Title: Splinter of the Mind's Eye
Author: Alan Dean Foster
Pages: 297
Time: 2 ABY

Introduction
The moment is here. I will finally review "Splinter of the Mind's Eye"! I have been looking forward to reading this novel for a long time. Not so much because I expected a great time, but more to finally see for myself what all the fuss is about. Not a lot of people like the novel and a lot of people passionately hate it. After reading the novel I can only conclude that I somewhere in the middle. You should pay extra attention to the different ratings in the "novel quality" and "personal tilt" sections. This is a good example if why the distinction is important.

Novel quality
The novel starts of when Luke and Leia are in their way to Circarpous in order to try and enlist the local rebellion into the greater struggle against the Empire. Right from the start Luke and Leia are thrown into a great adventure which will take them from a jungle, straight through a secret military base and right into the arms of Darth Vader. During al this Luke and Leia meet up with a weird self-proclaimed force user names Halla. She tells Luke about the special Kaiburr crystal, which supposedly gives the wielder an unprecedented control of the Force. Of course Luke and Leia decide that the crystal is too powerful to fall into the wrong hands and they start a search. What is nice about the story is that Luke and Leia start to develop feelings for each other; I don't believe the writer would have put it into the novel like that had he known Luke and Leia were actually siblings. However it does provide the novel with a bit more "realism". It is a natural boy/girl reaction to feel close to each other after being together during stressful times and having to completely depend on each other. Unlike many people I actually feel that it adds to the novel, even if it feels a bit awkward at times. Another good thing about the novel is the description of the planet and its natural inhabitants. At times Mr. Foster might take things a bit far, but at least the description of the species is pretty well done.

Enough of the positive points, let's move on to the down sides. Let me start with saying that I feel that the concept of the Kaiburr crystal really doesn't belong in Star Wars. I realize that Mr. Foster had to improvise, since he couldn't see into the future, but the crystal strays too far from the concept of the Force to be a nice addition to the story. Another point is the battle between Darth Vader and Luke. There are three things in there that are technically not possible or at least extremely unlikely. First, the fireball thingy that Darth Vader throws at Luke is just totally out of place. It doesn't feel Star Wars at all. Second: Luke cuts of Vader's hand during the fight which, at that point in time, is a virtual impossibility. We've all seen how Vader overpowers Luke in TESB and that was after Luke's training at the hands of Yoda. There is no reason whatsoever for Vader to even have the slightest problem in defeating Luke. Last, but not least, when Luke cuts of Vader's arm it doesn't seem to be mechanical, which we all know it is. I realize that these "errors" are made only because Mr. Foster couldn't possibly know how much Star Wars would grow in the years after his novel, but it still takes away virtually all the fun from the end of the novel.

Technically however, the novel is not that bad. The story structure is, although straightforward, pretty strong and the description of the planet and species are very well done by Mr. Foster. It seems that writing these descriptions is one of Mr. Foster's specialities, because they were equally strong in The Approaching Storm . All in all, technically a good novel, but the inconsistencies with the, now known, Star Wars galaxy are just to great to provide for a good grade. Only read this if you absolutely want to read all the Star Wars novels available.
Rating: 70/100

Personal tilt
Although I really don't want to give Mr. Foster a bad rating for any of his novels, I will have to do it this time. A crystal that amplifies Force abilities goes against everything the Force stands for and takes away a lot of the magic. It just doesn't belong there, if you ask me. Oh, did I mention that Luke actually beats Vader? Yeah.... right..... I don't care what kind of reason you come up with, it just is not possible at this point. Luke hasn't even received any training from Yoda yet. And let's please don't even start about Vader losing his arm, that is really too lame. I should apologize to Mr. Foster, I realize that all this isn't actually his fault, but I will have to give his novel a low grade. I do however give him credits for writing the first novel and for the technical quality of the novel. It shows that he is actually a good writer. He just didn't have the right tools when he was writing this novel. Nevertheless, I thought it was a pretty weak novel and I advice you to refrain from reading it. It doesn't really add anything, it just takes away. Only for the die-hard fan.
Rating: 25/100

Overall rating: 52.0/100

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For more of my reviews and second opinions see my Book review summary