Star Wars Legends Fan Group discussion

March 2022 Legends Group Read

Star Wars: Rogue Planet by Greg Bear



The Group read starts on March 1st.

- First published in May 2000
- Set in 29 BBY (preque era)

"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 fear--and his darkest destiny."

reserved

I'll be modding this one. See you here in March.

The book is supposed to tie-in with the New Jedi Order storyline. I wonder how many details I'm going to miss.

Zuzana wrote: "The book is supposed to tie-in with the New Jedi Order storyline. I wonder how many details I'm going to miss."

It does tie in with NJO.

I already started reading my copy. I am a very slow reader.

Sweet! Thanks for joining in. It's nice to know that you're not the only one doing this!

I finished the first chapter.

We got a lot of action. Some of it doesn't make sense, e.g. why did Obi-Wan buy a pair of wings instead of looking for Anakin? He needlessly lost time. Why didn't he use the Force to help Anakin and instead dived into the abbys with a pair of wings he didn't know how to use resulting in him beeing of no use to Anakin and needlessly endangering his own life?

This seems so far (my opinion might change, I'm really just 1 chapter in) like one of those stories where authors can't help but foreshadow Anakin's fall on every single page even when it doesn't make any sense (I'm looking at you, Karen Treviss). We're still 10+ years away from his descent into the Dark side.

Anakin as described in Chapter 1 needs to be in therapy. He has some major issues that manifest in him putting himself in physical danger.

As a contrast to the negative comments (I love hearing people's opinion on this), 1138 has a good review of it
http://eleven-thirtyeight.com/2013/12...

An author Interview - https://www.fanthatracks.com/intervie...

I just read this by coincidence! Love Star Wars EU.

Kat wrote: "I just read this by coincidence! Love Star Wars EU."

😀

I didn't realize the connection to the Yuuzhan Vong stories until I was on page 250. Unfortunately, I didn't get very far with those stories, yet. So, the book hasn't been very interesting to me. However, if you've read a lot of those stories, this book may be a good backstory to those. You may like it more than I do.

I will probably not give it a good rating.

I finished it. :) I didn't like the book overall, but I liked it better near the end. I felt that the author finally got to the "gist" of the story.

Darlene wrote: "I finished it. :) I didn't like the book overall, but I liked it better near the end. I felt that the author finally got to the "gist" of the story."

That's okay. We all have our own opinions on books.

I DNF'd the book in 2022. Time to give it a second chance.

I finally finished the book.

There are little things that don't line up with the rest of the prequels. And no wonder, the book was released two years before Episode II. The author very likely didn't have access to the script.

- Cho Leem references taking sabbaticals from the Order and having many kids on different planets.

- Anakin muses that Jedi do not often (!) marry.

- Young Anakin's personality is different from the rest of Legends - he's difficult in a strange way, almost like a genius neurodivergent child, hyperfocused on getting the Sekotian ship to the exclusion of common sense in other areas (e.g. repeatedly dropping Vergere's name despite being warned off by Obi-Wan to keep quiet). He's like a little Mozart. :)

- At one point we're told that Anakin doesn't lie. I believe that doesn't align with other SW content. I especially appreciated that Jude Watcon in her Jedi Quest series demonstrated how lying was the biggest flaw of Anakin's character that in the end led to his downfall. We're shown in the movies and the books that Anakin lies to keep the things, privileges, and most importantly affection and respect of others.

- Obi-Wan uses Qui-Gon's lightsaber - hence the book cover.

There are other small divergences. I won't list them all.

- There is a continuity error within the book. At one point, the Potentium "rebellion" is dated 100 years in the past. In another passage, the author forgets and states that Qui-Gon and Mace Windu (personally) dealt with the Jedi Apprentices partaking in the movement. Qui-Gon was 60 years old at the time of Episode I (according to Lucas). How does it work? ;-)

I could tell that Greg Bear was a hard sci-fi author. He was way too interested in how Zonama Sekot and the living technology worked. Some of the passages explaining the shipbuilding process were a bit superfluous.

