Scan barcode
ehsjaysaunders's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The plot threads ended up feeling a bit more disjointed and lacking in payoff than I would have liked, but still a fun read.
3.5/5 Needs more Wookiee commandos.
3.5/5 Needs more Wookiee commandos.
blancwene's review against another edition
2.0
For 2020, I decided to reread (in publication order) all the Bantam-era Star Wars books that were released between 1991 and 1999; that shakes out to 38 adult novels and 5 anthologies of short stories & novellas.
This week’s focus: the final book in the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy, Tyrant’s Test by Michael P. Kube-McDowell.
SOME HISTORY:
I mentioned previously that McDowell saw his target audience as older adults. But it’s interesting how darker and edgier the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy is than any previous Bantam releases. In Tyrant's Test alone, we have the first appearance of profanity like "son of a bitch" and "bastard" when Han is talking back to the Yevetha in Chapters 4 and 5. The violence can get pretty graphic (a very descriptive disembowelment in Chapter 4), and Akanah is asked in Chapter 5 whether she's ever had sex in hyperspace. Tyrant’s Test made it to number thirteen on the New York Times paperback bestseller list for the week of December 22, 1996, and was on the NYT list for three weeks.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
Wow, I really remembered none of this. The only familiar part was the cover. And yet I know I read this before!
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
Chewbacca and his family set out to rescue Han from the Yevetha, while Leia calls upon the Senate to eliminate the threat posed by the Duskhan League--even if it means losing Han. Lando faces off against Imperials in the runaway Qella spaceship, and Luke finally makes some progress on his hunt for the Fallanassi.
THE CHARACTERS:
Lando’s storyline felt even more irrelevant to the greater action, mostly because McDowell relegated his story to “interludes” interspersed between chapters of the main action. Did I still like Lando’s adventure? Did I appreciate the further development of Lobot? Yes to both. I wish, though, that it hadn’t ended with such an obvious deus ex machina. Luke appears, uses a Fallanassi technique to board the Vagabond, talks to the ship with Lobot’s cybernetic headgear, and then uses that same Fallanassi technique to hide the ship as it initiates Qella’s thaw. Lando and Lobot don’t play any role in the conclusion of their arc, and without Luke they might have never been able to disembark. And it’s completely unrelated to the Black Fleet Crisis, which makes you feel like you’ve been subjected to a shaggy dog story.
Luke’s quest for his mother was ultimately a fool’s errand; although filming on Episode I didn’t start until 1997, art development on the film began in January 1995. The casual reader might not have been aware of it, but McDowell presumably was told something. The identity of Luke and Leia’s mother is too important to reveal in a paperback book, so Akanah’s deception doesn’t come as a surprise. He’s better in this book than books 1 or 2, but he’s merely an observer. They find the Fallanassi, Wialu agrees to aid the Fifth Fleet against the Yevetha, yet Luke doesn’t actively fight: he tells A’Baht that his “part in this will not be as a warrior.” In the end, he swoops in to save Lando & co. and agrees to help Leia with the children, but it feels like too little too late. I can’t shake the feeling that his plotline is a demerit against the trilogy as a whole.
I both love and loathe Akanah. I love her boldness; she has the balls to outright lie to Luke Skywalker’s face so that she can drag him along on her journey. I would respect her more if she owned up to it, but there’s too many regretful excuses thrown around for me. Some people lump Akanah in with Luke’s other sad past girlfriends, but I think McDowell makes it pretty clear that they were never intimately involved.
Leia’s plot continued to be the strongest and most interesting. (I would probably have rated these books a lot higher if they were solely focused on her!) It’s a bit repetitive in that she is once again facing the threat of removal from office, but I like how she addressed it so much better than in [b:The New Rebellion|700095|The New Rebellion (Star Wars)|Kristine Kathryn Rusch|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327008455l/700095._SY75_.jpg|686406]. Instead of handing over the reins of power and taking off, she stays put. She doesn’t listen to any of the spin doctors, because Nil Spaar wants her to step down. So even though Han’s life is in danger, she doesn’t waver in declaring war against the Duskhan League.
