A review by blackwater
Master and Apprentice, by Claudia Gray

2.5

Spoiler

All the miscommunication, petty bickering, and outright arguing between Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan was incredibly entertaining to read and I had the loveliest time reading about their misery and continued bad decision-making :) I enjoyed the relationships between the different characters in the story and I liked the personal growth journey our main duo underwent. I even enjoyed a lot of the side characters, and I loved all the flashbacks to Qui-Gon and Dooku's master-padawan relationship!!

But, the political plot and the evil space corporation were kinda tepid :/ and my god, the Jedi are such fucking wet socks sometimes. Idk how Qui-Gon hasn't defected yet, I would NOT have been able to suffer a council of centrists like that. 

----SPOILERS---- 
(and uncivilised reviewing of a book that thoroughly disappointed me, a review not to be taken too seriously. Unless you wish to, of course, who am I to stop you)

This book joins Wakenhyrst by Michelle Paver and The Ritual by Adam Nevill as a member of the 'books that made me angry in a bad way' club. I wrote this review as I was listening to the incredibly skillfully narrated audiobook. All kudos to the amazing narrator and the splendid sound effects! The plot made my blood boil, though!

It annoyed me to no end that throughout the book the Republic is like "ohh even tho slavery is explicitly against our laws, we will excuse descent-based slavery. Additionally, we refuse to interfer and even actively enable it because it is done by a corporation and not like an evil space wizard in a space mansion or something. However, we absolutely will not tolerate the people taking action against the slave owners in an attempt to dismantle the system that is ruining their lives and their planetary system. Qui-Gon, you shouldn't interfer when the slavers are trying to gain more power and we condemn your opposing the slavers because we shouldn't interfer in the political going ons in other systems, BUT we expect you to space-arrest the people involved in the anti-slavery revolution because they are breaking our rules". :/

I cannot believe Qui-Gon was the only one from the Jedi council who put up a fight and refused to work with the slavers. Obi-Wan my beloved, what happened to you? skfjdk this book has just cemented my knowledge that I truly am a Star Trek grrl at heart :)<3 

Seriously though, this book is so scared of not being neutral and of actually, properly, condemning slavery on an institutional level- and for what? It makes sure to point out to us, the reader, how awful it is to be a slave and how messed up the Czerka Corporation is for ruining the lives of thousands of individuals, but it is also made abundantly clear that we are not supposed to support the rightful monarch when she takes power, refuses to cooperate with the slavers anymore, and wishes to expell them from her political domain? Yes, she killed some people, but so did the evil space capitalist corporation? It's worse when a 'good guy' does it though, it always is in Disney properties, because then it's murder on an individual level and not a systematic one - and conflict must always be solved without violence, otherwise the good guy has stooped to the level of the bad guy and themselves become corrupted. How convenient a political view to have and reinforce as a multi-billion dollar company, huh Disney?

Is Princess Fenry really a bad guy for refusing to sign a contract the Jedi council and the Republic drafted and tried to force through? The contract benefitted only them and not the system of Pijal, and the Republic was basically trying to force power away from the system and into the hands of outsiders. Is she a bad guy for refusing to be a puppet to the Republic, an intergalactic organisation that does not care for the rights of her people half as much as they care for rights of the slaver corporation Czerka? Very convenient that the book gave her the Daenerys Game of Thrones s08 treatment of suddenly becoming a mad, blood-thirsty tyrant ruler so we would not be sympathetic to her cause. Truly, American/British Space Adventure - colonisation and murder is only ok when we do it, for profit.

Yes, I love the ending where everything is fixed super neatly- slavery is abolished, the system becomes a republic rather than a monarchy, and the Czerka Corporation gets the boot ... But that wouldn't have become possible without the princess' uprising, surely? That is not what the original Republic-drafted contract, which was pushed so hard on Pijal, stated? The original, revised, contract stated that the politicians on Pijal could, after some time of settling into the new regime, make further revisions to the political system and further, to the amount of political influence the Czerka Corporations was allowed.. right? And Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan (?) was concerned that would never actually be allowed to happen as the Czerka Corporation was sure to bribe the politicians and in practice gain political power through their wealth? It's difficult for me to go back and check the exact passage where they go over the contract because I don't have a physical copy of the book, BUT, the new contract was only drafter after the uprising. Without Princess Fanry playing the revolutionary the Czerka Corporation WOULD rule Pijal! And she is branded a petulant, naive, and power hungry child-ruler by the plot and characters for it (I guess kudos to Qui-Gon for being the only one to see potential in her at the end of the story).

All of this Harry Potter-esque new-centrist/-neoliberalist Jedi/Republic nonsense only serves to make Dooku seem the most sane of the bunch for leaving the Jedi order (too bad he does it to become a space fascist). I had such high expectations for Rael Averross, but it turns out he has the political convictions of the majority of my tinder dates and in actuality I would have trash compactor'd him at the first opportunity if had I been there. I also don't love how bad of a parental figure he was to absolutely everyone! And he takes no responsibility and is not held accountable!! He never should have been allowed a padawan or a ward! He's fully like "yikes my state appointed daughter staged a coup? That has nothing to do with me tho, and I hate her now because that made me feel bad :(" Oh! My! God! Kongen av ansvarsfraskrivelse! Good on Fanry for tricking him and standing up to this month's flavour of evil space capitalists, too bad for her she's in a Disney book and must die for the crimes of being a little bit tankie-aligned. F in the chat 😔🤙

Cannot believe how much of a noodle this book is compared to the Jedi Apprentice series, they were full on middle garde, kids' books, and they were based as fuck lmao.

I will not be taking critique on this review, if you disagree you can blow it out your arse