Hello there!
We probably will be for the remainder of the week, actually.
I sometimes like taking a theme and running with it throughout the blog posts that I'm doing for a certain period of time, and seeing as I covered the Star Wars Celebration on Tuesday, I figured a Star Wars book wasn't going to go amiss either, right?
Right!
So I decided to pick a recent release that I'd been looking forward to, given my eternal love for anything Prequel related.
And I will say ... I mostly enjoyed it, if I didn't start looking in too deeply.
Once I did, it turned a little bit upside down, but you'll see there at the end, so keep reading.
Because Mike Chen's Brotherhood is up next.
Links to every single Star Wars related book that I ever reviewed can be found down at the bottom of this page.
Brotherhood is billed as a book that covers a missing moment, or chapter in the relationship between Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker: the moment when they are no longer Master and Padawan, but become equals, separated only by Obi-Wan's seat on the Council.
This is also the opening arena of The Clone Wars, not as deeply in it as you see if you watch the animated spectacular which ran for one movie and seven seasons of show.
So in essence, a lot of things are at the beginning here, and we follow three distinct storylines throughout the book.
We have Obi-Wan, Anakin, and a Neimoidian guard, who you'll understand the role of as soon as I get into the actual story.
See, if you remember from the movies, Nute Gunray joins the Separatists, and the nation is trying to remain neutral in the galactic conflict. However, when a bombing occurs on the species' capital world, and Count Dooku points a finger at the Republic - because that makes sense - the solution seems to be to get the Chancellor there onto the planet as soon as possible.
Because that makes even MORE sense.
Obi-Wan - and all the Jedi, naturally - consider this a trap a la Ackbar, so our Kenobi meets with his informant and diner owner, Dex, to run through possibilities and other options, in the end settling on sending a Jedi representative to investigate what's happened. This NATURALLY leads to Kenobi heading there alone - as you do when your name's Kenobi, at that - which worries Anakin to no end.
See, while the relationship between these two in the book isn't exactly depicted as anything one would consider warm (which always baffles me about these books, they didn't just become friends out of the blue after Anakin was promoted, that foundation was laid down long before!), the former Padawan still worries about the older Jedi, mostly because he knows just how complicated things can normally get.
So he hands a secure comlink over and Obi-Wan heads out to investigate what quickly turns out to be military-precision bombing, and finds information planted to point directly at the Republic. However, the Neimoidian guard? Well, SHE's been working on her own side-investigation, not trusting the Separatist representative (Asajj Ventress, mind you), and SHE's discovered things that point right at the Separatists.
The two of them deduce that someone's trying to frame both sides to escalate the conflict, rather than defuse it, but before they can do anything about it Obi-Wan's arrested as a threat to the Neimoidians, because Ventress isn't there to help facilitate the investigation - she's there to help ensure the Neimoidians side with the Separatists.
Meanwhile, we follow Anakin as he enjoys evenings spent with his wife, and tries not to balk when he needs to herd about a group of younglings, though naturally once he clicks into the fact that Obi-Wan's in trouble, he confiscates a ship and heads right over to the Neimoidian capital world.
He also, conveniently, or inconveniently, takes a youngling with him, because they've sort of forged a connection by this point as he helped her navigate the powerful impression the Force always leaves on her, seeing as she has what seems to be a special gift: she can feel pain and suffering like nobody's business, and relieve it.
So, off they go (R2 included) and they discover MORE bombs set around the space where Obi-Wan's going to be tried, so they defuse them.
Then they witness the very much set-up trial which as geared to make Obi-Wan lose regardless what he did, and Anakin manages to almost get himself skewered by his former Master's lightsaber when he jumps in there to protect him - which, as Obi-Wan says later, is moot point since he was on his way out of there anyway, and the kid ran into his weapon!
Jokes aside, they run like bats out of hell, and end up in a stand-off with a Neiomidian who's frothing at the mouth to make the Republic pay and can't see white from black anymore, seeing as he was more than willing to blow up innocent civilians of his own people to make a point (and he even says 'keep telling yourself that' when Obi-Wan tries to dissuade him, which tells you JUST how far gone he is).
