December 15, 2004
The spring 2005 release of " Revenge of the Sith," latest of the Star Wars movies, inches closer, and the Star Wars novels are building up to it by chronicling events before Anakin Skywalker's inevitable turn to the dark side. Stewart's entry focuses on Yoda, who has just received a message from Count Dooku, his former protege, now a powerful player on the dark side. According to his message, Dooku wants to meet with Yoda to talk about cessation of hostilities between the republic and the separatists. Yoda knows Dooku is trying to deceive him but hopes he might be able to reach his old pupil and convince him to turn away from the dark side. Yoda selects two Jedi knights and their young Padawans (Jedis-in-training) to accompany him on the mission. But with the ominous dreams of one of the Padawans foreshadowing disaster, the Jedi master might not have a chance of surviving, let alone succeeding in, his mission. Stewart delivers an exciting, fast-paced tale.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)