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crystalstarrlight's review against another edition
1.0
I wish it had been all a dream too, Luke...
The second book in the Black Fleet Crisis series opens with Lando, Lobot, C-3PO, and R2-D2 as they are stuck inside the Vagabond investigating. Luke is off with Akanah as she continues to search for her people, the Fallanassi, and Leia's tenure as president is on rocky ground as the conflict with the Yevetha increases.
I Liked:
Lando's story, while extraneous, was mildly interesting. Furthermore, it was cool to see Lobot.
The real highlight here is Leia's story. I wasn't so fond of it in Before the Storm, but here, it is much, much better. I really found myself liking it at the odd part where Leia is signing a bunch of planets into the New Republic. Yeah, I know, weird, but somehow, this was interesting to me. I think MKM has done a fairly good job building this plot thread and giving it decent treatment.
The characters aren't even too bad, namely Leia and Lando. Leia finally sees what an idiot she was and really has to make up for being so oblivious. And Lando, while nothing to write home to, was certainly not painful to read.
I Didn't Like:
Let me first pause and say, "Where did Han and Chewie go?" Why are we focusing on Lando and his Story That Goes Nowhere and totally neglect Chewie, who has taken the Falcon back to his homeworld? Why not also focus on Chewie? Or what about Han? Surprisingly, he becomes a plot point, very rare for a male, only existing to tie up the loose ends (who is taking care of the kids? Who does Leia trust enough to do her military work?). And perhaps this is the fault of the abridged audiobook, but I still have no clue how he got captured.
By far the worst character remains Luke. While he does attempt to pull his head out of his rear, he continues to let himself get whipped around by moody Akanah. Instead of growing a pair and making her tell him the truth, he lets himself be bullied, pushed around, and shut up as if he has no voice. And how is this guy the head of a new Jedi Order???
But that is far from all. Akanah is even more intolerable here. She demands trust and the truth from Luke but never once gives it. Like the saying goes, in order to earn respect/trust, you need to give it. Plus, every other scene, she is bawling, crying, whining, getting angry, and huffing about something. I wanted to slap her around or throw her out of the ship!
And again, why, when Leia and the rest of the galaxy are going through a crisis, is Luke conveniently absent? This doesn't jive at all with his earlier incarnations! And you can't use the excuse he doesn't know, because halfway through his section, he finds out!
Speaking of which...MKM decided in this book that the stories weren't disconnected enough and split them into three separate sections. On one hand, it makes skipping Luke's section a lot easier. On the other, that means you get stuck reading about any one character and no idea what is happening in another character's time line. Also, it just makes it glaringly obvious that the sections have nothing to do with each other.
Again, Lando's story seems disconnected and leaves me wondering why we spend so long in the beginning learning about this weird ship. Why is it so important?
As for Leia's story, much better, but still, if she hadn't been a dip-head last book, perhaps this book would have turned out differently.
Dialogue/Sexual Situations/Violence:
Perhaps a spattering of d*** and h***.
Luke and Akanah travel the galaxy together. Akanah has a father who apparently isn't married to her mother (or isn't anymore?). It's not obvious.
The Yevetha take over planets and commit genocide.
Overall:
Oddly enough, this book is better than the last. However, considering how bad the last one is, that isn't saying much. And still, there are enough "Huh?" moments that continue to befuddle me. Why doesn't Luke try to help Leia? Why does Luke believe his mother is a Fallanassi? Why does Akanah need Luke so badly (seems she is doing an okay job investigating herself)? Why does Luke trust Akanah? What is this White Current and is it related to the Force or not? Where is Chewie? Why hasn't he returned to help Leia? Why didn't Leia just listen to her advisers and avoid this whole mess? What about Han? How the heck did he get captured so easily? Why is Lando's mission even in here, other than to give him something to do?
So, the sagging middle book retains its one star rating, and I wonder how MKM will wrap this trilogy up.
