A review by booksandpajamas
Attack of the Clones, by R.A. Salvatore

4.0

“A Jedi shall not know anger. Nor hatred. Nor love.”

Ten years have passed since Anakin Skywalker started his training to become a Jedi, since the dead of Qui-gon Jinn and since the blockade of Naboo.
Things have changed. Padmé Amidala, once a queen of Naboo, is now a Senator; Anakin a Padawan Learner and Obi-Wan a Jedi Knight.
The Republic is failing and the Dark side is growing and all events will eventually lead to war.

Padmé is being assassinated by the Trade Federation and to protect her life, she is being protected by the Jedi. Or to make it even more clear, by Anakin. The two haven't seen each other in ten years, but Anakin has thought of Padmé every day. Padmé, therefor, hasn't forgotten him either. Throughout the story their love blossoms, but both know it's forbidden. A Jedi isn't allowed to love. They both know that if they give in to their feelings, Anakin will be expelled from the Jedi Order and Padmé doesn't want that for him. Anakin, much more open with his feelings, doesn't care. Padmé, therefor, is much more guarded.

What's fascinating about this story is that a Jedi shall not know anger nor hatred. Anakin does know these feelings. We see him struggling with them and eventually giving in. When his mother is being held captive by the Tusken Raiders and eventually dies, he feels so much rage that he eventually kills them all. Including women and children.
These feelings stand in the way of the things that are important for a Jedi, they blur their vision.

In the movies we see, as people call it, this whiny child, but in the story we find out why. And really, it's that logical. For me, he wasn't a whiny child. He is struggling. Anakin believes that if he becomes powerful, he can save the people he loves. It already starts in this novel and it will continue further more. Rage, hatred, love, fear and anger cloud his mind and that makes it dangerous, because these feelings lead to the dark side.