Kee were grossly underdeveloped, a scene or two during these days could've easily been devoted to fleshing out their characters, without really breaking up the pacing of the novel.

Conclusion
Splinter Of The Mind's Eye has aged very poorly, and inconsistent characterization, events that don't fit into Star Wars canon, and awkward dialogue give the novel entertainment value more so as a "what could have been" than as a worthwhile novel in its own right.

Final Score
45/100

I can see why critics would diapprove of this book; it doesn't seem to warrant its "official" status. However, the story itself is quite an interesting look at the Force, and you can still reason out all the story elements that are seemingly incongruent to the Star Wars universe by saying that the character developments (for example) in this book are an extrapolation of those in A New Hope, and that when The Empire Strikes Back came out, their development took a slightly different turn.

This book, knowing what we know now (January 2003) about the key players in the Star Wars Universe, misses the mark completely in almost every way. Of course, the author at the time (1997, just afer A New Hope) did not know about Leia/Luke/Vader, Luke/Yoda, Leia/Han and other relationships and facts.
In this book, Leia is a whining crybaby, screaming in fright at just the thought of the Death Star. Her banter and actions with Luke througout the book are very immature, unintelligent, and unsophisticated, almost like Leia is a 12 year old girl instead of a Senator and leader of the Rebellion. Luke is not much better, very immature and much better with the force than in The Empire Strikes Back, which happens later and AFTER the training with Yoda. I will not spoil some of the plot, but Luke does much more with the force in this book than makes sense based on the following movies and stories.
In addition, Vader seems like a different character. In the movies and other books, Vader is a very aloof, menacing and commanding figure. In this book he is like a "normal" bad guy making bogus comments about the people around him and his thougths on things. This book does a complete injustice by de-mystifying Vader and that is a shame.
Skip this book, you will be doing yourself a favor as none of the characters "seem" the same as the ones we know from the movies. I wish I had never read this book due to the "skew" in my thinking about the characters. You will lose all respect for Leia by the end as a sniviling wimp, and Luke for "getting lucky" with powers he should not have yet.

Obviously Lucas' Plan B in case the first movie wasn't a huge success; this is basically an outline for a cheaper sequel. It's interesting that Leia wasn't really meant to be Luke's sister from the start. Good read for a flight, but not much else.

This novel, while lacking a little, is still a fun read. I wish that I would have read it years ago before all the other stuff. I am sure it would have been much better then. I am not sure why, but it seems to be just a simple little story that really doesn't excite me as much as some of the others I have read. I honestly think that this is because I read it later than I should have. It is still a good book and a lot of fun for a true fan.

Good book to see how Luke and Leia relationship was before they knew they were brother and sister. The emotional turmoil Luke goes through brings his God-like reputation back to reality. The book as a whole was fantastic a definite read for all who enjoy the EU.

This novel is set somewhere between A NEW HOPE and THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK and really fills in the space between the movies well. In this novel Luke and Leia hear about a stone called the 'mind's eye' that is VERY force sensitive. The mysterious person who tells them this bit of information shows them a splinter of this stone. The story is about theses two rebel leaders and their quest to find strange mind's eye before the evil Darth Vader! A perfect gift for any star wars fan!

I read this novel the instant it came out. Everyone was starving for more Star Wars. Most of us mistakenly thought the sequel to the movie was going to be based on this book, but happily, it wasn't. Its been many years since I read this book but I distinctly remember feeling it was all wrong. The stakes in this story are very small. HOWEVER, in spite of not liking the book, I still have it on my bookshelf twenty years later, because the cover art is AWESOME! It was the coolest star wars illustration around at the time, and still is a classic. there have been several covers for this novel, but the one I had featured a silhouette of Darth against a foggy forest, with Luke and Leia cowering in the foreground by a glowing red crystal. Save yourself the money, and just do a google search and look at the cover. Its very cool!

Set between the films "Star Wars: A New Hope" and "The Empire Strikes Back" This is a good book, though a trifle shorter than the other Star Wars books. That's ok, big print is nice on occasions. Leia and Luke get stranded on a swampy planet en route to an important meeting of sorts. They have a few run-ins with local law enforcement, and get lost in a cave. It gets exciting when Darth Vader shows up on campus.......but why spoil the end?

