Star Wars: Tyrant's Test (The Black Fleet Crisis, #3) in The Expanded Universe

Mar 15, 2011 William rated it it was ok

Shelves: star-wars

The Princess Leia storyline with the Yevetha had, I thought, a hurried conclusion. Early references to a war with the Yevetha indicated that it would be lengthy. It was anything but. A war worshipping people done in so quickly just didn't seem right. The Lando & Luke storylines converged into a hopeful ending for the lost civilization of the Qella. Still, I would have preferred that these minor storylines be given their own book. I just felt the whole book concluded too quickly, and that some of ...more

Like · see review

Apr 06, 2008 Keith rated it it was ok

Shelves: star-wars

Stars: 1.5
Re-read: Leaning no.
Recommend to: This trilogy is decent if you want to go beyond the ones that are good. It is largely irrelevant to the rest of the EU.

This was a largely disappointing conclusion to a slightly below average trilogy. Too many of the problems are created by the author just to have the problems, and the main plot threads are disappointing. (view spoiler) Stars: 1.5
Re-read: Leaning no.
Recommend to: This trilogy is decent if you want to go beyond the ones that are good. It is largely irrelevant to the rest of the EU.

This was a largely disappointing conclusion to a slightly below average trilogy. Too many of the problems are created by the author just to have the problems, and the main plot threads are disappointing. (view spoiler)

Another big problem are the Fallanassi people, who are just silly with their god level powers. (view spoiler)

Both the Fallanassi and the Yevetha are kind of cop-out creations of Kube-McDowell because he writes them in a way that allows this trilogy to be completely isolated from the rest of the EU. (view spoiler)

- I liked the focus on Chewbacca as an individual as opposed to just Han's sidekick.
- I felt that the power differential between various ships was all over the place in this trilogy and was mostly dependent on what the author needed for the scene. Have we forgotten the power we have seen elsewhere of a Super Star Destroyer?
- A problem I had with the entire trilogy was how quickly the New Republic allowed themselves to get weak militarily. It makes sense they would decrease the size of the fleet once they aren't in an active war, but I can't believe it would be as drastic as Kube-McDowell depicts it. He acts like the Yevetha having a hidden 4o capitol ships puts the entire New Republic in danger and the Yevetha may be able to conquer the galaxy.

The trilogy as a whole has far too many flaws for me to recommend. The characterizations of Leia and Luke are atrocious, particularly Leia. She is a complete moron. Lando is fine but that plot line didn't belong in this trilogy. Han/Chewie are done well, but they are minor characters in this story. The Yevetha are decent villains, but are ultimately too simplistic and apparently stupid (they thought they could conquer the galaxy). The Fallanassi are ludicrously overpowered. The saving grace could have been the political aspects from Leia's POV, but much of the action is driven by her being the dumbest politician in the galaxy.

First Reads; 4 Stars (2002/2006) ...more

Like · see review