Book 2 in the SWCC!
I really enjoyed this book overall, it felt like at points the action suddenly stopped and because resolved off the page. I get that it's hard to show a battle or a flight sometimes, but I kinda wish some of them had been a little bit more descriptive. I love Obi-Wan so very much and it was cool getting to see him as a Padawan and how his opinion on things changed over time. ( )

I'm just gonna say it: I was disappointed in this book. I have been most impressed with Claudia Gray’s books in the new Star Wars canon, and I have to say, this book was a bit of a let down. It wasn't terrible but it also wasn't great. Claudia in the past has been a master of characterization and plotting. Here not so much. Characters’ modes of speaking are distinct enough, but what they have to say feels empty. And no one really has any depth.

Star Wars: Master & Apprentice, a novel set a handful of years before the events of The Phantom Menace, attempts to shines the light on 17-year-old padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi and his complicated relationship with his mentor, Qui-Gon Jinn and what we end up with is mostly stuff we are already aware of: Qui-Gon is not a rule follower, is sympathetic to slaves, and is obsessive about the prophecies. Meanwhile Obi-Wan learns to hate flying....and really likes following the rules.

My complaint is that this story feels regressive. Gray previously penned Bloodline, one of the most well-crafted Star Wars books of the new canon, but Master & Apprentice can’t compete with Bloodline’s tense reveals. Instead, it’s flat, even as it investigates some big topics like Jedi prophecy and slave trade (which is a reoccurring theme in the SW universe: see the story of Anakin as well as the stable-hand children on Canto Blight). Side characters like Rael Averross, a rogue Jedi who was also a former student of Dooku, like Qui-Gon Jinn, should be fascinating. However, Rael exists to simply prove that some Jedi rebel from the ideals of the Jedi Order. He's a hallow character with no real importance.

Instead of elevating what existed in the Prequels, Master & Apprentice leans into the worst things about them: unexciting political ideas delivered in talky bursts of stiff dialogue. Be prepared.

There are a few interesting things about this book, one of them being that Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon both push back against their mentors, which calls ahead to Anakin. This was not a terrible book by any means, and had some fairly interesting bits in it regarding the Jedi prophecies, but compared to the previous three books by Claudia Grey, this book was not a revelation but a rather lack-luster dive into some of the worst aspects of the prequels. ( )

Nice story in the Star Wars universe. The author does a great job in capturing the essence of the characters of Qui Gon and Obiwan. As with most Star Wars books these days there are not major revelations. Mostly they provide nuggets of background and more color to the world we love. In this case it is done very well indeed.
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Spring 2020 (Staw Wars Disney Canon Read, April);

I madly love prequel books, and this one was no exception. I love seeing how hard it was for our two main characters figure out how to work together, and whether to stay with each other in the long run. I love the pervasiveness about prophecy (and I hope we come back to this in the Golden Republic series coming out later this year).

I found myself surprisingly attached to the subplot both about the Princess-Regent, and about the once-slave turned thief, and her companion. All in all a fast, nice pre-prequel read and I look forward to more in the future. ( )

This novel, about some boring characters from a boring movie, is surprisingly good. Gray expertly weaves multiple strands throughout the novel--there are multiple conflicts between teacher and student, and internal conflicts, and it all comes together in a nice package. There are no major stakes here, but I was invested in the (formerly boring) main characters and the side characters Gray introduces here. ( )