Luke Skywalker, hero of the Battle of Yavin, has cast his lot with the rebels, lending his formidable piloting skills to whatever missions his leaders assign him. But he is haunted by his all-too-brief lessons with Obi-Wan Kenobi and the growing certainty that mastery of the Force will be his path to victory over the Empire.
Adrift without Old Ben's mentorship, determined to serve the Rebellion any way he can, Luke searches for ways to improve his skills in the Force...
Heir to the Jedi is a Star Wars Expanded Universe novel by Kevin Hearne. The novel is entirely told from Luke Skywalker's first person point-of-view and is set shortly after the destruction of the Death Star but before the start of the main Star Wars comic series.
As Luke settles into his role of a Rebel soldier and potential Jedi, he is assigned by Admiral Ackbar and Princess Leia Organa with rescuing Drusil Bephorin, a highly skilled Givin cryptographer, from Imperial custody with the aid of fellow Rebel agent Nakari Kelen. The two end up travelling to several planets while attempting to complete their mission, running into deadly creatures, ruthless Imperial agents, and deadly bounty hunters along the way.
It was released on March 3, 2015.
This novel contains the following tropes:
- Action Girl: Nakari is very skilled with a blaster and a compact slug rifle, which can punch through blaster armor.
- Arms Dealer: The Chekkoo clan on Rodia provides high-end weapons, armor, and ship upgrades to its customers. Luke's first mission in the novel is to set up an agreement between them and the Rebel Alliance.
- Bounty Hunter: After Luke and Nakari free Drusil from Imperial custody, a price is placed on her which draws a few dozen bounty hunters onto their tail, which culminates in a large-scale shootout on Omereth.
- Character Death: Nakari is killed by a bounty hunter who fired a grenade launcher at her sniper position during a firefight on Omereth, with the shrapnel from the explosion embedding into her body, killing her almost instantly.
- Continuity Nod: The book mentions when Obi-Wan Kenobi visited Rodia in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
- Cool Ship: The Desert Jewel, a luxury yacht modified and outfitted to serve as a support ship on missions for the Rebellion. Nakari paid for the upgrades by selling a Krayt dragon pearl from the one she killed.
- Deadly Euphemism: Rieekan tells Luke and Nakari they may have to "take care" of enemies. Luke, Ideal Hero and Jedi in training, is very uncomfortable with this, as murdering someone is the exact opposite of taking care of them.
- Double Tap: Luke notices that Nakari routinely shoots her downed enemies again to make sure they are dead, which makes him somewhat uncomfortable.
- Forgotten Fallen Friend: Not present in the novel itself, but it does do a bit to address the two most prominent examples of the trope from A New Hope when Luke takes some time to grieve his friend Biggs, as well his aunt and uncle.
- Friendly Sniper: Nakari is one of the best snipers in the Alliance, with even Major Derlin praising her skills.
- Good with Numbers: The hat of the Givin's, but Drusil is particularly gifted and talented, espically when it comes to communications and hacking, which is why the Rebellion wants to recruit her so badly and why the Empire is not simply just killing her.
- Happily Married: Drusil is in a loving relationship with her husband, with whom she has two kids. She only agrees to help the Rebellion if her family's safety is also guaranteed.
- Insistent Terminology: Fayet Kelen calls all his employees "minions".
- Mind over Matter: Luke spends much of the novel focusing on figuring out how to use the Force to lift objects.
- Missing Mom: Nakari's mother was a backup singer in a band who helped write a popular song that mocked Darth Vader. This got her and the rest of the band sentenced to the spice mines of Kessel, which has a life expectancy of one to two years. Since it has been ten years since then Nakari and her father are sure she is dead. This motivated both of them to support the Rebellion.
- Non-Idle Rich: Despite being wealthy biotech moguls, the Kelens are both active supporters of the Rebellion, and Nakari serves as a agent on the frontlines against the Empire.
- Skull for a Head: Givin like Drusil have skull-like heads. This somewhat unnerves Luke when he first meets her.
- War Is Hell: Luke notes that since he got drawn into the war against the Empire, he's seen constant battle, friends dying, etc., and wonders if maybe things were not so awful moisture-farming on Tatooine.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Early on, Luke is gifted a spare lightsaber by an acquaintance on Rodia which he dismantles in order to see its inner workings. And then apparently he never looks at it ever again, because it's never brought up after that.
- You, Get Me Coffee: Fayet Kelen, owner of Kelen Biolabs, often does this with his "minions", but then softens it by doing something like giving them a compliment or asking about their family.
