Kevin Anderson Books

The Thrawn Trilogy is a tough act to follow, but Kevin J. Anderson's action packed Jedi Academy Trilogy demands respect. Just read it! Anderson introduces a collection of new characters, takes the reader to a myriad of planets across the star wars galaxy, and fills the pages with endless action. It is well written, exciting, and memorable. I was almost sad to finish it. Anderson's trilogy is another tough act to follow.

The Jedi Academy Trilogy (1994.) A three-book Star Wars saga by Kevin J. Anderson.

NOTE: This review is for the entire trilogy.

INTRODUCTION:
The Star Wars film series is, without question, the greatest science fiction series of all time. George Lucas captured the minds of people young and old across the world. But as anyone knows, there are only a limited number of films, and for many people, this just wasn't enough. And thus, the Star Wars Expanded Universe was born. The Expanded Universe consisted of comic books, video games, novels, and other media. Many of the stories focused on the characters in the films, many focused on unknown characters from the same universe. Among the authors who tried their hands at creating Star Wars novels was Kevin J Anderson. He was a fairly notable science fiction author, and the middle of the nineties, he wrote several Star Wars novels. One of his best-known Star Wars projects was the Jedi Academy Trilogy, released in the middle of the decade. Read on to see how the series measures up!

OVERVIEW:
The Jedi Academy Trilogy occurs seven years after Return of the Jedi. It takes place right between the Dark Empire comic book series and the novel Children of the Jedi. Luke Skywalker has a dream to find force-endowed beings across the galaxy, so that he may train them at his new Jedi Academy. This way, a new line of Jedi Knights can protect the New Republic, just as the original Knights defended the Old Republic before its collapse. Luke sets out to find candidates for his Academy, while Han Solo and Chewbacca get themselves into a dangerous situation. Even after escaping their first of these dangerous situations, they wander into something even worse - and discover some long-lost Imperial remants, working on a weapon capable of wiping out an entire solar system. This is a three-book saga.

REVIEW:
Overall, I would have to say that the Jedi Academy Trilogy is probably the finest multi-work piece of Star Wars literature that I have read thusfar. Kevin J. Anderson is an excellent author, and he does every aspect of the universe excellently. I'm surprised to see the stories in this saga get such a backlash from fans - I found them to be every bit as enjoyable as the more widely-revered Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn. In fact, I prefer Anderson's writing style over Zahn's. A little word of advice - if you've just finished the Thrawn Trilogy, and you want to read what's next in the series, DO NOT IMMEDIATELY START THE JEDI ACADEMY TRILOGY! READ THE DARK EMPIRE COMIC BOOKS FIRST! I didn't read Dark Empire first, and it's a very important story occuring between Zahn's Trilogy and Anderson's. If you don't read it, you'll be left confused at many of the comments made in the book about a resurrected Emperor Palpatine. Overall I really enjoyed this Trilogy of Anderson's. He's one of the best Expanded Universe novels, and if you need proof, read this saga.

EDITION NOTES:
The Jedi Academy Trilogy remains very popular, so it's not surprising to see that its books are still in print and readily available. If you want to read them, most bookstores carry them, so they shouldn't be too hard to come across.

OVERALL:
In the end, this trilogy flat-out rules. Where many Expanded Universe authors have failed, Anderson succeeds with flying colors. If you're just getting into the Expanded Universe, I recommend starting where the movies left off and working your way through all of the stories up to this one before reading it. Trust me on that one. Overall, any Star Wars fan should get a real kick out of Anderson's Trilogy. Highly recommended! Five stars.

Cale's Story is a rather grand book which extends the reader's knowledge further into the world (or universe) which has been created by the many makers of Titan A.E. There is an element of suspense at several key parts of the book which is sure to get the reader excited! I recommend this book to any science-fiction lover along with the 2 other books written to tie-in with the movie.

Seperated from his father, whose fate he never learned, just before Earth was destroyed by the hostile Drej species, Cale Tucker was raised by one of his father's friends, Tek, a member of a peaceful alien race. Taken to Tek's desolate homeland, he grew up longing for his father's return, and eventually accepting that he'd never see him again. Tek is determined that Cale, now fifteen, learn something of Earth and Humanity, so, along with an orphan alien girl, they begin a journey that takes them throughout the galaxy. This book explained a lot of how Cale became the person he was in the movie - why he resented his father, why he looked down on drifter colonies, etc. I highly reccomend this companion novel to science fiction fans who are looking forward to seeing Titan A. E.

