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A review by verkisto
Dark Warning by John Van Fleet, Jude Watson
4.0
Obi-Wan and Ferus are back together, on the run from Boba Fett. The book opens with them trying to evade the infamous bounty hunter, which leads to a crash landing on Acherin, a planet that is still fighting the Empire. From there, the two learn that other Jedi have survived, and are in exile, but in need of help. Thus begins (what I assume is) the central story of The Last of the Jedi: to find them and keep them safe.
Much of the story is about Ferus returning to the ways of the Jedi. Having been away from the Order for so long has made him rusty, but the more he uses the Force and accepts it, the stronger he becomes. Even before this series, it was hinted that Ferus would have been the strongest Padawan, save for Anakin, and here we see that in spades. Obi-Wan becomes his Master, as much as he can for a dead order, to an apprentice who left the Order many years ago. It's a tenuous relationship between the two, which is strained as Ferus reminds Obi-Wan that he is not his apprentice.
The story is decent, but it depends too much on coincidence to keep it moving. At one point, Ferus returns to Ilum to harvest kyber crystals from the caves, only he doesn't have a lightsaber with which to use them. As luck would have it, Garen (who, admittedly, they also expected to find in the cave) has been in hiding in that same cave, but feels that he's in no shape to use his lightsaber anymore. He gives it to Ferus, saying that he's lost the crystals to it, so Ferus can just drop his in and go. Later in the story, Ferus comes across a pile of lightsaber hilts, and wouldn't you know that the first one he sees is that of Tru Veld, the apprentice who died at the end of Jedi Quest due to Ferus' questionable meddling. How it wound up where it did, especially after his death, is a mystery, especially when you learn what the pile of hilts is all about.
Watson continues to tell a good tale, and the ending of this one had an emotional punch that's familiar in her books. She doesn't always hit it, but when she does, she does it just right, and Dark Warning does just that. Given how she ends this book, I'm interested in seeing where the rest of this series goes.
Much of the story is about Ferus returning to the ways of the Jedi. Having been away from the Order for so long has made him rusty, but the more he uses the Force and accepts it, the stronger he becomes. Even before this series, it was hinted that Ferus would have been the strongest Padawan, save for Anakin, and here we see that in spades. Obi-Wan becomes his Master, as much as he can for a dead order, to an apprentice who left the Order many years ago. It's a tenuous relationship between the two, which is strained as Ferus reminds Obi-Wan that he is not his apprentice.
The story is decent, but it depends too much on coincidence to keep it moving. At one point, Ferus returns to Ilum to harvest kyber crystals from the caves, only he doesn't have a lightsaber with which to use them. As luck would have it, Garen (who, admittedly, they also expected to find in the cave) has been in hiding in that same cave, but feels that he's in no shape to use his lightsaber anymore. He gives it to Ferus, saying that he's lost the crystals to it, so Ferus can just drop his in and go. Later in the story, Ferus comes across a pile of lightsaber hilts, and wouldn't you know that the first one he sees is that of Tru Veld, the apprentice who died at the end of Jedi Quest due to Ferus' questionable meddling. How it wound up where it did, especially after his death, is a mystery, especially when you learn what the pile of hilts is all about.
Watson continues to tell a good tale, and the ending of this one had an emotional punch that's familiar in her books. She doesn't always hit it, but when she does, she does it just right, and Dark Warning does just that. Given how she ends this book, I'm interested in seeing where the rest of this series goes.