Obi-Wan at all times: ???????????

This is such a kind, wholesome Obi-Wan adventure. At several points it occupies a wholly incoherent position with regards to lore, but the heart of this book is as clear as crystal. It was an effortless and enjoyable read.

The plot is a solo Obi-Wan adventure. There's barely any Qui-Gon, or anyone else we know. The story starts with a 16-year-old Obi-Wan who is having a crisis of confidence. Qui-Gon has kept him at the Temple for his entire apprenticeship and they've never been on even ONE mission together. What can this mean, but that Obi-Wan is a failure at everything and not worthy of his position as a padawan? And what is the solution to this? Why, becoming SO MUCH BETTER AT EVERYTHING through sheer force of will, of course.

Obi-Wan finds a mysterious carving in an abandoned Temple library and somewhat for absolutely no reason decides that this will become his First Mission. He convinces Qui-Gon to go... only on the morning they're supposed to leave, Qui-Gon never shows up. In a fit of ill-considered rebellion, Obi-Wan flies off on his own into danger.

The rest of the story from there is a kinder, gentler Melida/Daan, if you will. Obi-Wan finds a mysterious planet populated by youths in a bad situation. With his first taste of life outside the Order, Obi-Wan has to confront his choices. Will he go native? Should he remain a Jedi? Where is his path truly leading? In facing the threats around him and his new friends, Obi-Wan ends up facing his own fears and doubts.

As you would expect, there's so much self-doubt. There's so much self-recrimination. He has zero self-esteem and there are SO many times where he's saying to himself, "I just want to belong somewhere. I just want to be needed by somebody. I just want to be wanted." There's a lot of fun Obi-Wan snark, but I cannot overstate how very BABY he is in this book. (Affectionate)

Indeed... some might even say he is TOO baby for a sixteen-year-old. On that note, I have two major flags for this book that consumed my mind and distracted me from enjoying the straightforward story.

1. Obi-Wan as a sixteen-year-old padawan.

Two disclaimers for this. This is a YA book, not a kids' chapter book like JA, so he's kind of required to be older. However. Maybe write a slightly older story for him then?

Also, this book strongly hints that Obi-Wan has only become Qui-Gon's padawan recently. The way he's insecure, acting like he doesn't know his master that well, doesn't know what he wants, doesn't know his sense of humor, is unsure of the pattern of his life, is constantly thinking about how being a padawan isn't what he thought it would be like when he was a youngling. The way he's never once been on a mission. Which, okay, Disney canon has been trending in the "older padawans" direction for a while. Dooku in Jedi Lost I think was sixteen when he was chosen. So it's not out of the question that Obi-Wan was fifteen or sixteen when he was chosen.

EXCEPT THAT IT IS, ACTUALLY. Because Master and Apprentice already recanonized that he was THIRTEEN when he became Qui-Gon's apprentice! Which means we are meant to believe that Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon have been chilling in the Temple for THREE YEARS doing nothing but meditation, and haven't gotten to know each other at all.

Aside from being wholly out of character, that's just stupid, and so I have to believe (hope?) that Kiersten White didn't realize we already had a canon age for Obi-Wan's apprenticeship. Which is just... fabulous. We already have so much chaos in the Star Wars world when it comes to lore, it's actually becoming easier to name things that ARE coherent than things that aren't. The last thing we need is incoherency within the current and fairly limited canon.

2. Qui-Gon???

This man continues to be a conundrum and a bastard. I'm really not sure how to take him in this book.

Don't be deceived - this is not a Qui-Gon book. He has like three scenes. Two of which are entirely inscrutable interactions with Obi-Wan at the beginning. And one at the end where he heavily implies that he provoked Obi-Wan into flying out into the galaxy all by himself on purpose, so that he could get some real-world experience and shake off his mental block.

Okay. Sounds like Qui-Gon, right?

But remember. Obi-Wan, who has NEVER BEFORE LEFT THE TEMPLE ON A MISSION OF ANY KIND, took a single unarmed cruiser out to a lost planet. And because he's an idiot who's never been on a mission before, he forgot all means of long-range communicators and couldn't have even called for help if he needed it.

