t's been three years since the Trade Federation was forced from Naboo and the Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn died fighting an evil Sith Lord. It has been a time of trials and growth for the young Jedi apprentice Anakin Skywalker and for his master, the still-young Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Obi-Wan is still coping with the aching loss of his master, and is more than a little frustrated by his efforts to train Anakin. The boy is exceptionally gifted and quickly learns the tasks set before him, but it's not his education that's the problem--it's what lurks inside him. Anakin's fears and anger simmer alongside something darker ... something he does not want to face.
Instead, he seeks out dangerous thrills that give him the illusion of control over his life. As the novel opens, he's in the bowels of Coruscant. He enters a race through the city-planet's massive trash system when an assassin strikes, forcing him to navigate a maze of forcefields and debris while fending off his attacker. Only his skill, the Force and the intervention of Obi-Wan save him.
The two return to the Jedi Temple, where they learn that a Jedi has been lost while seeking out a Rogue planet. Not part of the Republic, this planet allegedly makes the fastest ships in the galaxy, ships built not just of metal, but of organic matter as well. The Jedi Council dispatches Obi-Wan and Anakin to investigate, but the Jedi are not the only ones interested in the mysterious planet. Another force, represented by a Republic commander named Tarkin, wants to use the world for its own nefarious purposes.
An excellent diversion
Greg Bear--winner of two Hugo and four Nebula awards--expertly blends his style with that of the Star Wars universe. He conjures the feel of Star Wars as adroitly as Ewan McGregor evokes the subtle cadence of the elder Obi-Wan's voice.
Bear does a good job of building the plot on the events set in motion by Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. Readers learn that the Republic is in the middle of a galaxy-wide recession, and catch glimpses of the group--presumably the Sith--looking to take advantage of the crisis. Rather than create a new bogeyman to threaten the Jedi, Bear reintroduces readers to an old nemesis: Commander Tarkin (who becomes Grand Moff Tarkin in the original Star Wars movie). But where Bear really succeeds is in the portrayal of Anakin Skywalker.
While Anakin was a wide-eyed, innocent child in the The Phantom Menace, his older self is far more conflicted. Bear peels away the golden-boy exterior to show readers the fear, anger and self-doubt lurking inside, and in doing so reveals an Anakin that's more believable than the one in Episode I. The book makes, in short, an excellent diversion from the fact that Episode II is still more than a year away.
The book's only major fault lies in its length--it ends about 100 pages too soon. Bear summarizes the aftereffects of the Rogue Planet story in a short epilogue, but actually reading about those effects--either in more chapters or another book--would have been more enjoyable.
