The Approaching Storm (Star Wars) [Hardcover]

Alan Dean Foster (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 29, 2002

In the years since the events of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, the Republic has continued to crumble, and more and more, the Jedi are needed to help the galactic government maintain order. As Star Wars: Episode II opens, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker have just returned from a mission on a world called Ansion. Written by beloved Star Wars veteran Alan Dean Foster, and starring a new character from the upcoming movie, The Approaching Storm tells the story of that daring mission.

The Republic is decaying, even under the leadership of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, who was elected to save the galaxy from collapsing under the forces of discontent. On the tiny but strategic planet of Ansion, a powerful faction is on the verge of joining the growing secessionist movement. The urban dwellers wish to expand into the prairies outside their cities–the ancestral territory of the fierce, independent Ansion nomads. If their demands are not met, they will secede–an act that could jump-start a chain reaction of withdrawal and rebellion by other worlds of the Republic.

At the Chancellor’s request, the Jedi Council sends two Jedi Knights, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luminara Unduli, to resolve the conflict and negotiate with the elusive nomads. Undaunted, Obi-Wan and Luminara, along with their Padawans Anakin Skywalker and Barriss Offee, set out across the wilderness. Many perils lie waiting to trap them. The Jedi will have to fulfill near-impossible tasks, befriend wary strangers, and influence two great armies to complete their quest, stalked all the while by an enemy sworn to see the negotiations collapse and the mission fail . . .

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

A Jedi adventure that foreshadows events in the upcoming movie, Star Wars: Episode II; by a popular genre author.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

“The best things are the new creations. The landscape and animal life of Ansion is wonderfully described. . . . [along with] some excellent fight scenes and a display of lightsaber gymnastics.”
–SFX Magazine

“FOSTER DELVES INTO THE INTERNAL CONFLICT OF ANAKIN SKYWALKER AND THE PSYCHE OF THE JEDI.”
–USA Today





From the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey; 1st edition (January 29, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345443004
• ISBN-13: 978-0345443007
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (90 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,309,945 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alan Dean Foster's work to date includes excursions into hard science-fiction, fantasy, horror, detective, western, historical, and contemporary fiction. He has also written numerous non-fiction articles on film, science, and scuba diving, as well as having produced the novel versions of many films, including such well-known productions as "Star Wars", the first three "Alien" films, "Alien Nation", and "The Chronicles of Riddick". Other works include scripts for talking records, radio, computer games, and the story for the first "Star Trek" movie. His novel "Shadowkeep" was the first ever book adapation of an original computer game. In addition to publication in English his work has been translated into more than fifty languages and has won awards in Spain and Russia. His novel "Cyber Way" won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990, the first work of science-fiction ever to do so.

Foster's sometimes humorous, occasionally poignant, but always entertaining short fiction has appeared in all the major SF magazines as well as in original anthologies and several "Best of the Year" compendiums. His published oeuvre includes more than 100 books.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars this is what happened just before Attack of the Clones, June 3, 2004

By 

Joe Sherry (Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Approaching Storm (Star Wars) (Hardcover)

Early in "Attack of the Clones" there is a line stating that Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker will be available to help protect Padme Amidala because they have just returned from a mission on Ansion? This seems to be just a throwaway line in the movie, a tiny bit of detail to provide coloring to the scene. In the larger Star Wars Universe, we now wonder what it was that Obi-Wan and Anakin were doing. What was this mission? "The Approaching Storm" is the story of this mission to Ansion.

Ansion is a small, unimportant planet. At least, that is how things appear to be on the surface. In reality, Ansion is a very important planet. It is tied with treaties and agreements to numerous other nearby planets and this makes the threats that Ansion might secede from the Republic to be very serious. If Ansion secedes, an entire star system will be pulled with it. To stop this secession, Chancellor Palpatine requests the Jedi Council send a couple of Jedi to Ansion to find a diplomatic solution to quietly find a way to keep Ansion in the Republic. The Jedi Council sends Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luminara Unduli, and their Padawan apprentices Anakin Skywalker and Barriss Offee.

"The Approaching Storm" is somewhat of an adventure story. It is well paced, has humor, some action and some politics. What I liked best about this novel was the characters of Luminara and Barriss. We got to see some of their perspective, but I would love to see a novel focus on these two characters. They provide a perfect counter balance to Anakin and Obi-Wan, and give a greater look at the variety of personalities in the Jedi Order.

Alan Dean Foster was the ghostwriter of the first Star Wars novelization, and he wrote the first Extended Universe novel "Splinter of the Mind's Eye". His latest Star Wars novel had a great feel to it, and it was so fast paced that I was able to easily finish it in two days. This isn't high literature, but it was certainly entertaining.