A fairly decent story, with your expected heroes stuck on a squalid, muddy planet, with quite a few problems. Vader, of course, is hovering. A bit darker than the adventure stories of the 3 movie books. You learn that there is more than one trick that the funky lightsabre device can perform, amidst all the squalid violence and hunting for mind altering artifacts.

Foster did make some minor inconsistensies with the Star Wars universe, but the novel itself makes up for the small mix-ups. Foster didn't know there was even an "Empire Strikes Back" coming. SW seemed to be a one-shot deal. Foster took the basic undercurrent and spirit of "SW: A New Hope" and made a great novel, with SW or standing alone.

My opinion of Alan Dean Foster's "Splinter of the Mind's Eye" gradually got worse as I progressed throughout the novel. It's the very first Star Wars Expanded Universe novel, and at that, it's not bad. It details the adventure of Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Organa between "Star Wars (1977)" and "The Empire Strikes Back (1980)" as they search for a mysterious crystal that gives the wielder special powers over the Force; they are aided by two hairy things called Yuzzems, their two faithful droids, and an old woman named Halla. At first as I was reading it, it had a good, classic feel to it. But as the novel went on, things started to hinder it.

The book begins with Luke and Leia heading in their X- and Y-Wing spaceships to an underground meeting to secure an alliance, and ship problems are experienced, forcing the two down on the closest planet Mimban. They are stranded there, so they have to get to the nearest station. They come to a small mining town where they meet the eccentric Halla. Off they go to find the Kaiburr crystal to satisfy this woman's desires.... So far so good: the book has distinct characters that are well described--Captain-Supervisor Grammel, Halla, and Leia all have precise personalities, some with which people can connect, but Luke has and always will have the same boyish shallowness. "Splinter" gets weird in parts where we know from future films that Luke and Leia are brother and sister; the book was written in 1978, one year after the original "Star Wars," so the author did not know yet that they're siblings. They seem to fall in love with each other, which is certainly not desirable, but if you're going to read this book, you have to simply accept that it was written before we had any knowledge of Darth Vader's, Luke's, and Leia's biological relations to each other. Creepy, but understandable, love.

My opinion of the book thusfar in the plot was four stars out of four. It then gradually made its way down to two and a half out of four as the book kept getting murky in its plot, descriptions, or credibility. When Luke and Leia make their escape from a prison, the two hairy Yuzzem creatures return Luke and Leia's weapons to them. How did the Yuzzem just 'know' which weapons belonged to Luke? There are plenty of weapons held for safe-keeping in a prison; there's no given reason why the two Yuzzem should know that Luke owns a lightsaber that was confiscated from him. Also, as Halla and two fuzzy Yuzzem creatures are running in one direction from a large worm-like creature called a wandrella, Luke and Leia are running in another direction. I had no problem with Luke and Leia's escape from the wandrella, but how old is this Halla woman; how fast can she run? What about See-Threepio and Artoo-Detoo; were they being carried by the two Yuzzem, or did they uncover speed never seen in the original "Star Wars"? I'll never know. I didn't like this part of the book because Foster never gave me a clear picture of what happened.

The book is short, but its plot requires it to be even shorter. After already having read through enough adventures in it, we have to read through Luke and Leia's journey through an underground tunnel and across a lake. It only serves to try and make each character a little less shallow, but it just isn't interesting. The monster that they encounter wasn't exactly frightening; it just went away like a harmless bug that you might shoo away at home; though had it been really frightening, it would be just like the wandrella that they encountered before. It got a little more interesting when they entered the abandoned city and fought the Coway. I sort of liked the tournament held to determine whether the kidnapped remain kidnapped; itself it was plain and usual, but made interesting by the elusive manner in which Luke defeated the Coway champion fighter. It added something to the mystery of the Force, and even better that Foster made sure not to explain exactly how Luke won.

