Splinter of the Mind’s Eye Book Review

Jared Ross reviews the Star Wars Legends book, Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, the alternate sequel to A New Hope. Written by Alan Dean Foster

[muzkat]

Here's my take on 'Splinter of the Mind's Eye'. First off, if you are reading it for the first time well after seeing 'A New Hope', 'The Empire Strikes Back', and 'Return Of The Jedi', and or then later after seeing I, II, & III, then later reading 'The Splinter Of The Mind's Eye' for the first time, then one may find this book a bit out of context, confusing, or just random. But, if you, like me, read this book when it first came out, you ate it up, only because it was a continuation for Star Wars that was desperately needed for the time, as a fan of 'A New Hope'... for many of us back in '77, 'The Empire Strikes Back' was a surprise when it came out and just seemed to come years too late, but thankfully it came out to stimulate the imagination once again. From here, the Star Wars fiction just blossomed into saturated book craziness.

But just like reading any of the first few books that were published in the 70s just after watching 'A New Hope', reading 'Han Solos Revenge' or 'Han Solo At Stars' End', or even 'Han Solo And The Lost Legacy' you (like me) were intrigued of the possibilities of a Star Wars legacy. But then the in 1980, 'The Empire Strikes Back' came out, and these former books lost some of their intrigue. From here, I began to lose interest in additional Star Wars books just due simply to the saturation of them, but I just waited for the movies; hoping to see new, original stories. If you were young like me back in the day, you craved anything Star Wars, Ewok movies and Star Wars holiday specials... even if they didn't follow any particular Star Wars 'canon' or story line... it was just entertainment.

However, to be honest, I was beginning to lose my interest in Star Wars after I, II, and III came out; my thoughts were that the franchise lost its way with the story but relied too heavily on 'eye-candy' CG for a lack of telling a real story. Then after watching 'The Force Awakens', I banned my Star Wars interest entirely after seeing VII. I was not at all interested in the story and I certainly was not buying into reprising a new 'Darth Vader' character like Ray and Kylo Ren; in fact, it was Kilo Ren character that ruined the movie entirely for me, Ray didn't help either, and having Han killed off by his own son was the last nail in this coffin for me... what a cheap and weak story -- Kylo should have been killed off as quickly as Darth Maul -- Oh, but wait; somewhere I hear that Darth Maul didn't die after all, just like Palpatine... BS, in my opinion -- whatever. Fans can buy into this but hate on 'Splinter of the Mind's Eye'?! ...that's just biased nonsense.

As for 'canon', I am not a follower of it, nor am I that interested in them. I am a fan of 'A New Hope' and slightly respect the original trilogy for what it was, and still is. As for the rest, I just lost interest. If you look up Wikipedia for 'List of Star Wars Books', you will find that it is just mind-boggling of how many Star Wars books were written... no wonder why Disney failed in so many ways when they finally got their hands on the Star Wars franchise... at least, in my opinion on this. For me, 'A New Hope' was, and still is, the only Star Wars movie I truly care about; it told a complete story that ended as it should have, the rest of the Star Wars stories just got silly, too convoluted, and complex for my enjoyment.

[RussellStClair-cyvu]

As someone who stood in that 1977 line on opening day and was hooked (72 times in the theater) I read this as a New release . Loved it . One reason I worked in the Jr. High School library New Release's . ( Hollywood hated sci-fi before Star Wars)
Reading it "before" the empire came out, hungry for the next part made it cannon for me . It's a on the run adventure .

[sergius]

This is just not true, it is in the Legends continuity

[RadDocPhil]

Thank you for this review but please proof read the script you use. I can form a drinking game with the number of times I hear the word "basically", along with the waffling discussion back and forth.

[SirTyJensen]

Nice review man, I skipped Splinter of the Mind's Eye. I have a few Star Wars Insider issues, there's a two part conversation with George Lucas and Alan Dean Foster.

[jonathansoto]

I don’t really have any interest in reading this book cause there’s no other sequel to A New Hope than not other my favorite movie: The Empire Strikes Back

[JHNAW]

I love the parallel universe loophole Lucas approved of Filoni adding to Disney SW Rebels via Vergence Scatter that allows all of Legends, including Splinter of the Minds Eye, to be SW Canon :)

[zuzanka]

I hated Leia in this book, she alternates between G.I. Jane and a damsel in distress. And her intelligence took a plunge since A New Hope, too. Thankfully she has Luke to do all the thinking for her. The worst SW book I've read so far.