Before the Storm (Star Wars: The Black Fleet Crisis, Book 1)

Rating:
Summary: Kinda slow at some parts, but delivered a punch!!!
Review: This book could have been better, but not much. I loved the manipulation of Nil Spaar and the jedi discoveries Luke makes of himself. Simply brilliant developement of the Yevethan race and the new fighters such as the E-Wing and K-Wing. Very good

Rating:
Summary: Loop Hole?
Review: Well, remember, details can be lost in time, and have been, I see no reason why it couldn't happen in the star wars universe.

Rating:
Summary: Good start, TERRIBLE middle and finish
Review: The first book gave a good beginning and set up a complex storyline. However, it failed to deliver. The characters did things WAY out of line for them and half the book wasn't connected in any way, shape, or form with the other half.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, plenty of action!
Review: Michael P. Kube-Mcdowell has captured a true "Star Warsy" type theme. With his 'witty' comments by General Lando Calrissian, and action packed chapters, such as that of the prolog, where he gave the reader, the actual fear of seeing the Imperial Captain being killed.

Rating:
Summary: Going, going ... short.
Review: Not that the story is short though. This story really should've ended with book one. Instead McDowell wrote three. The story starts out with basically three plots: Leia, Lando, Luke(LLL). All three start out very interesting and demand the readers attention. However, Luke's journey and search for his mother is completely ridiculous. He jumps arround from one dead end to the other, simply nothing happens (utter frustration). As for Lando, once they get on the vagabond, nothing happens either. They never gain control of the vessel or use it in any way. They might as well have not gotten on. Everyone seems to be sitting around. Leia's plot dealing with politcal challenges and Han is the remaining and redeeming factor in this series. If you read book one, don't worry if you never finish the series. The end, which I've tried not to spoil, is incredibly anticlimatic.

Rating:
Summary: Waste of Time
Review: This is the beginning of a three book series which moves...very...slowly. Basically there are some nasty aliens, Leia worries a lot, and Luke is off with some girl. And Leia worries a lot. Then, Leia worries a lot. And, for some variety, Leia worries a lot.

Rating:
Summary: Serious plot contradiction here!!
Review: This would have been a very good book except for that it was unfortunately published before "The Phantom Menace" came out. The reason that's so bad is because it talks about Luke Skywalker's mother. In this book and the next two that follow it, instead of Queen Amidala of the Naboo, her name is Ashira of the Fallanassi; a people who have remained mysterious for a very long time, and nobody that young Anakin Skywalker would ever want to hook it up with. It's unfortunate, but I don't blame the author for this; it wasn't his fault. Also, I really liked the bad guys; Nil Spaar's "Humans are vermin" attitude makes him so despicable you want to jump in an X-Wing (or in this case, an E-Wing) and show him vermin!

Rating:
Summary: It is impssible to understand how anyone liked this stuff!
Review: When we begin the book it seems to be interesting,but then it becomes so boring and it is hard to keep reading.The Duskan League is so much smarter than the Republicans- or I should say that Princess Leia and the Senate are so dumb-and Luke tries to hide from everyone(with the most idiotic excuses that makes the reader think he is another character).At try to guess who saves the end of the party?...Yes,the Imperial Army Corps! Anyway,if you have the guts to read this dull book,skip the parts that Lando acts-Mr.McDowell was able to put the nice smuggler in the worst plot(and totally expendable and unrelated to the mainline of the story)I've ever read in the StarWars Universe. PLEASE DON'T LET MR. McDOWELL WRITE ANY MORE BOOKS OF THIS DREAMLAND!

Rating:
Summary: THIS IS STAR WARS STRATEGY!!!!!
Review: In this story the New Republic faces a threat of unknown magnitude. The creatures think of the human race as vermin, and,like all vermin, they must be exterminated. This story really shows a great imagination and is worthy of Lucas' universe!

Rating:
Summary: ok but definitely not up to par w/ most star wars novels
Review: the black fleet crisis was an ok trilogy but it was no where near the quality of some of the other star wars trilogies (zahn, jedi academy, correlian) the author flip flopped things all over the place. he had half a dozen concussion missles killing the shields of a calamari cruiser and the weird egg bombs destroying whole starships. i dont care how strong and accurate chewie and his son are, there's no way they could fight through all the soldiers that were in the ssd. and how exactly did he know where the land the falcon so he'd be near han. the book said he landed near the detention cells and then tells you han is being held somewhere else. i dont believe he could fight his way to han and carry him all the way back to the falcon and not get a scratch. the author should have done a lot more research before writing the trilogy.