Lit Jedi Trial- Worth Reading At All?

Yep. In a world with Star Wars animated series, new movies and a new timeline, I bet Jedi Trial is the last book you ever expected someone to start a thread about. But here we are.

Over the years, I've read most of the published Star Wars novels. I have always been, and likely always will be, a staunch defender of the Expanded Universe, insisting that those people who just assume it's all a pile of trash have not bothered to come across the likes of Matthew Stover, James Luceno, and many others who know how to write to the best qualities of a shared universe. I also believe one of the benefits of a shared universe, however, is that even the bad works are strengthened by their association with much better works.

So we come to Jedi Trial. I did say that I've read most Star Wars books, but I have to say I've never touched this one. And I'm wondering... does that need to change? I've heard that, by most accounts, this is one of the worst Star Wars novels ever published. I'm not asking anyone to dispute that.

What I am asking is this: does this novel have any redeeming value whatsoever? Even some of the bad novels I can think of have things that make them worth one, never-to-be-repeated read: I didn't like The Cestus Deception, but I appreciated what he was trying to do with the Clone story arc, and Kit Fisto with a lightwhip was almost worth the price of admission. Does Jedi Trial have anything to sell it? Any worthwhile scenes at all? Any character insights? Anything?

Admittedly, my patience for slogging through bad Star Wars novels just because they have "Star Wars" printed on them has waned significantly since by high school days, so I'm not entirely sure I have it in me to slog through what's apparently one of the worst unless it has something to offer. So, for all those who have been brave enough to read it: would you like to inflict it on me as well? Why or why not?

 

I once thought it was the worst. Now I find it to be the second worst.
I can't remember which I felt was worst in Legends (other than some of the junior books...and ones I haven't gotten to in my reread that I can't fully remember)...
I don't remember a lot

There are over-redundancies, poor characterization (except with Palpatine - he's done well), weird words, and not the greatest writing. I remember this only because of my review (which has some spoilers).

But when I went into my reread, I was dreading this one since I remembered it as the worst and wanted to see if coming at it from an older perspective would help.

 

I haven't read it in years - which kind of speaks for itself - but honestly, I don't think so. It's been described as a book that was given one job, completely ignored it to do something else, and then failed at that, and it's a pretty accurate description.

 

Huh, kinda forgot this book existed...think I got it mixed up with Cestus Deception in my head for a while. Now that I recall though, I don't think it was that bad. If you put up with Cestus Deception, I think you'll be fine with Jedi Trial.

 

Should Padme be jealous of this plot summary??

The book starts off with Anakin Skywalker in the Jedi Temple receiving a call from his Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. Kenobi is on another mission, and Anakin is forced to stay in the Temple to continue his training. Anakin then meets Jedi Master Nejaa Halcyon and over the next several hours, the two become sparring partners in lightsaber dueling in the training chambers. They eventually dine together, too.

 

I'm trying to think of a redeeming quality that this book has. I'm drawing a blank.

I guess there is a Muun that has stained teeth from drinking too much tea or something. Hes also the most interesting thing in the book.

 

It's one of the worst Star Wars books I've read and I've read most of them too. The cover and blurb make you think it's going to be about Anakin but he's hardly in it apart from the first few and last few pages. I was really disappointed with this one in particular because I love everything else in the Clone Wars era so I was expecting to like this one too but it's really boring to read.

The only good thing I can say about is I liked the Anakin and Obi-Wan conversation in the first 3 or 4 pages but that was it. It's really not worth your time.

 

Yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

 

I liked it when I was 13 or 14, but I haven't read it in years. So I don't know what to tell you. (Cestus Deception is definitely way better, though.)

 

Literally all I remember is there being a case of friendly fire and Anakin thinking, 'Why do they call it friendly fire? It's not very friendly.'

 

"They died when the droids shot them."

 

It's bad but honestly it's not, like, worst-all-time bad. It's just kind of blandly incompetent. It's got nothing on the late Republic Commando novels, The Clone Wars Gambit duology, late-period Denning, or the Darth Bane sequels for irredeemable wretchedness.

