This investigation into Totally Rad Stuff will be about reading Star Wars books.   The Star Wars franchise has become increasingly bizarre and complicated since Disney acquired it, primarily due to Kathleen Kennedy’s leadership of the Lucasfilm property.   Some fans will hate everything because they hate Disney or because they hate change, ……but the Star Wars Skywalker family saga is about change from generation to generation.  

 

Change within the parameters of the original Star Wars universe works well.  When one deviates from that path, the concept becomes muddied and no longer makes sense.   As an author, I believe one should respect the original creator of a universe franchise, and if you can’t follow the parameters established, then create your own universe and express your vision there, rather than damaging another’s artwork.  This brings me back to my topic, a book that follows the Star Wars parameters.  It is titled “Star Wars Tales of Kenobi” by John Jackson Miller and Alan Dean Foster.

 

This book falls into the Legends category, meaning it does not necessarily adhere to the new Star Wars Disney Story Group dogma.  Ahsoka says in Rebels that one can always find truth in old legends…or something to that effect, and part of me suspects that she is referring to these older Star Wars works.  Yes, I know, the character cannot officially speak about things outside the Star Wars Universe unless you are Deadpool, but the writers can hint at them.  Also, this book contains two novels written during two different Star Wars eras.

 

So when I asked for this book, I did not realize it contained a book I had already read some years ago, called Kenobi by John Jackson Miller.  It was a well-written story with some rather interesting takes on who the Sand People were, also known as Tuskan Raiders.  I suspect this book influenced the direction of the TV Boba Fett series storyline concerning the Tuskan Raiders.  

 

So, since I had previously read the other story, I focused on the book written by Alan Dean Foster, specifically The Approaching Storm, published in 2002. 

 

This book seems to be more about Jedi Master Luminara Unduli and works to introduce Barris Offee, her Padawan.  Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker are practical tag-alongs for this adventure mission story.  The reader gets to see Luminara at her best and how Barris sees the Galaxy around her, and wonders how to achieve the goal of becoming a Jedi Knight.  I have questions about the age differences between Anakin and Barris.  She is younger than Anakin in the Clone Wars cartoon series.  And I envisioned her as being a few years older than Ahsoka, and it was unclear in the book where the two Padawans stood in their stages of training.  This may cause some readers some difficulties….remember…… this is Legends, but I think the book is still valid.  The reader must also consider that Anakin was not always the easiest Padawan to train, and Obi-Wan may not have been the best teacher for him; therefore, it is perhaps understandable that Anakin seems to be at the same training age as Barris, even though they are not.  Barris is also depicted in the Clone Wars series as very mature and dependable, which Ahsoka must come to terms with during a mission on Geonosis.

 

It is a good pre-Clone Wars story for those who want to understand the Jedi training requirements and obligations, and how the Clone Wars were initiated through slow, careful manipulation.  The reader also gets a deeper understanding of who Master Luminara really is.

In my humble opinion, this is a Rad Book, and worth reading.

G. Winkler (c) 2025 User Friendly Media Group, Inc.