This story has it’s grindy moments, as I kept wanting to get back to the actual Jedi, Anakin and Nejaa in Jedi Trial. I kind of wish there had been more moments with the two of them. But it was overall a good read. Right up until the end I had no idea how or if our heroes would save the day.
Synopsis:
While Obi-Wan Kenobi is off on a solo mission, padawan Anakin Skywalker broods over the fact that he still isn’t promoted to Jedi Knight. But then he encounters another Jedi who isn’t on great terms with the Council: Jedi Master Nejaa Halcyon. When a critical planet falls to the Separatists and a renegade group of warriors known as the Freedom’s Sons oppose them, Halcyon and Anakin will be sent to help them do battle.
There are just two catches: the reason Halcyon is on the outs with the Council has to do with the renegade leader. And both Halcyon and Anakin have secret lives beyond the Jedi to distract them.
Detailed opinion of Jedi Trial
The Horrors of War
Jedi Trial does a great job of showing the logistics and horror of war. They do take it a bit far and it gets kind of grindy in spots with all the detailed descriptions. I didn’t like the villain (not that you are supposed too) really, he struck me as kind of cartoony. Of course the fact that the species is most memorable from the Microseries (even though they do appear briefly in Attack of the Clones) might have something to do with it.
I also got yanked from the story a bit when they described the war machines, as they didn’t quite match what we’d seen in the movies. They seem fixated on the terms ‘droid tanks’ and the ‘treaded’ description. These do not match the movies or the books. There are a grand total of 2 vehicles that are listed as tanks, one is the techno union droid tank, with treads, that is part of the CIS (Confederacy of Independent Systems) army. But on the Republic side only the Juggernaught troop transport is called a tank, it’s not a droid, and its wheeled not treaded in the sense you think of a tank.
Relationships
Anakin and Nejaa’s relationship in Jedi Trial was a great feature. Anakin’s education in this is straight up military, rather than the Jedi control and discipline Obi-Wan has been pounding into his head. The focus is far more on that than on using the Force. Anakin (who we all know becomes a leader for better or worse) had to learn these military leadership details somewhere. Grudo was also a great character and the kind of friend Anakin really needed, and we didn’t see him with much.
The two new characters of Erk and Odie aren’t bad but the names are absolutely bizarre. I keep thinking of Garfield the cat’s dog friend when I hear Odie. They do have a role to play in the horrors of war that Anakin, in particular, is going to get caught in. Their relationship is a bit of a distraction at times, but it does rather echo an underlying theme of relationships that Jedi Trial seems to aim at..
The renegade leader of Jedi Trial, Zozridor Slayke, is a every bit as wild as you might imagine. Brilliant, determined, loyal to the Republic but completely independent and stubborn to a fault. It’s a shame we haven’t seen him in any other tales. It was good to see the Freedom’s Son’s get a leader. Jedi Trial is the first chance we got, since their original mentions all came when the era was off limits. All we got from those was that they were heroes.
Character Growth
While Anakin’s led in space combat before as Commander, it’s a bit different being the leader on the ground. He’s already been through much horror (Jabiim) But in Jedi Trial he has to deal with a new component. He’s not just leading an evacuation, or just dealing with soldiers. He is second in command on a mission where innocent lives are at stake. And being who he is, he is bound to take every loss personally.
I always review these in connection to the larger continuity and in this one its impossible to avoid it.
This story takes place soon before Anakin’s knighting in the Microseries (note that the microseries chapters do not all happen one right after the other. There are gaps of many months, even years, in between.)
Holonet News and CIS Shadowfeed – from Star Wars Insider
Sluis Van
That gave reminders that one reason there were refugees is so many wanted off the worlds the CIS claimed (the government joining up didn’t mean all the citizens agreed).
Sluis Van is mentioned as a builder of Nejaa’s Republic Ships, although at the actual time of the story its under CIS control. Speculation: its possible that engineers who didn’t want to join CIS made off with some of the ships for the Republic (as the Incom team did with the X-Wing during the Rebellion.)
Another detail is that the Republic did have a fleet at Sluis Van, contesting it’s control. It’s unlikely they could allow Sluis Van to remain in CIS control and that they had any ships they could spare.
Zozridor Slayke and Nejaa Halcyon
The situation mentioned in the book regarding to Slayke and Halcyon actually has lead ins here. We also see Corellia’s unique disposition. We only had one other era story regarding Nejaa directly regarding the war, and that was set between this incident and the events of the books. See more on Nejaa below.
Freedom’s Sons
The Freedom’s Son’s were introduced all the way back in the Han Solo books by Brian Daley, and also mentioned in West End Game Days. They were just called ‘Freedom’s Sons’ but the context was regarding a character whose father was in the group and served the Republic. Jedi Trial finally gives them the chance to be filled out, since any details before then had to be sketchy.
Nejaa Halcyon
I had mixed feelings about this. I loved the idea of reading about him and Anakin together in Jedi Trial. I wasn’t sure about a different author or authors (David Sherman & Dan Cragg were all new to the Star Wars pantheon) bringing him in. But I do think it worked.
When his creator Michael Stackpole had Corran discovering his families secret heritage, the Clone Wars were off limits officially. The prequels were thought to take place 40 or 50 years ago. There was also no suggestion Jedi could not be married (if Anakin had children why not others?) But the need to explain Nejaa being married gives a perfect springboard for Jedi Trial.
Naturally Nejaa would also have to hide his marriage and his child, giving him a connection with Anakin. Valin Halcyon’s age is not mentioned, which is good as that was never adjusted to balance how old he’d have to be to have Corran of Cor Sec age during the Rebellion era. Naturally, he too would be struggling with Council’s rule.
The Terminology
Outside the droid tanks and treads issue that I mentioned earlier, they did do a good job here. They used known ships from other sources (the speeders, Anakin’s Azure Angel 2, which the first one being destroyed by Ventress in the Microseries).
For further reading
For more on Nejaa Halcyon, be sure to read I,Jedi (which interweaves with the Jedi Academy series) and Ellusion Illusion in the Star Wars Insider. Sluis Van has a major role in the Thrawn trilogy, especially the Last Command. The Holonet news link listed above goes to my story page with all of the main links. There are several intersecting the story. But if you want the two most critical, check out 54 (Vigilante Task Force Departs to Engage Separatists) and 55 (Jedi Taskforce to reel in Scarlet Thranta).
You can read more about his son and grandson in the X-Wing Rogue Squadron novels, and the short stories Side Trip and Interlude at Darknell. The latter 2 were originally released as West End Games Journal stories but are now available in Tales of the Empire and Tales of the New Republic anthologies.
