Star Wars: Brotherhood by Mike Chen

Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker must stem the tide of the raging Clone Wars and forge a new bond as Jedi Knights. The Clone Wars have begun. Battle lines are being drawn throughout the galaxy. With every world that joins the Separatists, the peace guarded by the Jedi Order is slipping through their fingers. After an explosion devastates Cato Neimoidia, the jewel of the Trade Federation, the Republic is blamed and the fragile neutrality of the planet is threatened. The Jedi dispatch Obi-Wan Kenobi, one of the Order's most gifted diplomatic minds, to investigate the crime and maintain the balance that has begun to dangerously shift. As Obi-Wan investigates with the help of a heroic Neimoidian guard, he finds himself working against the Separatists who hope to draw the planet into their conspiracy-and senses the sinister hand of Asajj Ventress in the mists that cloak the planet. Amid the brewing chaos, Anakin Skywalker rises to the rank of Jedi Knight. Despite the mandate that Obi-Wan travel alone-and his former master's insistence that he listen this time-Anakin's headstrong determination means nothing can stop him from crashing the party, and bringing along a promising but conflicted youngling. Once a Padawan to Obi-Wan, Anakin now finds himself on equal-but uncertain-footing with the man who raised him. The lingering friction between them increases the danger for everyone around them. The two knights must learn a new way to work together-and they must learn quickly, to save Cato Neimoidia and its people from the fires of war. To overcome the threat they face they must grow beyond master and apprentice. They must stand together as brothers.

While I have this book a 5 star rating, I will say that it took me a bit of time to get into. After all, I managed to put it down for a little over a year. However, when I finally picked it back up I was completely absorbed by the story and read the rest of it in one sitting. Chen captures the characters of Obi-Wan and Anakin really well, and manages to write a compelling story with fantastic original characters (I loved both Mill and Ruug), something that can on occasion be difficult with the constraints of canon and the general style of Star Wars. Overall I think this is a story completely worth its praise, and it was just what I needed to balance out the mountain of classics I'm currently climbing.

As I was in a bit of a reading slump for quite a while, I hadn't kept up with any of the new Star Wars canon, so this wasn't even on my radar really. But the Star Wars Badonkagonk podcast hosts decided they were going to read this and then review it by the next episode, so here I am!

From the very first chapters it's clear that Mike Chen has their voices and relationship down. These characters are Anakin and Obi-Wan, with a fun and entertaining storyline to boot. The prequel trilogy and The Clone Wars will always be near and dear to my heart as they were the ones I grew up with and the first I ever saw of Star Wars. After all the content we've already gotten, it's still surprising to get even more stuff. Even the new characters were great.

I spent a lot of time highlighting quotes because I just wanted to take them in for a bit. Even if it was just a dig at sand lmao.

Very much recommended if you're into this era!