Some quotes I highlighted while reading. These contain no spoilers:

- "Fear, hatred, anger... The old trio Anakin fought every day of his life, though he revealed his deepest emotions to only one man: Obi-Wan Kenobi, his master in the Jedi Temple."

- "Obi-Wan did not fear dying, but he resented what this kind of death implied: a failure of technique, a lack of elegance, a certain foolhardy recklessness that he had always tried to eliminate from his character."

- because this is funny:
"Obi-Wan, against all his personal inclinations, had made it his duty to know the ins and outs of anything having to do with illegal racing, anywhere within a hundred kilometers of the Jedi Temple. Anakin Skywalker, his charge, his responsibility, was one of the best Padawans in the Temple-easily fulfilling the promise sensed by Qui-Gon Jinn-but as if to compensate for this promise, to bring a kind of balance to the boy's lopsided brace of abilities, Anakin had an equal brace of faults. His quest for speed and victory was easily the most aggravating and dangerous. Qui-Gon Jinn had perhaps encouraged this in the boy by allowing him to race for his own freedom, three years before, on Tatooine."

- "You've never married, Mace! I have. I have many sons and daughters, on many worlds. Sometimes I think you should all take a break, as I did, and sniff the real air, see how the Force manifests in everyday life, rather than mope around learning how to swing lightsabers." (Master Thracia Cho Leem)

- "His perspective seemed crystalline and universal, and he felt as if he could see all his life laid out before him, filled with accomplishment and heroism- selfless heroism, of course, as befitted a Jedi. Somewhere in that life would be a woman, though Jedi did not often marry. He imagined the woman to be like Queen Amidala of Naboo, a powerful personality in her own right, lovely and dignified, yet sad and shouldered with great burdens-which Anakin would help lift." (Anakin)

- "Personally Obi-Wan found ritual a bore. Jedi training was remarkably free from it-only the greatest moments were so marked."

- This is really interesting:
"In Obi- Wan's experience, no single being-not even a Jedi Master-could delude two Jedi at once. Hide, yes-that had certainly been done by Qui-Gon and others. Yet the Council had long suspected that the Sith knew how to disguise themselves and pass undetected by Jedi. Obi-Wan was positive, however, that this was no Sith conspiracy."

What did you think about the voice Anakin and later on Obi-Wan heard?

At first, I was excited about Qui-Gon showing up. But as the story continued, (view spoiler)[and the voice Anakin heard changed, (hide spoiler)] I ended up somewhat agreeing with Obi-Wan that it was their consciousness reflecting their inner thoughts back at them (view spoiler)[ albeit I believe that it was amplified by Sekot. Its Force connection brought a prophetic tinge to some of the "visions" (hide spoiler)].

I have a couple of spoilery quotes relating to the voice:
(view spoiler)[
-"Someone familiar seemed to stand at his shoulder, and lost in this un-Jedi emotion, self-critically, wonderingly, Obi-Wan murmured,

"He is no more special than any other child, is he?"

Like a whisper, in reply, "To you, he is. And now you know."

Obi-Wan swung about and saw Gann approaching. The voice had not been Gann's.
"Time to move on," Gann said, searching Obi-Wan's drawn and startled face. "Something wrong?"

"No." With a small shiver, Obi-Wan gripped Anakin's shoulder and gave him a single gentle shake. Anakin, as always, came from deep sleep to instant alertness. His seed- partners stirred and reattached themselves to his tunic and pants. Obi-Wan's seeds crawled up to his shoulders and chest, and together, master and apprentice climbed out of the long boat. Gann and Jabitha followed.

"I dreamed I was with Qui-Gon," Anakin said. "He was teaching me something… I forget what." The boy smiled and stretched his arms. "He said to tell you hello. He said you're so hard to talk to." Anakin ran for the ramp and stepped up onto the ledge of stone.

Obi-Wan stood as if stunned by a blow, then set his jaw and followed his Padawan."


- At last you know the spirit of adventure!

