Jedi Apprentice #13 - The Dangerous Rescue
by Jude Watson

Published by Scholastic

Scott's Rating:   3 out of 4

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This is the thirteenth book in the Jedi Apprentice series and it concludes the storyline started in Jedi Apprentice #11. Qui-Gon finally escapes from the evil scientist Jenna Zan Arbor. However, she gets away and flees across the galaxy. Qui-Gon and Adi Gallia stay in pursuit.

Meanwhile, Obi-Wan and Siri make a side trip to try and help out Astri who has gone on a mission to capture the bounty hunter Ona Nobis. Unfortunately, though, they walk right into a trap. Are the young Padawans outmatched?

Finally, as the Jedi zero in on Jenna Zan Arbor, the fate of a planet may hang on their success. Arbor has introduced yet another deadly virus on the planet which only she has the cure for.

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Scott:

    The theme of this book seems to be "know when to walk away, know when to run" (with a tip o' the hat to Kenny Rogers). Obi-Wan learns an important lesson on knowing when you're outclassed and how to swallow your ego and retreat.

Watson adds some depth to Adi Gallia, the background Jedi Council member in Episode I. It's a nice treat to learn more about this character and have her fleshed out. Adi and Siri make an interesting team and an interesting contrast to Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon.

This story wraps up all the loose plot lines and still offers up a few surprises you may not see coming.

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Scott:

    I think I'm finally getting bored with this series. In the early books, cool things were revealed about Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. Significant events in Star Wars lore happened in them. The later books had a few fun adventures establishing the relationship between the two characters. However, this latest book is similar in feel to the previous ones and doesn't have much new to offer. You could completely skip this book and not miss anything important. That makes it a bit of a disappointment.

The story is a bit fast paced and a few improbable events take place. Ona Nobis is also rather inconsistent. She proves more than a match for the Jedi in most of the books, but then is defeated rather quickly toward the end of this novel.

The Jedi also chase down one of their number held hostage through most of this book. We are told they are a great character that the masters know and respect. However, we don't even get the opportunity to know this character when they are found. The save them, then the book ends. We don't get a sense of why the Jedi were so passionate about coming to his aid.

Other than the above, there's not a lot to complain about with this story, but it just wasn't terribly exciting to me.

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Scott:

    Nothing to add here.

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