'Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker must stem the tide of the raging Clone Wars and forge a new bond as Jedi Knights. The Clone Wars have begun. Battle lines are being drawn throughout the galaxy. With every world that joins the Separatists, the peace guarded by the Jedi Order is slipping through their fingers.
'After an explosion devastates Cato Neimoidia, the jewel of the Trade Federation, the Republic is blamed and the fragile neutrality of the planet is threatened. The Jedi dispatch Obi-Wan Kenobi, one of the Order’s most gifted diplomatic minds, to investigate the crime and maintain the balance that has begun to dangerously shift. As Obi-Wan investigates with the help of a heroic Neimoidian guard, he finds himself working against the Separatists who hope to draw the planet into their conspiracy—and senses the sinister hand of Asajj Ventress in the mists that cloak the planet.
'Amid the brewing chaos, Anakin Skywalker rises to the rank of Jedi Knight. Despite the mandate that Obi-Wan travel alone—and his former master’s insistence that he listen this time—Anakin’s headstrong determination means nothing can stop him from crashing the party, and bringing along a promising but conflicted youngling.
'Once a Padawan to Obi-Wan, Anakin now finds himself on equal—but uncertain—footing with the man who raised him. The lingering friction between them increases the danger for everyone around them. The two knights must learn a new way to work together—and they must learn quickly, to save Cato Neimoidia and its people from the fires of war. To overcome the threat they face they must grow beyond master and apprentice. They must stand together as brothers.'
Remember in Revenge of the Sith when Obi-Wan tells Anakin 'that business on Cato Nemoidia doesn't count' in reference to how many times he's been saved by Anakin? Ever wondered exactly what that business was? Well, now we finally get to find out.
When a series of explosions rock the capital city on Cato Nemoidia, destroying an entire district and killing thousands, the question of who is behind it becomes the topic on everyone's mind. When the Republic is accused of being responsible the Nemoidians demand that Chancellor Palpatine come to Cato Nemoidia and prove that they weren't involved. However, sending the chancellor would mean having to send Clones and Jedi for protection, something that could be seen as aggressive, and push the growing Clone Wars into further escalation. The solution? Send a lone Jedi to investigate.
Obi-Wan Kenobi, who has just been temporarily added to the Jedi Council, is chosen to go to Cato Nemodia to find out who orchestrated the bombing; and hopefully deescalate tensions on the neutral world. Meanwhile, recently knighted Jedi Anakin Skywalker is finding it hard to fit into his new duties, especially when told to help teach younglings. However, one particular youngling needs more guidance than most, and Anakin finds that his unique experience with the Jedi lends himself to offering good advice, bringing the two of them together to form a decent team.
On Cato Nemodia, Obi-Wan's investigation begins to point towards the Republic being involved in the attack, but before he's able to investigate further he's arrested by the Nemodians, who are being quietly manipulated by the strange representative from the Separatist movement; a woman named Asajj Ventress. With Obi-Wan facing trial it's down to Anakin and his new partner to break the rules and head to Cato Nemodia to try and save the day.
The relationship between Obi-Wan and Anakin is one the most important relationships in the entire Star Wars sage, and is a main focus of the prequel era. And whilst we've got good depictions of the two of them as master and apprentice in the prequels, and as equals in The Clone Wars, we've never really gotten to see them going from one to the other. Was it easy for them to go from one relationship to the other? Star Wars: Brotherhood does help to show some of this transition, and how neither one of them found it an easy experience.
And this is one of the big things that Star Wars: Brotherhood focuses on, the difficulties of change, and finding your footing in a galaxy where what you have come to know is now vastly different. Anakin is still new to being a Jedi Knight, and whilst he definitely seems to appreciate the freedom that it has given him, no longer having to answer directly to his master all of the time, it comes with other responsibilities that he feels he can't handle. This is what the younglings, and in particular Mill Alibeth, bring to the book. Anakin barely feels like he has begun his time as a full Jedi Knight, and now he's being asked to pass on his wisdom to the next generation.
He's unsure of himself, he doesn't feel comfortable being the centre of attention from those who look up to him, and his own unique experience of coming into the order at an older age makes him feel like he can't completely relate to them. Anakin laments more than once that he'd make a terrible teacher, and that he should never have a padawan. I know this is something that he expressed at the very beginning of The Clone Wars when he was assigned Ahsoka, but it's good to see it again here; plus it does make me chuckle a bit, as Anakin was actually a brilliant teacher.
