Review: “Star Wars – Padawan”

A novel from Obi-Wan’s early days.

content (propaganda)

Obi-Wan Kenobi hasn’t been the apprentice of his master Qui-Gon Jinn for long – but he’s already wondering if that wasn’t a huge mistake. Obi-Wan is an excellent lightsaber fighter, but Qui-Gon prefers to focus on meditation. While other Padawans follow their masters on exciting off-planet missions, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan remain behind on Coruscant. Then, on a mysterious planet, Obi-Wan discovers evidence of unsolved Jedi work and convinces Qui-Gon that they should investigate. But when it’s time to leave, Qui-Gon is nowhere to be found. Enraged, Obi-Wan takes off on his own, determined to complete the task. On the planet Lenahra, Obi-Wan encounters a group of young men who all seem to be Force wielders and are also the only inhabitants on the planet. The more time he spends with them and the further he gets away from his life in the Jedi Temple, the more Obi-Wan grapples with his biggest fear: Maybe he wasn’t meant to be a Jedi. Yet he can’t get rid of the nagging feeling that something strange is happening in Lenahara. Can Obi-Wan restore his connection to the Force in time to save himself and everyone around him?

criticism

In “Padawan” we see young Obi-Wan Kenobi currently with his master Qui-Gon, so this all takes place before the films known thus far. But if you were expecting another adventure between teacher and student, you will be surprised. Because Obi-Wan sets out on a solo mission.

He does this to find himself and his place in the matter. Obi-Wan contemplates whether being a Jedi is still for him, and even considers letting it go. Sound familiar? In fact, there was a similar story in “Legends” (in the “Jedi Padwan series”) where Obi-Wan briefly leaves the Jedi to fight for freedom on a planet. Either way, Obi-Wan finds himself and realizes his place among the Jedi.

Of course, very few will remember the 20-year-old book, and as I said, it is no longer part of the canon. Also, or precisely for this reason, the story may have been re-released here differently. As a small bonus for fans, there are also characters from the mythology books of the time, like Siri, who Obi-Wan practically grew up with in the temple. But this is also more for the hardcore fans.

What should mean something to most people is the mention of the Supreme Republic. Because Obi-Wan follows a recording from that time to find a planet. Well, this is also just a gimmick to get in touch, but it manages to please.

What Obi-Wan also encounters is a living planet. And yes, it should also ring a bell for all Legends experts, because we already got it in the form of Zonama Sekot. Of course, it’s tweaked a bit here, but the idea stands out that some parts of Legends were simply picked up and dumped here.

Well, this is still somewhat legit. Does the rest of the story at least live up to what the group promises? For the most part, it has to be said that it actually does. The scenes about Obi-Wan and his self-discovery are so well done you can’t help but believe his inner struggle. The scenes he finds with other children are also not very good, even if it is necessary to clearly say that they are not out of the ordinary here, of course.

This also applies to the children living on this planet who use the usual clichés. So they don’t trust Obi-Wan because he wants to destroy everything, later on a villain is added who wants the Jedi to put an end to that and of course the kid thinks uncle is more evil than Obi-Wan and goes to tell…that’s just all the cliches that could have been avoided , even if this novel is geared more towards a young audience.

Between individual chapters, there are always short, staccato conversations between the villain and his client – which we don’t learn anything else about in the end, because they’re dropped entirely, making these scenes sadly superfluous.

In the end, of course, the villain, who is as inaccessible as he is, is eliminated — of course in a way neither Opie nor the kids can stand it and don’t have much choice.

After all, the connection to the second ring still exists with Dex. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have too many scenes with Obi-Wan and is forgotten again at the end, though the beginning of the friendship could have been shown in more detail here.