Star Wars: Master & Apprentice
by Claudia Gray

Publication Date:
April 16, 2019

Timeframe:
40 BBY

Synopsis:
The relationship between Jedi Master and Padawan is tumultuous as often as it is tight. Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi Wan Kenobi know this fact all too well. In the midst of their struggles to work together, Qui-Gon gets an offer that would allow them to part ways forever. However, after being sent on what may be their final mission together, Qui-Gon begins to have visions that casts everyone’s future into doubt.

GUEST REVIEW!

Special guest reviewer Rick Crumbles!

*takes a big, loud puff of his inhaler*

Greetings, Padawan! I am your Jedi Master, Qui-Gon Rick Crumbles, and I will take you through the whimsical journey that is Master & Apprentice. Sail with me on the seas of adventure and suspense as we navigate treacherous and thorny political gambits, morally ambiguous corporate decisions, and, of course, a whole lot of lightsaber wavin’!

*takes a big, loud puff of his inhaler*

Master & Apprentice is the best book I’ve ever read, and I own all the Harry Potters and all the Hunger Games and all the Goosebumps. This is better than all of them! As we all know, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi have had a tense relationship throughout their entire Jedi Big Brother program. Jinn is the big stick-in-the-mud, wise and boring rogue who stands up to the Jedi Council and gets in their faces and says “HEY! You guys are the pits!” Kenobi is the big stick-in-the-mud, wise and boring rule-follower who stands up to Qui-Gon Jinn and gets in his face and says “HEY! That’s not the Jedi way!” When Jinn gets invited to the Jedi Council, Kenobi feels betrayed and sad even though he has spent four whole years with Jinn and he hasn’t so much as taken him out for ice cream. Trust me when I say I had to suspend my disbelief for that part.

This new guy, this Rael Averross, he’s a true badass of the highest order. He doesn’t speak like a Jedi, he’s too good for that. Instead, he’s like “rawr I’m hankerin’ for some venison” or “you mean to tell me the dang ol’ princess is settin’ me up somethin’ fierce?” Averross gets mad at Qui-Gon for trying to push his prophecy vision nonsense on him, and Averross is like “now lookee here, Qui-Gon, but I ain’t gonna listen to no madman’s nightmares!” There’s a tale here that would be ripe for further backstory about Averross’ Padawan getting killed by a slicer dart, which is a thing that Claudia Gray made up but it sounds cool as shit, brah. It scrambles the victim’s brains so that they start doing unpredictable crazy stuff, like thrashing and kicking and repeatedly yelling about boning your mom. Apparently, this Padawan’s behavior was so erratic that Averross had to kill her. Cut her in half with his lightsaber. That’s badass, man. Rael Averross is a total baller.

Pax and Rahara? I could do without them. Pax was all like “nurrrrrr, indubitably we will need to maximize our profits nurrrrrrrrrrr“, and Rahara was all like “waaaah, muh old life as a slave.” A couple of whiners, if you ask me.

*takes a big, loud puff of his inhaler*

That’s all. I give this book six stars out of four, and I urge anyone with half a brain to go read this instead of Vonnegut or Chuck Palahniuk.

TOM’S REVIEW!

Tom, the Cool Guy

My third Star Wars book is the weakest so far, but still very, very enjoyable! Master & Apprentice focuses on Qui-Gon Jinn and a teenage Obi-Wan Kenobi’s tense, failing relationship. An offer to Qui-Gon to join the Jedi Council makes matters worse, as a Jedi Knight has never continued training with their Padawan after accepting such an offer. In short, Obi-Wan whines a lot and Qui-Gon spends a lot of time placidly being an accidental dickhead.

After finding Qui-Gon Jinn the best character from The Phantom Menace, I was excited to see more backstory fleshed out about his character and his relationship with Obi-Wan. This book has taught me that I don’t care that much about it, OR, more likely, that the complexities of their relationship was the least interesting part about a book that is also stuffed with intriguing political turmoil and corporate bullshittery. Czerka Corporation has had a contract with the Pijal system for centuries. They own a whole horde of legal slaves, which ain’t cool, and Pijal’s underage heir Princess Fanry seeks to end the contract. Harder than it sounds, since the Republic is wrapped up in approving a trading corridor around the system that will, like, be great for business. All the while, there’s a rogue terrorist organization — the Opposition — that aims to violently thwart Czerka and their influence on the Pijal system. OR DO THEY? See? Intriguing!

Master & Apprentice introduces (I think) Rael Averross, a retired Jedi Knight who carries himself more as a casual and crass everyman than the stoic and thoughtful Jedi that I’m used to seeing. He is lord regent of the planet of Pijal — appointed by the Republic — until heir Princess Fanry comes of age. I liked this guy! He has a good head on his shoulders, and he plays a good foil to Qui-Gon Jinn’s level-headed stubbornness. He and Jinn go way back when Qui-Gon was Dooku’s Padawan. He was an older brother figure to Jinn, and he thoroughly fucked with him on a regular basis. These are all things I can get behind. I also liked how on not one, but TWO occasions, he said something along the lines of “Jedi gotta bone once in a while, too, is all I’m saying. Nothing in the Jedi code about not bonin’.”

The book’s B-plot was tops, too, where the two best characters accidentally weave themselves into the drama of the Pijal/Czerka conflict by agreeing to work with the Jedi to investigate the Opposition. Pax Maripher and Rahara Wick are jewel thieves who engage in illegal gem trading of the galaxy. Pax was raised by 3PO droids, so he’s annoying and inadvertently callous and provides much of the story’s comic relief. Rahara Wick was a former Czerka slave, so she has very choice words about the evil corporation and its tendency to profit off of very cheap labor. These two are in love with each other and they both sort of know it. It’s cute.

SO WHAT ARE MY CRITICISMS? DIDN’T I SAY IT WAS WEAK? No, jerkface. I said it was the weakest by comparison, which doesn’t necessarily mean it’s weak. Keep up! For one thing, I thought the twist at the end was predictable, with Fanry being disgruntled with her lord regent and the Czerka Corporation and its motivations. Qui-Gon was pretty much ruling everyone out except her. What was I supposed to think, that multi-media mogul William Randolph Hearst was responsible for the terrorism? I also want to say that Claudia Gray’s writing style for adult fiction is very similar to her writing style for young adult fiction, which means that her writing it a little bit on the simple side. Kind of like mine! That’s a minor gripe, since I’m not expecting a work of Shakespeare here.

And the final 100 pages of the book are way better than the first 300. I wasn’t fully invested in the story until the day of Fanry’s coronation, which is a large amount of a book to get through before something really clicks. Good thing that these things only take four days to read.

WORTH A READ?

Sure, as long as you’re invested in the dynamic between Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi with more depth than what you find in The Phantom Menace. I thought I was, but then I realized I was more interested in a Qui-Gon Jinn backstory without the little Obi-Wan pisspants getting in the way! Or maybe I just read a whole book about Obi-Wan Kenobi and I’m tired of that jerk! In any case, the more interesting parts involved made-up characters, so maybe I just want a book in the Star Wars universe about brand new people.

That’s probably it.