JA #14 (Spoilers!!!)

Well, I'm looking forward to it, even though sometimes Ms Watson seems to forget the series is called Jedi Apprentice. Just out of curiosity what is Obi-Wan doing in this book? All I keep hearing about is Qui-Gon.

 

Back home from vacation. B&N STILL doesn't have it.

 

I agree with you, lydian, with the next book being called the death of hope and a summary describing the next book "Qui-gon tries to help but only makes thing worst" things are not looking up for our jedi in love

 

Got it today at Borders. haven't read it yet, though.

 

I bought my copy yesterday at Borders. It was fantastic! Qui-Gon's character reveals more and more layers of this complex man's personality. I reread the last few chapter three times. When Qui-Gon tells Tahl how he feel -- sigh.

I am very concerned about the titles of the next two books. Darn it! This romance should not turn into some stupid Trek episode where when a main character falls in love, the love interest automatically dies.

I also hope Jude Watson writes more about Bant. Poor Bant, not bonding very closely with her new master. . . Tahl does have some issues about proving herself able to operate independently. I wonder how all this would play out if Bant had been allowed to go with her master?

When is the next book due out, anyway?

 

Somebody was wondering what Obi-wan was up to in this book, Well you know, Fighting off wild animals that are trying to eat him, Fighting off tracker droids, getting captured by the enemy, just regualr day to day stuff like that, have I left anything out? and btw I think the next book is due is september and the book after that is due in november

 

More spoilers! What's the plot?

 

does anyone else think that The Death of Hope, and The Call to Vengeance may kill off Tahl?

 

One can only hope...

 

Hey now I like Tahl. I think you're right though. Tahl will not be amoung the 'living' much longer.

Oh, reviving the what's Obi doing thing for a moment --> From the start, Qui's emotional state and actions have had a huge impact on our fav Jedi Apprentice. Anything that affects the teacher will eventually affect the student. Besides, I for one really am reading the JA books more for Qui than for Obi The more Qui the better in MHO

 

Yes, it is affecting Obi-Wan which is exactly what Watson should be focusing on--the books are called Jedi Apprentice after all. I can't understand why it seems like every author that has a shot at writing Obi-Wan seems to push him into a corner somewhere half the time. He's either a dolt(RP and CoD) or a tree, as another fan described it. (LOL! I should thank her for that one.)

He's a perfectly fascinating character, or at least he has the potential to be if these authors would glance in his direction. You know, he's beginning to remind me of the stereotypical "good kid" no one notices until they commit suicide or something. Oh he'll deal with it, he'll deal with it, he's simple, he's shallow...but it takes a lot of depth and inner strength to survive what Obi-Wan Kenobi ends up having to survive, but you'd never guess it from the way he is portrayed half the time by the authors of Star Wars books.

I like the JA books, they are well written, but I do often have reservations about their focus. And never more so than with this book, and probably the next two. He's barely a supporting character here. For a couple of people who are supposed to be so admirable, so far in the last two books alone(w/o going into similar things that have happened in the past) Qui-Gon has left his padawan to deal with a trial in Bruck's death mostly on his own and Tahl keeps leaving her padawan Bant behind at the Temple--real good examples they are setting. This self-absorbedness on QG's part, if you will, is going to come back and haunt everyone because I'd bet that is one of the underlying causes of Obi-Wan's deficiencies in training Anakin. Deficiencies he'll get straight from his own master. However I doubt these will ever be pointed out as such by the authors of Star Wars books.

 

Who Qui-Gon is and what he does is an important part of how he trained Obi-Wan...

So, it is important, and I like Qui-Gon...


I hope Obi-Wan gets more time in the next books.


But since I still can't find a copy of JA 14, I don't know yet

 

I've reserved a copy with a bookstore. Hopefully, I'll get it soon. This release date has really been screwed up. I think it's because this is being released only a month after the last book instead of two.

 

Just got my copy. The bookstore hadn't even shelved the books--they pulled it out of the storeroom for me. Reading the book now...

 

i would have to say i would rather see more focus on Quigon.

 

Finally got it! I'm going to read it this week and post my review.

 

Read it. Drat, a cliffhanger. So frustrating!

 

Just finished it. Here's my take:

1) I hate that Obi-Wan is sixteen; why are they galloping through the series like this? Are they cutting it off to write ObiWan/Anakin when EpII comes out? Ick!

2) Qui-Gon/Tahl is sweet, but inevitably: I think she's a goner. I can't imagine there's any way they're gonna let this romance work out . In which case, what about poor Bant? I am SURE she's going to get into the next two somehow (I mean, when Qui-Gon was being held by Zen Arbor, Obi-Wan was ready to run away to rescue him; you think Bant is going to sit on the sidelines twiddling her thumbs? or whatever Calamarians have?)

