Kevin J. Anderson isn’t a name that has me rushing out to buy his latest book I have to say. However, way back in the day, I used to be a big fan of his ‘Jedi Academy’ trilogy. This was way back when I’d only just discovered that writers like Zahn and Anderson were continuing the Star Wars timeline; Zahn’s ‘Thrawn’ books have stood the test of time very well, Anderson’s work less so...
There was still enough of that nostalgia feeling however that when my Secret Santa gave me a copy of the ‘Jedi Academy: Leviathan’ graphic novel I was very interested to see what it was all about...
‘Leviathan’ collects the four issue mini-series (that’s what I’m assuming going by the number of pieces of original cover artwork at the back) telling the tale of apprentice Jedi, apparently they weren’t called Padawan back then, who are sent to the mining world of Corbos to investigate just exactly what has wiped out the colony there… The miners have woken something that should have stayed asleep and now the Jedi must deal with it…
And that is basically the plot in a nutshell. The length of the book (a mere 96 pages) doesn’t allow much else to happen other than a lot of scene setting about the state of the New Republic, which any Star Wars fan would know already, and an ‘evil threat’ that we don’t get time to find out about before it is dealt with. Anyone who has read the original ‘Jedi Academy’ trilogy will get to see some familiar faces but, again, there isn’t time or space for any of the characters to develop or grow. If you’re encountering these characters for the first time then you won’t have much time to find out what they’re all about…
On the bright side though, ‘Leviathan’ does offer up swashbuckling action in the best tradition of Star Wars (and Carascco’s artwork isn’t bad either) and is a fun read in that regard. It’s just a shame that there wasn’t more of it to flesh out aspects that come across as rather thin…
Six out of Ten
I'll still pick this up to add to my collection, thanks for the review Graeme! :-)Hope Christmas was wonderful and that New Year was awesome! Looking forward to seeing what you've got for us this year! :-)
ReplyDeleteYou've become more discerning then! :)
ReplyDeleteTime was when anything with Star Wars in it would have you doing somersaults of joy all over the lounge floor!
Dave - You're a pretty big fan so I reckon you'll like it :o)
ReplyDeleteJames - You're still jealous about my somersaults? :o) I'm sadly out of practice...