The stand-off ends with him being shot, but even though our Jedi investigators get the data they need (with a little help from their inside friend), they also fight Ventress before being able to get the heck out of dodge, after which they part ways: the youngling goes with her own Master to learn how to work with her skill better, and Obi-Wan and Anakin are further integrated into the Clone Army with a new edict from the Chancellor that grants the Jedi more powers in the field.
And you can definitely see that Obi-Wan is literally ashen in the face at the thought, while Anakin doesn't seem too bothered by it at that time.
The book ends with the Neimoidian guard, who'd helped the Jedi and was then imprisoned for her efforts, thinking she might die on her planet's floor when two blue lightsabers show up out of the fog to cut down her hunters, and Kenobi and Skywalker appear out of the mist to get her the heck out of there.
As she says it - together, they're unstoppable.
Fin!
So overall, I honestly can't quite decide on the review for this one.
On the one hand, I enjoyed the POVs and most of the characterization, but on the other I had a few quibbles that I'm definitely on the fence about.
I like Obi-Wan, but that's probably because this generally felt like the Prequel Era Obi-Wan. I liked the plot and the mystery that he needed to help uncover, and if the book were more geared towards that, I might have actually rated it higher. But there are some problems in the imagining that I'll try to outline below.
For example, I was okay with Anakin, except I'm not entirely sure that his portrayal was as faithful, but this stems from a much larger issue in this book, which is that the author seems to be under some sort of misapprehension that Obi-Wan and Anakin spent the ten years or so together constantly at logger-heads with no affection between them. It somehow paints Anakin as this solo island in the Jedi order (which, admittedly, he was definitely one towards the end) without ever reaching for Obi-Wan, which ... feels entirely wrong to me.
Even watching Attack of the Clones alone, you can see that, beyond their back-and-forth and banter, there's a warmth and worry and connection between the two that isn't built solely on Anakin snarking back at Obi-Wan, trying to one-up him, or Obi-Wan trying to constantly reprimand him. You can see that Obi-Wan worries, that he cares enough to gently guide him, but also to be stern when need be. You can also see that Anakin looks up to Obi-Wan, that he respects him even if he might disagree with him, and that he often calls him "grumpy" in obvious affection which is meant to convey that it really doesn't bother Anakin but it's just communication.
I feel this is where the author missed his mark - he portrays the bond that is probably the most important and strongest in the galaxy with way too much barbed wire wrapped around it that never existed except where book authors suddenly invented it. Were the two often times arguing? Yes. It must have been exhausting and exasperating being Obi-Wan sometimes, dealing with teenage Anakin. At the same time though, you CAN see he isn't just doing it because he promised Qui-Gon, but because he legitimately cares for Anakin as a person, within the tenements of the Jedi Order.
Also, Qui-Gon. For a man who literally only went through Anakin's life for a handful of days, he sure does spend a whole lot of time parked in the guy's mind. WAY more than Obi-Wan, which makes no sense at all, because - and we quote Lucas here - OBI-WAN is the closest thing Anakin's ever had to a father. Qui-Gon may have been the means of getting them together, but it is OBI-WAN who does the heavy lifting. It's a disservice to the character AND the Kenobi/Skywalker bond by implying otherwise, and by enlarging Qui-Gon's role so much.
Yes, things MAY have been different with Qui-Gon being Anakin's Master, but it did not happen. What ifs are just that, what ifs. The reality will always be Obi-Wan.
And what's with the Mace Windu hate? I get that he was against training Anakin - so was Yoda - but the two never gave me hatred vibes in anything I watched in the visual medium. This feels like another sort of author-inserted situation that has little to nothing to do with the characterization we get in the movies and Clone Wars.
Finally, I'd like to touch on the character of Mill who was made specifically for this book - and that's fine. I actually enjoyed seeing Anakin with a youngling and realizing that, welp, handling a full group of them is hard. The thing I'm bothered with is this: Mill supposedly feels emotions, right, at a very strong level, pain, suffering, that stuff. But don't Jedi feel them as a whole? Or am I missing something? Literally, in Attack of the Clones, Obi-Wan tells Anakin that his thoughts betray him when they go up to Padmé's apartment, meaning he can sense the waves of emotion coming off his Padawan, and also later can sense Padmé's happiness, so HER emotions as well.
