Star Wars: Tales of Kenobi

by Alan Dean Foster, John Jackson Miller

Contains;
- The Approaching Storm
- Kenobi

Genres: Star Wars, Science Fiction, Fiction, Fantasy

730 pages, Leather Bound

Published January 1, 2022

About the author

Bestselling science fiction writer Alan Dean Foster was born in New York City in 1946, but raised mainly in California. He received a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA in 1968, and a M.F.A. in 1969. Foster lives in Arizona with his wife, but he enjoys traveling because it gives him opportunities to meet new people and explore new places and cultures. This interest is carried over to his writing, but with a twist: the new places encountered in his books are likely to be on another planet, and the people may belong to an alien race.

Foster began his career as an author when a letter he sent to Arkham Collection was purchased by the editor and published in the magazine in 1968. His first novel, The Tar-Aiym Krang, introduced the Humanx Commonwealth, a galactic alliance between humans and an insectlike race called Thranx. Several other novels, including the Icerigger trilogy, are also set in the world of the Commonwealth. The Tar-Aiym Krang also marked the first appearance of Flinx, a young man with paranormal abilities, who reappears in other books, including Orphan Star, For Love of Mother-Not, and Flinx in Flux.

Foster has also written The Damned series and the Spellsinger series, which includes The Hour of the Gate, The Moment of the Magician, The Paths of the Perambulator, and Son of Spellsinger, among others. Other books include novelizations of science fiction movies and television shows such as Star Trek, The Black Hole, Starman, Star Wars, and the Alien movies. Splinter of the Mind's Eye, a bestselling novel based on the Star Wars movies, received the Galaxy Award in 1979. The book Cyber Way won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990. His novel Our Lady of the Machine won him the UPC Award (Spain) in 1993. He also won the Ignotus Award (Spain) in 1994 and the Stannik Award (Russia) in 2000.

Reviews

[Evyn Meredeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a whole, this collection is a must read for fans of Kenobi, and is absolutely worth a read. Individually though, the two books in this collection are a good bit different.

The Approaching Storm is very much pre-Clone Wars Legends material, and it absolutely reads like it. It was really hard for me to get in to, and wasn’t as captivating a story as it could’ve been. Don’t get me wrong, it was a good read, it just had some moments that really dragged and was hard to get into to start with.

Kenobi, on the other hand, was incredible. Right off the bat, it had my attention and worked towards making Tattooine feel like the most hostile, unforgiving wasteland in the galaxy. It also did a great job of humanizing the Tuskens, showing how intelligent and capable they were, despite only being portrayed as raiders and savages within Star Wars lore up until the Book of Boba Fett. Kenobi had great and more importantly believable characters living within this wasteland, and one of my favorite aspects was how it highlighted the conflict within Obi-Wan, or Ben, as he’s known now. It shows him as a man that’s truly lost everything and everyone he cares about, and somehow still manages to wield hope as a weapon against everything in his way. Despite losing all he’s known, he’s still willing, and wanting to help everyone he comes across, but feels conflicted because of this compassion. He’s afraid to let people in again but desperately wants a community. All in all, the characterization is incredible and it’s absolutely worth a read for any Star Wars and particularly other fans of Kenobi.

[Salem Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Approaching storm: I found the plot very intriguing. I thought it was fun to read about jedi's aside from kenobi and skywalker. Not being familiar with the bad guys does add to the mystery. The way it is written (use of words and structure of sentences) asks a lot from the reader. When reading you need full attention because otherwise you might lose important information. At the same time I also think the pacing is on the slow side.

Kenobi: I came for Kenobi and I don't want to leave. I love that we get inside the brain of a Tusken, a side we rarely see. I also love that you made me believe it was about love and jealousy but it was actually about betrayal and money. It had a realistic tone to it. Throughout the book Obi-Wan the Knight was very visible. Him wanting to on the one side keep distance and on the other help, I felt that struggle. Aside from the jedi in him, we get to see a vulnerable Obi-Wan. One that has regrets, has doubts and you see the start of how he will slowly isolate himself. Even though the end is "good", it also leaves you with a bit of a pity feeling knowing that Obi-Wan is heading toward a deranged mentality.

