Obi-Wan's left the Jedi Order in favor of joining the Young on Melida/Daan. He has become one of the founding members of the new government along with Cerasi and Nield, overseeing security. Unfortunately, the young leaders are learning that while peace was hard won, it's even harder to maintain, especially with only grudging support from the Middle Generation and hostility from the Elders. Meanwhile, Qui-Gon has returned to Coruscant with the injured Tahl, who is confirmed to be permanently blinded by the injuries she received on Melida/Daan. Yoda distracts the both of them by assigning them to discover who a new mysterious thief in the Temple is. As Obi-Wan starts to question his decision to leave the Jedi in favor of helping a single conflict, Qui-Gon wrestles with whether or not it had been a good decision to take Obi-Wan on in the first place.

I think this was my favorite book of the series so far. Watson did a pretty good job of capturing the uncertainty that both Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon are suffering under after Obi-Wan left the Jedi and Qui-Gon didn't fight him about it. Both of them gave me a lot of "use your words!" feels when Qui-Gon returns to Melida/Daan at Obi-Wan's request to help quell a new flare-up of hostilities. Tahl is an absolute gem and I loved every scene she's in. I can't wait to see more of her in the course of the series. ( )

Pretty much all the books in this series can be summed up thusly: "And yet another example of why Qui-Gon was the worst Master ever." Oh, Obi-Wan. As soon as you hitched your wagon to his, you were bound to become a crazy desert hermit. ( )