Reviews Books The JC Lit Reviews Special: JEDI TRIAL (spoilers)

Ugh. Another disappointment. This one wasn't as bad as The Cestus Deception, but it's inconceivable to me why it's the worst books they're releasing in hardcover these days.

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 miliatry 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.

This isn't an 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 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.

I'll give this one a 5.6, and it would probably be lower if I hadn't given The Cestus Deception a generous 5.

 

jedi trilobyte - have you been watching jeremiah.

Trilobite

No, why?

 

There's your hardcover worth, Mas: twice the price for dazzling razzle.

How many more books will Del Rey birth until SW is nothing but young adult---a laudable term no different to kids? Unless you think the excessive TPM screen time of Binks was a serendipitous oversight. You can be a photostat officer . . . or in simple English, a photocopy boy.

That's what I liked about Song of Ice and Fire: though Martin uses the same terms a trillion times over, his cast speaks with their own style. What I wouldn't give for a SW character to talk like Janos Slynt!

The days of Bantam are gone. Even the Corellian Trilogy was quite adult with its core characters . . . dammit if it Ossiliege didn't rock.

This is dismaying . . . Once again, it's up to Republic comics to keep something alive.

But Del Rey knows what it's doing.

 

Ugh, another grossly typical review from Mastadge

I think the only reviews worth listening to are Rhonderoo's and JT's at the moment. Which is all good.

 

Ugh, another grossly typical review from Mastadge

What's that supposed to mean? When I like a novel (or a film, or a comic, or whatever) I'm vocal about it, but when I don't, I'm equally vocal. I'm also honest about it. Just because a book has Star Wars on the cover doesn't mean I have to love it, and I get a little annoyed when I have to pay three times as much for a book that's not very good. You'll notice that of the Clone Wars novels, I gave Shatterpoint, MedStar I, and Hard Contact all good reviews, MedStar II a decent review, and only The Cestus Deception and Jedi Trial poor reviews. So two out of six is "grossly typical"?

I think the only reviews worth listening to are Rhonderoo's and JT's at the moment. Which is all good.

Yeah, only listen to the extremely wonderful reviews and ignore the people who didn't like it. The point of these threads is to see how a range of people like the book, not to lavish praise upon a book no matter what. If you like the book, then instead of coming in here and being rude to me, why don't you write up some kind of review and rate it yourself?

 

Counting 8 reviews: 64.35/8 = 8.04

 

JT, you should check the show out since you're a b5 fan. I asked because the you want war you've got a war line reminds me of part of a speech that one of the characters on the gave.

 

Ugh, another grossly typical review from Mastadge

I think the only reviews worth listening to are Rhonderoo's and JT's at the moment. Which is all good.

Maybe it's just me, but I usually agree with Mastadge's book reviews; not always, of course, but most of the time. To me, his reviews are worth listening: I'm usually looking forward to his opinions. There are different kinds of book readers, you know?

 

Now I just hope I'm going to like this, since I nearly always had to agree with Mas (saddly too with The Cestus Deception).
But still I hope, I'll like it as much as Rhonderoo . I don't like it to dislike a book .

 

I don't like to dislike books, either, and I was quite looking forward to Jedi Trial. Ah, well. Now I've got a Sean Stewart book to look forward to.

 

This seems to be a love it or hate it book. Naturally I'll probably be in the middle.

 

I neither love it nor hate it.

 

Oh, curse you for destroying my poorly put together theory.

 

How many more books will Del Rey birth until SW is nothing but young adult---a laudable term no different to kids?

Before JT, what was the last YA-ish book, though? Ruins?

 

*Shudders*

 

I'll take that as a yes. So they're running about one a year like that--while the numbers are higher than I'd like, they could be significantly worse....

 

I'll take that as a yes. So they're running about one a year like that--while the numbers are higher than I'd like, they could be significantly worse....

*waits for someone to mention the majority of the NJO books*

 

So they're running about one a year like that--while the numbers are higher than I'd like, they could be significantly worse....

