Do you want to make people smile? Get The Jedi Path (Vault Edition) and tell them to push the button.
I brought this to my local Star Wars club meeting, yesterday, and people actually squealed with delight when the vault opened. And when they calmed down enough to do it again and listen to the sound effects? Delighted claps that made them look like five-year-olds on their birthdays.
Going beyond the coolness of the vault, the book itself is fantastic! It’s designed as an orientation manual/text book for younglings at the Jedi Temple that has been passed from master to apprentice in a line descending from Yoda to, belatedly, Luke. (And, yes, they explain how this happens.)
As with many textbooks, it’s filled with notes scribbled in the margins. And I think this is my favorite part. It represents a conversation through the ages. And Dan Wallace really captures each owner’s voice in these notes. Of particular amusement, however, are Darth Sidious’ notes after he captured the book in the Order 66 aftermath.
There are also tons of keepsakes inserted by its various owners that are hilarious. My only complaint would be a coin that keeps falling out of the book and rolling across the room; a particular source of amusement for my dogs. I suspect that will make it difficult to keep this collectible intact in the future.
As to the book itself? It’s a brilliant compilation of thirty-three years of Star Wars lore in a spackle job at a level not seen since Michael Stackpole’s I, Jedi untangled the Bantam Era. Contradictions are explained. Disparate details from several different authors are melded into a coherent theory. And it’s all in the style of textbook; along with some stunning illustrations.
I’m no Santa Maul, but I would definitely add this one to your holiday/birthday wish list.
Obi-Wan and Anakin are still stuck on Lanteeb, a planet far in the Outer Rim and of seeming little consequence. The Lanteebans pose no apparent strategic value to the Republic or Separatists; it’s an attitude that grossly misjudges the efforts of captured scientist Bant’ena Fhernan. She’s been hired to construct a virus to end all viruses, a massive biological weapon that will sway the war in Dooku’s favor, but getting materials for it isn’t easy. The key ingredient, damotite, lays deep within the sinuous mines of Lanteeb and Separatist overseer Lok Durd rides the locals hard with threats of drastic food and water rationing if his unreasonable quota and timetable aren’t met.
Luke and Ben are forced to confront a group of Sith ships floating above Dathomir when all they really want to do is get back to business. Luke not only wants to exonerate himself, but thinks following Jacen’s path to darkness may give him the insight he needs to prevent another Jedi from falling to the Dark Side. But these Sith have some information that Luke might be interested in—information regarding Sith who may be succumbing to the same dementia plaguing young Jedi across worlds.
Karen Miller’s high regard and curiosity concerning Obi-Wan Kenobi is quite charming. In her second Star Wars book, Clone Wars Gambit: Stealth, every character has a lot to shoulder in the war, even (and especially) Obi-Wan.
Luke and Ben seemed to have abandoned their mission to uncover the murky truth of Jacen’s turn to the Dark Side during the third FOTJ book,