Star Wars: The Clone Wars: No Prisoners by Karen TravissMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
After the prior book in "The Clone Wars" series was disappointing this one was such a delight. More than anything this is a book that seems to do retconning well. Before the prequel triolgy there were many Expanded Universe novels that referenced the past, and specifically the Clone Wars era. The prequel movies screwed up a lot of that and for a while it seemed like Lucas Books/Del Rey were just going to ignore it all and little attempt was made to retcon the Bantam books. Then post-Clone Wars movie more and more retconning began to take place. Some of it was good, but most of it was pretty sloppy- this book is a wonderful exception.
The book largely focuses on Ahsoka, whom I didn't really approve of joining the Universe, but since she is here this is not a bad take on her growth. Specifically, we get to see some of the tension between the Jedi and their discomfort with taking command when they are leading beings who have trained for this one purpose and often know better what to do. We are also shown a faction of the Jedi Order, much like religious denominations, and this explains the origin of some Jedi families that the prequel movies seemed to ban. In particular we get to see (view spoiler). Lastly, we get to see the fine line that Jedi, who are supposed to be keepers of the peace, but now are not only leading warriors, but also waging war themselves, have to walk. Different views on how to settle the conflict, with a dull ax or a fine scalpel, show the balance between war and peace, if not good and evil. And despite primarily focusing on one planet, the Universe and its' complexity spread by leaps and bounds.
This is hands down one of the best [top two, maybe number 1] Clone Wars novels on audio.
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