Book and Character Summaries
The Force is with them...
JACEN and JAINA When the Empire died, they were born-- a new hope for the 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... |
JACEN Jacen loves living things, and it shows. He keeps pets of all species in his room at the academy: animals, plants, insects (some which are easier to care for than others...) and he suspects he can speak to them using the Force... though he doesn't quite know how. He always stays cool during tough situations, with a plethora of jokes at his disposal (which he doesn't hesitate to use!). Jacen yearns to wield the power of the lightsaber, but will he be tempted by the power of the dark side?
Jaina takes mostly after her father, Han. She is a mechanical whiz, always dismantling droids, machines, and just about anything she can get her hands on. Her talents will come in handy during her many adventures with the young Jedi Knights, particularly in the first book, when she helps repair the crashed TIE fighter. She has a fondness for her old friend Zekk, and will do anything to turn him back to the light side. Like Han, her spirit and self-confidence sometimes get her into trouble...
Also known as "Lowie", he's the Wookiee nephew of Han's long-time friend Chewbacca and a native of the forest planet Kashyyyk. Taller than any of the others, he loves to climb to the top of Yavin 4's massive jungle trees, which remind him of the towering tree tops back home. Lowie is very affectionate and protective of his friends, and won't hesitate to rip the arms off of anyone who tries to harm them. On his belt, he wears... EM TEEDEE Em Teedee is a tiny cylindrical translator droid built by Chewbacca to convert Wookiee language to Basic, allowing the other young Jedi Knights to understand what Lowie is saying. His knowledge of computer systems and his ability to connect to them will make him much more of an ally to our heroes than he was originally programmed to be. But because Em Teedee was programmed by See-Threepio, he tends to talk more than he has to...
Tenel Ka is the tough, self-sufficient daughter of Teneniel Djo, one of the good, Force-wielding witches of Dathomir. Loyal, though a little humourless, she will fight beside her friends whenever they find themselves in tough situations, which will turn out to be more often than naught. In the second book Tenel Ka will prove to be very skilled in the ways of the Force, teaming up with Luke Skywalker to rescue her friends. Later she will find herself battling her evil nemesis, the Night Sister Tamith Kai...
Zekk is a former friend of the young Jedi Knights and a former member of The Lost Ones, a group of misfits that ran amok the lower levels of the capital planet Coruscant. But Zekk is now the Shadow Academy's Darkest Knight, ready to lead his army of Dark Jedi against his friends at the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4...
Tamith Kai was a Night Sister from Dathomir but is now second in command to Brakiss at the Shadow Academy. Her viscious rivalry with Tenel Ka will lead to a final showdown in the skies of Yavin 4...
The legendary hero of the Rebellion, Luke created the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4, where he trains and grooms new Jedi for protecting the New Republic. Soon he must meet his former student, Dark Jedi Brakiss, face-to-face, for a final battle to the death...
Han Solo, a pirate/smuggler turned ambassador, is the father of the twins and husband of Leia. Although he lends a hand from time to time, it's his children who truly shine as the heroes of the New Republic...
Leia is Luke's sister and the mother of the young Jedi twins, and although she struggles everyday to maintain peace and prosperity in the New Republic, her duty is to remain on the capital planet Coruscant... |
Book Summaries
The Shadow Academy Series
Book #1- Heirs of the Force
The twin children of Han and Leia embark on all-new Star Wars adventures!
Meanwhile, their work is being closely watched-- but not by academy eyes. The original pilot, an imperial trooper, has been living in the jungle wilds since his ship went down, waiting to return to duty. And now his chance has come... The first of the six-volume Shadow Academy saga, Heirs of the Force starts the series off slowly, and keeps the plot and climax very simple. Unlike the following books, the entire novel takes place on the peaceful planet of Yavin 4, and there is only one, albiet dangerous, enemy for the young Jedi Knights to tangle with. The story starts off by introducing the main characters: first the Solo twins, Jacen and Jaina, and then their fiesty friend from Dathomir, Tenel Ka, who is first seen scaling the walls of the Jedi audience chamber, a testament to her unwavering work ethic. We are then introduced to the Wookiee, Lowbacca, and his annoying translator droid, Em Teedee. After a prolonged food fight, the young Jedi bond and become good friends, agreeing to explore the jungles of Yavin 4 the next day inside Lowie's new Skyhopper. After spotting the remnants of a TIE fighter wing among the trees, they fly down for a closer look, only to find the rest of the crashed ship. Eventually they discover the hideout of the Imperial trooper that had been living there for more than thirty years, but are quickly ambushed by the trooper at gunpoint. Obsessed with returning to active duty and serving his empire, the trooper, named Qorl, forces the Jedi to rebuild his ship. Han and Luke are alerted to what has happened and fly off in the Millenium Falcon to rescue the young Jedi, but it is too late. The TIE has been repaired, and Qorl has escaped, leaving the yound Jedi to be rescued by Han and Luke. But they have not seen the last of Qorl and the Empire, for evil has a new training ground... |
Book #2- Shadow Academy
The Dark Side of the Force has a new training ground...