3) I'm guessing the Absolutes are definitely behind the whole thing; could the brother be a secret Absolute leader, hiding behind his indolence?

4) It seems that in a trilogy or more, Jude will focus one book more on Obi-Wan, one book more on Qui-Gon. A few (*cough* #10 *cough*) you have to wonder why she didn't leave Obi-Wan at home playing pinochle. This one seemed pretty well balanced; though Qui-Gon was the one stressing out so, Obi-Wan was reacting to it.

 

I went to B&N after work today, found a copy!!!

Got home and discovered that they hadn't forgotten I had a hold on it. They sent me the notification that the book has not been published yet. (And no idea when it will be published).

oh well, I finally have a copy!

 

Absolutes, eh?...what are they?

 

Absolutes is this big terrorist group on the planet. At the moment, it seems that they're responsible for all the bad things that happened in the book...

I thought JA14 was an awesome book. Unlike 11, this mystery is much deeper and harder to solve. And the scene with Qui and Tahl near the end was so cute

Maybe it's my built-in obsession with Obi-Torture that stems from all the wonderful fanfiction that gets posted here in JC, but I can see the plot having two possible outcomes. The more obvious one is Tahl's death, because of Qui's vision and the titles of the next two books.

But what if Obi-Wan becomes the victim to all these events? Obviously, he's not going to die, cuz the whole SW universe would fall apart By victim, I just mean hurt in some way... Maybe then, Qui will finally pay more attention to the poor guy. With Tahl around, Obi basically became invisible...

Anyways, I found that JA14 often put Obi-Wan in the role of seeing to their safety while Qui-Gon is too distracted to concentrate on much. Obi often notices things before Qui, and I think it is very bad if the apprentice is always seeing the danger before the master does... But this is all a theory of mine; its probably more likely that the plot will take the obvious route and have Tahl die tragically in Qui's arms.

But the line that really sticks in my head is: "Perhaps Obi-Wan had risked too much to race to his Master's side, but he didn't care."

Arbitrary line? or foreshadow?

 

I LOVED the way the novella started out, with a Jedi "vacation" on that undeveloped world, much like Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon in Tales #1. It was very nice to see them in an evironment outside of a planetary revolution.

Which brings me to my first complaint. The Melida/Daan struggle. The anti-seclusionists from Fight for Truth. The kid-swappers from the tropical planet and its moon from the book no one really likes. The environmentalists and Offworld on Telos. Need I go on? If all the Jedi do is meddle in politics, then I say Palpy was right to exterminate them.

Why not some new missions, like more search and rescue, as seen (briefly) in The Dangerous Rescue? Why not search and destroy, as in The Hunt for Aurra Sing? Why not send them investigating these ancient Sith temples littering the outer rim? There's thousands of other, and much more interesting, things for the dynamic duo to be investigating than planetary re-unifications. What's next? Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon tear down the Berlin wall?

As far as the romance, again I'm not impressed. First of all, pre-purge Jedi romance is a touchy subject. I thought the direction Tahl & Qui-Gon's special realtionship was taking was that he used to be her master. That would explain their strong connection, could be used to answer the 2/3 apprentice contradiction which has creeped up, and let us see a dynamic not previously addressed: how a Jedi (who hasn't turned to the dark side) relates to his/her former master.

BTW, is Tahl an alien or what? Besides striped eyes, she seems more or less human. And I know many of us don't approve of those Mars/Venus romances. Watson is an expert at packing maximun amounts of story into minimum amounts of narration, but I find often character's appearances suffer. It's seldom clear who is and who isn't an alien, and exactly what each new species looks like.

Overall, an enjoyable read, but I fear the series is regressing back to the "help the planet __________ achieve a democratic government" rut which plagued it throughout.

 

The ultimate role of the Jedi is to preserve peace in the galaxy. Thus, that involves lots of meddling in politics. Search and rescue was just shown in the JA11-13 arc; repeating it in 14 would be much too soon, I think. As for seek and destroy, it's not a very Jedi thing to do

And the studying Sith temples idea... To me, the Jedi seem to fear the Sith and the Dark Side. They don't want to study them, they just want them dead. Their fear leads to their lack of understanding in the enemy, which I feel is what leads the Jedi Order to its ultimate destruction.

 

WAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

I still haven't found it!

~*~Bria

 

I've heard the planet in JA 14 is like 1960's America, what with an assassination and all. Am I right?