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

Counting 38 Reviews:
258.55/38 = 6.8

I can't belive that this atrocity is rating over a 6. The majority of you must be either blind or insane.

 

I could call you closed minded too, but i wont, its all about opinions

Anakin is my favorite character in star wars, sooo im slightly biased.


Battle Scenes: The things everyone been moaning about not getting, and it was well done.

Characters: Hmm, no real Jedi OC's that monopolise the plot, decent, if a little bland, Anakin, yep all fine here.

Plot: Finally! What Anakin did to become a Knight, and so much Vader foreshadowing heh

10/10 yes, thats right, ten out of ten.

I did mention i was biased right?

 

Counting 39 reviews: 268.55/39 = 6.89

 

I actually liked this one. Good battles, nice characterization of Anakin. But still, Erk and Odie seemed to be out of place and the end seems rushed to me.
8.8/10

 

7.5/10

My review, Dec. 8 2004

The good was pretty good but the bad was really bad.

 

I try not to judge books by their first few pages, but this is one for which I will definitely wait for the paperback. I read the first three or four pages in a bookshop the other day, and it had become apparent by the end of the first page that the main criticism's about the novel are well-founded. Honestly, it didn't even live up to the "young adult" style of the Jedi Apprentice and Quest books!

 

Alright, the story was okay, but I had to skip alot of the paragraphs talking about military tactics. They don't belong in a Star Wars book IMO. Boring. Also, I don't think the explicit descripions of burned and mangled clones were nessecary. Seemed to me, it was an lousy attempt at some oohs and aahs. Again no place in Star Wars. When did that ever happen in the movies? I don't mind reading stuff like that, they just picked the wrong series.

All in all it was a quick read, which was nice, but there was less Anakin than Odie and Erk. What was the purpose of these two? Aside from a happy footnote? All they did was try to get out of some new perdicatment. Dumb and dumber working overtime. What was the point of the friendly fire incident with Grudo? Odie barely even felt remorse. I felt no sympathy for either character, which made me care less how they ended up.

There's a lot of complaints here, but everything I didn't complain about I liked very much.

 

Short and sweet - my review:

Man, what a bad book. The writing was at best amateurish; really, it's been a long time since I read a novel that had such choppy style, dreadful dialog, cartoonish characters and a definite spate of character development. And don't get me started on the awkward sentence structure and otherwise poor grammar.

And the contradictions...wow. You can tell this was written by two people, and boy, doesn't seem like they spent much time checking each other's work. For an example, look for a confrontation between Grudo and Slayke. What plays out as a surprise shouldn't be a surprise at all.

The death of Reija Momen - please. So, we need another example that Anakin is becoming a bad little Jedi? I don't think so. That was just ridiculous. And the set-ups about her being "mother-like" -- gee, just set up a billboard, why don't ya! This book was so little about Anakin anyway that the big denouement just made me angry.

I guess I have become used to the Matt Stovers and such that write books that make their readers think about what is happening, where you can trace the development of ideas and scenes and how the characters get to where they are (physically and emotionally) at the end of the book. This one had nothing that would make me recommend it, and when it comes to SW books, that's something for me to say.

And of course another thing that's really bugging me, and it's all because Lucas is keeping a clamp on anything related... I just want Padme to show up in a book, and walk and talk and be a "real person." I'm so tired of reading these prequel novels that don't have her in them, and also barely mention her. It's getting annoying. She's such an important character (despite what Lucas would like us to think LOL), and to continue to ignore her existence is just plain terrible, IMO.

In conclusion, boy, I hope these guys don't have a contract to write another SW book. What a disappointment that will be.

 

The Shark attack has hit town. And long overdue.

 

I actually sort of liked it, a few things I hated where a few worthless and shallow characters that did next to nothing, and the ending didn't feel like an ending. I literally keep feeling like I should pick up the book and continue reading, because it was anti-climatic emotionally. They showed the end of the battle, but they didn't portray some kind of emotional development at the end of the story. The characterization was so bad, they didn't even forshadow vader much. That would be the easiest thing in the world to do as a writer.

Plus the wedding at the end was ultra-cheesy.

Well, he did tap into the dark side, but only to defeat some mindless droids to save a room full of people. I don't see the evil in that. Then he even spared the smug enemy that had pissed him off. He excersized way too much self-restraint.

