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"After
the rather shocking ending of The Death of
Hope, the plot of The Call to Vengeance was fairly clear
from the offset: Qui-Gon would battle his slide to the dark side in
the wake of Tahl’s death.
"This is, basically, what happens. There are several twists and
turns as both Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan independently track down the
culprits, none of which seem to perform any other function than to
delay the inevitable. This is the problem that is now plaguing the Jedi
Apprentice series: there is too much repetitious meandering of
the storytelling. The separate volumes have fallen into a definite
pattern, and although they are all constructed around different
places/characters/events, the central idea behind the stories is
tediously predictable. The series as a whole has lost its edge
through excessive protraction. The Call to Vengeance suffers
a lot due to this. Qui-Gon’s internal struggle is fine, as is Obi-Wan’s
strained relationship with long time friend, Bant and the cameo by
Mace Windu adds a touch of gravitas. Nevertheless, it is impossible
to shake of the feeling of déjà vu as the detective work
continues. Even the duplicitous nature of one of the supporting
characters comes as no surprise (I had suspected as much since the
middle of the previous book).
"The Jedi Apprentice series is growing
tired. It will hopefully wrap itself up with a bang in the final two
volumes, rather than dwindling into mediocrity."
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