Plot’s nothing special, but this book gets characterization perfectly - Greg Bear’s versions of Anakin and Obi-Wan are fantastic. Anakin and the power inside him, how it explodes out frighteningly, and for no one more frighteningly than Anakin. There’s this one line where he says, ‘I burn like a sun inside’ and that’s the sort of dramatic foreshadowing that makes Star Wars and the prequels so special. And Obi-Wan, how clearly over his head he is and how he manages anyway, how fiercely he loves his Padawan and what a good Jedi he’s becoming as he crosses the line between a late bloomer of a Padawan to the famed Negotiator. However, the other characters are nothing special, including Tarkin as their villain, doing his villainous deeds for reasons I didn’t care enough about to remember. And while a living planet and alien biotechnology are some of the cool sci-fi ideas that makes Star Wars so fantastic, I got bored very quickly with how much time was being spent on them. The plot, as is often the case in these legends novels, took up more space than it deserved, because I guarantee you no one is reading these books for the plot.
Check updates for other thoughts I had while reading this.