Review: 'Star Wars: Padawan's Pride' puts Anakin Skywalker back in a podracer
The surprise audiobook is a fun post-"The Phantom Menace" tale reminiscent of the Jedi Quest books for young readers.
Padawan’s Pride: A fun and fraught look at Obi-Wan and Anakin’s early master-apprentice relationship
Picture this: You’re 12-year-old Anakin Skywalker and you’ve been training in the Jedi Order for the last three years. Sure, you get to wield a laser sword and learn a bunch of cool Force tricks. But the Jedi Order — specifically the Temple on Coruscant — feels like a prison to you. And your master is still too hung up on the tragic death of his own mentor to give you the guidance, patience, and attention you crave. So, you get in trouble yet again for commandeering a speeder to zip around the planet’s sky roads just to feel something. Now, you’re awaiting punishment from the Jedi High Council next to the aforementioned master who sports a beard you absolutely loathe.
That’s the setting for the new Star Wars book Padawan’s Pride, an audiobook original surprise dropped on Audible yesterday. No one knew this book was coming — well, except Collider, who shared an “exclusive sneak peek” the same day the book was released. More thoughts on that in a moment. But first, the book.
Padawan’s Pride is set three years after the events of The Phantom Menace — a time period with few canonical Star Wars stories. It’s such a treat to get a story following preteen menace Anakin Skywalker and his longsuffering master Obi-Wan Kenobi. The Audible Original story, essentially a middle-grade novel, is a rare glimpse at the two’s fraught early relationship. Padawan’s Pride is a thrill ride and an entertaining listen, but at its core is among the first moments where Obi-Wan and Anakin’s relationship evolves beyond reluctance and obligation.
Instead of meting out punishment for the speeder thief, the Yoda and the Jedi Council send Obi-Wan and Anakin on one of their first missions together. A Republic spy is missing, and the two must find a way to infiltrate an illegal podracing circuit run by an infamous crime lord. Undercover and split up, Anakin is challenged to make the right split-second decisions without the oversight of Obi-Wan, who is forced to take a step back and put faith in his young apprentice. The result is both Jedi realizing the care they have for each other and further embracing their new roles as master and apprentice.
Despite the way it was published, Padawan’s Pride was a great read for all ages. It’s got the steady pacing and thrills that capture younger readers as well as TONS of Easter eggs for adult Star Wars book fans. There are big nods to The High Republic Nameless creatures as well as Phase 2’s Greylark family. There’s even a moment foreshadowing the sound of Darth Vader’s breathing when Anakin dons his hotshot podracer disguise. I also counted at least three utterances of “wizard.”
Don’t be turned off by the middle-grade genre of the book or its short run-time of 3 hours and 57 minutes. It’s perfect to listen to in a day or on a long car ride with the kids. If you enjoyed the Jedi Quest books from the early 2000s, or your kids love Star Wars, you’ll have a good time with Padawan’s Pride.
However, the solid storytelling and excellent production value don’t completely overshadow the way this book was released. It’s an Audible Original, which means it’s only available on Audible to subscribers (albeit for free). We don’t know if this is part of what will be a larger Star Wars middle-grade series, though the metadata on the listing says Padawan’s Pride is part of “Star Wars Adventures Audible Originals.” And there’s no telling if or when this could get a physical or ebook release.
I’m all for surprise releases, but this one comes on the heels of the little crumbs of marketing I’ve seen for other Star Wars books from Disney Lucasfilm Press — namely Beware the Nameless and Tears of the Nameless.
These two High Republic books are the latest in the series but haven’t gotten nearly as much love as they deserve. Many of the consistent Star Wars book reviewers like me barely got copies in time to read, review, and share before Beware the Nameless came out. Tears of the Nameless comes out on Tuesday and only has a few full reviews that I can see on Goodreads.
The middle-grade and young adult Star Wars books already face an uphill battle because of their age genre, and fans like me want to see them get promoted and loved just like the adult books (published by Random House Worlds). Marketing and reviews and promotion are essential to the success of books like Padawan’s Pride and The High Republic novels.
I like to think I’m doing my small part in sharing these books with our small but mighty Star Wars book community. Maybe I’m even convincing some people to pick up their first Star Wars book or one I read and recommended. (If you read a Star Wars book because of my recommendation, PLEASE tell me!)
All this to say — Padawan’s Pride is good and I’m happy it’s part of the Star Wars book collection. And, once again, don’t sleep on the middle-grade and young adult novels. You’re seriously missing out if you do.
Star Wars: Padawan’s Pride is available now for free to Audible Plus subscribers and for $16 for non-subscribers.
I always say another knock against the Jedi Order is they ruined the career of the best podracer in the outer rim.