Old Friends: Anakin Skywalker, Nejaa Halcyon, Count Dooku, Asajj Ventress, Emperor Palpatine, Sate Pestage, Mace Windu New Faces: Reija Momen, General Khamar, Admiral Pors Tonith, Lt. Erk H'Arman, Odie Subu, Captain Zozridor Slayke, Grudo, Places: Coruscant, Praesitlyn Synopsis: The Separtists have taken over the InterGalactic Communications Center on Praesitlyn and the Republic wants it back. Without communications between their forces, there is no way the Republic can win the war with Count Dooku and his allies. The Jedi must answer the call to take back the Center. With Obi Wan off on a mission of his own, Anakin joins Neeja Halcyon in what will be his trial - his test to see if he is really ready to be a true Jedi Knight. Is he prepared? What has he learned from Obi Wan and Mace Windu and Yoda - and will it be enough to win the day? Review: This one was quite a gopod read. I liked the idea of Anakin going off on his own to battle Dooku's flunkies and save the Comm Center. I very much enjoyed spending time with Neeja Halcyon, who we have, up to this point, only met as a memory of Corran Horn's. There also wasn't much time spent on Coruscant with the Jedi Council and Palpatine, or with Dooku and Asajj Ventress, other than to set up the situation and the mission, so the reader isn't overburdedned with more politics and Jedispeak, as tends to happen in so many of these prequels. Once the reader gets through the intro and set-up of the storyline, the book moves very quickly to Praesitlyn and the action planetside, as well as in space. Here, the characters really hit their stride and the writing abilities of both authors becomes apparent. If you read the flyleaf, you will notice that these authors have a background in the military, and although neither have ever written for the Star Wars Universe before, they have done their research. So much of the story comes fromthe perspective of the troops on the ground, from the clone troopers and ARC commandos, the recon pilot and speeder bike patrol, and the air and ground commanders. The interactionbetween Neeja and Slayke is great - especially because Slayke stole Neeja's ship. They really don't like each other, but manage to work together to accomplish their mutual goal. nad Obie and Erk are quite the pair, getting in and out of more scrapes than they deserve, by counting on each other. A very nice and surprise ending for those two. Anakin does not have it easy on this one and we begin to see the conflict between the two sides of the Force. In a way, it is too bad that we know what is going to happen to him. Otherwise, it would make the swings back and forth between light and dark much more interesting. Ah well, lets just hope that GL does him justice in May, 2005. So far, all the Clone Wars writers have done a better job than both prequel movies IMHO. So, if you want to be up to date on the time right up to Revenge of the Sith, better read this one too - only 2 months to go!
Title: Jedi Trial |
3/13/05
