¿Cómo podrá establecer un vínculo con el joven Obi-Wan Kenobi si todavía le atormenta la traición de Xánatos, su primer aprendiz?
Xánatos era un estudiante prometedor... hasta que se interpuso el lado oscuro de la Fuerza.
Qui-Gon Jinn creía que el pasado estaba muerto.
Pero Xánatos ha vuelto. Y busca venganza.

While thankful for Obi-Wan's life-saving help on the trip to Bandomeer, Qui-Gon must put aside his mixed feelings over the young apprentice and take care of his peace mission.

I'll be fair here, though it pains me to do it: If the first book is about Qui-Gon's failure as a Master, the second book is about Obi-Wan's stupidity and lack of self-preservation. Here, let's recap.

End of Jedi Apprentice #1: And Obi-Wan finally made peace with the fact that he wouldn't be a Jedi was instead exiled to be a farmer.

Obi-Wan, at the opening of Jedi Apprentice #2: Ooh, can I be a Jedi?

Qui-Gon: No.

Obi-Wan: But I can help you!

Qui-Gon: No.

Obi-Wan: But we're growing a bond!

Qui-Gon: Ugh, can't you hear me? Go be a farmer. You will not be my Padawan.

Obi-Wan: But I'll get into trouble without you!

Qui-Gon: See if I care.

Obi-Wan: [gets into trouble]

Qui-Gon: Okay, wait, I care! [nearly starts a war saving Obi-Wan]

Obi-Wan: So I'm your padawan now, right?

Qui-Gon: Fat chance, kid.

Obi-Wan: But I can help you fix this mess you caused and fight against your former, fallen Padawan. Y'know, the guy who warned me away from you and I didn't listen because I'm kind of dumb.

Qui-Gon: Still not my Padawan.

Obi-Wan: Okay, fine. I'll never be your Padawan. But you've gotten into this mess and I can only get us out of it if I kill myself to save you. And I'll do it even thought you keep breaking my heart because I'm dumb.

Qui-Gon: You can't do that, Padawan!

End of Jedi Apprentice #2: And they ride off into the sunset together to await further adventures.

Y'all, I love Obi-Wan but this kid has less self-preservation that Luke and Han combined. Run away, Obi-Wan. Far away. Your new Master killed his last Padawan's father! And he'll be the undoing of the entire galaxy! Run while you can! I know you want someone to love you, but Qui-Gon is not that guy. He's just going to keep being the father figure that breaks your heart and you're going to let him. ( )

This was 100% a nostalgia read, but I will say this was really lovely, rapid-paced without feeling like too fast or forced, and was such like a sweet bite of Star Wars knowledge and universe. I loved this series as a kid (it's what got me into reading more Star Wars books) and I still really enjoy it. Would love for this to come out in reprints! ( )

(I now maintain a blog just for my kid-lit reviews. Find it at http://kidlit4adults.blogspot.com .)

A friend has convinced me to try my hand this year for the first time at writing children's literature; but I don't actually know anything about children's literature, so am starting the process among other ways by first reading a stack of popular books that have been recommended to me. Today's titles are from yet another long-running series of chapter books for grade-schoolers, the kind of franchise where an endless amount of 30,000-word volumes are cranked out once a month by a series of essentially anonymous authors; and this is actually one of the types of employment I'm hoping to find in the industry myself, which is why I'm reading so many of these types of books these days, to understand more about how exactly they're written.

And indeed, after expecting these to be only middling titles that rely mostly on the strength of the "Star Wars" brand for their commercial success, the three volumes of the "Jedi Apprentice" series I read (volumes 1, 2 and 3) were instead some of the better chapter books I've so far come across this year, with challenging vocabularies and nicely complex moral lessons that have more in common with Zen Buddhism than the Babysitters Club. (But then again, this series is put out by the always excellent Scholastic, so I guess I should've known better.) Although these will only appeal almost exclusively to boys in the 10-to-12 range, they're excellent for what they are, and get the classic "rules" of writing for this age group almost perfect -- for example, they include plenty of periil but very little real-world danger (helped immensely by their fantastical setting), feature plenty of action but a stripped-down non-confusing plot, and also do a nice job for sci-fi novels at exploring both school environments and inter-gender relationships at that age in depth. They're on the large side of such books, a full 30,000 to 35,000 words apiece, and despite their subject matter are not recommended for so-called "reluctant readers." ( )