The second book in the Black Fleet Crisis series opens with Lando, Lobot, C-3PO, and R2-D2 as they are stuck inside the Vagabond investigating. Luke is off with Akanah as she continues to search for her people, the Fallanassi, and Leia's tenure as president is on rocky ground as the conflict with the Yevetha increases.
I Liked:
Lando's story, while extraneous, was mildly interesting. Furthermore, it was cool to see Lobot.
The real highlight here is Leia's story. I wasn't so fond of it in Before the Storm, but here, it is much, much better. I really found myself liking it at the odd part where Leia is signing a bunch of planets into the New Republic. Yeah, I know, weird, but somehow, this was interesting to me. I think MKM has done a fairly good job building this plot thread and giving it decent treatment.
The characters aren't even too bad, namely Leia and Lando. Leia finally sees what an idiot she was and really has to make up for being so oblivious. And Lando, while nothing to write home to, was certainly not painful to read.
I Didn't Like:
Let me first pause and say, "Where did Han and Chewie go?" Why are we focusing on Lando and his Story That Goes Nowhere and totally neglect Chewie, who has taken the Falcon back to his homeworld? Why not also focus on Chewie? Or what about Han? Surprisingly, he becomes a plot point, very rare for a male, only existing to tie up the loose ends (who is taking care of the kids? Who does Leia trust enough to do her military work?). And perhaps this is the fault of the abridged audiobook, but I still have no clue how he got captured.
By far the worst character remains Luke. While he does attempt to pull his head out of his rear, he continues to let himself get whipped around by moody Akanah. Instead of growing a pair and making her tell him the truth, he lets himself be bullied, pushed around, and shut up as if he has no voice. And how is this guy the head of a new Jedi Order???
But that is far from all. Akanah is even more intolerable here. She demands trust and the truth from Luke but never once gives it. Like the saying goes, in order to earn respect/trust, you need to give it. Plus, every other scene, she is bawling, crying, whining, getting angry, and huffing about something. I wanted to slap her around or throw her out of the ship!
And again, why, when Leia and the rest of the galaxy are going through a crisis, is Luke conveniently absent? This doesn't jive at all with his earlier incarnations! And you can't use the excuse he doesn't know, because halfway through his section, he finds out!
Speaking of which...MKM decided in this book that the stories weren't disconnected enough and split them into three separate sections. On one hand, it makes skipping Luke's section a lot easier. On the other, that means you get stuck reading about any one character and no idea what is happening in another character's time line. Also, it just makes it glaringly obvious that the sections have nothing to do with each other.
Again, Lando's story seems disconnected and leaves me wondering why we spend so long in the beginning learning about this weird ship. Why is it so important?
As for Leia's story, much better, but still, if she hadn't been a dip-head last book, perhaps this book would have turned out differently.
Dialogue/Sexual Situations/Violence:
Perhaps a spattering of d*** and h***.
Luke and Akanah travel the galaxy together. Akanah has a father who apparently isn't married to her mother (or isn't anymore?). It's not obvious.
The Yevetha take over planets and commit genocide.
Overall:
Oddly enough, this book is better than the last. However, considering how bad the last one is, that isn't saying much. And still, there are enough "Huh?" moments that continue to befuddle me. Why doesn't Luke try to help Leia? Why does Luke believe his mother is a Fallanassi? Why does Akanah need Luke so badly (seems she is doing an okay job investigating herself)? Why does Luke trust Akanah? What is this White Current and is it related to the Force or not? Where is Chewie? Why hasn't he returned to help Leia? Why didn't Leia just listen to her advisers and avoid this whole mess? What about Han? How the heck did he get captured so easily? Why is Lando's mission even in here, other than to give him something to do?
So, the sagging middle book retains its one star rating, and I wonder how MKM will wrap this trilogy up.
wesleyboy's review against another edition
2.0
It’s a bold choice to start a book with the least interesting story arc. It’s an even bolder choice to then sandwich the only marginally interesting story between that least interesting arc, and a long final slog of politics and overly detailed military conversations.