My husband and I have read many books on marriage during our 30 years together. We learned a little bit from each one, but none of them really worked for us until this one. If you want to have an extraordinary marriage, this is the book to read. It doesn't give rules and standards with a view to "the husband should" or "the wife should..." That seemed to be the formula for all the other marriage books we read, and it just didn't work for us. This book explores how two very individual people can come together in an extraordinary relationship. It provides the broad outline and it's up to each couple to fill in the details however they work for them. It's filled with spiritual principles (without being too preachy), interesting quotes and fun, revealing exercises. The best part was all the things this book gave us to talk about.

The Battle of Corrin is the final installment of a trilogy, a prequel of sorts ostensibly based on the notes and writings of Frank Herbert. For those of you that don't know, trilogy takes place ten thousand years before the time of originator Frank Herbert's immensely popular book, Dune. It is a collaboration between Brian Herbert (Frank's son) and Kevin Anderson. It is the sixth book co-written by these authors that I know of, having just finished another trilogy/prequel, The House series (House Atriedes, Harkonnen and Corrin).

Unlike some other reviewers, I found this trilogy to be exceptional. I believe they may be Herbert/Anderson's most accomplished manuscripts. I finally got to experience the distant past, which was vaguely alluded to in Herbert's original Dune series. We get to meet the beautiful, compassionate Serena Butler, who's young son, the murder of which, set off the rebellion, which eventually after sixty-five years brought down the heartless thinking machines. We also meet distant relatives of Baron Harkonnen - Xavier (who is a good and honorable person) then Abulurd and Paul Atriedes - Vorian (the son of the wicked Titan, Agamemnon {a thousand year old human brain in a robot body})and Tio Holtzman (the revered inventor of the Holtzman Effect and other inventions). We experience the last stronghold of free humanity, with The League of Nobles, the fledgling exportation of the spice melange from Arrakis and the precursor of the Bene Gesserit, in the Sorceress's of Rossak. In the final story the pieces start to come together that were the basis for Dune some ten thousand years later as the groundwork is laid for the Harkonnen/Atriedes feud as well as the space guild and mentats

As with the original Dune, the authors create numerous civilizations in a Universe dwelling on millions of planets and then embellish it with devious evil characters and their requisite counterpoints. It may be ten thousand years in the past from Dune but they are every bit as advanced to us, as we are to Cro Magnon Man.

Conclusion

Personally, I cannot understand why so many readers want to burn this series at the stake. I found this book, consisting of 704 pages, to be an riveting read. True, the chapters are numerous and short but the story is ambitious so it couldn't be overly detailed, or the book would have been unwieldy. We are, after all, talking about a Universal Epic in which the authors followed about fifteen main characters on six different planets and in space. As with Dune we are treated to an excellent page turning science fiction novel with religious undertones.

As a reader it seems to be in vogue to criticize this trilogy. As a writer I can tell you that these authors did a wonderful job of juggling this very complex story and telling the story without being confusing and finally closing an open chapter of the Dune Saga. Personally I am in awe of their accomplishment.

I suggest that you read this with an open mind and don't pre judge these books. No, it's not as good as Dune but neither were the elder Herbert's following works. The bottom line is this is a good piece of science fiction in this day when Fantasy has taken over the genre.

The Battle of Corrin is the final installment of a trilogy, a prequel of sorts ostensibly based on the notes and writings of Frank Herbert. For those of you that don't know, trilogy takes place ten thousand years before the time of originator Frank Herbert's immensely popular book, Dune. It is a collaboration between Brian Herbert (Frank's son) and Kevin Anderson. It is the sixth book co-written by these authors that I know of, having just finished another trilogy/prequel, The House series (House Atriedes, Harkonnen and Corrin).