But now Brakiss has been given an even greater task. Not only must he create a sinister legion of Dark Jedi to serve the Empire, he must undertake a challenge not even Darth Vader and the Emperor could meet: kidnap the heirs of the Skywalker bloodline, and turn them to the dark side of the Force... The second book in the series, Shadow Academy, adds more action, more suspense, thicker plotlines, and a new enemy threat to the story, which translates into a much more rounded and entertaining book than the first. The book begins with Lando Calrissian, Han's old buddy, inviting the young Jedi Knights to visit his GemDiver station, a mining facility orbiting the gas planet Yavin. All the Jedi agree to go to GemDiver station, except for Tenel Ka, who stays at the academy because her grandmother is coming to visit, and she does not want her friends to know that she is a princess on her homeworld of Hapes. Meanwhile at GemDiver, the twins go fishing for Corusca gems, indestructable jewels that can cut through the toughest armor. All are unsuccessful except for Jacen, who snags a small Corusca gem which he hides in his shoe. Suddenly, the GemDiver station is attacked by an unknown assailant, and Lowie and the twins are kidnapped. When they wake up, they learn they are on the cloaked space station called the Shadow Academy, a place for training Dark Jedi. They are soon introduced to the Dark Master Brakiss and his second in command, the beautiful Nightsister Tamith Kai of Dathomir. For the next few weeks they put the young Jedi through vigorous and sometimes deadly training exercises, breaking their spirits, morale, and bodies. They continue to try and turn the Jedi to the Dark side and make them forget about the Jedi Academy and serve the resurrected Emperor, but the young Jedi Knights are strong, and resist the temptation. Meanwhile, Lando informs Luke of the twins' kidnapping, so Luke and Tenel Ka begin to track down the whereabouts of their friends. Their search leads them to Tenel Ka's home planet of Dathomir, where the Nightsisters and the Singing Mountain clan, old enemies and friends of Luke and Han, reside. There they learn that the Empire is recruiting the Force-talented inhabitants of Dathomir and sending them to the Shadow Academy. Luke and Tenel Ka cleverly get themselves recruited, and then wait as they head towards the secret location of the Shadow Academy. As Luke and Tenel Ka approach the now uncloaked space station, they take over the ship and fly it into the academy to rescue their friends. To escape, Jacen uses the Corusca gem that was hidden in his shoe to cut through his cell to the door controls, and then frees his twin sister and Lowie shortly afterwards. As they run towards the docking bay to leave, they are confronted by Tamith Kai and Brakiss. Luke and Brakiss exchange a few unpleasant words, while Tamith Kai and Tenel Ka thicken their rivalry with talk of doing battle. But in the end, the Jedi somehow escape without a fight, leaving Brakiss and Tamith Kai to explain their failure to the Emperor. As it turns out, they would not have escaped if it weren't for the help of their old nemesis, the imperial pilot Qorl... |
Book #6- Jedi Under Siege
At last, the final confrontation with the Shadow Academy!
Now Jacen and Jaina, along with Luke Skywalker and their friends, must trust in the Force and do battle with their sworn enemies-- the Dark Jedi Zekk, his master Brakiss, and the loathsome Nightsister Tamith Kai. Victory means a new legacy of Jedi coming of age. Defeat means a final cloak of darkness over the entire galaxy... The final book in the Shadow Academy series explodes in the reader's hands with non-stop action and the final confrontation between good and evil. The story begins with an Imperial scout trooper disabling the shield generator of the Jedi Academy, leaving Yavin 4 open for a swift attack. Now fully trained Jedi with their own lightsabers, the young Jedi Knights quickly work together to stop the incoming threat. After Luke briefs all of his students for the battle to come, the twins disband to try and fix the generator and to call for help. While Jacen and Zekk's good friend Peckhum blast into space to send out a call for help, they are chased by TIE fighters flown by Zekk's former friends. After sending out a distress signal, Jacen and Peckhum dive back into the atmosphere of Yavin 4, about to be obliterated by TIEs. But they are saved at the last second by a familiar face... Qorl, the imperial pilot. Meanwhile Lowie and Tenel Ka attack the landing platform that's unloading Dark Jedi into the jungles of Yavin 4. Eventually Tenel Ka tracks down her nemesis, Tamith Kai, and engages her in a fierce lightsaber battle. Soon after the platform explodes, and while Lowie and Tenel Ka escape, Tamith Kai does not. Jaina, on a mission to repair the shield generator, is confronted by her former friend turned Dark Jedi Knight Zekk, who is assigned to destroy what's left of the Jedi. In the end, Zekk saves the Jedi by stopping them from returning to the Academy, which is destroyed by a bomb placed in the main audience chamber. Luke tries his best to turn his former student Brakiss back to the darkside, just before they engage in an epic lightsaber duel. Luke is soon victorious, and Brakiss flees back to the Shadow Academy. But as the Jedi's re-enforcements arrive-- in the form of Lando Calrissian and his GemDiver Station-- the Emperor panicks and engages the Shadow Academy's self-destruct. The Dark Jedi's base is instantly destroyed, with Brakiss on it. By the end of the story, all of the Jedi are battered, bruised, and barely alive. But the Dark Side has lost, Zekk has become the boy they once knew, and the Academy can be rebuilt. It is a day of victory. Please sign my guestbook and leave me your comments!
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Son of Zeus Productions, 2002
