Continuing the positive trend from my previous reviews of Shipyards of Doom (which I felt was a weak first digest) to the very strong Crash Course, now comes The Wind Raiders of Taloraan – which may not be quite as good as Crash Course, but is still an excellent story in its own right. If you’re a fan of the new animated series and are skipping over these books, you’re missing out on some excellent additional stories that could just as easily be episodes themselves. Like most of these stories, The Wind Raiders of Taloraan starts out in the middle of a pitched battle… to read more, click on the link.

The Republic and Separatist forces battle for control of the world of Kothlis, home of the Bothans and their spy network. Once the outcome of the battle is unquestionably going to fall into the favor of the Republic (in other words, once the Separatists no longer outnumber the Republic forces) – the CIS cedes the battle. This allows the Jedi delegation to speak with members of the Bothan government (Secretary Fey’lya, in what I assume is a nice nod to the predecessors of Borsk) to determine their alliance – but Anakin’s green apprentice gets the Jedi delegation into hot water when she accuses the Bothans of lying.

Yoda decides it’s high time for Ahsoka to learn the art of negotiation – a sorely lacking skill in this age of battle hardened Padawans. Obi-Wan, Anakin and Ahsoka are sent to the unaligned world Taloraan, where Tibana gas is mined. Yoda hopes the Jedi can secure this resource for the Republic – but will the natives negotiate in good faith, or have they already chosen a side – and what of the Wind Raiders themselves, a group of pirates who operate within the hidden depths of the Tibana gas clouds?

There are a lot of great moments in this book, moments that fit each character perfectly. The use of humor is not overdone, but is appropriate and genuinely funny. Ahsoka makes novice mistakes, but ultimately she does learn the art of negotiation. There are a couple of dark moments – similar to the series itself I would say the digests haven’t shied away from them – but it’s still all ages appropriate. These are the same artists from the first two Clone Wars digests, and I have to say they have improved dramatically – I think this is their best work so far. I feel like everything has really come together in this series of digests, and I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next with The Colossus of Destiny.