After Chewbacca went home in [b:Before the Storm|138350|Before the Storm (Star Wars Black Fleet Crisis, #1)|Michael P. Kube-McDowell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1390599000l/138350._SY75_.jpg|2336411], I didn’t expect to see him again, especially after his continued absence in [b:Shield of Lies|264013|Shield of Lies (Star Wars Black Fleet Crisis, #2)|Michael P. Kube-McDowell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403175753l/264013._SY75_.jpg|757156]. But McDowell brought him back for an exciting rescue mission, did some worldbuilding on Kashyyyk, and actually let him speak! Lumpawarump also passes his coming-of-age hrrtayyk ceremony, and gets to exchange the awful nickname “Lumpy” for the slightly more palatable “Waroo.” Han, though, continues to play a lesser role in this book. He’s imprisoned by the Yevetha and savagely beaten, and after his rescue is endlessly either in hospital or en route to a better facility.
On the one hand, I’m glad we’re not just fighting the Empire again. The Imperials who retake their ships during the climactic battle don’t even want anything to do with the New Republic! But the Yevetha continue to be irredeemably evil, obsessed with violence and blood and victory at any cost. I half expected the Yevetha to turn on Nil Spaar, but instead he was taken out by their Imperial slave labor. They’re OK villains, I just wish they had been depicted with a little more nuance.
ISSUES:
I guess I was expecting more from the final battle? We have a previous attack on the thrustships and the shipyard (and I have to agree with the second-in-command here, that it makes far more sense to alert General A’baht so that they can come back with more ships), but the main fight is strangely uneventful. The Imperials escape with all the Imperial ships, Wialu’s illusion keeps the Yevetha occupied for a while, but then it’s literally just A’baht having to destroy every single Yevethan ship because they won’t surrender. It ends up being a bit anticlimactic.
McDowell adds a lot of interesting details about the Senate and how the New Republic works, which later authors completely disregard. And while I like Leia’s political career, it’s a little disheartening how much later books dropped Leia the politician in favor of Leia the Jedi. Likewise, he left the fate of the Black Fleet open-ended for someone else to pick up (loads of Imperial ships in the Deep Core), but no one did.
Similarly to [b:The New Rebellion|700095|The New Rebellion (Star Wars)|Kristine Kathryn Rusch|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327008455l/700095._SY75_.jpg|686406], I felt like Tyrant’s Test was also lacking resolution. Han is OK, I guess, because Leia mentions that the children and she just visited him. Luke isn’t ready to be a hermit. Lando is alive, which is the best that can be hoped for. In the end, it seemed like an obvious reset to the status quo.
IN CONCLUSION:
In the end, I wish that McDowell had solely focused on Leia, because her plot is powerful and nuanced. Unfortunately, though, you end up having to wade through an irrelevant Lando adventure and a truly skippable Luke arc. (Read for the political subplot, not the Qella wild goose chase or the Fallanassi stuff.)
Next up: the third of the short story collections edited by Kevin J. Anderson, [b:Tales of the Bounty Hunters|131776|Tales of the Bounty Hunters (Star Wars)|Kevin J. Anderson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1411172275l/131776._SY75_.jpg|2599174].
My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/7RL67yr2b0E
McDowell’s FAQs for the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy: https://web.archive.org/web/20080509103715/http://www.sff.net/people/K-Mac/blackfleet.htm
This week’s focus: the final book in the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy, Tyrant’s Test by Michael P. Kube-McDowell.