Unlike some other reviewers, I found this trilogy to be exceptional. I believe they may be Herbert/Anderson's most accomplished manuscripts. I finally got to experience the distant past, which was vaguely alluded to in Herbert's original Dune series. We get to meet the beautiful, compassionate Serena Butler, who's young son, the murder of which, set off the rebellion, which eventually after sixty-five years brought down the heartless thinking machines. We also meet distant relatives of Baron Harkonnen - Xavier (who is a good and honorable person) then Abulurd and Paul Atriedes - Vorian (the son of the wicked Titan, Agamemnon {a thousand year old human brain in a robot body})and Tio Holtzman (the revered inventor of the Holtzman Effect and other inventions). We experience the last stronghold of free humanity, with The League of Nobles, the fledgling exportation of the spice melange from Arrakis and the precursor of the Bene Gesserit, in the Sorceress's of Rossak. In the final story the pieces start to come together that were the basis for Dune some ten thousand years later as the groundwork is laid for the Harkonnen/Atriedes feud as well as the space guild and mentats

As with the original Dune, the authors create numerous civilizations in a Universe dwelling on millions of planets and then embellish it with devious evil characters and their requisite counterpoints. It may be ten thousand years in the past from Dune but they are every bit as advanced to us, as we are to Cro Magnon Man.

Conclusion

Personally, I cannot understand why so many readers want to burn this series at the stake. I found this book, consisting of 704 pages, to be an riveting read. True, the chapters are numerous and short but the story is ambitious so it couldn't be overly detailed, or the book would have been unwieldy. We are, after all, talking about a Universal Epic in which the authors followed about fifteen main characters on six different planets and in space. As with Dune we are treated to an excellent page turning science fiction novel with religious undertones.

As a reader it seems to be in vogue to criticize this trilogy. As a writer I can tell you that these authors did a wonderful job of juggling this very complex story and telling the story without being confusing and finally closing an open chapter of the Dune Saga. Personally I am in awe of their accomplishment.

I suggest that you read this with an open mind and don't pre judge these books. No, it's not as good as Dune but neither were the elder Herbert's following works. The bottom line is this is a good piece of science fiction in this day when Fantasy has taken over the genre.

By John Gearan, an excerpt from Holy Cross Magazine, Spring 2007, Vol 41, Number 2

Buster Carroll, a denizen of an Irish enclave in Queens, loved his heritage, his family, his country passionately.

Buster was a die-hard Notre Dame fan, a loyal member of its famed football fraternity known as the "subway alumni." He knew everything about the Fighting Irish and the oft-exaggerated exploits of legends such as Knute Rockne, The Gipper and The Four Horsemen.

In the early '60s, his son Kevin, a member of Holy Cross' last all-male class of 1972, remembers he and his dad watching the Crusaders playing on TV -- when the camera panned to a sideline shot of the coach.

"That's Eddie Anderson,'' Buster told his son. "The guy is a college head coach and a practicing doctor.

"Imagine that," his father wondered aloud. "How can anyone do that?"

Buster knew about the good doctor because Anderson had been a Notre Dame captain and All-American end under Rockne.

Kevin, a fine football safety and baseball outfielder at Holy Cross High in Flushing, N.Y., entered the College of the Holy Cross in 1968. As a walk-on, he played freshman football but was cut trying to make the varsity as a junior.

But his interest in Anderson was piqued again. "I learned a lot more about Doc while being taped up by our trainer, Jackie Scott," says Carroll.

With the passing of each autumn, Carroll's curiosity about Anderson intensified.

How, he wondered, did Anderson do it all -- coach Holy Cross and Iowa in the Big Ten and practice medicine and help raise four kids? Buster Carroll died in 1983, bequeathing his son this intriguing question that needed to be explored by someone who loved history and sports.

"It was a perfect task for me," comments Kevin.

In 1999, Carroll undertook the quest to tell Anderson's story. Spending four years researching archives, he sifted through newspaper clippings and interviewed players and colleagues from Anderson's 39 seasons at four colleges. Carroll also talked at length with Anderson's four children: Nick, a retired businessman living in Florida; Jerry, an oral surgeon residing in Massachusetts; Jim, a 1962 Holy Cross graduate and retired businessman living in Connecticut; and Judy Anderson Moore, a bank attorney and resident of Pittsburgh.

Doc Anderson's rich life is worthy of such an examination. And, without question, Doc Anderson resides near the peak of the Mount Olympus reserved for scholar-athletes.