So you're telling me that two seasoned Jedi couldn't handle this without a kid along to add to the danger bit of the book without actually adding anything meaningful, other than reminding us, once again, that for some reason - despite the fact George Lucas has said and stated before that it's OBI-WAN who is Anakin's go-to for everything, which makes the secret of Padmé and their marriage that much bigger - the author decided Anakin hasn't told Obi-Wan things and has been keeping secrets.
It's this that I have a problem with, and this that eventually knocks down my star rating from what COULD have been a really good one. But the book is much too focused on all the wrong and sometimes even made-up things, rather than the actual reality, which is that Skywalker and Kenobi work in this sprawling galactic tale precisely because they have a bond and attachment that gets irreparably broken when Anakin chooses the Dark Side. Yes, Obi-Wan failed Anakin, but he didn't fail him in all the ways the author tried to explain in this: Obi-Wan failed his former Padawan and friend and brother because he didn't acknowledge (or want to acknowledge out loud) that his emotional attachment was so incredibly strong it incinerated everything else around them. It's the Padmé secret and the marriage and the pregnancy which broke Pandora's box wide open, not some childhood stories from his mother that Anakin somehow didn't want to share with his one close link in an otherwise unknown world.
It really isn't as complicated as authors are trying to make it - it didn't build up over the years with these "little things". It was the one secret, the one secret that shouldn't have been secret, and the only thing Anakin never told Obi-Wan that tolled the death bell.
And I'm actually miffed that someone would imagine a character like Padmé Amidala mocking anyone. The word literally means 'tease or laugh at in a scornful or contemptuous manner'. Excuse me, have you met Senator Amidala? Or Padmé, at all? Would she ever, in her right mind, be scornful or contemptuous of a person who saved her life not just once, but two or three times in a row? Even Anakin going that route is a stretch, because it makes him downright mean and disrespectful to his Master - which he never was. He pushed boundaries, yes, but he RESPECTED OBI-WAN, always. He respected Mace Windu, always. He respected Yoda, always.
There were definite creative choices made in this novel that significantly lower the rating I would have otherwise given it, and I disagree with the lot of them.
Sadly, because it COULD have been great. As it is, I liked it, but it was, overall, just okay.
On the one hand, I enjoyed the POVs and most of the characterization, but on the other I had a few quibbles that I'm definitely on the fence about.
I like Obi-Wan, but that's probably because this generally felt like the Prequel Era Obi-Wan. I liked the plot and the mystery that he needed to help uncover, and if the book were more geared towards that, I might have actually rated it higher. But there are some problems in the imagining that I'll try to outline below.
For example, I was okay with Anakin, except I'm not entirely sure that his portrayal was as faithful, but this stems from a much larger issue in this book, which is that the author seems to be under some sort of misapprehension that Obi-Wan and Anakin spent the ten years or so together constantly at logger-heads with no affection between them. It somehow paints Anakin as this solo island in the Jedi order (which, admittedly, he was definitely one towards the end) without ever reaching for Obi-Wan, which ... feels entirely wrong to me.
Even watching Attack of the Clones alone, you can see that, beyond their back-and-forth and banter, there's a warmth and worry and connection between the two that isn't built solely on Anakin snarking back at Obi-Wan, trying to one-up him, or Obi-Wan trying to constantly reprimand him. You can see that Obi-Wan worries, that he cares enough to gently guide him, but also to be stern when need be. You can also see that Anakin looks up to Obi-Wan, that he respects him even if he might disagree with him, and that he often calls him "grumpy" in obvious affection which is meant to convey that it really doesn't bother Anakin but it's just communication.
I feel this is where the author missed his mark - he portrays the bond that is probably the most important and strongest in the galaxy with way too much barbed wire wrapped around it that never existed except where book authors suddenly invented it. Were the two often times arguing? Yes. It must have been exhausting and exasperating being Obi-Wan sometimes, dealing with teenage Anakin. At the same time though, you CAN see he isn't just doing it because he promised Qui-Gon, but because he legitimately cares for Anakin as a person, within the tenements of the Jedi Order.