SOME HISTORY:
I mentioned previously that McDowell saw his target audience as older adults. But it’s interesting how darker and edgier the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy is than any previous Bantam releases. In Tyrant's Test alone, we have the first appearance of profanity like "son of a bitch" and "bastard" when Han is talking back to the Yevetha in Chapters 4 and 5. The violence can get pretty graphic (a very descriptive disembowelment in Chapter 4), and Akanah is asked in Chapter 5 whether she's ever had sex in hyperspace. Tyrant’s Test made it to number thirteen on the New York Times paperback bestseller list for the week of December 22, 1996, and was on the NYT list for three weeks.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
Wow, I really remembered none of this. The only familiar part was the cover. And yet I know I read this before!
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
Chewbacca and his family set out to rescue Han from the Yevetha, while Leia calls upon the Senate to eliminate the threat posed by the Duskhan League--even if it means losing Han. Lando faces off against Imperials in the runaway Qella spaceship, and Luke finally makes some progress on his hunt for the Fallanassi.
THE CHARACTERS:
Lando’s storyline felt even more irrelevant to the greater action, mostly because McDowell relegated his story to “interludes” interspersed between chapters of the main action. Did I still like Lando’s adventure? Did I appreciate the further development of Lobot? Yes to both. I wish, though, that it hadn’t ended with such an obvious deus ex machina. Luke appears, uses a Fallanassi technique to board the Vagabond, talks to the ship with Lobot’s cybernetic headgear, and then uses that same Fallanassi technique to hide the ship as it initiates Qella’s thaw. Lando and Lobot don’t play any role in the conclusion of their arc, and without Luke they might have never been able to disembark. And it’s completely unrelated to the Black Fleet Crisis, which makes you feel like you’ve been subjected to a shaggy dog story.
Luke’s quest for his mother was ultimately a fool’s errand; although filming on Episode I didn’t start until 1997, art development on the film began in January 1995. The casual reader might not have been aware of it, but McDowell presumably was told something. The identity of Luke and Leia’s mother is too important to reveal in a paperback book, so Akanah’s deception doesn’t come as a surprise. He’s better in this book than books 1 or 2, but he’s merely an observer. They find the Fallanassi, Wialu agrees to aid the Fifth Fleet against the Yevetha, yet Luke doesn’t actively fight: he tells A’Baht that his “part in this will not be as a warrior.” In the end, he swoops in to save Lando & co. and agrees to help Leia with the children, but it feels like too little too late. I can’t shake the feeling that his plotline is a demerit against the trilogy as a whole.
I both love and loathe Akanah. I love her boldness; she has the balls to outright lie to Luke Skywalker’s face so that she can drag him along on her journey. I would respect her more if she owned up to it, but there’s too many regretful excuses thrown around for me. Some people lump Akanah in with Luke’s other sad past girlfriends, but I think McDowell makes it pretty clear that they were never intimately involved.
Leia’s plot continued to be the strongest and most interesting. (I would probably have rated these books a lot higher if they were solely focused on her!) It’s a bit repetitive in that she is once again facing the threat of removal from office, but I like how she addressed it so much better than in [b:The New Rebellion|700095|The New Rebellion (Star Wars)|Kristine Kathryn Rusch|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327008455l/700095._SY75_.jpg|686406]. Instead of handing over the reins of power and taking off, she stays put. She doesn’t listen to any of the spin doctors, because Nil Spaar wants her to step down. So even though Han’s life is in danger, she doesn’t waver in declaring war against the Duskhan League.
After Chewbacca went home in [b:Before the Storm|138350|Before the Storm (Star Wars Black Fleet Crisis, #1)|Michael P. Kube-McDowell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1390599000l/138350._SY75_.jpg|2336411], I didn’t expect to see him again, especially after his continued absence in [b:Shield of Lies|264013|Shield of Lies (Star Wars Black Fleet Crisis, #2)|Michael P. Kube-McDowell|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403175753l/264013._SY75_.jpg|757156]. But McDowell brought him back for an exciting rescue mission, did some worldbuilding on Kashyyyk, and actually let him speak! Lumpawarump also passes his coming-of-age hrrtayyk ceremony, and gets to exchange the awful nickname “Lumpy” for the slightly more palatable “Waroo.” Han, though, continues to play a lesser role in this book. He’s imprisoned by the Yevetha and savagely beaten, and after his rescue is endlessly either in hospital or en route to a better facility.
