Lit Splinters of the Minds eye questions.

Hey guys

Well my collection is slowly building, but a question looms over me.

Splinters of the Minds Eye. Now i've heard some really mixed opinions on this, so i wanted to get a feel of the book from the opinions of the collected masses.

First off, is this book part and parcel of the "cannon" (okay expanded universe is anyones guess untill something on screen confirms it)

Is it really as "uncomfortable" to read as i have been led to believe, and where does this awkwardness stem from? I've heard that luke and leia get a bit too close for comfort in this.

So yeah Discuss, i'm open.

 

It's officially a part of C-canon, but it doesn't feel like it, because it was written prior to TESB ( thus it comes off kind of like Alan Dean Foster's idea of an ANH sequel ) and nobody in TESB or ROTJ ever mentions what took place in it. It's actually the first place we saw combatants hurling objects at each other with the Force. I don't find any of it uncomfortable, but then again I read it in its initial release so my impression is likely colored by that. If there's something I don't like it's one brief part which seems to use dematerialization technology that doesn't really fit SW.

 

I found it to be fairly interesting. Iirc, Luke learns telekinesis from the old lady in this novel.

 

I don't think it's uncomfortable. There's two minor scenes where it's hinted that Luke's attracted to Leia, i.e. having non-brotherly feelings towards her, but nothing is spelled out - and with a bit of good will you can read both scenes as less sexual as they certainly were intended from the start. And in the later-made comic one of them is actually tuned into soft-sweet nuances as Luke also is very protective about Leia all through this story. I read it back in the 80's, but I liked it then, and in a later re-read I still think it worked amazingly well, not least considering how much has changed since then. The most silly part of the book is that Leia can't swim in the novel but Luke - coming from a desert planet - can! But it's minor stuff like that.

 

A fighter pilot needs to know how to swim just in case of crashing in water, so it isn't all that silly.

 

Splinter is great, partly because it feels so different from the EU we're used to now. Darth Vader is a great over-the-top pulpy villain who cuts a guy in half and tortures Princess Leia with his lightsaber. No one has the guts to write him like that anymore and it's a shame. Plus it's full of hot incest action:

 

That's been brought up before. The most likely explanation, IMHO is that, being from a desert planet, Luke would have wanted to learn how to swim the first chance that he got. While Leia may never have had a chance, with the lack of free time in her upbringing.

 

If that's not an endorsement I'm not sure what is.

Anyway, Splinter still exists in canon, it's just something of an odd man out. I like it for what it is; unapologetic pulp fiction.

There's actually a fairly cool retcon to explain Luke beating Vader. Remember the third book of the Jedi Academy trilogy (sorry for making you remember the Jedi Academy trilogy) where Luke's ghost guides Jacen and somehow makes him good with a lightsaber? That's essentially what happens in Splinter. Obi-Wan is able to guide Luke. Ties fairly well in with that "I won't be able to interfere" line from ESB.

It's not a perfect retcon, but at least it's not incestuous.

 

I think my explanation is more likely due to fighter jock training, but yours make perfect sense too

 

Luke learns to swim- from Leia- in one of the earliest Marvel comic arcs- the Crimson Jack one.

So him being able to swim has precedent- her being unable to swim, however, makes less sense.

 

Now I remember why I laughed so hard while reading that book. These passages make their attraction seem so taboo, which is hilariously fitting. It's like Leia knew even back then. Somehow, she always knew.

And agreed about Vader.

 

It's been twenty years since I read it so I can't recall all the details. I only remember the ending being a bit off given what we learned in TESB and ROTJ. It's probably work reading though.

 

I supposed one admittedly convoluted explanation is that Leia knows how to swim, but just has a deep rooted fear of water (God knows why). In the Marvel arc, if memory serves she was escaping from an attacked ship, and therefore adrenaline would be running quite high. In addition, she didn't have to swim far at all before Han pulled her up. The situation in Splinter, on the other hand, is much quieter, and at the time there's no immediate danger.

Or something.

 

I honestly think Splinter is a pretty awful book. Characters that feel nothing like they did on screen and do things so out of character and downright stupid during the story combined with a totally inconsequential story set make for a very frustrating read.

In fact, the only part of the book I can really defend is the supposed 'romance' between Luke and Leia. Star Wars fans love to joke and cringe and make fun of their supposedly incestuous actions in the book -- but, not only do they not compare to what we see in the films (where they actually kiss, something they do not do in this book), but it's totally understandable given what we knew about those characters in 1977.

Luke being fluent in the Yuzzem language and an able swimmer, while Leia bring in such a hurry to make a meeting that she misses by a matter of weeks, but then still attends somehow anyway at the end are not forgivable at all, no matter when this book was written. Awkward prose, cookie-cutter 1070s cartoon pulp villans, the list goes on.

The only reason the book is worth reading is if one were reading all the books or if one has a historical curiosity about the EU.