I'm rounding up to two stars. This isn't a terrible book, but it falls far short of the other Star Wars middle grade books that have come out in support of The Force Awakens. (So far, this is the third of those I've read, after Before The Awakening and Smuggler's Run.)

The Weapon of a Jedi takes place following the destruction of the first Death Star. Luke, uncomfortable with his new status as a hero and still coming to terms with the sudden loss of his mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi, is sent on a routine information-gathering mission for the Rebellion, along with Threepio and Artoo. However, he runs into Imperial ships en route and suffers damage that causes him to seek repairs on Devaron. He becomes distracted by ruins that he spies coming in for a landing, though, and soon seeks a guide to take him into the Devaronian jungles to investigate.

My description of the plot makes this book sound much more interesting and eventful than it actually is. You spend the first two thirds or more of the book waiting for something really exciting to happen. Meanwhile, Luke thinks about a lot of things, feels sad, tries not to feel sad, and wonders how he will ever become a real Jedi. And then he finds remote droids in a temple and spends a lot of time recreating that scene on the Millennium Falcon where Obi-Wan has him put on the helmet with the blast shield down, just in a temple and with more remote droids. There are also some secondary characters and a couple of fights at the end and more attention paid to Devaronian jungle herbivores than you ever wanted, but I found it hard to care about any of it.

To be honest, I wasn't expecting much of this book because although Luke grows a lot over the course of the Star Wars saga, he is, let's be real, the whiniest of all whiny boys. And he is in prime whine mode in this book. The entire book is pretty whiny, starting with a character from the Episode VII era whining about being on droid duty, who runs into Threepio, who whines a bit before telling the story about whiny Luke that forms the majority of the book.

I also had some issues with the writing. Whereas Greg Rucka seems to have approached his installments for this loosely-connected series with respect for his readers despite writing middle grade fiction, Jason Fry decided to write a middle grade book that plays to the lower common denominator of the age group, complete with a slapstick moment where a remote droid shoots Luke in the butt. Maybe I shouldn't complain about it, give the book some slack, but I really don't want to, especially when Smuggler's Run exists in the same series, is so good, and transcends what it could have been to appeal to a wide range of readers. This felt like it was written exclusively for 10-year-old boys, despite the diversity of Star Wars fans who could be expected to read this.

At least it was only 184 pages and a quick read. I'm reading the Princess Leia book next, and maybe it will be an improvement.