Star Wars: The Truce at Bakura

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing!
Review: I was very disappointed by "The Truce at Bakura." There were some interesting parts, but overall I thought that it didn't capture the spirit of the "Star Wars" stories. I was confused with the stuff about Bakura's political standings, which made for a difficult read. There was hardly any action.But what I was really disappointed by was the character development. Eppie was more believable when she was comatose, because when she was healed she became a boring, cliched character. Gaeriel was a real jerk, and having Luke blinded by his love for her was really out of character for him. Also, trying to be this "tough guy" was never in his job description. "A Jedi feels no passion?" Please! When did THIS happen? I'd give this book a five because I thought that it was, for the most part, well written, which was really the only thing going for it.

Rating:
Summary: This was a great novel taking after the Star Wars movies.
Review: Star Wars: The Truce at Bakura, was the first Star Wars book I had ever read, and I was amazed. There was action,drama, love, heartbreak, did I mention action? Well, one day I was pretty bored, and I've always loved Star Wars, so I got this book and once I started I just couldn't put it down. I was so intrigued by it, that as soon as I finished with this one, I went on to buy the next 2 that progressed after The Truce at Bakura. Now, you may be thinking that Star Wars is old and will be boring now, but I must say that this is one of the best books I've ever read, and well, I've read a LOT of books. I highly recommend this book to anyone who gets excited about Star Wars, science fiction, or just action in general. So, if you like what you hear coming from me, then you will definitly like what you read coming from Kathy Tyers, in the action packed yet civilized book, Star Wars: The Truce at Bakura.

Rating:
Summary: Flat and slow, but still compelling
Review: "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.

Rating:
Summary: An enjoyable adventure
Review: The Rebel Alliance has no time to regroup after the second Death Star's destruction. An alien invasion force bears down upon a fringe world called Bakura, and the Empire - reeling from the loss of its emperor - can't send help in time. The Alliance responds instead, with a task force commanded by Luke Skywalker and a diplomatic mission in the person of Leia Organa. Both Skywalker twins are reeling right along with the Empire, though. Luke suffers from the physical aftereffects of the Emperor's energy bolts, and Leia grapples with her horror at learning that Darth Vader - the man who tortured her, and who destroyed her adopted home-world of Alderaan - was also Anakin Skywalker. Her father.

Although it doesn't seem to be part of "canon" for the Star Wars universe, this book nevertheless offers readers an enjoyable adventure. Force-talented Dev Sibwarra's enslavement by the Ssi-ruuk, and the horror of how these cold-blooded aliens use their human captives, had me turning pages to find out what would happen next. Luke and Leia, Han and Chewie stayed in character throughout the story.

Good reading if you're looking for an SF adventure featuring the Star Wars characters. But don't pick it up expecting a major installment in their saga.


Rating:
Summary: Depends on your tastes.
Review: As a hardcore Star Wars fan i couldn't pass up the oppertunity to read about what happens when the movies end. Over all the story was not bad but not authentic. You have to keep in mind this is not what George Lucas said happend after the movies. The story is just someones imagination on paper. If you are like me i would suggest passing on the book and writing down your own thoughts.

Rating:
Summary: not bad
Review: I have to say that I was a little disappionted in this book...and I'm a pretty open-minded person! Maybe it's because I read the Thrawn Trilogy before I read this book, but I did find this book a tad boring! I was also sad that there was not more scenes with leia battling the fact that vader was her father, as i've always been interested in this aspect of her character...some of the characters also seemed a little different. Luke didn't seem quite as mature as we had left him in ROTJ, and he seemed more superhuman than I remember! overall i'd say this book is good and worth the read, but i'd borrow it from the library or something.

Rating:
Summary: skip it
Review: This novel begins the day after "The Return of the Jedi". The Rebel Alliance has intercepted a distress signal intended for the Empire from the planet of Bakura. Since there is no longer a central Imperial Government, and the Alliance would like to start bringing planets into their fold, the Alliance sends a squadron over to lend assistance. Included in this group is Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, and Han Solo. Bakura is being invaded by a reptilian alien race called the Ssi-ruuk. The Ssi-ruuk intend on conquering Bakura as an outpost to strike into the heart of the Empire. They are going to use humanity as their energy source to power their ships and to help them expand to conquer the entire universe. It's a little bit of a lofty goal, sort of a science fiction/fantasy stereotype/cliche, but that's the story.

Luke and Leia begin the diplomatic mission to offer the aid of the Rebellion while trying not to fight the Imperial Outpost on Bakura, and hopefully talk the leadership of Bakura into joining the Alliance. Leia works the diplomatic side, while Luke tries to figure out what else might be going on. Meanwhile the Ssi-ruuk are using a force sensitive young man to help in their invasion and to try to capture Skywalker.

Honestly, this book was a bit of a bore. The implied danger of the enemy never materializes, and even though there is a space battle or two, it just feels like not a whole lot actually happens here. The only thing that really is interesting is Leia wrestling with the fact that she is the daughter of Darth Vader, the man who had her tortured in "A New Hope". Outside of those short scenes, this is a completely unremarkable book and unless you are trying to read every single Star Wars novel, I would recommend that you skip "The Truce at Bakura".

-Joe Sherry

Rating:
Summary: Luke. You must go to Bakura. Need we read this book tho?
Review: This is a review for both the Hard cover book and the audio Casette.

I read this 10 years ago, as the second book following the Zahn Trilogy. By comparison it was natural to feel disappointed. But over the years, listening to it several times on audio cassette it has grown on me. The question you are asking, with so many SW books to select from should you read this one? Yes.

Luke falls in love. The characters here appear in the Corellian Trilogy. Bakura and Biotechnology used by the Ssi Ruuk is revisited in the ill intentioned NJO series. Though it didn't seem to fit when I first read the book, the story here does fit nicely with the entire Expanded Universe.

On the timeline I have this one at year 4.5 ANH. The story takes place right after the battle at Endor in ROTJ. Ben appears and tells Luke to go to Bakura. Luke, at age 20 is in command and can only assemble a small force after the devastation of the battle they have just fought. Naturally the Falcon, Han, Leia and Chewy are available to assist.

The point of the plot is for the Rebels to help the Imperial garrison on Bakura defend against an invasion that is coming from the unknown regions. The invaders are Large Reptilian creatures that, when they speak sound like flutes playing. They use entechment to take the essence of sentient beings and place that essence inside their machines to run those machines.

This is a book I recommend reading if you are now deciding to read the stories written for the classic era which starts with the Han Solo trilogy and ends with the Zahn Duology and the Dark Horse comic Union. Fortunately, at this writing, Amazon.com had both new and used audio cassettes and paperbacks for sale.

Audio Casette. This is an abridged version that can be listened to in about 2 ½ hours. Anthony Heald is the reader and he is the best. I recommend all the Bantam Audio books for star wars. They do a great job presenting the books with music and sound effects.