Master & Apprentice

This canon literary predecessor to Star Wars: The Phantom Menace opens with a quotation about reverie prophecy by Ibn Rushd, a.k.a. Averroes, and begins with a conflict on the Galactic Republic’s planet Teth, an ominous source of corruption. The Jedi Council sends Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi to investigate, although the master and apprentice find the Hutts there uncooperative. Backstory occasionally unravels in between chapters relating to Qui-Gon and his former Master Count Dooku. Two smugglers interested in kyber crystals central to the construction of lightsabers, Pax and Rahara, play significant roles in the story as well, and eventually find themselves captive of the Jedi.

Another Jedi, Rael Averross, is another major character throughout the story, with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan ultimately dispatched to the planet Pijal, where the coronation of its young monarch Fanry impending, although a group known as the Opposition causes trouble. During the novel, the relationship between the Master and Padawan is put to the test, with Qui-Gon believing himself and Obi-Wan to be incompatible, and dealing with the Opposition protesting the Governance Treaty and attempting to protect Fanry before she becomes Queen of Pijal. Qui-Gon also struggles with his foresight, the story ending with a flashforward to the latter part of The Phantom Menace.

Overall, I reasonably enjoyed this Star Wars novel, which gives canon insight into the relationship between the Jedi Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, with the flashbacks to when the former was an apprentice being a nice touch. Granted, canon confirmation of Obi-Wan’s alleged tutelage under Yoda, which would resolve the oft-mooted “inconsistency” between the original and prequel trilogies, would have definitely been welcome. A list of dramatis personae would have been a bit helpful, as well, since I couldn’t exactly get a firm grasp as to things such as the appearances or even species of the specific characters native to the novel, but I would definitely recommend it.