Review by nerdynatreads - Trials of the Jedi

nerdynatreads 's review for:

Trials of the Jedi by Charles Soule

3.75

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

I just don’t think Soule’s style is my type. I have a harder time connecting with the characters, even though I’ve spent so many books getting to know them at this point. Some of them I’ve really grown to care about, others I just never really cared for and their ending seemed so uninteresting. I honestly can’t decide if I actually like how the conflict was resolved.

I both really liked and don’t like how our main antagonist, Marchion Ro, has changed throughout this series. Part of me does wish he would have stay more true to the cult leader from earlier on, but I actually quite liked this “everything means nothing,” mentality he’s developed, I just wish we would have had more time dedicated to that, expanding on that thought process. I did enjoy his ending though.

That was kind of my biggest problem with this though, I just felt like the cast was too wide in this one, meaning certain stories didn’t close out as satisfying as others and certain scenes that I’d really been excited to watch play out were cut short. I loved Porter’s story and watching his ongoing battle with General Viess, but this element felt so separated to the rest of the book, it didn’t quite fit. Same could be said for the story unfolding on Eriadu, it just didn’t mesh as well with the story of the 9 Jedi that took precedent for most of the book.

I’ll definitely come back for more of Reath, more of Bell and Burry, even Ty Yorrick, and as much as I enjoyed this series not focusing on the Sith, the groundwork laid for them was really cool and I’m intrigued if the ties to the future timeline will be utilized in new stories. I’m also hoping the B team of the Jedi are the focus for the YA novel, because I’m also so intrigued as to what they were experiencing.