This book is the definition of padding. There’s nothing in here that couldn’t have been edited down and split between the other two books in this series. I’m going to read the third book to find out what happens, but I’m not happy about it.
If you want to save some time and frustration, read below, skip the whole book, and move onto the third novel. Seriously, even though this sounds brief, literally nothing else of note really happens.
**SPOILER SECTION**
Lando is fine, and gets control of the ship.
Luke doesn’t really find anything out, and they keep looking for his mom. They stop on a planet where Akanah meets her dad, and the use of a magical drug has made him forget her. It’s completely pointless. Also, Akanah used to be married and that’s how she got the ship.
The senate doesn’t like Leia anymore, and they’re trying to impeach her. They declare war on the Yevetha, and Han gets captured by Nil Spaar in the final pages. Nil gets a new second in command named Tal.
This book is the definition of padding. There’s nothing in here that couldn’t have been edited down and split between the other two books in this series. I’m going to read the third book to find out what happens, but I’m not happy about it.
If you want to save some time and frustration, read below, skip the whole book, and move onto the third novel. Seriously, even though this sounds brief, literally nothing else of note really happens.
**SPOILER SECTION**
Lando is fine, and gets control of the ship.
Luke doesn’t really find anything out, and they keep looking for his mom. They stop on a planet where Akanah meets her dad, and the use of a magical drug has made him forget her. It’s completely pointless. Also, Akanah used to be married and that’s how she got the ship.
The senate doesn’t like Leia anymore, and they’re trying to impeach her. They declare war on the Yevetha, and Han gets captured by Nil Spaar in the final pages. Nil gets a new second in command named Tal.
petealdin's review against another edition
4.0
A really interesting middle act for this trilogy. Nicely arranged and a deepening of the Star Wars universe.
twilliamson's review against another edition
2.0
In Before the Storm, Michael P. Kube-McDowell set the scene for some big ideas. Centered largely on the question of power and justice--and whether violence could ever be just--the novel focused primarily on dealings of the New Republic and the trouble that comes with organized government and politicking. If Star Wars was an allegory for the Vietnam War and British-American imperialism, Kube-McDowell set out to continue exploring that allegory for the EU. And Before the Storm was a damn fine book, on par with Ambush at Corellia for the most interesting first novel in a new Star Wars trilogy.
There's no mistaking that Shield of Lies is thematically much better than the Corellian Trilogy's second novel; Kube-McDowell continues exploring the same set of ideas he introduced in the previous book. This novel is divided into thirds, with each portion exploring the adventures of Lando, Luke, and Leia separately as the New Republic deals with its new crisis. Each third focuses tightly on expanding the central conversation Kube-McDowell wants to have: Lando's trip through a vagrant starship reveals startling news of how war destroyed an entire advanced civilization; Luke's travels with his companion Akanah questions the utility of violence and the ethics of wielding power; and Leia's dealings with the Duskhan League and Nil Spaar center largely on how a government is meant to respond to foreign aggression.
In every thematic sense, Kube-McDowell has crafted one of the most philosophically compelling second novels in a Star Wars EU trilogy, and the complex ideas his novels grapple with are truly excellent. The book feels thematically unified, an extension of the first novel's serious questions about relationships of human governments and power, and an excellent contemplation of how easy power is to abuse when the wrong people assume its mantle.
But if Kube-McDowell forgot anything in this novel, it's to make it fun. Shield of Lies is so concerned with its philosophical questions that it absolutely forgets to be fun in even the slightest sense. The book is studiously boring, and Lando and Luke's portions of the book especially cry out as being insufferably dull. Leia's third of the book--the last portion--is genuinely good and compelling, but it also rushes through some major plot developments because it comes so late in the story. I know why each of these sections exists thematically, but they're just so gob-smackingly boring to read that I honestly am unsure if I wouldn't have just preferred another Corellian Trilogy fiasco.