Anakin is also getting used to his new role as a husband, and we get to see a few scenes of him and Padme trying to make their secret marriage work where they can. It's not a big focus of the book, and it only really comes into play towards the beginning of the narrative, but it's nice to see the two of them still trying to figure out how to make things work, and finding their feet with each other. With this being so soon after Attack of the Clones, Anakin is also having to learn to live with his new arm, after losing it in battle to Count Dooku. It's something that never really comes up anywhere else, and even though he keeps his robotic hand covered up with a glove he never seems bothered by it. Here, however, he feels like its wrong in some ways. The hand is new and different, and certain things still don't feel as easy and natural as they were before. With disabled characters being a big part of Star Wars, but no real time ever really being given over to their disabilities, it's nice to see this explored a little here.
It's not just Anakin having to get used to new things though, as Obi-Wan has similar trials. He's recently been added to the Jedi Council, in a temporary position, and doesn't quite feel like he's the right person for. He knows that there's more responsibility on him now, he's not just responsible for one single padawan, but possibly the entire future of the Jedi order. And he does spend some time thinking about whether this is the right thing for him, whether he should on the council, and thanks to seeing how Anakin is around Padme, whether he should have left the order himself years before. Whilst the thoughts don't last long he does think about Duchess Satine, and how if she'd have asked he would have given up being a Jedi for her.
As someone who loves The Clone Wars it was great to have this little inclusion of Satine, and more of a focus on the fact that Obi-Wan and Anakin both experienced the desire to leave the order for love. And whilst Obi-Wan gave up on that dream and dedicated himself to the Jedi, Anakin chose a different path. I think that this is a huge part of why towards the end of the war Obi-Wan does nothing about Anakin and Padme when he clearly knows that they're together. He's waiting for his former student to made the same decision that he did, and he knows its something that Anakin can't be forced into.
Overall though, it's the transition from peacekeepers to generals leading armies that causes the most issues for our characters, and a lot of this book is about that change. It's also the reason why Mill struggles with her place in the Jedi too, and why she needs Anakin's help. Thanks to her connection with the Force, Mill is able to sense pain through the Force, something that is causing her great distress. She can feel the fear and pain that victims of the conflict are going through, to the point where she's developing trauma responses to the thought of going near the war. It's an interesting twist on the Jedi abilities, and pairing her with Anakin was a great choice. He not only helps her, but she has an impact on him too, allowing him to realise that maybe he's not too bad of a teacher, helping him find his feet as a Knight, and showing him that he's not the only member of the order who's questioned whether or not they want to be a Jedi.
It's not just the Jedi characters who get a focus in this book, but the people of Cato Nemodia. Having watched through the prequels and The Clone Wars I found that I still didn't have that big a picture of what Nemodians were like. The only real experience that I'd had with them was due to their involvement in the Trade Federation splinter group that joined with the Seperatists, which doesn't represent their whole community at all. Star Wars: Brotherhood really does do a good job of expanding upon them, showing readers different types of Nemodians, people with differing political views, folks with different life experiences. Chen makes the Nemodians feel like a varied and interesting people, especially through the characters of Ruug and Ketar. Even Anakin goes in with certain expectations about what the Nemodians are like, but comes out seeing them as decent, varied people by the end.
I also enjoyed the amount of nods to the wider Star Wars universe that are scattered throughout the rest of the book too. Whether it's Jarro Tapal and Cal Kestis wandering through the halls of the Jedi Temple, or Dexter Jettster helping Obi-Wan to delve into mysteries and find hidden information it's lovely to see these small parts of the universe be included. I particularly enjoyed the inclusion of Sister, the trans Clone Trooper. Star Wars has always needed more queer representation, and Sister is a wonderful piece of inclusion. And whilst her inclusion in the story is incredibly short, I hope that this is just one of many appearances from her.
Overall I enjoyed a great deal of Star Wars: Brotherhood and found that it really helped to expand a small part of the Prequel era that we've not really seen much of. Anakin and Obi-Wan felt true to the characters that we know, and the new characters were great inclusions who I really enjoyed. This might be Mike Chen's first Star Wars book, but I suspect it won't be his last.
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