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

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.

I read The Crystal Star just before starting the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy and found that I agreed with almost the unanimous opinion of other SW book fans: that The Crystal Star was the worst SW novel they had ever read. It was amateurish, disjointed, and ended in a ridiculous manner that would have fit better in the end of a Scooby Doo cartoon than a SW novel. The characters, as others have pointed out, were so out of character I could not relate to any of them as I have learned to relate to them across dozens of other SW novels.Then I picked up the first Black Fleet Crisis book and it was like taking a breath of sweet air after holding my breath for the couple of weeks that it took to read The Crystal Star. I was so relieved to be reading a SW book that actually fit in with the rest and sounded like it was actually a part of the SW universe. It made The Crystal Star look like a bad dream being had by one of the characters, and that the first Black Fleet Crisis book as them waking back up to a welcome reality.So much has been happening in this Trilogy that I am looking forward to its resolution in this book. With all that is going on with Leia and her presidency, Han's reluctant military career, Lando's close encounter with the Vagabond, and Luke's ill-fated parental search (not a spoiler since we all know what happened to both of his parents by now), there is so much to wrap up I hope this book does a good job of it.

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.

Muito bom

The book finale finished quickly, with sub plots continuing, a slow build up to quick end, probably could translate to a movie well

Arrived in a short period of time from ordering and exactly as said by world of books. I have used them a few times and each and every time have found it to be an excellent service and highly recomend them.

these are continuing tales following on from one another dating back all the way to the last film return of the jedi , a must read for any Star Wars fan !!!!

i just love the books