Kube-McDowell has the most ambitious vision of any '90s-era Star Wars writer I have yet read, and it is a genuine credit to his imagination that he can have such a bold and complex conversation with a fantasy-action franchise like this one. Nevertheless, I do show up to this fantasy-action franchise for fantasy action, and for a book to have so little movement is just a huge bummer. Reading Star Wars shouldn't feel like a chore; this book did.
There's no mistaking that Shield of Lies is thematically much better than the Corellian Trilogy's second novel; Kube-McDowell continues exploring the same set of ideas he introduced in the previous book. This novel is divided into thirds, with each portion exploring the adventures of Lando, Luke, and Leia separately as the New Republic deals with its new crisis. Each third focuses tightly on expanding the central conversation Kube-McDowell wants to have: Lando's trip through a vagrant starship reveals startling news of how war destroyed an entire advanced civilization; Luke's travels with his companion Akanah questions the utility of violence and the ethics of wielding power; and Leia's dealings with the Duskhan League and Nil Spaar center largely on how a government is meant to respond to foreign aggression.
In every thematic sense, Kube-McDowell has crafted one of the most philosophically compelling second novels in a Star Wars EU trilogy, and the complex ideas his novels grapple with are truly excellent. The book feels thematically unified, an extension of the first novel's serious questions about relationships of human governments and power, and an excellent contemplation of how easy power is to abuse when the wrong people assume its mantle.
But if Kube-McDowell forgot anything in this novel, it's to make it fun. Shield of Lies is so concerned with its philosophical questions that it absolutely forgets to be fun in even the slightest sense. The book is studiously boring, and Lando and Luke's portions of the book especially cry out as being insufferably dull. Leia's third of the book--the last portion--is genuinely good and compelling, but it also rushes through some major plot developments because it comes so late in the story. I know why each of these sections exists thematically, but they're just so gob-smackingly boring to read that I honestly am unsure if I wouldn't have just preferred another Corellian Trilogy fiasco.
Kube-McDowell has the most ambitious vision of any '90s-era Star Wars writer I have yet read, and it is a genuine credit to his imagination that he can have such a bold and complex conversation with a fantasy-action franchise like this one. Nevertheless, I do show up to this fantasy-action franchise for fantasy action, and for a book to have so little movement is just a huge bummer. Reading Star Wars shouldn't feel like a chore; this book did.
jroberts1995's review
2.0
Shield of Lies isn't quite as bad as some of the preceding Star Wars books, but it's still many miles away from being good. The author's decision to slice the novel into several parts - each with its own main character - was a poor one. It reads more like a series of disjointed novellas than a full-length book, and none of the individual parts are particularly enjoyable. Luke continues to be improbably dull; Leia is still out-of-character; Lando, at least, is written with some consistency. I'd probably give up on this period in the Legends timeline if the Yuuzhan-Vong weren't on the horizon.
kellylynnthomas's review against another edition
2.0
These books could have been awesome, but the writing is just terrible.
empiepaps's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
colinmcev's review against another edition
3.0
Although I'm giving this one the same star rating as the first book in this series, Before the Storm, I enjoyed that one more than this second entry. Like that first book, there are three main subplots in Shield of Lies: Lando Calrissian investigating a mysterious phantom spacecraft, Luke Skywalker searching for clues about his long-lost mother, and Princess Leia grappling with the threat posed by the Yevetha species. In Before the Storm, however, these three stories are interspersed with each other, with the action switching back and forth between them with each chapter. By contrast, Shield of Lies breaks each story into individual sections of the book – first Lando, then Luke, then Leia – and we don't leave one plotline until it is finished. I think the book suffers as a result, especially because I found myself so uninterested in the Luke subplot that that particular third of the book was a bit of a slog to get through, and had me considering giving Shield of Lies a two-star rating instead of three stars.