Mull this over: Edward N. Anderson, while attending Rush Medical College in Chicago, also served as head football and basketball coach at DePaul University -- and was captain of the Chicago Cardinals, the 1925 National Football League champions.

"He had a clause in his pro-football contract that stated he didn't have to practice," says Carroll. "There were days when he would attend medical school, coach, study and, late at night, take a run for miles along the shores of Lake Michigan, reviewing in his head the details from his Cardinals' playbook and medical texts."

Carroll scrutinizes Anderson's four seasons as a first-string, two-way end at Notre Dame. Amusing vignettes provide a rare insight into the hurly-burly birth of big-time football as Carroll pinpricks much of its mythology. A 5-foot-10-inch, 165-pound scrapper from Mason City High in Iowa, Anderson blocked for the immortal George Gipp, tackled with bone-shivering authority and set a school record with three TD receptions against Northwestern -- the last thrown by The Gipper himself. In Anderson's last three seasons, Notre Dame lost only once, to his home state of Iowa. As a senior, Captain Anderson was a consensus first-team All-American.

Carroll does not shy away from controversy. He probes a scandal that tarnished the Golden Dome when Anderson and seven Notre Dame teammates got caught playing in a semipro game just a few days after the 1921 football season ended. He details how Anderson was banned from playing senior-year basketball and baseball when the story broke nationally.

Anderson's accomplishments are astounding. In his first year at Iowa, 1939, he was voted National Coach of the Year; his star, Nile Kinnick, won the Heisman Trophy. As Maj. Anderson in World War II, Doc labored to heal soldiers in England and in field hospitals in France and Germany. After the war, he treated veterans and disabled children. Anderson won 201 games from 1922 to 1964, including 129 at Holy Cross, where he retired as the "Dean of College Football Coaches."

The book is replete with anecdotes that shed light upon Anderson's character. Carroll paints a portrait of a taciturn taskmaster of rock-ribbed toughness, a nattily attired gentleman pacing the sidelines in a tailored suit and crisp-brimmed fedora.

Cast in the Rockne mold, he would drive the team hard in practice. Yet Anderson respected his players. Behind the scenes, he would go to bat for them when they ran into trouble. He emphasized education as the path to success. He never uttered a profanity, never cursed, never denigrated players in public. Only matters such as showing disrespect for the game or loafing or displaying a lack of sportsmanship could bring him to a boil.

Anderson could appear unemotional and aloof while coaching but be kind-hearted and sensitive away from the field of combat. He could at once convince his players to ignore pain, yet attend with a tender touch to his ailing patients.

Perhaps Vince Promuto '60 -- a Crusader Hall of Famer, a former Washington Redskins All-Pro guard and a lawyer -- sums it up best in Carroll's book: "Someone or something has to touch an emotion within you -- anger, pride, whatever -- to make you play beyond your own limits. In my career, only two coaches had the ability to reach that emotion. One was Vince Lombardi; the other was Dr. Anderson.''

Lombardi and Anderson, two men of stern principle, well worth reading about in this age when shallow celebrity so often trumps true character and earned respect.

In this chapter of the Saga is where the meat of the story really gets going. All the ground work laid in the previous books begins to pay off with. Great Battles and political intrigue and some new unexpected allies are on the horizon. This was not a let down.

This book is one of those few that really captures the imagination, and one of my favorites from the age of 14 through college. There are two ongoing scenes, one with the "real world" people playing a medieval role-playing-game, and the other focuses on what goes on with their characters in Gamearth... When one of the real-life gameplayers decides to destroy Gamearth, the characters have to act independently to escape the game-world and come into the real one, proving that their land is alive and more than just figments of the players' imaginations. You get to see both the side of the real-world reacting to the characters refusing to do what they are told AND the characters' points of view as a roll of the die brings chaos to their land. Perfect for anyone trying to write stories or playing RPGs, as it brings into question the idea that our "imaginary" world might be more than something we just dream up that goes away when we close the book or stop the game!

I just finished Book 4 of the Saga (Scattered Suns) and am as addicted to this series as I am to those of David Drake, Eric Flint, L.E. Modesitt, George R.R. Martin and others of the same ilk.

This series is a must read. Get them all.

Star Wars Young Jedi Knights: Jedi Sunrise contains the complete novels: Lightsabers, Darkest Knight, and Jedi Under Siege