Choose Your Destiny: An Obi-Wan & Anakin Adventure by Cavan Scott
Choose Your Destiny: An Obi-Wan & Anakin Adventure written by Cavan Scott, illustrated by Elsa Charretier
Huh...what an interesting story. It felt kind of like a cop-out at first, but the more I think about it, the more I like the idea behind it. I think what ended up being the solution to the mystery was definitely a necessary evil with how Obi-Wan and Anakin's relationship was going--badly--they just couldn't seem to work together all that well. But, I don't know about the need to write a story about this particular event. I guess I was just hoping for a grandiose adventure with Anakin as a conquering hero!! But then I always want to see Anakin enact amazing and unbelievable feats...I mean, he is the Chosen One after all. Regardless, the story was still extremely fun to read and pretty much had me guessing the entire way. Right before the secret was revealed, I felt it coming, but for the vast majority of the book, the truth wasn't even on my radar.
The main plotline is that Yoda has been kidnapped and Anakin & Obi-Wan are on the hunt to save him. They follow a couple of different leads and things go haywire along the way. And their "saving" the Jedi Grand Master ends up being a moot point (but I won't give away the details). Per usual with this line of books, there are a few places where the canonicity of certain pathways is left up to a couple of different interpretations--you can go two different ways but you still end up at the same end point. I like this because it plays into the whole "certain point of view" perspective although it does murky the waters from a trivia standpoint...but I'll survive...
We are introduced to an Anomid named Grynask Sanberge who is the head of the Nova Crime Syndicate which operates out of space station BDT-0978, commonly known as "The Wheel" in the Besh Gorgon system. According to Jocasta Nu, "Possessing no vocal chords, [Anomids] communicate through a complicated system of facial expressions and hand signals." They can wear vocoders that will translate their facial expressions into Basic! Apparently there was once an Anomid named Alxa Kress who served on the Jedi Council. Again, according to Nu, Kress "taught Master Windu how to perform the works of Harido Kavila in the native Rodese." In other words, Windu used to be an actor!?!
We meet a couple of additional new characters including an Ortolan (ala Max Rebo) named Triss Terasu and a Mon Calamari female Jedi named Bant Eerin.
One of the strangest things about this book was that Anakin had to keep doing the seemingly wrong or brash thing to continue the story along to its canon conclusion. I'm not sure what kind of moral lessons this teaches the predominantly young readers of this book... It was just weird that Anakin had to be kind of a bad person for the story to move forward. In contrast, in Choose Your Destiny: A Han & Chewie Adventure, Han had to make fairly consistent good and moral choices to continue the story along. So it seemed like an odd direction to take. Examples include:
- Anakin using the Force to steal Obi-Wan's lightsaber (during a training session in which he was only allowed to use a trainee lightsaber).
- No, Anakin should not do what Obi-Wan says.
- No, Anakin does not obey Obi-Wan's command.
- No, Anakin does not make sure the guard is okay.
- No, Anakin does not do what Yoda commands.
Very strange indeed.
See captive Yoda with his rescuers, Obi-Wan & Anakin, below:
Trivia:
- Shockball is a sport played in the galaxy.
- Shockball is played on the Wheel in Ashton Stadium.
- Two shockball teams are the Galactic Globetrotters and the Ballistic Banthas.
Canon Connections:
- A spa on the Wheel uses mud from Mimban (from Solo).
- Tons of alien species from other sources including a Gungan, a Gamorrean, and a Whiphid.
So a jam packed story with a ton of action and most definitely intrigue. Species galore and quite a few planets as well--definitely a lot to take in. Despite the ending feeling lackluster upon immediately finishing the book, I think it teaches a very good lesson and so I'm coming to terms with this being quite an appropriate and necessary book after all! Oh...plus, there's a donut-dispensing droid...that Obi-Wan knocks into and donuts are sent flying as a result (see below):
Looking forward to the next Choose Your Destiny book coming out on October 4th of this year as part of the "Journey to the Rise of Skywalker" publishing campaign--A Finn & Poe Adventure!!
The main plotline is that Yoda has been kidnapped and Anakin & Obi-Wan are on the hunt to save him. They follow a couple of different leads and things go haywire along the way. And their "saving" the Jedi Grand Master ends up being a moot point (but I won't give away the details). Per usual with this line of books, there are a few places where the canonicity of certain pathways is left up to a couple of different interpretations--you can go two different ways but you still end up at the same end point. I like this because it plays into the whole "certain point of view" perspective although it does murky the waters from a trivia standpoint...but I'll survive...
We are introduced to an Anomid named Grynask Sanberge who is the head of the Nova Crime Syndicate which operates out of space station BDT-0978, commonly known as "The Wheel" in the Besh Gorgon system. According to Jocasta Nu, "Possessing no vocal chords, [Anomids] communicate through a complicated system of facial expressions and hand signals." They can wear vocoders that will translate their facial expressions into Basic! Apparently there was once an Anomid named Alxa Kress who served on the Jedi Council. Again, according to Nu, Kress "taught Master Windu how to perform the works of Harido Kavila in the native Rodese." In other words, Windu used to be an actor!?!
We meet a couple of additional new characters including an Ortolan (ala Max Rebo) named Triss Terasu and a Mon Calamari female Jedi named Bant Eerin.
One of the strangest things about this book was that Anakin had to keep doing the seemingly wrong or brash thing to continue the story along to its canon conclusion. I'm not sure what kind of moral lessons this teaches the predominantly young readers of this book... It was just weird that Anakin had to be kind of a bad person for the story to move forward. In contrast, in Choose Your Destiny: A Han & Chewie Adventure, Han had to make fairly consistent good and moral choices to continue the story along. So it seemed like an odd direction to take. Examples include:
- Anakin using the Force to steal Obi-Wan's lightsaber (during a training session in which he was only allowed to use a trainee lightsaber).
- No, Anakin should not do what Obi-Wan says.
- No, Anakin does not obey Obi-Wan's command.
- No, Anakin does not make sure the guard is okay.
- No, Anakin does not do what Yoda commands.
Very strange indeed.
See captive Yoda with his rescuers, Obi-Wan & Anakin, below:
- Shockball is a sport played in the galaxy.
- Shockball is played on the Wheel in Ashton Stadium.
- Two shockball teams are the Galactic Globetrotters and the Ballistic Banthas.
Canon Connections:
- A spa on the Wheel uses mud from Mimban (from Solo).
- Tons of alien species from other sources including a Gungan, a Gamorrean, and a Whiphid.
So a jam packed story with a ton of action and most definitely intrigue. Species galore and quite a few planets as well--definitely a lot to take in. Despite the ending feeling lackluster upon immediately finishing the book, I think it teaches a very good lesson and so I'm coming to terms with this being quite an appropriate and necessary book after all! Oh...plus, there's a donut-dispensing droid...that Obi-Wan knocks into and donuts are sent flying as a result (see below):
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