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A review by jaredkwheeler
The Deadly Hunter by Jude Watson
3.0
Star Wars Legends Project #51
Background: The Deadly Hunter came out in December 2000. It was written by [a:Jude Watson|11912|Jude Watson|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1403530689p2/11912.jpg].
The Deadly Hunter begins some time (probably a few months) after [b:The Shattered Peace|350404|The Shattered Peace (Star Wars Jedi Apprentice, #10)|Jude Watson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1394310192s/350404.jpg|340653] (my review), 43 years before the Battle of Yavin and 11 years before The Phantom Menace. Most of the book takes place on Coruscant, with minor appearances by Yoda and Tahl. Didi Oddo, the owner of the cafe that will eventually become Dex's Diner (from Attack of the Clones), is a major character.
Summary: Finally back on Coruscant after some time away, Obi-Wan is looking forward to some much-needed rest. Instead, he and Qui-Gon are drawn into a new adventure when they learn that someone has placed a deathmark on Qui-Gon's friend Didi Oddo, and a particularly competent bounty hunter is on his trail. Unfortunately, interference from the Jedi makes them her newest targets.
Review: After the last two books in this series, the pace of The Deadly Hunter feels relentless, although that may also be in part because it's a bit shorter than most. The book also ends on probably the biggest cliffhanger of the series to this point, which may also be part of why it's so short. They can either end the story there, or keep going and have a double-length book.
Anyway. It occurred to me when I was nearly through that this book was structured a bit like a Hardy Boys mystery, with the constant danger (but not too much danger), stingers at the end of every chapter, and the investigation that slowly ties together several different, seemingly-unrelated strands. My biggest complaint is that it actually doesn't quite tie everything together that well by the end. Part of that, of course, is because the book ends before the plot is totally resolved, but even so, I'm not sure all the different pieces of the mystery fit together into a puzzle that makes sense.
I'm sure some of this will be explained in the next entry, but I think we still have another case of an antagonist who is just a little bit too good. And I get it! I'm sure it's very challenging to come up with bad guys who can plausibly hold their own against the Jedi, but still, there's a freakish level of perfection to the schemes deployed against our heroes. Plus, they're forced to act totally illogically for the sake of the plot. A friend of the Jedi who is in deadly danger is located on Coruscant about 20 minutes from the Jedi Temple, but somehow it never occurs to anyone that they should send him there for safekeeping, even as they're actively wondering, "Hmm . . . Where can we keep you safe?" Umm . . . Hello?
I have one other complaint about the so-far-nameless bounty hunter the book is titled after: She wields a laser whip, which is a weapon that makes no sense. Other than that, she's a pretty cool . . . Well I hesitate to call her a character, since she's spoken about 3 words so far and we know nothing about her or her background. But she's a master of disguise and a fantastic escape artist, so that's cool.
I could whine that this book doesn't stand on it's own at all, but that would be silly since I was just wishing for the next multi-book arc to start already. I feel like there's a happier medium between no continuity from book to book, and ending a book with zero resolution, but given the choice between the two, I'll land on the latter. These books are really too short to tell a really satisfying story in just one volume.
C
Background: The Deadly Hunter came out in December 2000. It was written by [a:Jude Watson|11912|Jude Watson|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1403530689p2/11912.jpg].
The Deadly Hunter begins some time (probably a few months) after [b:The Shattered Peace|350404|The Shattered Peace (Star Wars Jedi Apprentice, #10)|Jude Watson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1394310192s/350404.jpg|340653] (my review), 43 years before the Battle of Yavin and 11 years before The Phantom Menace. Most of the book takes place on Coruscant, with minor appearances by Yoda and Tahl. Didi Oddo, the owner of the cafe that will eventually become Dex's Diner (from Attack of the Clones), is a major character.
Summary: Finally back on Coruscant after some time away, Obi-Wan is looking forward to some much-needed rest. Instead, he and Qui-Gon are drawn into a new adventure when they learn that someone has placed a deathmark on Qui-Gon's friend Didi Oddo, and a particularly competent bounty hunter is on his trail. Unfortunately, interference from the Jedi makes them her newest targets.
Review: After the last two books in this series, the pace of The Deadly Hunter feels relentless, although that may also be in part because it's a bit shorter than most. The book also ends on probably the biggest cliffhanger of the series to this point, which may also be part of why it's so short. They can either end the story there, or keep going and have a double-length book.
Anyway. It occurred to me when I was nearly through that this book was structured a bit like a Hardy Boys mystery, with the constant danger (but not too much danger), stingers at the end of every chapter, and the investigation that slowly ties together several different, seemingly-unrelated strands. My biggest complaint is that it actually doesn't quite tie everything together that well by the end. Part of that, of course, is because the book ends before the plot is totally resolved, but even so, I'm not sure all the different pieces of the mystery fit together into a puzzle that makes sense.
I'm sure some of this will be explained in the next entry, but I think we still have another case of an antagonist who is just a little bit too good. And I get it! I'm sure it's very challenging to come up with bad guys who can plausibly hold their own against the Jedi, but still, there's a freakish level of perfection to the schemes deployed against our heroes. Plus, they're forced to act totally illogically for the sake of the plot. A friend of the Jedi who is in deadly danger is located on Coruscant about 20 minutes from the Jedi Temple, but somehow it never occurs to anyone that they should send him there for safekeeping, even as they're actively wondering, "Hmm . . . Where can we keep you safe?" Umm . . . Hello?
I have one other complaint about the so-far-nameless bounty hunter the book is titled after: She wields a laser whip, which is a weapon that makes no sense. Other than that, she's a pretty cool . . . Well I hesitate to call her a character, since she's spoken about 3 words so far and we know nothing about her or her background. But she's a master of disguise and a fantastic escape artist, so that's cool.
I could whine that this book doesn't stand on it's own at all, but that would be silly since I was just wishing for the next multi-book arc to start already. I feel like there's a happier medium between no continuity from book to book, and ending a book with zero resolution, but given the choice between the two, I'll land on the latter. These books are really too short to tell a really satisfying story in just one volume.
C