A Small Disclaimer

My enjoyment of this book can't help but be colored by my disappointment at the impending end of the Jedi Apprentice series -- apparently with #18 due out in January -- to be replaced with stories about young Anakin's apprenticeship. I am not sure if Jedi Quest: Path to Truth is the first of this new series or simply a stand-alone book. I am not sure subsequent books will be in hardcover (although I hope not ... buying multiple copies for my 9-12-year-old relatives will have to cease if that is the case).

I understand Anakin is the true hero of the Star Wars saga (at least in George Lucas's mind!) but surely there is room for more tales of young Obi-Wan Kenobi and his noble mentor, Qui-Gon Jinn. Now, however, I must set aside all my emotional baggage and review this book on its own merits.

The Story

Jedi Padawan Anakin Skywalker, almost thirteen years old, travels with his Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi, to the frozen planet of Ilum where he must battle his inner demons in order to acquire the crystals needed to construct his lightsaber. While Anakin is dueling with an illusory Darth Maul, Obi-Wan is in another cave reliving Qui-Gon's death over and over, each time with the older man trying without success to warn him of something. Soon after, Anakin must face his greatest fear when he and Obi-Wan are sent against a slaver named Krayn who once destroyed his friends' homes and families in the slave quarters of Tatooine. Along the way, Obi-Wan must confront a former friend who turned her back on the Jedi way of life.

That's far more melodrama than one slim, 170-page hardback can support. The end result is a story that reads almost more like a plot summary than a novel. Anakin is so preternaturally competent, and Obi-Wan so serene, that their peril failed to touch me, even through the dangers of icy cliffs, hungry gorgodons, phantasmal Sith Lords, etc. Only in the prologue, where Anakin's anger and fear at Krayn's slave raid is chillingly portrayed, is the emotion fleshed out. A few other moments stood out for me: 1) Obi-Wan's pain at having to watch Qui-Gon die again and again, and his fear that he will fail to fulfill his Master's dying wish; 2) Anakin flying a shuttle up into and through the engine of an enemy spaceship; 3) Obi-Wan going mano-e-mano against a Wookiee in a turbolift. Cool fight.

The plot had a lot of potential, which begs the question: Why waste such interesting material on a kids' book, where I assume the intensity must be toned down so as not to cause nightmares? At any rate, I can't say much for the writing. Sometimes Jude Watson surprises me with a pithy turn of phrase, but for the most part the text reads like a police report. Here are a couple of examples so you can judge for yourself:

(page 38) "With a cunning twist, the Sith flipped Anakin's lightsaber from his grasp. It spun in the air, then disintegrated into pieces. Then he reached out a hand. Anakin felt the Force move against his body. He flew through the air and hit the cave wall. His head hit the hard stone and he slid down. When his head cleared, he found himself sitting on the floor, the pieces of the lightsaber in his lap."

(page 71) "The catwalk led to a small door that had a small wheel that served as a manual opening device. Obi-Wan quickly twisted the wheel one full revolution. His hand on his lightsaber hilt, he went through the door."

A final observation: At first I thought Anakin's construction of his lightsaber was far too easy, his confrontation with his demons far too tame. Then I realized that the mystery of Anakin's lightsaber is one more secret Anakin hides from his Master -- one more brick in the wall between them that will lead to Anakin's eventual betrayal. On page 41, Anakin reflects that "this lightsaber had made him a Jedi." Yet even then, he knows very well that his status is built on a lie.

The Light Side

• I appreciated the balance of point-of-view and emotional challenges for both main characters. Both have to face their greatest fears, and each character has his moment to shine.
• You can't beat Anakin flying a shuttle up the exhaust port of Krayn's ship past a giant propeller. I felt like I was inside a LucasArts game for a minute there. Oh, and did I mention Obi-Wan versus the Wookiee?
• The moral dilemmas lent a great deal of tension and resonance to the plot. Obi-Wan being forced to tell slaves he cannot rescue them, for instance, was strongly reminiscent of Qui-Gon on Tatooine.
• Watson didn't chicken out or sugar coat the dramatic moment when Anakin chooses to murder his enemies.

The Dark Side

• I don't get why the council didn't tell Obi-Wan the truth about Zora/Siri. It seems short-sighted and purposeless.
• "Uncurious" is not a word.
• The writing was unspectacular (yes, that is a word). I found the prose bland and simplistic.
• Again, the timeline seems bollixed up. I hate to harp on this, but they really need to publish an official timeline so we won't be confused. This book states that the adventure with Didi Oddo was 13 years prior. We also know that Obi-Wan is 29 in this book (it states that Qui-Gon has been dead four years) which would make him about 16 at the time he met Didi. However, in Jedi Apprentice #11 (the story involving Didi) it states that Obi-Wan is 14. Help?
• The resolution of the slavery problem seemed too pat, too easy. I suppose there's not much one can do in 170-odd pages, so this is only a minor flaw.

Overall, I'd recommend this to fans of Jedi Apprentice and to those of you who want to know every little bit of trivia about the Star Wars galaxy. I don't think this book should have been a hardcover. That puts it out of price range for its intended audience, as well as many of Jedi Apprentice's core fans. I would recommend waiting for the paperback, but I'm not sure there's going to be one. At any rate, if you don't get this book you're certainly not going to miss anything essential to understanding Episode II. The way Lucas works, I wouldn't be surprised if the film blatantly contradicts a lot of what happens in Jedi Apprentice and the other novels anyway.

(Toryn Farr knew everything about Star Wars back in 1977 thanks to Starlog Magazine. She's been trying to keep her know-it-all reputation ever since. During the precious few hours her kiddo is in school, Toryn attempts to run an internet design business and write fantasy fiction.)

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