A few years after the events of The Phantom Menace, young Anakin Skywalker is getting restless--sneaking away from Jedi Temple training to gamble his life in a flying game that's much more bizarre and dangerous than the movie's podracing, even before an alien Blood Carver assassin intervenes. Anakin's character is taking shape now:

But above all, he loved winning.

To turn the boy's frustrated energy to useful ends, the Jedi Council has Obi-Wan Kenobi take Anakin to investigate the remote, enigmatic world Zonama Sekot, whose organic technologies produce magnificent spacecraft, and where a Jedi has vanished without a trace. Secretly pursuing them is a battle squadron captained by the weapons designer who has already blueprinted the Death Star and is being double-crossed by his employer Commander Tarkin.

Rogue Planet's action climaxes as the Jedis learn to grow their own spaceship, the Blood Carver strikes, and two heavily armed fleets converge on helpless-seeming Zonama Sekot. Every faction has secret cards up its sleeve--and Anakin's is a very dangerous wild card indeed. There's final victory and heartbreak, but also loose ends (including even stranger, deadlier aliens) that suggest sequels to follow. Bear does a solidly workmanlike job. --David Langford, Amazon.co.uk

Product Description
MASTER AND APPRENTICE

The Force is strong in twelve-year-old Anakin Skywalker . . . so strong that the Jedi Council, despite misgivings, entrusted young Obi-Wan Kenobi with the mission of training him to become a Jedi Knight. Obi-Wan? like his slain Master Qui-Gon?believes Anakin may be the chosen one, the Jedi destined to bring balance to the Force. But first Obi-Wan must help his undisciplined apprentice, who still bears the scars of slavery, find his own balance.

Dispatched to the mysterious planet of Zonama Sekot, source of the fastest ships in the galaxy, Obi-Wan and Anakin are swept up in a swirl of deadly intrigue and betrayal. They sense a disturbance in the Force unlike any they have encountered before. It seems there are more secrets on Zonama Sekot than meet the eye. But the search for those secrets will threaten the bond between Obi-Wan and Anakin . . . and bring the troubled young apprentice face-to-face with his deepest fears?and his darkest destiny.

The story and the writing are outstanding. This book reads with the same familiarity that the middle trilogy and the writings that surround those characters posses. I do not include the "Vector Prime" series, which has been jarring to say the least.

Mr. Bear is faithful to all that is appealing in this Universe of long ago, and he certainly has his own style. Unlike many other Authors he brings his talents to bear without trampling over the "feel" of Star Wars, he does not impose himself on the ongoing saga he relates it beautifully.

This adventure has to be read as it is filled with events that will need to be known before the next movie is released. Like Phantom Menace this story centers around Anakin, and expands on what we know about him from the movie. I was curious how they were going to fill a 10 year gap between the story of Episode 1 and 2, but this books demonstrates how, and even includes a slick Coda at the end that makes the reader wish there were an additional 341 pages.

A young man who we all know from the Deathstar is introduced, and other familiar characters we know from the middle trilogy appear here.

The book opens with a type of race that is every bit as good, or better than the Pod Race, Anakin's flying skills are tested with an incredible ship. And throughout it all, Obi-Wan keeps up. He knows like we do, that Anakin is not one to be competed with. "The Chosen One" and what he is and will become are beginning to show in this volume.

I hope Mr. Bear will write many more installments. I kid you not, he's that good!


Wow - surprisingly good   June 7, 2000
 33 out of 42 found this review helpful

The Star Wars books are not exactly associated with literary greatness in my mind. The first ones were reasonably good (Kathy Tyres was quite good; Zahn could be rather tiresome occasionally, but was always a good read), but things went downhill rather quickly starting when they allowed Keven J. Anderson to set pen to paper, never a good idea.

So anyway, I haven't been back to Star Wars books in quite some time - apparently, I picked a good time to try again. Unlike previous installments, this book is not obsessed with super-weapons and cartoon heros, but gives fair play to actual dialog, characters, and plot. Mr. Bear has done an outstanding job of capturing the characters of Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. As an added bonus, this is not just another serial but adds some useful and interesting back-story to the Phantom Menace, and should temporarily sate the appetites of those of us waiting with a certain measure of impatience for Episode II.

