Finished Reading Jedi Apprentice 14-16

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Things I liked:

-I really liked this passage in book #14: "They spent the next hour hiking over sheer rock, which led them to forest trails. The trail left by the Jedi was difficult, but with eyes sharpened by the Force they were able to pick up the minute differences in soil, leaves, and snow that indicated a presence had passed." It sets up Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan using this skill in book #15. I also like how it seems to describe what Hunter from the Bad Batch does, which just makes me want to write him as Force sensitive.

-I liked that in book #15 Obi-Wan disagrees with Qui-Gon and is able to state to Qui-Gon why he thinks that Qui-Gon's actions go against Jedi teaching, and then Obi-Wan chooses to do what he thinks is right. It brings up the Melida/Daan arc and in the moment that Obi-Wan begins to question if he's done the right thing Qui-Gon stops what he's doing, joins Obi-Wan, and then agrees that he'd been wrong and Obi-Wan had been right, and they have a brief discussion about it. It felt like their relationship had matured from the Melida/Daan arc, which worked well with the time jumps since Obi-Wan is sixteen in this.

-In book #16 Qui-Gon needs to get into a med center and there is a blind woman in front of him. She's have a bit of difficulty finding the door and Qui-Gon considers just opening it for her, but then he remembers how Tahl didn't like him just doing things for her so he tells the woman which way she needs to move her hand and lets her do it for herself. Later when Qui-Gon needs a distraction the woman provides a distraction for him. Qui-Gon thanks her and she thanks him for offering assistance when she needed it, but understanding how to help her, basically saying thanks for helping me when I needed it, but doings so in a way that respected my autonomy. Tahl had been blind for several books and her accepting help and others around her learning how to help in a way that didn't violate her autonomy had been explored, so this wasn't a lesson I expected to be so spelled out so eloquently in this book.

-Bant and Mace as background characters in book #16. Bant is dealing with grief in this book and upset with Obi-Wan for not including her when it was her Master who was missing. She and Obi-Wan have to learn to navigate this new dynamic to their friendship. Obi-Wan has several moments where he laminates how he's used to being able to lean on Bant and just tell her all of his problems, but now he's realizing that he needs to be there for her in the same capacity. It was a lot of these two learning how to navigate grief, distrust, and growing into adulthood together. Mace was a steady presence and often a much needed voice of reason in this. I love Mace as a character, but sometimes in different books when he's a background character he can turn into kind of an angry caricature and I always feel myself bracing for it and it tends to sour my like for whatever I'm reading as it seems OoC and racist. This one didn't. There are times Qui-Gon avoids Mace because he doesn't want to do what he knows Mace will tell him to and doesn't want to talk, but the narrative lets you know that this isn't right and isn't mature on Qui-Gon's part. Mace is there trying to navigate a difficult situation while also providing emotional support for his fellow Jedi, two of who are grieving adolescents. I really liked the way both Mace and Bant were written in this.

Things I'm on the fence about:

-The entire premise of this arc is to set up Qui-Gon struggling and almost falling to the dark side in book #16. His struggle with wanting vengeance and the way he recognized he was walking a dark path and the way that was described was really interesting. I liked Obi-Wan's recognition of what was happening and his stress about how to help. At one point the narrative almost gave the sense that if Qui-Gon fell to the dark side he'd drag Obi-Wan along with him, which honestly would make an interesting fanfic. Xanatos gets brought up briefly and his fall could have been explored more in a way that allowed Qui-Gon to process his emotions or compare and contrast and it just wasn't. I hated that Tahl got fridged for this exploration.

Things I didn't like:

-I am really glad I went into this series knowing that Tahl was getting fridged before I started reading. I really disliked that Tahl and Qui-Gon confess their love for each other and then immediately after Tahl is kidnapped.

-In book #14 Qui-Gon has a vision of Tahl dying. He doesn't tell anyone, but he lets it drive nearly all of his actions for the next two books. Tahl has a mission, she tells him not to follow. She doesn't take her padawan, Bant, and is out of touch for three weeks. Qui-Gon goes to Yoda. Yoda reminds him that Tahl is capable and she doesn't want him to follow. Qui-Gon goes anyway. He just does what he wants and doesn't offer an explanation, except his realizing he's in love with Tahl and confessing this to her at the end of book #14. I saw a review that basically said Qui-Gon just walked all over other people's boundaries and the narrative rewarded him for it and honestly that's how this felt. It was really frustrating!