Hi! I just read through your whole "screw qui-gon" rant and I'm wildly intrigued by pretty much all of it, but haven't read a lot of star wars stuff. Curious if "Masters and Apprentice" is worth checking out, and if you have any other recs for a dear obi-wan kenobi enjoyer <3
Id recommend 'wild space' just because it's written 1:1 fanfiction style with extremely gratuitous amounts of whump, and also it features bail organa and obi-wan kenobi having to endure The Horrors together, and imo that's a fun rare combo. anakin and obi-wan are separated for most of the book but anakin is beside himself about obi-wan's absence. and there's a bit of good lore dropped regarding some of obi-wan's apprenticeship under qui-gon. keep in mind it falls into the 'legends' catalogue, so "not canon," but wtf is canon in the bullshit fever dream landscape of star war
as for 'masters and apprentice' ahhhhhh idk. it's lame if you're looking for a modicum of sincerity and sweetness between jinn and obi-wan. idk why writers in the sci-fi action realm are so allergic to emotional vulnerability and affection and so on and so forth but the book is just over all dry and qui-gon is so, SO very insufferable. borderline negligent and cold towards obi-wan and never communicates shit to him but you already saw me rant about all that lmao. Id be down for a complicated, turbulent master-student relationship, but qui-gon never faces any fucking consequences and it's obi-wan who's framed like he's i the wrong, and that gets on my nerves so badly
um um the now-not-canon 'kenobi' novel I started but never finished. sorry yall I thought the lady was dry and I didnt gaf about her and I felt it was weird that the author couldnt help herself but to shoehorn in some hetero ass romantic tension
'padawan' I have but never started lmao. based on the description it sounds like obi-wan and qui-gon are separated for most of it and it sounds like qui-gon is a manchild idiot like always but! I cant in good conscience tell you one way or the other whether it's worth the read because. I havent read it lmao
the jedi apprentice series I got halfway through. the first like three or four books is interesting enough, really focusing on the (albeit often frustrating) dynamic between kenobi and jinn. but then it started to get more into detached, formulaic adventuring, and obi-wan and qui-gonn kept getting separated. the xanatos lore was mostly fun though, if you can get past how painfully obvious it is that none of this is canon lol. there is ofc more heterosexual bullshit w the author feeling the need to set up obi-wan w one of his persnickety classmates, and since this is ~*the 90s*~, the authors commentary on this thirteen year-old girl is so insanely uncomfy. and the discussion about how "weird" it is that her hair is buzzed short "like a boy" hello??? aren't we in star wars???? theres ppl w gills and shit and you still feel the need to lampshade postmodern western gender standards over a middle schoolers HAIR??? orz anyway!! you also get the melida/daan stuff out of j/a which is an interesting and notorious arc but it's also fucking infuriating in some respects bc qui-gonn could not have handled that situation worse. and part of the reason he so egregiously fumbled (this is what I was talking about w the 'leaving your sixth grader child weaponless and homeless on a war-torn planet with no way of getting back and never attempting to look for him and even snubbing him when he calls oUT FOR HELP) is because of!! guess!!! *~heterosexual bullshit~* I really want to like taal but the way shes used a macguffin for Jinn Angst makes her repulsive to me. thats the authors fault tho she didn't do anything wrong </3
theres another book I leafed. I cant even remember wtf it's called (checks amazon purchase history) rogue planet. this book takes place shortly after obi-wan began mentoring anakin. so ig theres potential there w exploring a pretty nebulous period of both characters' lives. but everybody said rogue planet was fucking strange (even! for STAR WARS!) and I was like cmone how bad can it be. anyway I read it and yes it's bizarre. anakin is really annoying but ig that's appropriate for his nine year old ass self. qui-gon somehow manages to be a huge bitch FROM THE GRAVE!!!
and then theres 'brotherhood' which is also gathering dust on my shelf unread. I was just skimming through it when I first got it and it seemed par for the course w sci-fi action writer not being allowed, or not personally having the wherewithal, to write a compelling familial relationship between two men. also it seemed like anakin and obi-wan are separated for a lot of it, just like obi-wan and jinn in 'padawan.' what the fuck is the poooinnnttt but idk!! grain of salt!!! I didn't actually read it!!!
tl;dr: read 'wild space' it's great. ignore everything else. have fun!