On the one hand, I’m glad we’re not just fighting the Empire again. The Imperials who retake their ships during the climactic battle don’t even want anything to do with the New Republic! But the Yevetha continue to be irredeemably evil, obsessed with violence and blood and victory at any cost. I half expected the Yevetha to turn on Nil Spaar, but instead he was taken out by their Imperial slave labor. They’re OK villains, I just wish they had been depicted with a little more nuance.
ISSUES:
I guess I was expecting more from the final battle? We have a previous attack on the thrustships and the shipyard (and I have to agree with the second-in-command here, that it makes far more sense to alert General A’baht so that they can come back with more ships), but the main fight is strangely uneventful. The Imperials escape with all the Imperial ships, Wialu’s illusion keeps the Yevetha occupied for a while, but then it’s literally just A’baht having to destroy every single Yevethan ship because they won’t surrender. It ends up being a bit anticlimactic.
McDowell adds a lot of interesting details about the Senate and how the New Republic works, which later authors completely disregard. And while I like Leia’s political career, it’s a little disheartening how much later books dropped Leia the politician in favor of Leia the Jedi. Likewise, he left the fate of the Black Fleet open-ended for someone else to pick up (loads of Imperial ships in the Deep Core), but no one did.
Similarly to [b:The New Rebellion|700095|The New Rebellion (Star Wars)|Kristine Kathryn Rusch|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327008455l/700095._SY75_.jpg|686406], I felt like Tyrant’s Test was also lacking resolution. Han is OK, I guess, because Leia mentions that the children and she just visited him. Luke isn’t ready to be a hermit. Lando is alive, which is the best that can be hoped for. In the end, it seemed like an obvious reset to the status quo.
IN CONCLUSION:
In the end, I wish that McDowell had solely focused on Leia, because her plot is powerful and nuanced. Unfortunately, though, you end up having to wade through an irrelevant Lando adventure and a truly skippable Luke arc. (Read for the political subplot, not the Qella wild goose chase or the Fallanassi stuff.)
Next up: the third of the short story collections edited by Kevin J. Anderson, [b:Tales of the Bounty Hunters|131776|Tales of the Bounty Hunters (Star Wars)|Kevin J. Anderson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1411172275l/131776._SY75_.jpg|2599174].
My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/7RL67yr2b0E
McDowell’s FAQs for the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy: https://web.archive.org/web/20080509103715/http://www.sff.net/people/K-Mac/blackfleet.htm
verkisto's review against another edition
2.0
For all the build-up Kube-McDowell created in the first two books, he sure sent everything into a tailspin for the final book. He concludes it, probably in the best way he knew how, but all of the tension evaporated under the heat of the battle scenes. The antagonists went from being despicable but understandable to mustache-twisting, evil-for-the-sake-of-evil, how-atrocious-can-they-be villains, and it was too easy to lose all interest in what they were doing. Add in two subplots that feature across all three books but have zero bearing on the main plot (the series is, after all, called "The Black Fleet Crisis", and anything not relating to that is just superfluous if it doesn't add to that plot), and you get a crushing disappointment of a book. It makes me want to go back and adjust my ratings of the first two books, because I wouldn't want someone to get the idea that this series pays off in any way.
ferretbreeder's review against another edition
5.0
I will accept no guff regarding this trilogy. I can understand why it might not be someone's favorite. But bad?? Absolutely not. The Yevetha. The Vagabond. The New Republic. It's all so interesting! There are about a million positive things I could say about not just this book, but the other two as well. Great stuff. Sad to see it end.
peregrineace's review against another edition
1.0
Horrible. Skip it! Even if you're a SW fan!
Loose plot, bad characterization.
Loose plot, bad characterization.
txlight75's review
I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11967717
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/11967717
More...