The end scene where Luke and Leia combat Darth Vader is acceptable. I accept that Foster doesn't know how strong Vader is or how weak Luke is at this stage in his Jedi training, and I accept the result of the fight knowing how little we see of Darth Vader's combat skills in the original "Star Wars." But what I don't accept is Vader himself. He's in no way menacing like he was in the original "Star Wars." Foster correctly had Vader deal with the Grammel character, but Vader versus Luke/Leia was weak. I tried and tried to imagine Darth Vader's booming voice as he was engaged in combat and speaking to Luke or Leia, but it just didn't work; his words seemed to be too weak to fit the characterization provided by the original "Star Wars." Darth Vader is supposed to scare you with elegantly structured, short, ominous speech, but instead here he just 'talked.'

The end to the novel was unsatisfying. I was never sure of what Halla was doing while Luke was fighting Vader; she just seemed to skulk around until the fight was over. If she has the Kaiburr crystal in her hands, why didn't she use its power over the Force to help Luke? It all seemed to never come together; Luke and Leia once established their creepy relationship, but by the end of the book it was forgotten, and Halla never seemed to connect as a true friend to Leia or Luke. She was always just like, "Luke, boy! Get over here!" instead of coming to a medium with him. Because of this, I wasn't really sure of where Halla was going at the end of the book. It seemed to explain it, but I didn't buy it because they just didn't seem like buddies. The loose ends of the plot are never tied tightly.

I still found moments to enjoy, nonetheless. I enjoyed Princess Leia's sassiness and how Luke Skywalker and Captain-Supervisor Grammel reacted to it. It was pretty standard sci-fi stuff, but it's still "Star Wars." I liked Halla in general; she's nothing like good ol' Obi-Wan Kenobi, but good enough for this book. It's obvious from where Alan Dean Foster got most of his ideas, but there're never why I have criticized this book.

"Splinter of the Mind's Eye" is okay. I enjoyed it as any "Star Wars" fan should, and I respect the fact that it started the Expanded Universe, but it's just not magical. It has what you'd expect, but nothing more.

Note (5/23/09): I no longer consider Star Wars to be a good use of one's time.

Considering that this was written back when Lucas was working on empire strikes back the characters themselves don't act or act out characters sometimes. I guess I'm use to reading the styles of authors book's after the movies.

This book is essential to make the first three movies make sense.

Read this story and then watch the interaction with the three characters from the viewpoint of your new insight and you will say to yourself aha! Clearly the best of any of the star wars books. Hint... The Han Solo books will also give you insight into his character, but they are not nearly as good of a story as "Splinter"

It is also the story that makes "Episode I" into a bad story.

Before the Empire Strikes Back there was some talk about a Star Wars TV series on local KGO talk radio, and what a Star Wars sequel might look like, if it happened at all.

Then this book was published, and I grabbed it and read it. I can't remember too much about it to be honest, other than Luke uses his lightsaber in the water, Leia is there to help him, and a bunch of other things on a Dagobah like world before Dagobah got shoved into a Star Wars sequel.

If you find a copy, and are a real Star Wars aficionado, then give this thing a whirl.

Forget all the sequels (except for EMPIRE, maybe the best of them all) and prequels and you have a great little story from the SW universe here. Foster, by the way, co-wrote the first SW novelization, and this one has that same realistic tone.

This is an interesting story. I like that Luke is a main character in the story. However, the whole Luke and Leia thing is a little weird. This story doesn't seem to fit in as well with the other stories.

Luke Skywalker acompanies the princess on a diplomatic mission to the underground movement on a imperial world in order to bring it to the rebel side. The engine go out anf they are stranded on Mimban. They are arressted in a fight and they escape the imperial jail and race against time and the imperial lord Darth Vader to recover the Kiabar crystal and save the natives on Mimban from a group of stormtroopers. This is one of my favorate star wars books. Buy it.

This book was worse than Bantha dung! The characters were totally flat and two - dimensional. Leia depends on Luke for EVERYTHING! As my favorite character, I should know that that is not her personality at all! She is certainly not idiotic enough to duel Darth Vader! That crystal business is junk! Don't waste your time.

Ahhh.....Splinter of the Mind's Eye, wow that goes way back. As a young teenager, I hated reading anything. I still do in a way. Something about this book just captivated me. It has a lot imagination and visual imagery. It's a simple book, but one that is good for a younger nostalgic crowd. I say go ahead and buy it, read it during a road trip and slip into a world that is far beyond this one.

