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A review by jaredkwheeler
The Moment of Truth by Jude Watson
3.0
Star Wars Legends Project #93
Background: The Moment of Truth was written by [a:Jude Watson|11912|Jude Watson|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/authors/1403530689p2/11912.jpg] and published in May 2003. It is the seventh book of the Jedi Quest series, following [b:The Shadow Trap|359804|The Shadow Trap (Star Wars Jedi Quest, #6)|Jude Watson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328869632s/359804.jpg|349921] (my review).
The Moment of Truth is set some months after The Shadow Trap, 25 years before the Battle of Yavin, when Anakin is 16. Obi-Wan and Anakin are the main characters, with brief appearances by half a dozen other recurring Jedi characters, and a cameo by an enemy from Obi-Wan's past.
Summary: The planet Vanqor, largest in the Uziel system, has expanded to conquer every other world in the system save one: Typha-Dor. The lone hold-out against Vanqorian aggression, the people of Typha-Dor are relying on a small lunar communications outpost to warn them about the impending invasion, but the outpost fell silent a month ago. Anakin and Obi-Wan arrive in the system to run the blockade and check on the outpost, but they soon find themselves caught in a web of betrayal and danger that will test their already-fraying bond to the limit.
Review: Watson finally brings to a head the build-up of conflict between Obi-Wan and Anakin from the last few books in a way that is satisfying, but open-ended, and doesn't feel like a cheap or easy resolution. It's a nice trick and rendered all the more satisfying when it's nested amid near non-stop edge-of-seat action.
She does play a bit fast and loose with the system's geography (astrography? planetography? whatever), which is a bit confusing. The Jedi land on a moon of Typha-Dor, but then they somehow end up having to crash-land on Vanqor when they try to escape in an extremely slow ship, except we see later that Typha-Dor itself is 2 hours away from Vanqor at lightspeed. So apparently Typha-Dor's moon is so distant that it actually orbits Vanqor? Okay.
There is a strange interlude part way through involving Anakin and something called the "Zone of Self-Containment" that felt like a transplant from the Jedi Apprentice series and its obsession with YA dystopian cliches . . . and then a big reveal at the end of the story explains why it feels like that. On the one hand, this part of the story felt like a weird, irrelevant departure from everything else that's going on in the plot, but on the other hand, it is the key to the entire thing, precipitating the titular "moment of truth" . . . So make of that what you will. It may strike some as a bug, but I found it to be more of a feature. I was a bit annoyed by the suspicious response of the other Jedi after finding out Anakin had withheld information from Obi-Wan . . . while he was drugged. Really? No one wants to cut the teenager a little slack for acting weird after he'd been dosed as part of a medical experiment? Okay.
You'll also recognize the episode with the "nest of gundarks" referenced by Obi-Wan in Attack of the Clones, so that's fun . . . even though it doesn't quite jibe with the way Obi-Wan describes it later. Overall, there are a few nagging annoyances, but as always, I really appreciated Watson's character work. And, in particular, I'm excited by the set-up for the next book in the series, and particularly interested to see how Watson brings it all home explosively in the last few books.
B-
Background: The Moment of Truth was written by [a:Jude Watson|11912|Jude Watson|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/authors/1403530689p2/11912.jpg] and published in May 2003. It is the seventh book of the Jedi Quest series, following [b:The Shadow Trap|359804|The Shadow Trap (Star Wars Jedi Quest, #6)|Jude Watson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328869632s/359804.jpg|349921] (my review).
The Moment of Truth is set some months after The Shadow Trap, 25 years before the Battle of Yavin, when Anakin is 16. Obi-Wan and Anakin are the main characters, with brief appearances by half a dozen other recurring Jedi characters, and a cameo by an enemy from Obi-Wan's past.
Summary: The planet Vanqor, largest in the Uziel system, has expanded to conquer every other world in the system save one: Typha-Dor. The lone hold-out against Vanqorian aggression, the people of Typha-Dor are relying on a small lunar communications outpost to warn them about the impending invasion, but the outpost fell silent a month ago. Anakin and Obi-Wan arrive in the system to run the blockade and check on the outpost, but they soon find themselves caught in a web of betrayal and danger that will test their already-fraying bond to the limit.
Review: Watson finally brings to a head the build-up of conflict between Obi-Wan and Anakin from the last few books in a way that is satisfying, but open-ended, and doesn't feel like a cheap or easy resolution. It's a nice trick and rendered all the more satisfying when it's nested amid near non-stop edge-of-seat action.
She does play a bit fast and loose with the system's geography (astrography? planetography? whatever), which is a bit confusing. The Jedi land on a moon of Typha-Dor, but then they somehow end up having to crash-land on Vanqor when they try to escape in an extremely slow ship, except we see later that Typha-Dor itself is 2 hours away from Vanqor at lightspeed. So apparently Typha-Dor's moon is so distant that it actually orbits Vanqor? Okay.
There is a strange interlude part way through involving Anakin and something called the "Zone of Self-Containment" that felt like a transplant from the Jedi Apprentice series and its obsession with YA dystopian cliches . . . and then a big reveal at the end of the story explains why it feels like that. On the one hand, this part of the story felt like a weird, irrelevant departure from everything else that's going on in the plot, but on the other hand, it is the key to the entire thing, precipitating the titular "moment of truth" . . . So make of that what you will. It may strike some as a bug, but I found it to be more of a feature. I was a bit annoyed by the suspicious response of the other Jedi after finding out Anakin had withheld information from Obi-Wan . . . while he was drugged. Really? No one wants to cut the teenager a little slack for acting weird after he'd been dosed as part of a medical experiment? Okay.
You'll also recognize the episode with the "nest of gundarks" referenced by Obi-Wan in Attack of the Clones, so that's fun . . . even though it doesn't quite jibe with the way Obi-Wan describes it later. Overall, there are a few nagging annoyances, but as always, I really appreciated Watson's character work. And, in particular, I'm excited by the set-up for the next book in the series, and particularly interested to see how Watson brings it all home explosively in the last few books.
B-