Jedi Trial: Star Wars: A Clone Wars Novel (Star Wars: Clone Wars (Del Rey Hardcover)) [Hardcover]

In some way Jedi Trial isn't as bad as The Cestus Deception, in some ways a bit worse, but it's inconceivable to me why it's the worst books they're releasing in hardcover these days, leaving the far superior entries, like Hard Contact and Dark Rendezvous, to paperback.

This book is basically a sustained battle scene, and as far as that goes it's okay -- and it's very clear that these writers know their tactics and strategy when it comes to large military engagements -- but, with a few notable exceptions ("the Avenger"), the action doesn't achieve much intensity, nor does it show us anything particularly interesting or innovative. While the sheer scale -- 1,000,000 battle droids vs 70,000 biologicals -- is pretty impressive, the battles in both Shatterpoint and Hard Contact were more engaging, with more kinetic action and more interesting, thoughtful engagements. So while there is a lot of action, none of it's particularly interesting, and it comes at the expense of character.

The characters for the most part are interchangeable and without character -- take any snippet of dialogue, and for the most part it could easily be attributed to any of the characters in the novel. Characters are just introduced and then imperiled before we have any idea who they are, let alone any reason to care for them, and they never seem to develop throughout the book; the chock romance is particularly clumsily handled -- "Everyone I know just died!" "Hey! Me too! Ah, well, let's be buddies!" "Great!" "Cool, now you're an honorary fighter jock!" "I love you!" pretty much sums up the character development in this book. The clones also acted a little off, compared to how they've been portrayed in other sources. Though it was cool to finally see Anakin gain some sense of the big picture, of command, so that we can actually believe that he will grow into such a fearsome military man as Vader is reputed to be.

Also, I kept thinking I was reading a YA novel. The prose was clumsy and boring, with simple sentences and often awkward paragraph structure -- and more typos than are usually found in Star Wars novels. And the authors had an exceedingly annoying habit of showing us a thing, and then, just in case we were too stupid to pick it up, spelling it out for us explicitly. We're not stupid, fellas. We can pick up what's going on, and don't need you to tell us two or four times.

And the Jedi were wasted. We have our Troubled Young Jedi and another Jedi who's got his own problems -- and they don't get to do anything. For the most part, they don't do anything much with the Force, they don't act particularly competent, they don't act particularly serene or Jedi-like, and apart from one scene, there isn't even any cool lightsaber action.

All of what should have been the most interesting scenes in this book are glossed over with throwaway lines, which is also very frustrating.

This isn't a completely awful book, but it's short and sophomoric enough that it would have been much better off as a paperback supplement novel than an "event" hardcover. And it's truly a shame than one of the much finer Star Wars novels out there will probably be often overlooked because it's a video game tie-in and overshadowed by this clunky, underwhelming hardcover with yet another busy Anderson cover.

Star Wars: Jedi Trial is the story of Anakin Skywalker and Nejaa Halcyon and their fight to free a crucial communications hub from the Separatists. Along the way, there are many many battle descriptions that are well done. The military background of the author's is obvious. Although I'm not sure that the Jedi would have studied Napoleon and used his tactics in such a big battle, but hey I'm a military historian, so I should recognize that stuff. The side stories involving individual stories are interesting however, they seem to overwhelm the main characters. What gets this book 3 stars is the weak characterization of Anakin Skywalker in the beginning of the book. He is portrayed not as a character who has already fallen to the dark side once, but as a more happy, but impatient Padawan. It's not till the end that the characterization becomes slightly accurate and the dark side of Skywalker comes out kinda of. Nejaa Halcyon is underused and that was truly dissappointing. Overall, Jedi Trial is not a very good Star Wars book.

Once again, I found myself hesitant to read Jedi Trial after looking at one bad review after another. Although I didn't find the novel awful like some people did, it did have more weaknesses than strengths, making it a lackluster addition to the Expanded Universe of Star Wars. But first, the basic plot.

The Galactic Communications Center located on the planet of Praesitlyn has been invaded and overrun by the Separatists. The Center is the hub of the Republic's communications and the destruction or disabling of it would be disastrous. The Jedi Council sends Master Nejaa Halcyon and Padawan Anakin Skywalker, along with a battalion of clone troopers, to Praesitlyn to recover and preserve the integrity of the Center. Aiding the Republic Army are Praesitlyn's military (or what's left of them) and a "renegade" group called the Sons and Daughters of Freedom.

The only strength of this book is the telling of the battles. The authors have extensive military background and it shows. In fact, they show it too much and for someone like me that has no military experience, I found it to be a bit over my head. They really delve into the tactical and logistical aspects of going into battle. For example, at least a page is spent quantifying how much water a clone trooper consumes in a day and how much water is needed to support an entire army per day. Although interesting, I think a sentence or two could have amply covered that topic.

One glaring weakness is the misleading title of the book. Anakin is obviously one of the main characters of the book and this assignment is his "trial" to become a full-fledged Jedi Knight. What this book proved, however, was that he was a brilliant and effective military commander. You don't see his character develop at all in any other aspect. The Force and his oneness with it is only mentioned once during a sequence at the end of the story. So, what spectacular thing did he do to prove that he was worthy to become a Jedi Knight? Nothing that I saw.

Another weakness was the interchangability of the story. Star Wars stories have a certain flavor and charm to them that make them unique. This story could have been written in any time frame and in any location and the characters in the Star Wars movies could have been replaced by anyone else. Leave out the lightsabers and the Force, and you're left with a typical ho-hum military story. And, you never get a good idea of what any of the characters not in the movies really look like. Thank goodness for the movies or you wouldn't know what anyone looked like.

Last, but definitely not least, the love story between recon trooper Odie Subu and pilot Erk H'Arman was ridiculous. Now, I don't mind a love story going on in the middle of a war. I'm sure it happens and has happened in real life in real wars. However, the authors did a terrible job developing this side plot. Their romance happened very fast, too fast, to make it believable. And their "tender" moments took place at very unlikely times. I don't know about you, but if I was stuck in the middle of a desert with no water and no transportation and the nearest sign of life was 50 kilometers away and enemies were swarming all over the place, the LAST thing I would be thinking about is romance.

All in all, the authors really gloss over everything except the battles. This makes sense due to their background, but makes for a very weak addition to the Clone Wars novels and a disappointing transition into Anakin's knighthood. If you have a military background or like that kind of thing, you will enjoy this novel. However, if you are a die hard fan of Star Wars, like I am, you will be disappointed by the lack of character development and lack of Star Wars flavor that you will find in novels like Republic Commando: Hard Contact, Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, and Shatterpoint. I still think it's worth reading, but if you choose to skip this one, you won't miss out on much.

May the Force be with you!