I'd say go ahead and read it. It's not an unpleasantly bad book, and there are bits to like in the military sci-fi emphasis, Nejaa Halcyon's inclusion (and the dynamic of Anakin bonding with a married Jedi Master), Slayke (who had some great HoloNet News entries), and the incomparable Muuniness of Pors Tonith.

 

RIP CT-19/39, aka Green Wizard, the "best recon man" on Praesitlyn who somehow forgot he had comms gear built into his armor.

In all seriousness I barely remember anything solid about this book other than Green Wizard and 'they died when he droids blasted them.' I do recall a lot of non clone forces which I remember annoying young Bly who wanted MOAR Clones.

 

I also remember Anakin being referred to as "the Beardless Wonder" and a particular dialogue scene where the dialogue was incorrectly attributed at certain points. And the names "Odie" and "Erk."

 

Yes, it is totally worth it, if only for the Clone Wars-wide foreshadowing of Anakin's fall.

And the awesome non-clone pilots of course.

 

Given that this novel was released prior to TCW (and even Ep. III) did they write Anakin to be a pretty unlikeable character back then. Or did they attempt to improve his charisma like they did with TCW?

 

No - this one's got one, maybe more, of the sillier/worse-written instances of "hey, Anakin totally goes evil later!" foreshadowing. I think it's quoted in the old 'oddest passages in Star Wars lit' thread (which, incidentally, is the main reason I still remember "They died when the droids blasted them").

 

Yeah, That is one of the best things TCW did in my opinion (and probably what the main purpose of the entire show was for) was to improve Anakin's character. Show that the extreme's of his personality that we saw in the movies wasn't who Anakin was all the time.

 

I remember enjoying it. Can't remember many details though.

 

Pretty much what I needed to know. The inclusion of Nejaa Halcyon might just be enough for me to get my fanwank completionist on.

Reminds me of one of the things I like(d) about the Expanded Universe: even the bad novels had this vast sandbox to play in, and could pull in all sorts of cool elements to give you this illusion of a never ending, constantly expanding story. The new novels, I feel, seem so afraid of stepping on future canon that they play it safe and, as a result, feel really stale and boring. And heh, your statement reminds me: the last two Republic Commando novels, the Clone Wars gambit duology, and Fate of the Jedi are all on my list of "unread Star Wars book". By your reckoning, I have a lot of, erm, fun ahead of me if I want to go ahead and finish.

Also, nice to see you still around these parts, Havac. How about dat' Mad Men ending?

 

You know that time when Corran went to the Galactic Museum in the Lusankya and it was all creepy and sad a mystic and cool because it was like, an old museum with artifacts? And he found his grandfather's lightsaber and it changed his life? And remember that feeling you might have felt reading it, thinking "this ancient forgotten artifact from a past hero... it must hold so many tales?" And Corran wanted to live up to that legend?

Yeah don't read this book if you want to keep remembering that scene that way.

 

So it's kinda like watching the prequels?

 

This is kind of the one thing I would recommend from this book. But not because this is a great part, but because they get a pretty prestige EU connection and do absolutely nothing with it but miss the point of what they're actually there to do. Except for pulling the rug from under Anakin's feet with this, since he finds out that you can be a Jedi with a wife AND a kid and function pretty well. Aaaanyway. So, an astonishing trainwreck in dealing with previous canon. And regarding the other post above, I love the prequels in spite of their flaws and I can't get behind dropping Halcyon's participation like it's hot.

Well, objectively you actually might enjoy it if you're into military stuff, since the book's entire existence is based on the authors being ex-soldiers-now-authors, therefore bringing boring military logistics into Star Wars. So if you'd scratch the boring, you might get a substantial kick out of this part, while the more SW-like plot carrots - Anakin becoming a Jedi Knight and Halcyon playing off Anakin's story - whoosh right over the authors' heads.

I once wanted to give it a zero review score and had to change that since they don't do zeroes. Havac is right, of course, in that there are vastly less competent books out there, and vastly more offensive ones. However, I think the more offensive ones might still be more fun to read.