Customer Reviews

Tyrant's Test (Star Wars: The Black Fleet Crisis, Book 3)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(21)

 

 

I found it a bit difficult to get into the story at the begining, as it was a bit boring, but once I got about a quarter of the way through the first book, I couldnt stop reading. I honestly dont know why people are talking trash about these books ... I liked them. This trilogy is definitely worth reading, especially if you're a fan. They may not be as good as the original Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn, but what really is?

Anyway, the Black Fleet Crisis, and more specifically this final, climatic chapter of the trilogy, are one of the better Star Wars books I've read so far.

Ok, so it is finally over. For such a bad series the end was good. It makes much more sense now (not). The only thing that really made sense was the fact that Luke was searching for his mother and basically it boils down to the fact that he was lied to. He went on a wild goose chase. The author did a really bad job with all of the characters except for Chewie and Lando. Luke would never act like that and Leia (it was worse than the other two and that is saying a lot). In the first two books the author didnt do a bad job with Han, but he really was not in the much. But this time he was it quite a bit, he gets kidnapped (Han Solo kidnapped, you have got to be kidding). All and all I would say skip this series it really has no connection to the rest of the star wars universe.

NOTE: Because I started to "reread" (i.e. listen to the audiobooks) these old Bantam books, I decided to revamp this old review. I will keep the old review at the end in case you want to compare.

The crisis with the Koornacht cluster is on the brink of war. Leia's position as president is in turmoil and Han has been captured. Meanwhile, Lando and team are on the cusp of discovery and Luke is growing closer to finding the Fallanassi.

I Liked:
Kube-McDowell saves this series with the political machinations between the New Republic and the Yevetha. Leia is forced to choose between her tenure as president and her husband. This decision is tough and ugly, but it is realistic, and I appreciate an author who isn't afraid of putting an unhappy solution in a novel.
Lando's mission reaches an interesting climax when Lobot interfaces with the Vagabond, though I would be lying if I said I enjoyed the resolution of this plot line.
In the previous two reviews, I have been exceedingly critical of MKM, but I think he deserves credit for elevating Chewbacca above the sidekick role. Here, we get to see his family, how he behaves with his son, and his rescue of Han, one of the best things Chewbacca has ever done in the series.

I Didn't Like:
I can't help but echo Luke's thoughts: What has this [trilogy] all been about? Why do we care about these missions, these crisis, these journeys? They bear no relevance on later books, they have no lasting impact. To illustrate, let me take the major plot lines:
Lando: So Lando learns the secret of the ship, but he and Luke, who comes whizzing to the rescue at the end in the only plausible tie-in to the rest of the trilogy, won't see any results of this three book long quest, because it takes 100 years for their efforts to "bloom". Wow, and why again was this mission so important that we needed to shoe horn it in with the Yevetha crisis?
Leia: So Leia's presidency is challenged and she declares war on the Yevetha. This could be the beginning of an amazing series...but it is promptly wrapped up with the appearance of Luke and the Omnipotent, Amazing, Peaceful, Wonderful, Godly Fallanassi. Thanks, MKM, for destroying a good story. You put us through one book that barely begins the conflict (I guess that's why it was called Before the Storm, yuk, yuk), another book that steadily rises the conflict to the next level, then rapidly, and hastily wraps it up in the last one. Talk about a waste of effort!
Luke: His whole reason for leaving Yavin 4 was supposed to be because he needed to be a hermit. But that lasted all of one chapter, for he spent the rest of the trilogy with Akanah, the worst girlfriend he has ever had (and proof positive that he is a diehard submissive). The most distrusting, untrustworthy, dishonest, deceitful, manipulative, oppressive, and demanding woman that supposedly was a "good guy" (Uh, huh, yeah, you really bought me on that one--not) proves her integrity by lying with Luke to get him to tag along with her. And I really don't know why. She found all the "clues" (i.e. big, huge, obvious arrow signs) and refused to listen to any of Luke's advise, resting solely on her "vastly superior" knowledge of this previously unknown force, the White Current. It is my personal belief that she is on drugs and what she sees during her psychedelic mind trips is the White Current. So, we (and Luke) trudge through this, supposedly to learn more about Luke's mom (which, those of us who have seen the prequels, know won't happen) only to come out with absolutely nothing. Luke returns to Leia with the always insightful knowledge that he ought to spend time with family. God, and we had to read three books with the worst chemistry, the worst female character ever to come out with this gem???
All in all, the only things we've come out through this tripe are the following:
1) Tie-ins with the most derided SW EU media, the Star Wars holiday special
2) Luke learning the value of family (cue sappy music)
3) Lumpawarrump becoming a man and killing his parents for giving him such a God-awful name.
Wow, I so couldn't live without that.
I've lambasted the plot and the characters (specifically Leia, Luke, and Akanah) to no end, but there is one thing I've forgot to mention in my reviews to the previous two books: Nil Spaar and the Yevetha. While there were some good aspects, I felt on a whole, they were just an excuse for an enemy, one that had absolutely no redeeming value (to human morality), so they could be wholesale slaughtered and no one would bat an eye. I never once sympathized with the villains or felt anything beyond disgust and revulsion. Even the Yuuzhan Vong from the New Jedi Order were better done. I could feel sympathy for Nen Yim and Mezhan Kwad, even for Tsvong Lah.

