I, Jedi by Michael Stackpole
Bantam-Spectra (1998)

I, Jedi is Michael Stackpole's fifth novel in the Star Wars universe and his first and only stand alone work (his others began the X-Wing Series and contributed to the New Jedi Order). The story arc of I, Jedi spans all of the Jedi Academy storyline from Kevin J. Anderson's trilogy of the same name and stretches into the future. It is the story of Corran Horn's training as a Jedi and his effort to rescue his wife who vanished under mysterious circumstances. This book is unique in that it is the first Star Wars novel to be written in first person, from Corran's point of view.

In terms of prerequisites, or what books you should read before diving into this book, none are really required. However, reading the Jedi Academy first will help you appreciate the first person narrative and seeing the same story through Corran's eyes. I think Stackpole's telling of this story, which takes up the first half of the book, was much more compelling than the original by Kevin J. Anderson. My original impression was that the Jedi candidates just wandered around the temples and woods meditating. Stackpole has them much more active and explains the purpose of some of these activities.

Other books that are suggested prerequisites are those from the X-Wing Series, particularly the first four novels () that just happened to be written by Stackpole. I have not read these books yet but could easily tell his references to these works in the story. Fortunately, you don't need to know these back stories to understand the plot of this book. But it is nice to see this work tie in two of the major series of books of the New Republic era together.

In terms of historic events of the EU, there aren't many galaxy-shaking events here. Probably the biggest is that you see Corran's training into becoming a Jedi Knight. This event sets his life in motion as a significant member of the New Jedi Order. The other aspect is that it covers the time of Luke's founding of the new Jedi Academy on Yavin IV. If you want to skip Anderson's trilogy and want just a taste of the adventures in the X-Wing series, then this book is for you.

Corran Horn comes across as a cocky know-it-all much of the time; although we do see his weaknesses and self-doubt sometimes. Luke Skywalker doesn't seem nearly the Jedi Master I would expect. It seems he doubts himself and is too willing to just go with the flow. However, I'm willing to chalk that up to the fact the story is told from Corran's point of view. The other characters like Mara Jade, Gantoris, Kyp Durron, and the other Academy trainees seem consistent with other EU books. The writing style is engaging and the plot well though out and executed. At 570 pages, this is one of the longer Star Wars novels out there, but I found myself blowing through the pages. This is easily one of my top EU books!