It's not perfect, and certainly isn't threatening to become literature or anything. The whole plot with the building of Anakin's and Obi-Wan's ship is extended a bit past its useful life, and the writing is somewhat uneven. But these are really quite minor quibbles; almost irrelevant, really, for what the book is trying to be. For the true Star Wars fan who has been disappointed with some of the recent dreck, the faithful characters and well-developed plot should more than enough.


The heart of Star Wars   May 8, 2000
 31 out of 40 found this review helpful

Finally, a Star Wars novel that is not at a break-neck pace, with no supervillains of superweapons, and in which the fate of the entire galaxy does not hang in the balance (at least not in any way to be resolved in one simple battle.) While I enjoy the action elements of Star Wars, what has always appealed to me most was the characters and the themes, which have been sadly underdeveloped in most of the Star Wars books before. But Greg Bear has exquisitely captured the developing characters of Obi-Wan and Anakin. I relished the slow pace which gives us an opportunity to focus on their special relationship (especially considering how little time they actually spend together in Phantom Menace), and the hints of WHAT IS TO COME, handled so deliciously well. (That particular scene was so well done, I had to put the book down and work off the tension. If you've read the book, you know which scene I mean.) I have also really enjoyed seeing the development of the Master-Apprentice relationship, both in this book, as well as the excellent Jedi Apprentice series by Jude Watson. This book is far more subtle and profound than any other SW book so far, and I hope that there will be more like it. Let's put the heart back in Star Wars! P.S. Can we have a book that focuses on Amidala! How come Anakin gets all the press?


Rogue Planet review   May 2, 2000
 25 out of 29 found this review helpful

The books aim is to bridge the gap between Episode I and Episode II. The book is set 3 years since the Battle of Naboo (i.e. 3 years since Episode I) and focuses on Anakin's training by Obi-Wan Kenobi. Also it tells about the change that occurs since Palpatine was elected. Overall I would recommend anyone who is a star wars fan, or has seen Episode I. A well written book - 9/10


Right up there with Vision of the Future!   June 18, 2000
 24 out of 26 found this review helpful

I just finished the book, and it was wonderful! To those of you who disagree, let's get one thing straight: this book wasnt intended to outline a huge adventure and turning point in the star wars timeline--that's what episode 2 is for--it was written to further character personalities and relationships. And further this it did beautifully!

First, I really liked that we see the Jedi Masters, Mace especially, as people.

I enjoyed very much the look at Obi-Wan and Anakin's relationship as master/apprentice and friend/friend alike. I also loved the personal struggles that we see each one go through--it shows they're very alive and very real, such as Obi-Wan's love for Anakin and his lonliness for Qui-gon, and Anakin's battle with himself and the voice he hears and the dreams he dreams. It's also interesting to observe the great power that he cannot yet control.

The appearance of Tarkin was very interesting as well. It is nice to see him as a young man, but he is little changed from when we see him in A New Hope. I thought it ironic that he makes the same mistake of underestimating his enemy, only this time it did not lead him to death. I thought it was a little confusing in the book when it says he came up with the initial idea for the death star, but if you remember, so did the scientists in the maw installation.

This book also does some major foreshadowing and linking. It hints, or more like shouts, that the world of Zonama Sekot has been attacked by the Yuuzhan Vong. From this, and the second Dark Tide novel, we gather that the Vong have been planning to attack for decades...I wonder what would have happened if they had striked the Old Republic, or the Empire... And speaking of the Empire, Tarkin constantly hints that a great change in power and ways of the government are about to take place in the future. He also hints at what we know as the Empire's ways, telling Sienar that humans are the race of the future and so on.

In my opinion, the book also links Anakin Skywalker with his grandson, Anakin Solo. Notice how they both are incredibly strong in the Force, have a knack for dealing with machines, and want adventure and excitement.

Overall, this was a wonderful book that bridged the gap between the first two episodes of the Star Wars prequels perfectly, and provides exactly what Episode 1 lacked the most--character developement.