Dialogue/Sexual Situations/Violence:
Little to none.
Akanah and Luke share a room.
The violence in this one is pretty darn heavy. Nil Spaar kills someone so violently, his head is severed. Han is brutally beat to a pulp and people think he is dead. The entire Yevetha society considers murder only a crime if a lower-caste member kills an upper-class member.

Overall:
Political intrigue aside, there really is no reason to read this series. Want a real threat to the New Republic that doesn't deal with the Empire? Go to the New Jedi Order. Want political intrigue? Try Cloak of Deception or Specter of the Past. Want to see Luke learn about his family? Er, guess you will have to keep waiting (Leia finds out about her dad, though, in Tatooine Ghost. Follow Obi-Wan's advice and just "Move along. Move along."

Old Review:
Finally! We have reached the end of this terrible series!
Luke breaks off with this girl, learning that she lied to him. What a dork! How could he allow himself to be deceived by her and drag him all over the galaxy doing nothing and then just walk away as if nothing happened? Obviously, she must have been HOT.
Lando's little ship journey finally turns out to be not as much of a waste of time as it was in the first two books. Chewie goes out to rescue Han. And the whole Yevetha plotline is neatly wrapped up and thrown away (it was that bad).
This is probably the best of the three books (not saying much). Something actually happens in the book, and it is actually quite exciting (a word not known in the previous two books). I mean, I think my heart rate went up for a brief time (no, it wasn't related to getting closer to the end of the book). The characters are still badly portrayed, but if we were looking at good portrayals, we would be reading Timothy Zahn, not this series.
As I closed this book, I was happy. Happy that there were no more books and that this terrible, terrible series was over. Happy that this author has never written a Star Wars novel since these. Not so happy that I wasted so much time on these, but beggars can't be choosers.
Oh, and by the way, read this series at your own risk!

Brought to you by:
*C.S. Light*

The only reason that I have given this trilogy two stars is because it offers a trip to the Star Wars universe. Other than that the entire trilogy just sucked! All of the original characters are either pale or just stupid. All the new characters are worthless! The situations and events the characters get into are also completely and utterly worthless.

Leia somehow falls out of favor with the Senate? How did this happen exactly? The trilogy opens with almost everybody hating her guts. The whole thing remains me too much of the Clinton scandal. The Senators suddenly become whinny little punks who get upset at the slightest notion. "Oh no! President Organa Solo has built a fleet to protect the New Republic, what are we to do?" How about getting a clue and a life!!

Luke is once again a whinny little brat who can't seem to do anything. "Oh, I'm having trouble consintrating with the Force. I'll just seclude myself from the universe and go on a wild goose chase with someone I do not even know." Give my a break. And what the hell is this White Current sh**!! "Now Luke. You shouldn't kill anything, even if it's going to torture, kill, and mutilate you. It's not nice." I wanted to scream and rip the pages out of the book when I read this crap! And Luke has SEX with this loser. He didn't even have sex with Callista, which I am surpised to say is actually a better character than this worthless and ridiculous one.

