Books: The Uncertain Path

Title: The Uncertain Path
        (Star Wars: jedi Apprentice #6)
Author: Jude Watson
Genre: Young Readers
Anna’s Rating: 4/5 (Yay!  A good book!  I read it in one sitting!)

Yay!  Starting to tie multiple storylines together, it looks like!  What joy I have.  A continuation from book #5, and the story goes on in book #7.  It could be a full adult book, but it’s broken into pieces like, I suspect, a trilogy (to keep the size down).

Obi-wan struggles with his previous rash decision, realizing that he is a Jedi first.  While he recalls that he is always welcome to return to the Jedi temple for guidance, he is too fearful to reach out to Qui-gon and ask forgiveness. 

Back at the Jedi temple, Qui-gon struggles to find it within him to be the perfect mentor, to understand a teenage boy, recognize his short-comings as a natural result of his inexperience, and handle his mistakes objectively without letting his feelings overcome him.  Basically, he strives to be the ideal mentor that not everyone has, and if this book can let a few teens escape into a world where they receive that kind of guidance, then the author has achieved something meaningful in her writing.

As for the storyline, fighting resumes on Melida/Daan as a result of the crazed revolution of the Young…it made me think of the cultural revolution in China, which I’ve never really studied…but I feel compelled to make the effort now.  I find it interesting that, by using concepts similar to real history, the author can introduce young readers to real world challenges.

Overall, I was impressed by the depth of the book.  Real world challenges, characters with normal problems, good moral lessons, and lots of happy Jedi wisdom…I was pleased.

And I am forcing myself to hold off on reading another book until Monday night.

QUOTES:

“Leave you, the Force cannot.  Constant, it is.  If find it you cannot, look inside, not our, you must.”
- Yoda, as recalled by Obi-wan Kenobi, p. 6

“…discipline [needs] to come from within.”
- Jedi philosophy, as related by the narrative, p. 50

“You cannot prevent what you cannot see coming.  You can only do what you think is right at each moment as you live it.  We can plan, hope, and dread the future.  What we cannot do is know it.”
- Qui-gon Jinn, p. 114

“When you don’t know your own mind, you fill it with beliefs of another.”
- Qui-gon Jinn, p. 122
(Quote is in response to a teacher’s least favorite answer: “I don’t know.”)