Title: Jedi Trial
Author: David Sherman
Dan Cragg
Pages: 337
Type: Military thriller
Time: 20 BBY

Novel quality
To be honest, I didn't quite know what to expect from this novel. I was looking forward to reading more about Anakin, but somehow the setting seemed a bit off for me. I couldn't really put a finger on it, but there was something that felt weird. "No time for something elsewhere and elusive", I thought, "I should be keeping my attention on the here and now." The planet Praesitlyn, home to a very important Republic communications center, is under attack by the separatists. Losing this installation is out of the question and the chancellor sends in a battalion of Clone troopers under the command of Jedi Master Nejaa Halcyon and Padawan Anakin Skywalker. A mercenary by the name of Zozridor Slake is already at the scene and fighting the separatist troops as the two Jedi and their Clones join the battle. Enough material for some exiting stuff, wouldn't you say? Sadly, the novel is of to an extremely slow and quite boring start. Sure there are battles, but the authors just don't seem able to communicate any real emotions during the battles. It is more a sort of droid-like observation in stead of an interesting story. There is also a love story in the novel, but that is so obvious and so straightforward that it doesn't really add anything to the story. On top of that the "loved-ones" Odie and Erk are both very shallow and uninteresting characters. Same goes for the enemy General who goes by the name of Tonith. His skill is admirable, but somehow the character just isn't able to become very interesting. Bad-guys like this should be menacing and should make you angry, Tonith doesn't ever feel like a real threat and he is more annoying than anything else. Better characters are Zozridor Slake and the Rodian Grudo. They both really feel like the dangerous mercenaries they are supposed to be and they have that anti-hero feeling over them, which makes them quite interesting. The name Grudo however, cannot be considered a highpoint in creativity from my point of view. Does the book stay slow? No, it gets a lot more interesting in the last 50-75 pages. We finally see some real Anakin action and the authors do a good job in setting his character up for the problems he'll experience during later stories. We also see the return of Asajj Ventress in this novel, but that doesn't really add much, because she doesn't actually do anything. It's all really a shame. There are some more good points about the novel though. Some of the battle psychology is really well written and it helps the battles to become a little less dry. The use of scouts and the way the Generals play with information and disinformation is done really well and it adds some extra depth. It's also nice to see the use of hostages to influence the public opinion and to get things done. The way they are used and the way chancellor Palpatine and his group of advisors deal with it, is quite well done. But why oh why do the writers bring in Sidious to persuade one of the advisors to do Palpatine's thing? That was totally unnecessary and just feels forced. Overall this novel is a bit slow and it the characters aren't really interesting. On top of that it also feels a bit too emotionless. Even though the characters experience some heavy things the story never makes you feel for the characters the way you should feel for them. Last but not least. The 75 interesting pages at the end are not enough to make up for the 250 you'll be wrestling yourself through to get to the interesting part. If you don't necessarily want to read all the available Star Wars novels, you can skip this one. You wouldn't be missing much.
Rating: 68/100

Personal Tilt:
It's probably obvious from the review above that I didn't really like this novel. I took it with me on my holiday and I had a hard time concentrating on it. Normally on holidays I can read even more relaxed than I can at home, where I have more responsibilities. It wasn't until the end that the novel started to interest me a bit more. Anakin's rage and the way Sidious refers to it are described relatively well. It's also nice to see that the entire battle was more or less intended to test Anakin. It gives you the feeling that Sidious really is pulling all the strings, something I've been missing from the PT novels for some time. However, the ending of the battle is a bit too much for me. First the Republic force has a hard time to win at all and then Anakin gets P'ed and he finishes the entire battle on his own. I know he is supposed to be powerful, but this is ridiculous. What also doesn't help is the weak characters in the novel. With the exception of Zozridor Slake, Grudo and maybe Tonith there isn't a single supporting character that is more interesting to read about than the steady growth of grass in the South American jungle. The good points like the already mentioned battle psychology and battle tactics don't change that, the overall novel is average at best. Don't read it unless you want to read everything Star Wars.
Rating: 65/100


Overall rating: 66.8/100

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