Han is completely worthless. His character is very underdeveloped. Enough said.

Chewie. How in the world can a author completely eliminate Chewie from an entire book (Shield of Lies)?! When he finally does reappear in the third book he is the only character that is worth anything.

Lando and the droids. I'm not even going to go into that pointless situation.

Nil Spaar. What a moron!! "Oh I'm a greatest life form in the universe so bow down to me or I'm going to slit your damn throat." The character was not threatening, especialy when he was intended to be. All I wanted to do was cut the blood flow to his brain, if he even has one, so the monotony and stupidity would stop.

The situations are also pointless. The war, the search for Luke's mother, and the Qella ship are all stupid and not even worth talking about.

In short, DO NOT READ THIS TRILOGY. I repeat, DO NOT READ THIS TRILOGY. It will destory Star Wars for you.

The best of the Black Fleet Crisis Trilogy, Tyrant's Test takes us back to the convoluted lives of our heroes. The characterizations of Luke and Leia remain poor, Lando's mission is still annoying but there is a bright spot. Chewie's rescue of Han Solo is one of the few bright points in this trilogy. The daring and insane rescue of a battered and tortured Han Solo by his best friend is truly a memorable scene in an otherwise forgettable book. Chewie becomes much more than just a hairy sidekick, but rather he is more of a brother to Han than Luke is, as Han points out when he is brought back to a medical ship where Luke happens to have just landed. Luke and the strange woman continue to search for her people and his mother training. They finally track down this secretive people, but unknown to Luke (but known to everyone else), his traveling companion lied to him and his mother was really not a part of the secret society, yet Luke can still learn how to use their powers with only like 2 hours of training.. A slave revolt against the evil Yevetha helps to end the threat to the New Republic and Leia sits triumphant atop the backstabbing political world. The end has Luke and Leia reconciling (from a separation that was totally unnecessary) and Luke returns to his real living family. As for Lando, Luke also took time out of his busy schedule to hop halfway across the galaxy to save his old friend trapped aboard a living ship/seedpod. Sounds kind of Vongish to me. Anyway the Black Fleet Crisis Trilogy is one of the worst in the Star Wars universe. All three books filled with annoying convoluted plot and terrible depictions of the main characters. It simply the worst trilogy of the Star Wars universe, which is saying something considering how bad the Jedi Academy Trilogy is. Kube-McDowell should have spent more time writing and editing his book to be much more streamlined than the clunky and poorly written result that Star Wars fans received. Words cannot describe the awfulness of this series.

Below is an excerpt of my full review of the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy:

This series was mostly a great read and one of the better stories of the Star Wars universe I have read. The introduction of the Yevetha, a ruthless enemy likely more diabolical than the Empire, was refreshing. It was not another story involving the Empire trying to rattle the feathers of the New Republic, another remnant hiding somewhere in the Core that was waiting for the opportunity to strike. Instead they were relegated to a supporting role. The impression I had throughout the books was that the New Republic was evenly matched, perhaps even out gunned with the addition of the Black Fleet. The build up to the impending war between the New Republic and Yevetha seemed as if it were going to be grand, but this is where I feel the trilogy lost its greatness and was the second sour spot of the story. The first was the Lando subplot.

Let's put it this way. If you want to read this book and read all things relevant to the story of the book, skip every chapter with Lando, Lobot, and the like. It has absolutely nothing to do with the main story arc. If you want to know what happens, read it after you've finished the main story. Alone it's not so bad a story, but it's really a completely separate story and shouldn't have been included.

The arc involving Luke and the search for his mother was almost time wasted, but it wasn't since it became part of the main plot's conclusion. It introduced a Force like entity, but seemingly more powerful, called the Current, and I am still not sure if I liked that part or not. In the end, though, Luke finds out that he was mislead and now has a new Current hiding ability that even the most powerful Force adept cannot detect. Does Luke ever draw on this power again? Not during the New Republic Era, that's for sure.

