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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
One of the first and best Star Wars books, June 18, 2003
This review is from: Star Wars: The Truce at Bakura (Paperback)
Truce at Bakura is a riveting action packed tale of the days directly after Return of the Jedi. Luke injured by the Emperor during the final battle aboard the Death Star II, is receiving treatment for those life threatening electrical convulsions you see him go through, when he receives a visitation from the spirit of Obi-Wan Kenobi bidding him to go to Bakura which is in great danger. So Luke in command of a task force with diplomats Han and Leia in tow heads out to Bakura. It was interesting to see Luke Skywalker in command of a military force, something not seen in any of the other Star Wars books. At Bakura our heroes find Imperial forces about to be destroyed by soul sucking aliens. In the interests of the innocents enemies join force and the fun begins. The battles both on land and in space are well written and the story is great. Love, death, betrayel, everything a Star Wars reader could possibly want is here. Han's gloating over the defeat of the Empire at Endor in front of Bakura's Imperial governor is classic, Leia's confrontation with the spirit of Anakin Skywalker is an imporatant aspect to the story, while Luke's romantic feelings for a lovely Bakuran senator are a humanizing influence on a character to often viewed as above human emotions. Overall Truce at Bakura is a great read, well written and I highly recommend it.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Flat and slow, but still compelling, October 3, 2003
This review is from: Star Wars: The Truce at Bakura (Paperback)
"The Truce at Bakura", while not the first book to be published in the Star Wars Expanded Universe (Timothy Zahn's "Heir to the Empire" has that honor), it is the first chronological story to take place after "Return of the Jedi". Literally hours after the final battle above the Endor moon, which rebellion forces are cleaning up the aftermath of the vicious and legendary space battle, and signal beacon sent from the fringe world of Bakura arrives in system seeking out the local imperial presence to request help in repelling and alien invasion. Luke, who is still physically and emotionally recovering from his battle with the Emperor and the death of his father, Darth Vader, and Han and Leia, who are also recovering from the battle while exploring their burgeoning new romance, are assigned the duty of taking a task force to Bakura to inform them that the Empire is now longer in power and to also provide whatever assistance they can in helping the Bakurans repel the alien invaders known as the Ssi-Ruuk. After having read the original Timothy Zahn 'Thrawn' trilogy ("Heir to the Empire", "Dark Force Rising", and "Last Command"), reading "The Truce at Bakura" was a bit of a let down. There are some good moments and good characters to this book, but too often it gets bogged down in the internal politics of the planet (which is still run by an Imperial governor) and the too much time aboard the Ssi-Ruuk ships with the unpronounceable names of the aliens. One of the better characters introduced is Gariel Captison, a young, pretty, strong-willed politician who advocating Bakuran independence and is a potential love interest for Luke. The Ssi-Ruuk are also formidable characters, as fierce an alien race the New Republic will face until the deadly arrival of the Yuuzhan Vong 20 years later. In addition to territorial cravings, the Ssi-Ruuk also seek to enslave huge numbers of the Bakuran people to be used in a gruesome scientific process called 'entechment', which actually transfers the life energies of an individual from their flesh body into a droid controlled ship. These ships are thought to be much more efficient fighters, although the people trapped within them are suffering tremendously. As with most of the Star Wars novels, "...Bakura" has its fair share of government intrigue and conspiracy, much of which is designed to thwart the efforts by the Republic to help save Bakura. As mentioned before, too much time is spent on the dealings of the government and that does slow the book down considerably. Yet, on the whole "The Truce at Bakura" is a good novel and provides some insight into characters, places, and events that will have a major impact on the Star Wars Universe in years to come.
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11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Basically a good book, though some parts were annoying, February 24, 2001
This review is from: Star Wars: The Truce at Bakura (Paperback)
In general, this was a very good, well written book with a believable plot, and well constructed characters. In fact, I would probably have even rated it five stars if it weren't for certain faults that I will go into in a few moments. The book starts the day after Return of the Jedi when the alliance suddenly intercepts a message to the emperor from the planet Bakura begging for help against a strange alien force attacking them. (apparantly they hadn't yet heard of his death) The alliance goes to help them fight these aliens (the Ssi Ruuk) and have a hard time convincing the strict, Imperial Bakurans that they're friends and only really want to help them. (The hope of course is that they'll eventually want to join and help them fight the remnants of the Empire) Meanwhile they discover the Ssi Ruuk are an even more formidable foe than previously thought, while meanwhile Luke develops a major crush on the beautiful senetor Gaeriel Captison. The book, judging it all together, was excellent, better than a lot of other Star Wars litterature I've read. However, there were certain faults that I have to mention. Let's start with Gaeriel. Actually, I didn't hate her like I thought I was going to, and while she isn't my idea of a strong female she actually turned out to be quite interesting. However, that doesn't cover the fact that she was a complete and total jerk to Luke. Even if she really didn't like him (not the case) she didn't have to be so mean and hurt his feelings like that. Especially since he was going out of his way to be nice to her. I mean this is Luke Skywalker we're talking about here! What in the universe was she THINKING turning him down like that! Also, when this book was written Star Wars history up to five and ten years later had already been written so we KNOW Luke isn't going to end up with Gaeriel, and basically her only purpose is so that Luke can get his heart broken yet again. Also, Luke himself seemed too much like he did during A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back and less like the mature Jedi he had become by Return of the Jedi. I sincerly doubt Mature Luke would have fallen for someone like Gaeriel. Actually, it is in fact out of character for Luke to fall in love at all, at least the 'love at first sight, head over heels, puppy love' kind of way they have him do it here. Oh, well. Besides that though though this was a good book, which probably does deserve five stars except I had to knock one off because of Gaeriel's behavior. There is nothing that bad in this book, and anyone could probably read it, child or adult. I personally would probably not have enjoyed this much if I was less mature than I am now (I'm fifteen) but that may not be true for others.
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