Obi-Wan closed his eyes tightly, as if to ward off the voice. He missed his Master intensely, but he would not let a vagrant fantasy besmirch Qui-Gon's memory.

"Adventure," Anakin said. The boy rode beside Obi-Wan on the carapod. Vagno was taking them across the valley, around several of the tall, river-carved pillars, toward a narrower and darker cleft on the southern side. "Is adventure the same as danger?"

"Yes," Obi-Wan said, a little too sharply. "Adventure is lack of planning, failure of training."

"Qui-Gon didn't think so. He said adventure is growth, surprise is the gift of awareness of limits."

For an instant, Obi-Wan wanted to lash out at the boy, strike him across the face for his blasphemy. That would have been the end of their relationship as Master and apprentice. He wanted it to end. He did not want the responsibility, or in truth to be near one so sensitive, so capable of blithely echoing what lay deepest inside him. Qui-Gon had once told Obi-Wan these very things, and he had since forgotten them.

Anakin stared at his master intently. "Do you hear him?" he asked.

Obi-Wan shook his head. "It is not Qui-Gon," he said stiffly.

"Yes, it is," Anakin said.

"Masters do not return from death."

"Are you sure?" Anakin asked." (hide spoiler)]

And the slightly prophetic one:
(view spoiler)[
- (while the seed-partners are roasting in the fire)
"This will happen to you.

Anakin gasped. He was not dreaming.

This is your destiny, your fate.

Obi-Wan had said nothing. Anakin knew where the voice was coming from, whom it belonged to, but could not believe what he knew.

There will be heat and death and resurrection. A seed will quicken. Will it burn or shine'? Will it think and create or be ruled by fear and destroy?

And then the voice fell silent." (hide spoiler)]

To bring it full circle... Here are some concerns of mine when I finished reading chapter 1 two years ago.

Zuzana wrote: "This seems so far (my opinion might change, I'm really just 1 chapter in) like one of those stories where authors can't help but foreshadow Anakin's fall on every single page even when it doesn't make any sense (I'm looking at you, Karen Treviss). We're still 10+ years away from his descent into the Dark side.

Thankfully, it was not. There is a scene involving a prophetic "voice" (see my comment above), but it doesn't feel forced.

Zuzana wrote: "Anakin as described in Chapter 1 needs to be in therapy. He has some major issues that manifest in him putting himself in physical danger."

Lo and behold! At the end of the book, we get to the Jedi counseling!!! It is huge. We often talk about the Jedi being blind to mental health problems within the Order, especially where padawans were concerned. And here we have a Jedi Master being summoned by Obi-Wan because he sensed that Anakin is in need of therapy after his ordeal on Zonama Sekot (view spoiler)[ particularly the first time Anakin took a life (hide spoiler)].

(Master Thracia to Anakin)"Young Jedi, you have learned some hard truths. Power and even discipline are not sufficient. Self-knowledge is the most difficult of our many journeys."

"I know," Anakin said softly.

"And sometimes wisdom seems impossibly far away."

Anakin nodded.

"You must let me feel what is within you now," Thracia said gently. Then, with the faintest tone of warning, "You are still being judged."

Anakin screwed up his face, then relaxed and let her probe.

Obi-Wan slowly turned his eyes (view spoiler)[to the dead ship, now good only for cold and heartless research, (hide spoiler)] and left the hangar. This was not for him to witness. There had to be an objective evaluation; that was half the essence of Jedi counseling.

As for the other half... That was Thracia's greatest skill - healing."

A questionable use of the word "judge" instead of a more proper equivalent, but I guess we can't have everything. The healing part is what counts.

Anyway, the book was fine. Not great - some parts were a slog. And your enjoyment will probably hinge on your tolerance/preference of hard sci-fi concepts like "living technology".

Also, I almost forgot. If you like Tarkin he gets to be amusingly villainous in this book. Hard to imagine that the Jedi would not officially raise inquiries in the Senate into Tarkin's actions. But that is I guess a loose end, that no other SW author decided to tie.