The climactic moment of the book had a twist that nearly came out of nowhere and was very anticlimactic. Without giving too much away, it was cheap and poorly executed.

In the end, I did enjoy this trilogy. It pales in comparison to the Thrawn, Han Solo and Jedi Academy trilogies, but I would say it was about on par, if not better, than The Bounty Hunter Wars. Had I known before reading that I could have skipped everything involving Lando, I probably would have. I suggest you do the same.

Tyrant's Test is the third book in The Black Fleet Crisis, a trilogy by Michael P. Kube-McDowell. It picks up where Shield of Lies left off. The New Republic is in a tough situation. The Yevethan have turned out to be a real threat. They have continued their campaign of genocide, and now they have Han Solo as a hostage. As Chief of State, Leia has to convince the Senate to approve a war against the Yevethan. At the same time, as a wife and mother, she has to deal with having her husband being brutally tortured by Nil Spaar, the leader of the Yevethan. None of the solutions that are open to her appear to be ideal.

As was true in the first two books, we have three main stories going on. Lando, Lobot, R2, and Threepio are aboard the Teljkon vagabond and are trying to understand why such a mysterious craft is just moving aimlessly through space. Luke continues his mystical journey with Akanah in search of the Fallanassi. This section remains by far the weakest of the storylines in the trilogy, even though Luke and his new friends do play a major role in the conclusion of the book. It was refreshing to see that he finally got something useful to do, and his story does tie in with Leia's. Leia continues to have the best storyline. All of the political maneuvering is interesting, and her efforts to defeat the Yevethan and save her husband are strong.

One new storyline in this third book brings Chewbacca into the action, and he is a welcome addition. Chewie learns of Han's capture by the Yevethan, and he immediately springs into action. Chewie, his son Lumpawarrump, and some other Wookies head for the Koornacht Cluster to rescue Han. Nothing seems to hamper their efforts and they have a wonderful sequence on the Yevethan flagship as they work their way to Han.

Mr. Kube-McDowell is capable of writing an interesting story. He loves to introduce new alien species, and his descriptions of political maneuvering are excellent. However, he may have spread himself a little thin in making The Black Fleet Crisis a trilogy. He could have omitted a lot of Luke's story throughout the three books and obtained a stronger result. The Black Fleet Crisis is fun to read, but it is not a top-notch effort.

The Black Fleet Crisis started off strongly holding my interest but by this concluding third volume I found my attention beginning to waver. Michael P. Kube-McDowell's final entry in the trilogy, Tyrant's Test, picks right up with the three primary storylines from the earlier books. Once again he experiments with the layout of the story: this time around the Leia and Luke plots are intertwined, occasionally interrupted by a segment dubbed Interlude to spend some time on Lando's adventures. This format is indicative of the eventual importance of the three threads. Leia's story is clearly the primary one, focusing on her efforts to hold the New Republic together and unite squabbling factions against the nastily xenophobic Yevetha. Luke's plot eventually ties in with one important tactical element in the final battle, but it's a loose connection. Lando's tale ends up having very little to do with anything, although it entertains on its own merits.

The book opens by finally bringing Chewbacca into the trilogy. Learning of Han's imprisonment by Yevethan Viceroy Nil Spaar, he and his son Lumpawarrump (of Star Wars Holiday Special infamy!) set off for the Koornacht Cluster to mount a rescue. Mr. Kube-McDowell opts to translate the Wookiee language Shyriiwook directly rather than have Basic-speaking characters paraphrase the Wookiees' utterances. I prefer this approach, as it fosters a more direct engagement with the Wookiees' thoughts and emotions. While not given a large amount of time in the novel, the Chewbacca story is exciting and leads to an unusual action sequence on the Yevethan flagship Pride of Yevetha, where a clandestine agent aboard the vessel assists in clearing a path to Han.

