Book Review - Splinter of the Minds Eye
This story takes place around 0-3 years after STAR WARS A NEW HOPE.
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This story begins with Luke Skywalker escorting Princess/Senator Leia Organa to the planet Circarpous, in hopes its inhabitants will join the Rebel Alliance to help defeat Vader and the Emperor.
Leia's ship malfunctions and crash lands on a neighboring planet called Mimban, and Luke and Leia are stranded, to their dismay, they miss their important conference on Circarpous.
The two enters a nearby village and disguises themselves as miners to blend in with the locals to hide from the surprising appearances of Stormtroopers ( who may have followed their crashed ships to Mimban)
In a Tavern/Inn, they meet a Force Sensitive old woman named Halla, who bears a sliver of an important object called the Kaiburr Crystal. The Kaiburr Crystal magnifies and increases ones perception of the Force, which Luke experiences after touching the sliver himself.
Afterwards, Luke and Leia get into a fight which turns into a friendly tussle, which is apparently fighting is illegal to do on Mimban. After questioned by some local “authority” thugs, Luke gets Leia passed off as his servant and Him as her master in order to protect their identities, which they eventually get caught in their little lie. (So Luke lies again about being a smuggler, but that also backfires)
Luke and Leia get arrested for fighting and imprisoned by Captain-Supervisior Grammel. They are questioned for a bit, and Grammel learns about the crystal sliver and steals it from Luke.
The two young adults are thrown in a cell, and befriends two imprisoned Yuzzem named Hin and Kee.
(Picture of Yuzzem at right)
With the aid of Halla's Force powers and Luke's little knowledge of the Force, they escape along with the Yuzzem.
Halla proposed a deal to Luke and Leia, in order to bet help to leave Mimban, the two Rebels would help her find the Kaiburr Crystal. Luke agrees and so does Leia, in a begrudging manner.
Unfortunately, on there way they meet a Wandrella (PICTURE OF WANDRELLA AT LEFT) and narrowly escaped, but then
Luke and Leia get trapped in an abyss after the Wandrella attack with no way up. Their only escape route is a tunnel mined and created by the local Coway species.
The tunnel road is eventually blocked by miles of water, which they must get across in order to escape the tunnel. Luke finds material to build a small raft, and as they row throw the black reflective water, they are attacked by a blobby liquid monster, which nearly drowns them both. Luckily, Luke fends it off.
Leia then broke out into a scream which lasted several minutes after a water drenched Luke returned to the raft after being thrown off from the monster. She admits later that she couldn't swim and was terrified of drowning, of which was the cause of her screams.
Presently they reached the end of the tunnel to meet up with Kee, Hin, Halla, Artoo, and Threepio. Unfortunately, the Coway kidnapped their friends and tied them up.
Luke reached the tied up Halla to talk to her and ask what's going on, and Halla told him they've been tied up for about a half-a-day and then she informs Luke that in order to leave the cave with all of them, he must fight the Coway's best warrior.
(Picture on right: Coway. As found on http://misc.thefullwiki.org/Coway
The only catch is that lightsabers weren't allowed.
The Coway and Luke fought, and the fight turned into a brutal battle. The Coway warrior pushed Luke into water and shoved Luke to the bottom. After a few defense attempts, while the Coway held Luke underwater, Luke had to give up the fight and nearly drowned.
Miraculously, he defeated the Coway subconsciously with the Force and won. The Coway frees the group and they stay overnight as honored guests, with Luke being held at the most highest respect for winning the brutal battle. Then Darth Vader suddenly showed up with his stormtroopers, looking for Luke and the Kaiburr Crystal.
The Coway, Luke, and the others fend them off and race to the temple that shelters the crystal to grab the Force Reflective object before Vader does. They somehow beat Vader to it, but not surprisingly, gets attached by another monster called a Behemoth.
(IMAGE AT LEFT OF: Sith Wars Behemoth)
Again, Luke saved them and fended off the behemoth, but fate had its hand again and the ceiling collapsed onto Luke, burying him. Leia runs to Luke's aid but Halla runs for the crystal "drunk by the nearness of it" as the book says.
Luke gets uncovered but one huge bolder pinned him down by the leg. And at their most vulnerable time, Vader saunters in. To defend Luke, Leia takes Luke lightsaber and battles Vader, but looses and she blacks out.
Hin, almost dead along with Kee, uses the rest of his strength and energy to lift the bolder off of Luke, and Luke talks his lightsaber in hand to confront Vader himself. What Luke said next puzzled me into deep thoughtfulness; he said in a weird tone: "I am Obi-Wan Kenobi".
(These words aren't fully explained afterwards, sadly. I know I'd love to know what he meant)
After a long, brutal lightsaber battle, Luke frantically blocked every blow Vader thrust, and sliced off one of Vaders mechanical arms. Vader falls down a hole and didn't return. Luke barely escaped with his life. Luke collapsed next to Leia. Both were battered, bruised and nearly dead.
Halla finally returns to the story with the Kaiburr Crystal to see the two young adults unconscious. She prods Luke awake and hastily handed the crystal over to him and says: "I'm a faker, a charlatan of the Force."
(Picture on right: Kaiburr Crystal as found on Wookieepedia.com)
Luke takes it, comments on it being warm and falls unconscious once more. The crystal magically (with the Force?) floats out of Luke's hand and envelops him, basking him in crimson light. It lands back in his palm and Luke suddenly sits up and scares Halla terribly (but hilariously). Much to my surprise, he said: "Halla, I died"
(My mind was literally blown right around there)
"Well, it must've been boring where you went, then." Halla said, much to my amusement. Luke then uses the crystal's healing powers to heal every scratch and wound on Leia and restored her beauty. Leia awakens and painfully says her head hurts terribly. Halla and Luke laughed at this. "She has a headache," Luke chuckled. (After everything Leia and Luke had been through, a headache wasn't even a fraction on it!)
The story ends with Leia in confusion, for she had no idea why the two were laughing, and why her having a headache was so funny.
I really enjoyed reading this book, and I hope you enjoyed this long-ish summary of it! Now beneath is my pro's and con's:
The Pro's of the book:
*Keeps you compelled to read
*Action packed
*great new characters
*mysterious words and situations that make you think and wonder. . . .
The Con's of the book:
*mentions a curse word or two (D-3)
*Mentions Luke undressing before Leia (only done in desperate times for survival, though. But I was disappointed in that mention)
Have you read this book before? What did you think? What were YOUR pro's and con's on it? Did you think i could've summarized it better? Comment below, we'd love to hear from you and your feedback is welcome! :)
More about the Kaiburr Crystal:
Quote: "Although the Force exists everywhere and within all living things, certain artifacts have demonstrated the ability to augment it. One such artifact is the Kaiburr crystal of the planet Circarpous V, locally known as Mimban." ―An excerpt of Jedi Scholar Tionne Solusar's writings
"The Kaiburr crystal was an ancient Force relic, initially located on the planet Circarpous V, locally known as Mimban. When in its natural location in the Temple of Pomojema on Mimban, the crystal increased a Force-sensitive's power one thousand times over. Among its magnification of abilities were the ability to heal, to further augment a Force-user's connection to the Force, to project Force lightning by those typically unable, and to empower and energize a tired being close in proximity to the crystal. If cut properly, the Kaiburr crystal also worked as a lightsaber crystal." -http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Kaiburr_crystal