Ultimately, though, the Lando and Leia stories were interesting enough for me to enjoy Shield of Lies overall. Leia's storyline, which has the largest consequences on a galactic scale, was again the most engaging to me. I continued to enjoy the Yevetha as an antagonist species, and it was interesting to learn more about their death-obsessed culture and caste system. I also enjoyed the political aspect of Leia's story, as I did in Before the Storm, as she was forced to cope with political in-fighting and machinations as well as dealing with the threat from external enemies. In fact, if there's one area where Shield of Lies improves upon the first book, it's in the portrayal of Leia as a character. Whereas in the first one, Leia seems uncharacteristically weak and lacking in confidence, lacking foresight and allowing an enemy to undercut her right beneath her nose, she is much more assertive and shrewd in this one, understanding the threat before her and refusing to cave in to the political pressure around her. It was nice to see Princess Leia acting like Princess Leia again.
With the exception of one major battle scene and some reconnaissance missions, the Leia subplot here feels in some ways (again, much like in Before the Storm) more like build-up than action, presumably setting the stage for a final showdown in the final book in the series. I can understand why this could turn off some readers, who might find themselves losing patience with all the politics and eager to get to the fighting already. But for regular readers of Star Wars novels, who have been watching this fictional universe expand further and further with each novel, this will probably be less of a complaint. (I will say, though, that a very significant event at the very end of the book, which I won't spoil here, feels a bit rushed.)
I also once again enjoyed Lando's storyline. As in the first book, it's interesting to see Lando (and his trusty sidekicks Lobot, C-3PO and R2-D2) attempting to interact with and understand a long-extinct species and technology of which they have practically no prior knowledge or understanding. Not to mention the fact that they are cut off from the rest of the universe, and running out of time before their life support fails them. It was intriguing the resourcefulness of this unlikely foursome as they attempted to solve this seemingly impossible puzzle, and the four make for quite an interesting team, especially when Lando's roguish personality clashes with the more stiff, robotic temperaments of the other three. I will be interested, however, to see how this subplot ultimately fits into the others (or at least the Leia/Yevetha one), because so far it's not at all clear how or if it will.
That leaves us with Luke's subplot, which is where the book mostly lost me. Again, as with Before the Storm, this storyline just isn't doing it for me. Part of it, I'm sure, is that I know whatever Luke discovers about his mother will ultimately be rendered moot by the prequels. Another part of it, perhaps, was that I was anxious to get back to the other, more interesting subplots. Nevertheless, I feel like the Fallanassi should be a lot more interesting than they are proving to be for me, and much of the chapters with Luke and Akanah felt redundant to me: they're traveling painfully slowly in a ship, they land on a planet, they investigate, they get back on the ship, and repeat.
But my biggest complaint, by far, is the handling of the Luke Skywalker character. Much like Leia in Before the Storm, only even worse in this case, I just didn't feel like Luke sounded or acted much like the character that has become well-established throughout the novels by this point. He refers to an old person as "some gray hair." He sarcastically says to a robot, "Whoa, stop right there, Chuckles." When Anikah asks if he can make the ship move faster, he says "How? Get out and push?" These all sound like things Han Solo or Lando might say, but not Luke. He even at one point says "The truth is that, most of the time, the Force is no substitute for a tech droid or a tool kit," which sounds nothing like Luke Skywalker to me.
Worse yet, at one point, after Luke is justifying having killed two enemies to protect Anikah, he says "The truth is that, at the moment, I wasn’t particularly worried about whether I killed him or not." I'm sorry, but there is no way Luke would say something like this at this point in the evolution of his character, where he has come to such a profound understanding of the Force and developed such an appreciation for all forms of life. That he would act so out-of-character throughout this novel is particularly strange because he seemed more like Luke even in the first book of this same series, when he was on the verge of entering an indefinite hermitude and trying to develop an even deeper connection with the Force. For his personality to take such a complete 180 from the first book to the second is truly bizarre.
All that being said, I ultimately liked more of Shield of Lies than I disliked, and I look forward to seeing how the series concludes in Tyrant's Test.