Can't forget the Cestus Deception. That was more juvenile than this one. Although this one could start to bomb or start to rock.

 

It does pick up a bit about halfway through.

 

Good.

 

I would like to start with a statement about book reviews and my approach to them: I typically don't post reviews, I don't like to bash, I try to look for the good, and I rarely complain about little things.

That said... Jedi Trial was atrocious!

It felt like a Speed Racer version of Star Wars. The dialogue was terrible; all run together, changing directions in mid-paragraph/thought, and obvious. Each character was some sort of cheap cartoon knock-off of themselves; even those created just for this book. Odie and Erk's "romance" made me groan more than the Anakin/Padme scenes in AotC. The quartermaster should have just said, "I'm here to tell you that all I'm ever going to say is 'I'm here to tell you!'" And for all of his calculating genuis, Tonith simply didn't deliver as a villain. I mean, he put a guy in the corner for goodness' sakes!

And what makes all of this more of a let down is that there was TONS of potential with this book: Nejaa's history with Slayke, Anakin's first command and step into knighthood, the relationship between Nejaa and Anakin as married Jedi - I can't believe that they both revealed their secrets to each other and all it received was a toss-away couple of lines!

Not to mention that there was an over preponderance of text given to the details of waging war. I felt like I was being told what happens in battle instead of experiencing a Clone Wars conflict. I've never been one for reading about troop movements, supply lines, redoubts (saw that word a few times too many), etc., but this book just drowned the plot and potential character development in them. There were many times that I read for two or three paragraphs and I could have just as well been reading textbook about warmaking and its principles as a Star Wars novel.

Lastly, the book just ended. As quickly as we were thrust into this traveshamockery of a Clone Wars conflict, it ended with a predictable and unimpressive flash of Jedi brilliance from Anakin. When they were flying to the communicaitons center I was just waiting for Anakin to shout "Yippee! Now THIS is podracing!" The whole novel was a poorly-executed set up for a heroic-yet-tragic replay of Anakin's Tusken Raider camp "rescue" of his mother.

So, in sum, my dislikes of Jedi Trial include:
1) Poor characterization and character development
2) Terrible and unbelievable dialogue
3) Underdelivery on potential
4) Overuse of the technical aspects of warfare
5) Abrupt, predictable ending

I give it a 3 out of 10 for the reasons stated above and the fact that it was a hardback and, thus, more expensive.

P.S. I'm getting tired of characters being on the cover of novels but not doing anything in them; Count Dooku on The Cestus Deception and now Asajj Ventress on Jedi Trial.

 

jedimasterED, I wish you'd review books more often, because I agreed with most of your points and I'd like to see more of what you have to say about the other books.

anyway

Counting 9 reviews: 67.35/9 = 7.48

 

Well, Mas, it is nice to have company, isn't it? I posted a brief review of Republic Commando: Hard Contact and I'll probably start chiming in more often with future titles. I typically don't have much to say as my expectations are usually met. I don't expect earth-shattering, life-changing stories or anything like that and I more-or-less read just to see what happens and enjoy a couple of hours of entertainment. I rarely feel the entitlement some fans express when they complain or bash titles that don't meet their expectations. And I've read a lot of reviews that don't give specifics and are more of a general impression of the reading exeperience or a gripe-fest than an actual review. So, writing reviews has seemed to be somewhat pointless. But I think I'm going to start taking notes as I read and support my reviews with specific examples. We'll see how it goes. Thanks for the encouragement.

 

Good review, jedimasterED. While you obviously dislike JT, I can see that you've thought out your points well.

My hopes for this book have been severely dashed...

 

Now that is my kind of review! Honest observation, not elastic hope a hero kid will return alive or who Solo's first love really is.

You're not "bashing", JedimasterED; you're opining your feedback, and it's damn refreshing than seeing Durge kill Master-class Jedi by tossing the helpess babies in a hot pool.

I'm intrigued about how it just ended. Many SW books seem to be doing that abruptly: Rebel Dream, Rebel Stand, A Forest Apart, Tatooine Ghost.

Anyone still eager for quality priced hardocvers?