Also, Qui-Gon. For a man who literally only went through Anakin's life for a handful of days, he sure does spend a whole lot of time parked in the guy's mind. WAY more than Obi-Wan, which makes no sense at all, because - and we quote Lucas here - OBI-WAN is the closest thing Anakin's ever had to a father. Qui-Gon may have been the means of getting them together, but it is OBI-WAN who does the heavy lifting. It's a disservice to the character AND the Kenobi/Skywalker bond by implying otherwise, and by enlarging Qui-Gon's role so much.
Yes, things MAY have been different with Qui-Gon being Anakin's Master, but it did not happen. What ifs are just that, what ifs. The reality will always be Obi-Wan.
And what's with the Mace Windu hate? I get that he was against training Anakin - so was Yoda - but the two never gave me hatred vibes in anything I watched in the visual medium. This feels like another sort of author-inserted situation that has little to nothing to do with the characterization we get in the movies and Clone Wars.
Finally, I'd like to touch on the character of Mill who was made specifically for this book - and that's fine. I actually enjoyed seeing Anakin with a youngling and realizing that, welp, handling a full group of them is hard. The thing I'm bothered with is this: Mill supposedly feels emotions, right, at a very strong level, pain, suffering, that stuff. But don't Jedi feel them as a whole? Or am I missing something? Literally, in Attack of the Clones, Obi-Wan tells Anakin that his thoughts betray him when they go up to Padmé's apartment, meaning he can sense the waves of emotion coming off his Padawan, and also later can sense Padmé's happiness, so HER emotions as well.
So you're telling me that two seasoned Jedi couldn't handle this without a kid along to add to the danger bit of the book without actually adding anything meaningful, other than reminding us, once again, that for some reason - despite the fact George Lucas has said and stated before that it's OBI-WAN who is Anakin's go-to for everything, which makes the secret of Padmé and their marriage that much bigger - the author decided Anakin hasn't told Obi-Wan things and has been keeping secrets.
It's this that I have a problem with, and this that eventually knocks down my star rating from what COULD have been a really good one. But the book is much too focused on all the wrong and sometimes even made-up things, rather than the actual reality, which is that Skywalker and Kenobi work in this sprawling galactic tale precisely because they have a bond and attachment that gets irreparably broken when Anakin chooses the Dark Side. Yes, Obi-Wan failed Anakin, but he didn't fail him in all the ways the author tried to explain in this: Obi-Wan failed his former Padawan and friend and brother because he didn't acknowledge (or want to acknowledge out loud) that his emotional attachment was so incredibly strong it incinerated everything else around them. It's the Padmé secret and the marriage and the pregnancy which broke Pandora's box wide open, not some childhood stories from his mother that Anakin somehow didn't want to share with his one close link in an otherwise unknown world.
It really isn't as complicated as authors are trying to make it - it didn't build up over the years with these "little things". It was the one secret, the one secret that shouldn't have been secret, and the only thing Anakin never told Obi-Wan that tolled the death bell.
And I'm actually miffed that someone would imagine a character like Padmé Amidala mocking anyone. The word literally means 'tease or laugh at in a scornful or contemptuous manner'. Excuse me, have you met Senator Amidala? Or Padmé, at all? Would she ever, in her right mind, be scornful or contemptuous of a person who saved her life not just once, but two or three times in a row? Even Anakin going that route is a stretch, because it makes him downright mean and disrespectful to his Master - which he never was. He pushed boundaries, yes, but he RESPECTED OBI-WAN, always. He respected Mace Windu, always. He respected Yoda, always.
There were definite creative choices made in this novel that significantly lower the rating I would have otherwise given it, and I disagree with the lot of them.
Sadly, because it COULD have been great. As it is, I liked it, but it was, overall, just okay.
xx
*image not mine
Nice breakdown here. I am diving in to Obi Wan on Disney Plus these days.
ReplyDeleteRyan
Thank you! I'm thoroughly enjoying the Obi-Wan show myself.
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