017 - Heirs of the Force [YJK #1] by Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta - with special guest Mike!

We're super excited for this episode because it includes a special guest! This week we've asked Liz's brother Mike to join us and he graciously suggested a Dumpsterpiece of his own - Heirs of the Force, book #1 in the Young Jedi Knights series. We paint a picture of 15 year old Mike reading this book in his room (wishing he had friends) and cementing his love of Star Wars and the canon that surrounds it. Geared towards younger audiences, Heirs of the Force tells the story of Han and Leia's twins, Jacen (or Jaden if you prefer) and Jaina, and their adventures at the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4. Along with Tenel Ka and Chewy's nephew, Lowbacca, they discover a downed TIE fighter in the jungle and work to rebuild it in between food fights at the Praxeum cafeteria. Things take a dark turn when the TIE pilot (Qorl) emerges and forces them to finish the repairs. We wonder how Qorl is still sane after living in isolation for 20 years in the jungles of Yavin 4, debate the literary merits of Chekov's Crystal Snake, and cringe as Luke relives his glory days of shooting womp rats in his T-16. The real question is: which is the real Dumpsterpiece - the books or the films?

So brush up on your Wookiee culture, find your local Woolamander society, and get ready for some fan service - seriously this book has everything from "rebel scum" to the Millennium Falcon - because we're diving deep into the parallels between the legend and canon. We don't want to get hate mail, so we're apologizing in advance for anything we got wrong, and obviously there are spoilers in this episode. You'll be hard-pressed to find this book, but some kind stranger has recorded it as an audiobook if you want to have a listen.

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