Ultimately, though, the Lando and Leia stories were interesting enough for me to enjoy Shield of Lies overall. Leia's storyline, which has the largest consequences on a galactic scale, was again the most engaging to me. I continued to enjoy the Yevetha as an antagonist species, and it was interesting to learn more about their death-obsessed culture and caste system. I also enjoyed the political aspect of Leia's story, as I did in Before the Storm, as she was forced to cope with political in-fighting and machinations as well as dealing with the threat from external enemies. In fact, if there's one area where Shield of Lies improves upon the first book, it's in the portrayal of Leia as a character. Whereas in the first one, Leia seems uncharacteristically weak and lacking in confidence, lacking foresight and allowing an enemy to undercut her right beneath her nose, she is much more assertive and shrewd in this one, understanding the threat before her and refusing to cave in to the political pressure around her. It was nice to see Princess Leia acting like Princess Leia again.
With the exception of one major battle scene and some reconnaissance missions, the Leia subplot here feels in some ways (again, much like in Before the Storm) more like build-up than action, presumably setting the stage for a final showdown in the final book in the series. I can understand why this could turn off some readers, who might find themselves losing patience with all the politics and eager to get to the fighting already. But for regular readers of Star Wars novels, who have been watching this fictional universe expand further and further with each novel, this will probably be less of a complaint. (I will say, though, that a very significant event at the very end of the book, which I won't spoil here, feels a bit rushed.)
I also once again enjoyed Lando's storyline. As in the first book, it's interesting to see Lando (and his trusty sidekicks Lobot, C-3PO and R2-D2) attempting to interact with and understand a long-extinct species and technology of which they have practically no prior knowledge or understanding. Not to mention the fact that they are cut off from the rest of the universe, and running out of time before their life support fails them. It was intriguing the resourcefulness of this unlikely foursome as they attempted to solve this seemingly impossible puzzle, and the four make for quite an interesting team, especially when Lando's roguish personality clashes with the more stiff, robotic temperaments of the other three. I will be interested, however, to see how this subplot ultimately fits into the others (or at least the Leia/Yevetha one), because so far it's not at all clear how or if it will.
That leaves us with Luke's subplot, which is where the book mostly lost me. Again, as with Before the Storm, this storyline just isn't doing it for me. Part of it, I'm sure, is that I know whatever Luke discovers about his mother will ultimately be rendered moot by the prequels. Another part of it, perhaps, was that I was anxious to get back to the other, more interesting subplots. Nevertheless, I feel like the Fallanassi should be a lot more interesting than they are proving to be for me, and much of the chapters with Luke and Akanah felt redundant to me: they're traveling painfully slowly in a ship, they land on a planet, they investigate, they get back on the ship, and repeat.
But my biggest complaint, by far, is the handling of the Luke Skywalker character. Much like Leia in Before the Storm, only even worse in this case, I just didn't feel like Luke sounded or acted much like the character that has become well-established throughout the novels by this point. He refers to an old person as "some gray hair." He sarcastically says to a robot, "Whoa, stop right there, Chuckles." When Anikah asks if he can make the ship move faster, he says "How? Get out and push?" These all sound like things Han Solo or Lando might say, but not Luke. He even at one point says "The truth is that, most of the time, the Force is no substitute for a tech droid or a tool kit," which sounds nothing like Luke Skywalker to me.
Worse yet, at one point, after Luke is justifying having killed two enemies to protect Anikah, he says "The truth is that, at the moment, I wasn’t particularly worried about whether I killed him or not." I'm sorry, but there is no way Luke would say something like this at this point in the evolution of his character, where he has come to such a profound understanding of the Force and developed such an appreciation for all forms of life. That he would act so out-of-character throughout this novel is particularly strange because he seemed more like Luke even in the first book of this same series, when he was on the verge of entering an indefinite hermitude and trying to develop an even deeper connection with the Force. For his personality to take such a complete 180 from the first book to the second is truly bizarre.
All that being said, I ultimately liked more of Shield of Lies than I disliked, and I look forward to seeing how the series concludes in Tyrant's Test.