Jedi Apprentice #12 - The Evil Experiment
by Jude Watson

Published by Scholastic

Scott's Rating:   3 out of 4

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This is the twelfth book in the Jedi Apprentice series. Qui-Gon has been captured and imprisoned by the evil scientist Jenna Zan Arbor. She has weakened him and taken samples of his blood in order to study the Force. Unable to fight his captor, Qui-Gon wages a mental and emotional battle with Arbor. But how long can he survive?

Meanwhile, Obi-Wan and Astri attempt to find Qui-Gon. Astri's father, Didi, has also been poisoned by one of the bounty hunter's weapons and only Jenna Zan Arbor has the antidote. The two follow the trail of the bounty hunter in hopes of saving both Qui-Gon and Didi.

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Scott:

    This book explores a very interesting concept - how would one scientifically examine the Force? You would think that if people saw thousands of Jedi throughout the galaxy doing impossible feats, there would be more than a few questions about the Force. That's one of the odd things in many of the books - despite seeing actual evidence of the power of the Force, most bad guys (and girls) completely dismiss it. Here, the villain not only believes in the existence of it, but wants to study it. She does a scientific investigation of it by capturing and studying Jedi. It is also apparent here that people outside of the Jedi order are not aware of midi-chlorians.

Obi-Wan has some good action scenes with the bounty hunter. It's also interesting to see him pull rank with the Coruscant security force. He's becoming more like the Obi-Wan we saw in Episode I.

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Scott:

    The previous book in this story arc was unique because it had a distinct mystery feel to it. Unfortunately, that was totally dropped in this book. The only mystery was the location of Qui-Gon, and that was about it. Most of the other questions from the first book are answered here.

The ending of this one is also rather lame. As you would expect, Obi-Wan does find Qui-Gon. It is totally set up as an easy escape. Obi-Wan is stronger than his opponents and the facility is not well guarded. He is also able to run free through the complex, kick butt, and take names. However, through rather weak circumstances, Qui-Gon is left to rot till the next novel. I just didn't buy it.

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Scott:

    Nothing to add here.

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