The
most obvious question to a Star Wars fan looking at the official The Force Awakens
poster (or any of the promotional material released so far) is: Where
is Luke Skywalker?
Fear not! Luke will certainly be in the new movie, but what he’s up to
or where he is has been a carefully guarded secret so far. It seems even the
characters of the movie will be asking the same question too.
Where is Luke Skywalker?
If you’ve
read The
Weapon of a Jedi, you probably have a pretty good guess to the answer!
Before we
get to that part, let’s back up a little. Disney Book Group and Lucasfilm Press
have released three all-new middle-grade hardcover novels featuring some of the
biggest names in the Star Wars saga! Luke, Princess Leia, and Han Solo with
Chewbacca get their own tales in this set, part of a number of books published
as Journey to The Force Awakens. Smuggler’s Run, The Weapon of a Jedi and Moving Target are adventures that take place between the
events of the original trilogy movies.
The three
books also contain scenes set just before the events of The Force Awakens, so they each provide little hints and
suggestions of what could be in the
upcoming movie. Whether its introducing new characters, planets, alien species or
droids, each story has some aspect never seen before on film, but likely to appear
onscreen come December 17.
The Weapon of a Jedi:
A Luke Skywalker Adventure is a story of Luke, shortly after blowing up the first Death Star,
being called by the Force to a mysterious and dangerous place. His visions
bring him to the planet Devaron where he feels he must find and explore some
ancient temple ruins. Unfortunately that place is strictly off-limits, so
getting there and getting inside both prove to be challenges in this exciting
story. Once he’s inside, Luke finds some answers but also many new questions.
The 184-page story is
“told” by C-3P0 as a bit of Luke’s history to young Resistance pilot Jessika
Pava, a new character who will also be in the upcoming movie. She is interested
in knowing more about the legendary Luke Skywalker. The opening and closing
feature C-3P0 and Pava, while the rest of the book is all about young Luke’s
journey and discoveries.
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| Farnay tries to join the fray! |
One new
character, Farnay - a Devaronian woman, plays an important role in the story but it certainly feels like there’s much more to her than revealed here.
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| Add a scavenger to your collection! |
Another new character in this story, Sarco Plank, is already available as an action
figure for The Force Awakens, so certainly he’ll be in the film somewhere too
albeit much older, and hopefully nicer!
Author
Jason Fry (Servants of the Empire series, Moving Target, Jupiter Pirates) has
created an engaging and thought-provoking adventure. The occasional
illustrations by artist Phil Noto are also terrific in all three of these books.
But back to
that burning question: Where is Luke Skywalker?
Without
giving too much away, Luke only manages to learn a few secrets about this
mysterious temple before he must leave. As he departs he makes a solemn vow to
return. Obviously he didn’t have much time during the next few years
what with his training on Dagobah, rescuing Han Solo and fights with the
Emperor! After that though? For the next few weeks it’s anybody’s guess where
Luke has spent his time.
By the end
of this book it’s clear that Luke later made good on his promise and returned
to the temple ruins to unlock its mysteries.
Perhaps he’s still there when the
Force awakens…
(Publisher's Recommendation: For Ages 10 - 14 years)
Other books by Jason Fry:
From DK comes The Force Awakens: The Visual Dictionary and Incredible Cross-Sections. Both are coffee-table sized books filled with beautiful visuals from the film. If you love extremely detailed looks at the vehicles and spaceships then Cross-Sections books are for you. The Visual Dictionary covers more about the characters. Both are pretty terrific books though.
Until the junior novel of the movie comes out next year there are a few story books from Disney Press to tide over an avid young reader. A middle-grade novel in three parts, Before the Awakening by Greg Rucka tells the stories of what Finn, Rey and Poe were up to shortly before the events of the movie.
Also from Disney comes 5-Minute Star Wars Stories, a collection of comically illustrated stories based on the events of all seven Star Wars movies, including two from The Force Awakens. Some of the material here has been previously seen as World of Reading early reader books. The artwork is fun, exciting and light-hearted and the stories are, as the title suggests, very short for quick reads. 