[Reno Renes · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Approaching Storm ⭐️⭐️
Kenobi ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Jeni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Approaching Storm: (Let's see if I remember what I wrote before.) It took me a moment to get into, but I liked it. The characters were likable, the story well-written, and it hinted at Anakin's fate without being to obvious.

Kenobi: I really liked this one. I got the Western vibe the author was going for and what I really appreciated was the insight into how Obi-Wan really struggled at first into becoming Ben. Which makes perfect sense, how does one go from being a Jedi, hero of the Republic, to that weird hermit who lives out in the middle of nowhere? And while I liked the implications that Obi-Wan would be figuring out just what Anakin exactly did on Tatooine, the author had the restraint to keep that and Darth Vader a secret for now.

[Evy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Already read Kenobi separately so the review is only reflective of Approaching Storm. While I appreciated getting to know Luminara and Bariss, the story fell flat for me. It had major pacing issues, uninteresting original characters, and the tension between Anakin and Bariss felt very unnecessary.

[Jarmila Kašparová · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dvě knihy v jednom, hezké vydání se stříbrnou ořízkou. Pomalé. To není kritika, já pomalejší příběhy ráda. Ale tímhle jsem se z nějakého důvodu prokousávala měsíc a půl a ke konci už mě držela jen tvrdohlavost, že když už to čtu tak dlouho, tak to přece musím dočíst. Co mi nejvíc vadilo (i když je to pochopitelné) je, že Obi-Wana v obou příbězích vidíme především očima ostatních postav. Zvlášť v prvním z nich jako by téměř nebyl. Je to příběh Luminary, její padawanky Barris a Anakina, kteří se vydávají na důležitou misi - zabránit klíčové planetě, aby se odtrhla od Republiky. Obi-Wan je tam také, ale to je tak všechno, co se o jeho přítomnosti dá říci. Je to Jedi. Je cool a vyrovnaný. Tudíž moc nefunguje jako postava. Druhý příběh se odehrává těsně po ději Epizody III. Obi-Wan, tedy Ben, se zabydluje na Tatooine a snaží se nedostávat do potíží. Marně. Opět jej ale vidíme především očima ostatních postav. Výsledek je o něco lepší než jeho seriálový protějšek. Oba příběhy jsou solidní, dobře vykreslují svět i postavy, ale já jsem od knihy chtěla náhled do Obi-Wanova nitra, chtěla jsem jeho myšlenky a pocity, a to jsem nedostala.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed these two stories much more than I expected too.

[Alexander Kipp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Das erste Buch hat mich nicht überzeugt, das zweite aber dafür umso mehr gefesselt.

[Jason Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very fun read. I had already read Kenobi so it was a reread for me. I really enjoyed both books. I am sure I will read this again someday.

[Amelia Bujar · Rating 4 out of 5]

FULL REVIEW ON MY WEBSITE
http://thebookcornerchronicles.com/20...

This book is a collection of two books about Obi-Wan, I already reviewed one of the books included in this collection, and the review for the second book in this collection will be published soon on this website. But until then lets talk about this book.

But since I already written the reviews for both of the books included in this book, I’m gonna talk about this book as a whole and make some short and quick comments of each of those 2 books included in this book.

Both of the books included in this book were pretty decent. I liked the first book in this book named “The Approaching Storm” better than the second book named “Kenobi”. But overall I think that both of them are pretty decent and a fun read if you are already deep into the Star Wars book universe. But if you are just starting this journey than maybe wait with this book or the two books included in this book for a while until you have already started that journey. Since after reading this one I gotta admit that both of those book which are included in this book aren’t the best starting point into the Star Wars book universe.

But at the same time I need to say that in a way this book (or at least the two books included in this book) are a must read for Star Wars book readers since it expends the Star Wars universe in a way. It gives us action we haven’t seen before, in the first book we get a Jedi knight and her Palawan which we don’t get in the movies (or at least I don’t remember them from the movies) and in the second book we get to learn more about what Obi-Wan was doing in the desert of Tatooine right after the events of the Episode 3.

And I need to admit that this book is very stunning, both the cover of it and the inside of it. Its a collector’s edition and I gotta admit that those collector’s edition books are my great weakness when it comes to how books look.

[Luke Zimmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A tale of two lives