And remember. Obi-Wan's deepening insecurity? The doubt causing his mental block? Started AFTER he became Qui-Gon's padawan and the time began to stretch... and stretch... and they never went on a mission. Obi-Wan repeatedly talks about how his relationship with the Force was so easy when he was a youngling. It's only recently that he's developed this huge issue with meditation, and it's BECAUSE he's become so convinced Qui-Gon thinks he's a failure, unready and unworthy of being given the typical responsibilities and challenges of a Jedi padawan.

So what's a master to do? Qui-Gon clearly came to the conclusion that his current approach wasn't working. Valid enough. So maybe this kid needs a few real-world kicks to the head before he can get back in tune with the Force. Perhaps... ACTUALLY TAKE HIM ON A MISSION? Literally ANYTHING would have worked. They could have delivered supplies to some famine-torn planet or resettled refugees or absolutely literally anything.

Or, if that's too much work for Qui-Gon, he could have SPOKEN TO HIS PADAWAN. Just a tiny hint of straightforward communication between himself and Obi-Wan could have easily solved most of this. Just like. Hey. I don't think you're a worthless failure idiot moron, by the way. JUST THAT.

But no. No. All of these are far too pedestrian for the great Qui-Gon Jinn. Instead, his FIRST choice of attempts to shake Obi-Wan up was to send him into the wider galaxy totally alone. It's genuinely insane, and yet the narrative seems to still paint Qui-Gon as this wise mentor. Aha! We see that he was behind it all - he cared the whole time! With a gentle smirk, he reassures Obi-Wan that he is not only benevolent but also all-knowing. I love it when a plan comes together.

Crazy. Absolute lunacy. And yet - I was complaining about lack of consistency earlier? This is so consistent across every era and every medium. Both the way Qui-Gon always ALWAYS does things in a circuitous, inexplicable (negligent?????) manner when a straightforward manner would have done just as well if not better, AND ALSO the way the narrative always justifies him for doing it. JA, M&A, TPM, and now here. Qui-Gon. What is wrong with that man.

Some miscellaneous notes:

• The Wayseeker, I assume, is a callout to High Republic but I don't know enough about High Republic to enjoy it.

• Dooku showing up is interesting, especially the attitude everyone has towards him. Like, of course he can just waltz through the Temple as always. He's one of us!

• I loved the glimpses of Obi-Wan's friends and Temple life we get at the beginning. The differences and quirks each one has, and how they turn those to being a Jedi in a different way than any other Jedi. I LOVE JEDI CULTURE AND CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF IT OKAY.

• Living planets are always going to be a good vibe. Rogue Planet, but angry.

• It's soooooooooooooooo funny to me that by the time he was 16 years old in Legends Obi-Wan had killed like six men, left the Jedi Order twice, been tortured, been brainwashed, and was brought up on charges before the Galactic Senate. And here he's like (✿◠‿◠) hewwo?

Is this perhaps more accurate? Sure. But it's SO funny and I'm never going to stop talking about it.

• RE-CANONIZATION OF YODA PICKING OBI-WAN FOR QUI-GON. Okay, full disclosure, I can't remember if this was already re-canonized in Master and Apprentice, but if not it was re-re-canonized, so we're good. It was ALSO strongly hinted that Qui-Gon is haunted by some ghosts of his past. Yoda's involvement makes me think this, and so does Qui-Gon when he says, "I know I'm not what you expected" as if he thinks Obi-Wan should have some reason to find fault with him as a master instead of vice versa. What are these ghosts, hmm? We already know from M&A that he had a tragic love affair - is that it? Or is there deeper former apprentice trauma like in Legends?

• Fascinating scene where Obi-Wan ponders the idea of romance. It's like he's never thought about it before, and gives a very 13yo vibe rather than 16yo vibe. He ends up deciding he probably doesn't want to kiss anyone anytime soon.