Kenobi (Star Wars - Legends)

In this wonderful novel Obi-Wan arrives on Tatooine and decides to stay hidden. That unfortunately does not turn out well, since afterall, he is a Jedi. A Peacemaker who wants to help people. He wants to do something and his inability to just sit there and let things happen to others gets him a friend. A friend, called Annileen but goes by Annie, who is immensely curious about this hermit Ben Kenobi. While he could easily have walked away from that, he can't after the Tusken Raiders keep attacking more and more often, endangering his new found friend and thus he has to try his best not to blow his cover while saving a family from ruin. This book is one of the best that I have ever read. While Obi-Wan was never quite the central character in this one, it was really interesting to see him from the perspective of others. Namely two families - Annileen and her two children and Orrin with his two children. Annileen is one of the central characters and I loved her and her story line! Trying to keep the store of her long dead husband afloat while taking care of her children, Ben Kenobi serves as a nice distraction from her boredom. While she never got to know about Ben's past, she knows that he is sad and that something terrible has happened. Her observations hold a lot more truth than she could've ever known. Then we get A'Yark a Tusken Raider who would do anything to keep her tribe alive. I loved her character so much! It was an insightful perspective into the life of a Tusken Raider and gave us a lot of lore about them and explained why they attack moisture farmers so much. I wish we could get more about the intricate story of Tatooine, it's settlers and most importantly, it's natives. And then there is Orrin. From the start I found him arrogant and annoying. And I was right about his character until the very end. Enough said about that guy. The only parts where we get Obi-Wan's perspective are the parts of his meditations where he talks to his old master Qui-Gon. Those parts are especially heartbreaking. Obi-Wan has suffered so much and throughout the entire book he tries his best to deal with what has happened. He tries to deal with losing everything he has ever known, the stability he had, the friends he has lost and it is devestating. Despite everything that has happened to him and to his friends, he remains good. He never once turns to the dark side and can't not help people, but in order to stay hidden he has to learn to stay away from others. I just wanna hug him. This guy needed therapy the day his padawan years started. This book also features many metaphors about the relationship between Anakin and Obi-Wan and a lot of hints about what has transpired so far away from Tatooine not that long ago. I need more books about Obi-Wan. He is my favourite constantly suffering character. For some extra emotional turmoil, I recommend listening to the "Obi-Wan" soundtrack from the Kenobi series. We do love emotional pain in this fandom.

Hello there! Kenobi really was not what I expected at all, and although I’d still love to read an Obi-Wan Kenobi book more in alignment with my expectations, Miller's Kenobi is absolutely fantastic, taking Kenobi's story in exactly the direction I did not know I wanted it to go. A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one. My one and only criticism of the book is that once it had decided on its direction, it did commit to its consequences enough. Having spent his life as a man of action, dedicated to defending the republic (to Democracy!), Kenobi finds himself now in a strange new position, where his intellectual goals and instincts are at odds. Kenobi has guardianship over infant Luke Skywalker, the galaxy's last hope. In order to protect this legacy and one day save the galaxy, man-of-action Kenobi is forced into hiding, where laying low and avoiding attention as the keys to success, not gallantry. When he encounters the harsh realities of those eking out an existence on Tatooine, his inner instincts to help everyone he can as much as he can threaten to betray a goal that calls for quietly blending in. This theme is the real meat of the book, combined with Kenobi's struggles at coping with events of Episode III, and gives it a very emotional and cerebral feel at odds with the light sabre swinging political intrigue I had expected. But on a moment’s thought, it makes sense - the galaxy is going through a time of tremendous turmoil and change and Kenobi has been at the centre of it. Of course that would change a man. Miller has walked a fine line here and walked it well. The Ben Kenobi in the book feels authentic and true to both the Obi Wan of the prequels, and the Ben Kenobi of the OT, whilst also taking him through a critical period of character development. A tough achievement, but achieved. Some have complained that Kenobi is not 'about' Kenobi since it follows the viewpoints of some other characters, but for me this is absolutely key to the story and works absolutely fantastically. If this book were told from Kenobi's PoV, it would actually be terrible. But seeing Kenobi through the prism of another's eyes lets us see far more into the story and adds an extra layer of mystery, suspense, and emotional connection. To name one, Kenobi is trying to hide the fact that he is a Jedi, and so throughout most of the book we never directly 'see' Kenobi wielding his light sabre or calling on the force in such blatant terms. We catch whiffs, and witness the aftermath, through the eyes of characters who don't really know what a Jedi is, let alone suspect such a mythical figure was among them. For me this is key to the book - a telling from Obi-Wan's point of view would have no mystery, no suspense, because we would always have perfect information. Sure, the reader (unless they somehow missed star wars and picked this up at random) knows what Kenobi is and can read between the lines, but the air of mystique clings anyway, and makes the book. But having another character as the PoV is a double-edged sword. I think it adds volumes to the book, but it also hides the biggest weakness. As a warning, the rest of this paragraph contains spoilers. Put simply, nothing ever goes wrong for Kenobi in this book - another reason it would be terrible if told from his point of view. Kenobi struggles internally with the idea that he has failed as a Jedi - failed Anakin, failed Padme, failed his master, Qui-gon, and failed the galaxy. But those failures all happened in Episode III - in this book, everything Kenobi does is an absolute success, and he is in danger of being a Mary-Sue. At the risk of sounding like a total sadist, the only thing this book needed was for us to see Kenobi fail. Not necessarily in a big way, but just enough to really sell his characterisation and give the plot an edge of danger. The whole theme of the book is Kenobi's struggle between what he knows he should do - stay out of trouble and protect infant Luke, even if it means ignoring the suffering of those around him - and what he wants to do inside - help everyone, and have everything. In the end, Kenobi gets his wish - he gets to have his cake and eat it too, because honestly a book about Kenobi ignoring everything happening around him would be a little boring, so of course he has to intervene, but there are no consequences for doing so. As a result, it seems like the whole guiding theme of the book feels meaningless. Now, I'm not saying I think the book had to end *badly*, but a minor slip-up through the novel to reinforce the theme and ultimate choice was poorly needed. If for no other reason than to convince a reader that things could go wrong, - no need to necessarily enforce it. For example, I wish there was a moment where Kenobi was put in a decision situation where he could reveal himself as a Jedi and protect someone, or let them die to keep it a secret. And I wish he was forced to make the latter choice, because it would have been a world of character development and solidified the seriousness of his situation. The other side, Kenobi revealing himself, is obviously impossible since it would contradict with the OT. This is what I mean when I say this book did not fully commit, because although the book was always about the choice Kenobi faced and the difficulty he would have to face to make it, he never really *had* to make, and when he did make it, he faced no consequences. A single scene where he had to turn an eye to an innocent’s death to preserve his greater mission is all the book, and Kenobi’s character arc, needed to be perfect, fulfilling, and complete. But it never came. Despite that complaint, Kenobi is a fantastic book and will take a place among my favourites. It’s extremely well-written, engaging, intriguing, emotionally inciting, and bloody tough to put down. I ended up reading more than I intended every time I picked it up, and read the last 100 pages in a single sitting because, despite it being the wee hours of the morning, I did not want to stop. I am sad it’s over, grateful I read it, and feel like I have a much deeper appreciation of Obi-wan as a character across all of star wars.