Claudia Gray, Star Wars: Master and Apprentice. New York: Del Rey, 2019. 9780525619376.
Genre: science fiction
Subgenre: Star Wars (Disney owned)
Format: Hardback book
Source: Berea branch of Madison County (KY) Public Library
I honestly do not get the gushing reviews I have seen for this book because it just is not that interesting overall. I wanted to like this book because of Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan and their relationship, which we see some of it in the film The Phantom Menace. However, the book just did not do it for me, and I found it a bit of a drag to read, especially the first half of the book. The book has some pluses and minuses.
On the plus side is the look at the relationship between the two Jedi. Obi-Wan is 17 years old now, and he has been training with Qui-Gon for 4 years. Obi-Wan has his insecurities, as any teen may have, and he fears disappointing his master. Qui-Gon on the other hand fears he may not be a worthy teacher to his padawan. When he gets offered a seat on the Jedi Council, he initially decides not to tell Obi-Wan so as not to add to the boy's worries since it would mean Obi-Wan would be assigned a new master if Qui-Gon takes the new job. Obi-Wan manages to find out anyhow, which does add to his worries. Overall, the interactions between them are interesting. Along with this we get flashback segments of Qui-Gon when he was being trained by Count Dooku, before Dooku turned to the Dark Side, and those offer an interesting contrast between Qui-Gon as a padawan and Obi-Wan as a padawan. The novel also introduces the Jedi Rael Averross, another former student of Dooku. Averross is sort of a disgraced Jedi who lost his padawan due to him being reckless basically and not following procedures. Though the Council cleared him of wrongdoing, it was sort of more everyone knows Rael was wrong but no one wanted to deal with it, so they exiled him to Pijal, where he is serving as regent of the planet while their princess comes of age. In that time, Rael has become a bit more feral would be a good way to describe it.
On the minus side, there is not too much action or anything happening in the first part of the book. In Pijal, a terrorist group threatens the situation as the planet is about to sign a deal to set up a hyperspace lane that can mean more economic opportunities. This is pushed of course by a corporation that is making sure they get a lot of concessions that are detrimental to the planet but great for them. Rael asks for help from the Jedi, requesting Qui-Gon, and thus the two end up on their mission. As I said, this part of the story is just not as interesting. The pace picks up once the second part of the book becomes a whodunnit as they need to figure out who really is behind the terrorists.
In addition, like a few other Star Wars novels of late (and let's be honest, the newer trilogy also does a lot of recycling, but I digress), they are recycling ideas. You get the young queen/monarch figure not quite of age ruling a world. She is surrounded by advisors that she may or not trust. There is a commercial interest basically invading the planet, or at least doing their best to exploit it no matter what the cost to the local population. Said corporation also uses slave labor, something officially banned by the Republic, but this outside of Republic jurisdiction (supposedly, since after all, the Jedi are sent there). And there may or not be a hidden actor manipulating events. At this point you may be hearing echoes of The Phantom Menace.
For fans of these characters, this may be a book of interest. For more casual Star Wars readers, I'd say this is an optional book. I did not find that terribly engaging, and I did not find the Pijal story that interesting to be honest. For me, what does it is the character studies of Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and what little we get of Count Dooku, who if he does not have one, should get a decent book for his character, something similar maybe to the novels Tarkin or Darth Plagueis. For me, it was OK.
2 out of 5 stars.
Book qualifies for these 2021 Reading Challenges:
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