Star Wars: Padawan - Spoiler-Free Book Review
A spoiler-free Star Wars: Padawan review
The amount of Star Wars books we’ve already gotten this year is borderline overwhelming! And we’re not even done yet! But I’m not complaining. We could be getting no Star Wars at all, and instead, it’s hard for many fans to keep up with everything. Not the worst problem to have, right?
The summer of Obi-Wan Kenobi continues – I would say it’s over, but we can’t forget about Christopher Cantwell’s Obi-Wan Kenobi comic miniseries finishing in September – with Kiersten White’s Star Wars: Padawan, a young Obi-Wan story that wasn’t what many thought it would be but, in my opinion, was even better than expected. The book released on July 26, so it will be a little while before our spoiler-filled discussion. Today I’m bringing you a short and sweet spoiler-free review. Normally I’d release these alongside the actual book release, but this show is new, I’m still figuring out a schedule that works for me!
Before I start off, let’s clarify that this is not the story of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Satine Kryze falling in love. A lot of fans assumed that’s what it would be despite the author herself assuring us otherwise, so don’t be disappointed when Satine isn’t even directly mentioned in this book. Obi-Wan hasn’t met her yet. This is the story before that story.
Padawan takes place in 41 BBY. Obi-Wan is 16 years old and, therefore, a little angsty despite his tendency to always want to follow the rules. He’s not a youngling anymore, and he’s struggling to follow his master’s guidance on the most basic Jedi tasks. Even meditation is a struggle! So when the two prepare to embark on an unsanctioned mission to an uncharted world, and Qui-Gon doesn’t show up, Obi-Wan - despite never having flown alone before - decides to make it a solo mission. What could possibly go wrong?
Without spoilers, Padawan is an adventurous, eye-opening coming of age story about a future Jedi unsure of what it truly means to be connected to the Force. Is the Force what makes someone worthy of such status? What does it mean that he and his master can’t seem to connect on a deeper level? Is he really cut out for all this?
This isn’t a mindset we’ve seen Obi-Wan Kenobi in too often, though that’s not been as much of the case recently with Disney+’s phenomenal Obi-Wan Kenobi series. We’ve just never experienced Obi-Wan at this age before, at least not in current canon storytelling. We haven’t seen him in a place where he’s questioning whether or not he wants to continue being a Jedi. Basically, he goes off to this distant planet, almost no one knows where he is, and it would be very easy for him to just – never go back to Coruscant. Ever. That’s the kind of freedom a Padawan in the Republic Jedi Order likely dreams of, even if hey never admit it. Dangerous? Perhaps. But sometimes it takes a taste of freedom to appreciate how good you really have it. Obi-Wan couldn’t know whether or not he was on the right path until he got to experience what a different path might look like.
Like the best Star Wars stories out there, Padawan is a healthy mix of old characters and new. The characters Obi-Wan meets are exactly who Obi-Wan needs to help in order to better understand the galaxy and his role in making it better. They’re compelling and also the types of characters you want more of in a separate story, but you get just enough to fall in love with them as the story intends.
Padawan also includes a story element that might be one of my favorites in Star Wars: an underlying message about the importance of treating your surrounding environment with respect, and what happens when you don’t take care of the world around you. Maybe not everyone’s go-to, but I can’t resist it.
This book has high republic connections! There’s an appearance from a well-known friend to the future Jedi Master (not Satine, as I’ve previously mentioned). And also, I can guarantee the ending will have you yelling for more. While this book won’t likely get a direct sequel, the seeds have been planted for at least one future story set around this time that we’ve all been begging for for YEARS. More on that in our spoiler discussion. I want to give more of you the chance to read the book before we go in too deep.
If you haven’t picked up this book yet and this review has convinced you to change that, it’s available in physical, digital, and audio formats, so you can read it at your own pace in whichever form works best for you Just please try not to spoil the story for people who prefer to go into Star Wars stories without spoilers. I know you want to talk about the book, but there are spaces to do that in detail other than Twitter. Maybe we’ll even make a special one for this podcast. Let me know if you’d like that, and I’ll see what I can do.
Star Wars: Padawan is available now wherever you get your Star Wars books.
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