 

I enjoyed Jedi Trial. Anakin was likeable, Grudo was a good character, and I liked Odie and Erk. Some of the battle scenes were good and I liked the discussions of tactics and military operations. The space battle at the end should have been 50 pages longer, though, and Halcyon should have had a bit more of a character (tho he was alright). A bit short, the writing style was a bit weak at times, but still a good book. The assault on Tonith's hills is very good, and I did like the raid on the ICC near the end.

8.

 

I forgot my little number rating. 7

 

This book did not live up to anything I had hoped for. WHats with authors throwing in all these crappy secondary to give to the book a more human feel. I want to read about my jedi in a sci-fi where they use the force. I could care les about Odie and Erk...what kind of name is that anyways.

I wanted to see Anakin as very powerful in this novel and while he had his moments they werent as good as I had hoped for.

I guess my biggest problem with this book is that I expected too much and didnt recieve enough...unlike Hard Contact where i expected little and got a whole lot.

Overall this book would have been medicore if i had waited until paperback but since I got the hardcover i was expecting more...plus would seeing a bit of ventress be asking too much?

So while I may be being harsh at being let down for wanting to see some more jedi action the overall battle was very impressive and well written.

Overall the book was disappointing book had some bright points. Though I think I will read some more comics now that cetsus sounds bad...maybe Labyrinth will be good. Who knows?
5.5/10

 

The majority of you must be either blind or insane

I believe you just flamed - tried to be in general, but you flamed. It must be okay.


You can count to six?

 

>>"Though I think I will read some more comics now that cetsus sounds bad"<<

You said you wanted to see a little of Ventress: Cestus has a terrific portrayal of her, possibly the best yet (out of comics, books and tv show). When describing her, Barnes' prose is a thing of beauty.

 

Tam:
I agree with you. Ventress was pretty cool in Cestus. That was it though. The rest of that book stank. But I digress...this thread isn't about TCD stinking...

 

Counting 44 reviews: 305.35/44 = 6.94

 

Well, I have mixed feelings on this. I have wanted to read it for a long time, and it has been sitting there, so I read it. Although there were some serious flaws, overall I am glad that I did.


The one flaw that bugged me the most was the young adult prose. Simple sentences and construction truly made it feel like one is reading a young adult novel. The prose, at times, was on the same level as, "This is Anakin. See Anakin fight. Fight, Anakin, fight."


I also feel that too much was put on Odie and Erk. This is supposed to be Anakin's book, and they glom a ton of page space.

Third, Neeja should have been developed more. His character never even got a definitive conclusion.


Despite these flaws, I did enjoy the book and feel was worth at least one read. The knowledge of tactics was pretty good, and Anakin's character was nailed spot-on. I'll give it a 6.8.

 

Counting 45 reviews: 312.15/45 = 6.94

 

I give it a 3/10.

TERRIBLe. I look on the back cover, and there are two old guys. Two old guys who were once in the army. So, I thought, this should be really good, since they obviously have the expertise and the experience to write good military action, and with the Star Wars lisence, this should be really unique. No, I was sadly mistaken. The first thing bugs the hell out of me is the dialogue. It's so infantile. The main characters wander the desert and instantly become boyfriend and girlfriend overnight, with not even a romantic moment. They kiss at the stupidest times. They make stupid jokes. They have stupid conversations.

Secondly, the book uses "He explained where they had been to so-and-so" far too many times. It's a book for the ADD crowd.

There's not even very much good action in it. If you want that, go read Gust Front.

 

Well, OK. I just finished this book and I can safely say that I didn't dislike it, although I must admit that I almost quit reading it after someone said: "Great balls of fire."

Having said that, this book is the "battle in the trenches" book of the Clone Wars novels, and I really enjoyed these parts of the book. I also thought that the authors did a nice job of advancing the story of Anakin's "rise" to "Knighthood" and his eventual "fall" to the "Darkside."

Seeing as how these two elements are ultimately the only reasons to write/buy this book, it was nice to see that I wasn't disappointed by them.

Now, the book does have some major failings however, including most of the original characters, and some of the dialogue was absolutely horrible.

All in all I'll give this book a 6.13 out of 10. I think that's pretty generous, but whatever.


Edit: Oh yeah, another thing that bothered me is using Ventress on the cover. They should have put her on the cover of Cestus instead. Stupid.

 

I loved it- especially Anakin was great... 9/10

 

Counting 48 reviews: 330.28/48 = 6.88

 

Review posted. 3.75/10

http://theforce.net/books/reviews/r_jeditrial.asp

 

Counting 49 reviews: 334.03/49 = 6.82