-Joe Sherry

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars not what I expected, but good just the same, March 16, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Approaching Storm (Star Wars) (Hardcover)

"the Approaching Storm" wasn't at all what I was expecting it to be when I first picked it up. Unlike most star wars books, it focuses more on character development and political intrigue then on space battles and lightsaber duels, and unlike most star wars books it is rather well written. The story itself revolves around two jedi knights, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luminara Unduli, and their respective padawans, Anakin Skywalker and Barriss Offee, as they set off to prevent a backward but strategically allied planet called Ansion from leaving the Republic. While the political talk and plotting was sort of hard to follow, I found myself swept away by Foster's descriptions of the planet and by the characters, especially Obi-Wan and Anakin. Obi-Wan is everything a powerful yet wise Jedi Knight should be, and Anakin is characterized as both willful and well-meaning, arrogant and vulnerable. Both characters are easily recognizable as the grown up versions of the characters that were introduced in Episode one, but at the same time both can be related to the characters they will become for "A New Hope." Luminara and Barriss were also well written and likable, although I can't help but think Foster could have come up with a better name then 'Barriss,' although that may not have been at his discretion.
My one problem with Foster's writing style is the formality of his language. I have a good vocabulary, but I still had to keep a dictionary handy while reading this book. The language is perfectly suited for description, and maybe the Jedi can get away with talking like that because they do seem like a formal crowd, but I just can't picture a hutt saying "Given that, I'm not surprised at the lack of enthusiasm on the part of your peurile hirelings." or Anakin responding to a statement with "Interminably." Even the two nut cases turned native guides talk like college proffesors. Beyond that and a couple of badly worded phrases, I was impressed with Foster's writing, which is almost never the case with a star wars novel.
I know from reading the reviews here at Amazon.com that a lot of people don't like the lack of action or the slow pace of this book. It's true that this book is not fast paced, and doesn't have any space battles, but it does have it's fair share of action, and the descriptions of the planet and the various animals and plants that the protagonists encounter on their journey more then make up for the lack of x-wings in this book. I would deffinately recommend it for older readers, but I think anyone belowe the age of fifteen might not enjoy it as much.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great plot ideas, but poorly written overall, February 11, 2002

By 

Another Guy From Atlanta (Clarksburg, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Approaching Storm (Star Wars) (Hardcover)

Two line summary: If you are not a hardcore Star Wars geek, you will probably not like this book. If you *ARE* a hardcore Star Wars geek, read this book for the plot and try to overlook the poor writing and sense that the book was rushed.

That having been said, I like most of the work of Alan Dean Foster. He is one of those authors that is not on my favorite list, but I know that when I pick up one of his books, more times than not, I will enjoy it. This book is not one of his better books simply because of poor writing.

The plot is a good plot. It not only fills in details of the politics of the Republic, it takes you into the hearts, minds and daily lives of two Jedi / Padawan pairs. Since one of these pairs is Obi Wan and Anakin, this becomes even more important to the plot of the next movie.

I want to add at this point that I have seen SW:Phantom Menace about 15-20 times and I have read this book. Here is what the book added to what I knew from Phantom Menace:
1) I now have a better understanding of general sense of the people of the Republic that the Senate is corrupt, the bureacracy is so great that it takes years to pass something of the greatest urgency and a lifetime to pass anything less important, and a majority of people feel there has to be a better way. Some planets are even organizing and considering leaving the Republic.
2) Senators live in luxury while most people in the galaxy struggle just to make ends meet in their day-to-day lives.

3) The taxing of trade routes that started just before Phantom Menace is still causing conflict between the people, merchants and the government.
4) While most people hate and distrust the Senate, most people love and trust the Jedi.
5) The book gave me interesting insight into the daily lives of both a Jedi and a Padawan.
6) Anakin has issues. Where most of his peers are calm and have only the smallest amount of turmoil within them, he has barely a surface of calm with a tempest of conflict beneath. Read the book for more.
7) Other Jedi, including Obi Wan, can sense that Anakin has these issues, but they also sense that there is nothing they can do to help until Anakin realizes he needs that help and asks for it. You get a sense of things leading to a single choice that will "kill" Anakin and give birth to Darth Vader.
8) And more...

What I did not like:
1) Phrases like "knocked on his butt" that you would never fit into a scene of the movie, but are used liberally throughout this book.
2) A sense that there are two stories going on here: one is the story of the 2 jedi and their padawans on a mission, and the other an excuse to drop hints about the "bad guys" of the next movie. This jedi story works well. The second does not.
3) After finishing the book, I was left with a general sense that this book was written for no other reason than to milk more money out of the dedicated fans (geeks like me). While a pessimistic argument could be put forward that *ALL* things Star Wars these days fall into this category, it is rare that I get that actual sense while reading/watching the piece.