Not worth reading unless you actually need to know everything there is to know about star wars. This takes place between A New Hope & The Empire Strike Back. Lets face it, between those two time periods Luke had no more control over the force than an acorn & somehow in this book he is not only able to stand up to Vader & live but actually win in a saber duel. I mean come on, even those little Padawans in episode 2 could have killed Luke. With all that aside I say this is a horrible book, a disgrace to Star Wars & a shame that it was ever written. I give this book one star & im even being generous with that.

The most glaring inconsistency between this book and Star Wars is the fact that Foster made Leia a pilot. Nowhere in Star Wars is there even a hint that she could fly a Y-Wing.

That aside, Foster is totally unable to capture the tone of the characters. I really tried to hear the actors delivering the lines, but by around the first 1/4 of the book, I had given up in disgust. They only characters he got right were Threepio and Artoo.

Further, the actions on the part of the characters are also questionable. I refer, of course, to the entirely implausible mud-wrestling scene in the middle of town between Luke and Leia.

Lastly, Darth Vader loses the fight by falling down a well. Although this is nice unintentional foreshadowing to Boba Fett's "demise" in the Saarlac pit, that scene sucked as well.

The plot is uninteresting, the additional characters are unremarkable, and we don't even glimpse Han and Chewie. What a waste of paper. Makes me glad I didn't read it back in 1978, where I would have been REALLY offended.

Alan Dean Foster was the ghost writer of the original Star Wars movie's novelization, which came out long before the movie. After the movie's release, Foster was contracted by Lucas to write an original novel that might be the basis of a possible sequel to Star Wars. But at the time Harrison Ford's return was uncertain, so Lucas told the author to not write in Han Solo. Apparently if Lucas was going to use Foster's novel, he would put some explaination in the movie, because there wasn't one here. Foster used a discarded premise for Star Wars - a crystal that amplified the use of the Force.

I am rating this book based on the fact that I read it after the completion of the original trilogy, and there are a lot more problems with it than the absence of Han and Chewie. Sure, a lot of these can't be blamed on the author because he had no foreknowledge of the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. But today the novel is what it is, not what it was at the time of it's original release. Unlike some reviewers, I can't enjoy this as an independent book because it is not - it has the title of Star Wars so I can only consider it as a Star Wars product.

The book greatly contradicts the established continuity and themes of the complete movie saga. Lucas didn't use the crystal idea because he didn't want to solidify and quantify the Force - he wanted it to be portrayed by the invisible energy field that it is. And Empire is presented as the first time Luke personally confronts Vader, and this encounter would not have been ignored if Lucas didn't want to ignore it. And Leia attacks Vader with a lighsaber? Yeah right. And Luke's physical arousal by Leia - ew.

But one thing I remember even contradicts the original film. It annoyed me that out of the two characters of Luke and Leia, it is much more likely that Luke would be the one that can't swim instead of Leia. Where did Luke learn how to swim growing up on a desert planet?!

Overall, this is not that bad of a story on it's own, which is why it has 2-stars instead of only 1. But this book is way out of place in the Star Wars universe, so don't bother with this book. I highly recommend the following 5-star novels that are extremely relevant to the film series:

Cloak of Deception (Star Wars)
Shadow Hunter (Star Wars: Darth Maul)
Labyrinth of Evil (Star Wars, Episode III Prequel Novel)
Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader (Star Wars)
Shadows of the Empire (Star Wars)

I have read almost every Star Wars book out there and this was the worst, ok maybe tied with The Crystal Star. I can't believe all the great reviews this got. It seems like the characters personalities kept changing throughout the book. Also, although Luke just got a few lesson from Kenobi and had not even been to see Yoda yet, somehow he has this tremendous skill with a lightsaber. Oh please. This is the only Star Wars book that I actually threw away.

This was written before the idea of The Empire Strikes Back (review the history of the writing of this book). You will learn more about Luke and Leia and a mysterious woman trying to harness The Force is a coveted object. The growth of Luke Skywalker is developed in this story and you have a better understanding of Princess Leia, all through the advice from George Lucas. Good read.

This is amazing novel it almost was the sequel when Lucas thought Star wars would flip but no ? the series was amazing any true fan should pick this up I own the book I don't this so you should buy.