A new month means two new monthly reads! The theme for March is REPUBLIC, and we’ve finished counting up all the votes. This month we’ll be reading THE RISING STORM and THE HIGH REPUBLIC (ISSUES 1-15)!
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I finished reading The Phantom Menace by Terry Brooks yesterday. Some excerpts that I liked and felt tighten my heart:
[ID] "I want to fly ships to those worlds one day," Anakin said softly.
Wald snorted doubtfully. "You're a slave, Annie. You can't go anywhere."
The old pilot looked down at Anakin. The boy couldn't look at him. "Well," he said softly, "in this life you're often born one thing and die another. You don't have to accept that what you're given when you come in is all you'll have when you leave." [End]
[ID] When he was finished, he drew his droid aside. "Which ones are best, See-Threepio?" he asked. He'd given it a number the night before, choosing three because the droid made the third member of his little family after his mother and himself. [End]
[ID] "I had a dream I was a Jedi," the boy said quickly, anxious to talk about it now. "I came back here and freed all the slaves. I dreamed it just the other night, when I was out in the desert." He paused, his young face expectant. "Have you come to free us?" [End]
[ID] "You should be proud of your son," Qui-Gon said after a moment. "He gives without any thought of reward."
Shmi nodded, a smile flitting over her worn face. "He knows nothing of greed. Only of dreams. [End]
To think about how this will go.
[ID] When they disembarked from the suttle at the landing platform, R2-D2 was already bustling about. The little droid beeped at Anakin cheerfully, then wandered over to the edge of the rampway to look down at the traffic. In doing so, he leaned out too far and tumbled over. Anakin gasped, but a second later the astromech droid reappeared, boosted back onto the rampway by his onboard jets. On hearing R2-D2's ensuing flurry of chirps and whistles, the boy smiled in spite of himself. [End]
Ani was saddened by the disagreement between Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan over training him. And he was overwhelmed by Coruscant.
[ID] Anakin Skywalker had made a promise to himself that he would protect Qui-Gon Jinn and Padmé Naberrie from harm, that he would see to it somehow that nothing bad happened to them. He knew when he made the promise how hard it was going to be to keep. Somewhere in the back of his mins where he would admit such things privately, he knew how foolish it was even to make such a commitment. But he was young and brave at heart, and he had lived his life pretty much on his own terms because to live it any other way would have broken him long ago. It hadn't been easy doing so, especially as a slave. He had survived mostly because he had been able to find small victories in difficult situations and because he had always believed that one day he wouls find a way to overcome the circumstances of his birth.
His believe in himself had been rewarded. His life had been changed forever by his victory just days earlier in the Boonta Eve Podrace on Tatooine. [End]
[ID] Footsteps approached, and a metallic droid voice demanded, "Where is your pilot?"
R2-D2 beeped bravely in reply.
"You are the pilot?"
The astromech droid whistled affirmatively. [End]
No Artoo protecting little Anakin!!
I should mention. At the beginning of the book there is a scene where Anakin goes to the desert to trade some parts and droids for Watto, and on the way home he finds a wounded Tusken. Anakin approaches curiously, thinks he is dead. When he sees that the man is alive, Anakin does what he can to help him, despite knowing the stories and of Threepio's warnings. He spends the night watching, worried that the man won't recover on his own and unsure how to act. Later, others of his people come for him and Ani can go home at dawn.
There's also this part where Anakin dreams of an older Padmé leading an army to war.
I wonder if Brooks talked to George Lucas about the story and knew where it was going, or was he simply guided by the Force or something. Thinking about the attack on Shmi and the Clone Wars.
I should also mention that I think the book was kind in Padmé's writing and I'm grateful for that. She is amazing but real. She is sweet, smart and strong. I love her.
