3/5 Rancors - Wild Space is set during the Clone Wars that have been popularized recently by last year’s feature film and the current TV series. Obi-Wan, Anakin, Padme, Ashoka, Yoda, Bail Organa, and several other familiar characters play key roles in this tale. The book itself is a trade paperback, and I hope that will set a trend for future star Wars books. The cover of the book shows a squad of clone troopers, which seems appropriate for the action taking place during the Clone Wars. However, clone troopers actually do not play a major role in the book. A more appropriate cover would have shown Obi-Wan and Bail Organa.
The first part of the book is concerned mainly with Anakin and Padme and their blossoming relationship. The tale begins with the aftermath of the battle of Geonosis and moves on from there. The two lovers are struggling to keep their relationship secret, and Obi-Wan is charged by Yoda with the responsibility of telling Padme that she needs to keep her distance from Anakin. The Jedi receive a tip that General Grievous is taking his fleet to attack Bothawui and clearly that cannot be allowed to happen. One of the Jedi needs to lead a battle fleet to Bothawui and stop Grievous. Obi-Wan has just been injured in a terrorist attack on Coruscant, so he is not available. The Jedi Council, despite misgivings, decides that Anakin should lead the fleet. So Anakin heads off with his troops and cruisers to do battle with Grievous, and we expect to read about a momentous battle. Well, that is not to be. More on that in a minute. During this same timeframe, Bail Organa receives a tip from his secret sources that the Sith are planning efforts to eliminate the Jedi. His sources want to meet Bail and a Jedi on the unknown planet of Zigoola. The Jedi take his information seriously, so the first thing you know Bail and Obi-Wan are headed off on a long trip to Zigoola to see what can be learned about the Sith. Nobody knows where Zigoola is, so our two heroes have to depend on coordinates parceled out to them at each stage of the journey by Bail’s secret sources. They eventually make it to Zigoola after barely surviving a pirate attack. They find the planet uninhabited but clearly ridden with Sith influences and the Dark Side. Both Bail and Obi-Wan almost die in their efforts to destroy a Sith temple on Zigoola and then figure out a way to return home safely.
So we basically have two stories going on in the book, and each one is worthy of our attention. The trouble is that Anakin’s efforts to defeat Grievous and save Bothawui are given short shrift after the Kenobi/Organa mission gets underway. We know that Anakin and his troops succeed, but we really don’t know any details except that he has lost R2-D2 and the important Jedi plans that the droid carries in his memory. We know that Anakin mounts an effort to find R2-D2, and then that part of the story just disappears. You have to watch the TV show to watch R2 lost and then found. I found the abrupt move away Anakin’s tale to be disconcerting.
The trip to Zigoola by Bail and Obi-Wan is described in excruciating detail, especially their conversations during the long space journeys. It was interesting at first but went on way too long. I felt a similar problem existed in the first part of the book when the author kept informing us of how much Padme and Anakin loved each other. Some pages read like a romance novel.
The book is fun to read. It is a good story, and I like the characters. I just wish that more editing had been done.
0 comments:
Post a Comment