Star Wars

A Senator's son, Gillam, disappeared from the elite Leadership School on Andara. The Jedi High Council sent two padawans undercover. Anakin Skywalker would pose as one there by scholarship. Ferus Olin (Anakin's rival) would pose as the son of someone important. The teens' mission had two parts. The first and most important part was to locate and rescue Gillam. The second part was to learn about a renegade squad of young mercenaries that used the school as a training ground. ***** Brava, Jude Watson! This, in my opinion, is the best of the J.Q. series thus far. Readers get to see another glimpse or two into Anakin's potential. The story is well written and the characters' traits are flawless! Highly recommended! *****

Very rarely have I seen a series get consistently better with each new volume the way this one does. And I thought we'd reached the peak three books ago! Though the error seems to be mostly fixed now, just for the record, this review is for Jedi Quest # 5, The School of Fear. Two years have passed since the last book, and Anakin, now sixteen, has been entrusted with the mission of infiltrating a highly exclusive school along with his chief rival Ferus, in an attempt to discover the whereabouts of a young boy who has vanished. Things quickly go awry for the two padawans, as complications arise, as well as conflict within their own strained relationship. As I said before, this is the best one yet, with a complex though not overwhelming plot that kept me guessing till the end; as well as myriads of character development for Anakin and Obi-Wan both. As another reviewer points out, it's easy to see all the small mistakes Obi-Wan makes with Anakin, all the ways that things could have gone differently, and how easy it would have been to make it so! Do yourself a huge favor, and read this entire series. Don't be deterred by its kiddy exterior, the stories are full of depth and exceed many of the adult novels hugely. The only gripe I have about it is that it was WAY TOO SHORT!! But I imagine that will be remedied as soon as I have book 6...

Another story of Anakin and Obi Wan drifting apart and together and apart again. Another story of Anakin enraged at Ferus Olin. I think Anakin really trusted the club.I can't beleive that Anakin hates Ferus enough to let him disapear and not go look for him. I like Obi Wan, but he's too serious and is over critical.I like when he jokes. I loved the part where Obi Wan and Siri had to act like thy were married. I also loved it when the teacher sat on the custard turnover and she blames Ferus. I would recomend this book to any young Star Wars lover.

I truly enjoyed the Jedi Apprentice series, but Jude Watson has hit the ground running with Jedi Quest. She manages to capture the doomed relationship between Obi-Wan and Anakin perfectly. In retrospect, JA seems like one long backstory for JQ: We watched Obi-Wan grow and develop from an awkward adolescent into a young man. We felt what it was like to use the Force from his perspective. We grew to understand what it meant to grow up Jedi. Nothing in Obi-Wan's young life could have prepared him for Anakin Sywalker, and Ms. Watson has carefully set up him (and us) for the tragedy to come. We see him making small mistakes at every turn: withholding praise when Anakin needs it most, waiting for Anakin to confide in him instead of pushing the boy to express himself, and keeping his own fears and thoughts tightly private (as Qui-Gon did before him) instead of being open with an emotional and damaged young boy. We all know what's coming, but just like the Titanic, it's a matter of how, when, and why?In addition, Ms. Watson has given us an insight into the power that Anakin holds and can barely contain. The ending of this book is breathtakingly powerful. It is a stunning glimpse of things to come. Jude Watson's series is only getting better!

It seems that Watson has now had a chance to watch Episode II and really integrate it into the way she writes Ankin and Obi-Wan, and about the problems in their relationship. This book is worth reading just for that alone.