Poor Leia is beset on all sides: she sees video of Han being savagely beaten within an inch of his life, old Senatorial friends from the past turn on her politically and force her to expend energy simply retaining her office, and her brother Luke has run off with a strange Force user named Akanah who claims to have information on their mother. Watching her grapple with the various situations she encounters and eventually build toward a climactic moment where she is able to unify the government behind her is the strongest part of the story. By this third volume, I often found myself wincing when I opened a page and saw the name Luke on it: his plot simply didn't hold enough interest. Akanah's manipulations of him were nausea-inducing, especially at the end where her abuse of the truth is revealed, and by this age in his life Luke should be a more mature character than the one the EU authors insist on portraying (I don't subscribe to the dropping-my-responsibilities-to-chase-around-the-galaxy idea in this trilogy).

Not much is done here to expand the Yevethan culture. They place survival-of-the-fittest on a pedestal and live short, violent lives dedicated to that tenet. Nil Spaar sinks to new depths in several bloody moments, but for the most part the other Yevethan characters are interchangeable, more there to provide points-of-view rather than to be fleshed-out characters. There's an excellent exploration of the remnants of the Imperial occupation force the Yevethan conquered twelve years earlier, and their sudden arrival in the storyline is entirely logical and fundamental to the final victory. Nil Spaar's own demise is open-ended: I can't say I hope to ever see him again in a future story.

Besides sporting a timely and key intervention from Luke using a nifty new Force power he learned from Akanah, Lando's adventure on the vagabond starship doesn't really relate to the rest of the trilogy. I continued to enjoy the interactions of Lando, Lobot, C-3PO, and R2-D2 on the vessel, but was disappointed at the anti-climactic ending of their tale. Still, it's OK to have a sidebar in a story, and even though this one wasn't very important, it is still fairly intriguing taken on its own merits.

The strengths of the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy taken as a whole are the innovative and detailed depictions of alien species both new and old, the exciting pacing of the political and military actions underlying the eventual confrontation with the Yevetha, and the breathing room the stories get by spreading them over a trilogy. However, this spreading out also is a weakness at points, as the Luke and Lando plots run out of steam to varying degrees. Overall, the trilogy is a worthwhile Star Wars story, particularly for readers interested in the New Republic government or the many fascinating aliens of the Expanded Universe.

People who say that Star Wars expanded universe fiction hit the skids with the New Jedi Order series obviously don't remember this book. The one bright spot in this whole affair a face of aliens who don't think of the force in terms of light or dark but rather as in the color of a rainbow is good but unfortunately never really developed.

I submit that while the Cornelian Crisis has a stupider villain and children of jedi has a more idiotic supporting cast the black fleet crisis has more useless dialog. You have to buy this one for the immortal line "have you ever had sex in hyperspace

As I just ripped through this trilogy in less than a week, it's somewhat easier to reflect on the Black Fleet Crisis as a whole. While the subplots can be confusing throughout the first two installments, Test ties everything up rather nicely. Lando and Lobot continue their misadventures aboard the Teljkon vagabond, Luke continues to search for his supposed mother, and Leia deals with the political maneuvering that come with being the Republic Chief of State. That being said, the terrible characterizations begun in Before the Storm continue here. Leia comes off as more of a whiny, stuck up, stubborn little brat than ever before. Luke acts rather coldly towards those who are not involved in his "Circle of Trust." The relationship between Han and Chewbacca gives us the only believable banter from the characters we have grown to love, and even that leaves something to be desired. The pair only features in the very beginning and end of the novel.

Having read these novels well after the Prequel Trilogy hit the screens, Luke's quest proved somewhat dull. Fans know that his mother is Padme Amidala and the prospect that Nashira, the Fallanassi, may be his mother here leaves us wondering whether the book will end with a glaring continuity error or an unresolved journey. What we get here is, surprise, a whole lot of the latter, aka, nothing. The impression the reader gets when it's all over is that a large portion of the story they just read was a whole lot of page filler. At least Lucasfilm stayed true to the act of covering their a**es even back in the mid '90s.

In the end, an enjoyable read, but not quite up to par with some of the other Expanded Universe offerings.