Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsUnusual story set between Eps I and II.
Reviewed in the United States on August 24, 2006
Greg Bear brings some very notable writing credentials to the Star Wars universe, including multiple Hugo and Nebula awards. His book Rogue Planet is a notch headier than many of the EU novels, both in the prose itself and in his character-driven focus. The story of this one is unusual in that much of it ties closely to the New Jedi Order saga, which comes decades down the timeline.
Obi-Wan is struggling to be the perfect mentor for his brilliant student Anakin Skywalker, who may be the Chosen One of Jedi prophecy. The book is set three years after The Phantom Menace, putting Anakin right on the cusp of adolescence. Bear does a great job exploring the relationship between these two central characters. Anakin shows boyish flashes of enthusiasm very much in keeping with the boy we met in Episode I, spontaneously hugging his master at one point (much to Obi-Wan's chagrin) and generally leading Obi-Wan on a merry chase just to keep up. He also shows signs of the much more troubled man he will become, still unable to let go of his attachments and striving to contain the immense power he carries within.
It is also a treat to follow Commander Wilhuff Tarkin throughout the story. This young incarnation is venal and ambitious, willing to align with any forces necessary to ensure his star continues to rise unhindered. He "partners" with Raith Sienar, a young weapons designer key to the creation of the Death Star and the soon-to-be-ubiquitous TIE Fighter. (Bear mentions vehicles in Chapter 2 which sounds suspiciously like larger TIE prototypes: "Each was twenty meters wide, with broad, flat cooling vanes terminating their wings. The compartments were compact, spherical, hardly luxurious."
Zonama Sekot, the titular entity of Rogue Planet, is a well-realized and thoroughly explored locale. A quibble I have with it and this storyline is there is something elemental about it that does not have the "Star Wars" feel - perhaps it is the organic technology that pervades the planet (although the Gungans went a bit in that direction). At times I felt like the book could easily have been some other science-fiction story and didn't need to be Star Wars at all. There are a few chapters in the middle dealing with Sekotan ship-building where the book bogs down in details of the process and the biosphere. However, this difference in focus also makes it an intriguing addition to the EU.
It's interesting to note how at times Obi-Wan and Anakin both feel Qui-Gon Jinn is speaking to them from beyond. The book seems to conclude that this is not the case, but Revenge of the Sith establishes that Qui-Gon does manage to contact Yoda, so what communication there is in this book could be subject to a different interpretation.
A couple of other thoughts: garbage pit racing made a great opening chapter. Anakin's assault on the Blood Carver and the manner of the Carver's death at the book's end is genuinely unexpected and creepy. I like how Bear uses wildly varying chapter lengths - the progressively shorter chapters in the climax are very cinematic and keep the pace brisk.
Rogue Planet is a well-written and distinctive entry in the Expanded Universe. It is weakened in that the story itself tends to feel transplanted from a non-Star Wars novel, and the story's principal elements have little payoff without reading the nineteen-book New Jedi Order, in which Zonama Sekot and the "Far Outsiders" play a central role. Depending on what Lucasfilm outlined to Greg Bear, it is likely neither of these flaws are something he could change. Additionally, the middle of the book lingers overlong on the ship-building storyline.
I would like to see more stories written focusing on this critical early stage of the Obi-Wan/Anakin relationship and also would be intrigued to read another entry from Greg Bear.