Black fleet Crisis Poll

[CmdrWilkens]

As some others might have noticed I've gotten into a bit of a spat over the quality of the Black fleet crisis. Personally subtracting large segment sof "Shield of Lies" it was one of the more enjoyable readings I've had since starting into the EU. Well have at it.

[LMSx]

It boggles the mind why Kube McDowell chose to add the Luke's mothers subplot, when he clearly knew that the prequels would be coming out soon. This ment that McDowell had to write VERY vague-like about Amidala.

"This is what she's known as here, although she is known by other names....."

[Master of Ossus]

Actually, if you read the book, Luke was never after his mother. That @#($**&@ girl tricked him. On the other hand, you should definitely NOT have been reading that far into the trilogy. Lando's subplot, to put it mildly, SUCKED. It had not purpose for being. So far as I could tell, it had no effect on anything WHATSOEVER, and it wasn't even tied in to anything at the end of the trilogy. It would have been SO EASY to do a tie-in, but Michael McDowell never bothered! It was like it ended randomly half-way through. I HATED Plat Mallar. I HATED the NR fleet commander (Peckham, something like that?) I HATED Han's subquest, and I did not find Leia's attempts to garner support in the Senate overly enjoyable. I also, particularly, did not like the space battles (believe it or not) in the trilogy. I found them to be anti-climactic and boring. I was never sad when a NR ship exploded, I was never really happy when the Yevethan lost. Luke's subplot, despite NOT violating canon movies on Luke's mom, was boring and made little sense. I also did not especially like Chewie and his son's coming of age, which is REALLY bad because I normally like Chewie. The only good thing about the books is that they ended reasonably well. I liked the Imperial double-cross at the very end, though I found that that still was not enough to make the trilogy worth it. I also never really understood how a little Cluster (Koornacht) could seriously threaten the entire galaxy, especially if they had trouble beating ONE of the NR's fleets (which fired slugs for no discernable reason). For those reasons, I REALLY did not like BFC, and I would strongly recommend against buying it for anyone who's making a choice.

[Cal Wright]

Well, it started off damn good. Fleet practice was exciting. The Yevethan invasion was pretty good, the whole setup was nice. Alien race totally owned by the Empire wanted thier land back for themselves. However, the whole Vagabond thing was boring as shit. Why would a task force be out searching for a damned ship while they NR wages war on its homefront. Then what tops it all off, was the All. That was utter bullshit. Here's where my thing about the EU comes in. It looks like I could call him on copping out with the Force, but then he interjects the All. Whoops. wait, he did cop out. It was utter crap. The middle book was boring. Overly boring. The last book wasn't good until the end. Then the SSD just turns and heads out?!? I know why it did. It's pretty interesting, but it just doesn't add up. BTW, where'd that damn ship wind up anyways? Last but not least, the second best part. "I don't know how long you will survive in hyperspace, but I do know you'll die there." However, it's mixed emotions. Nil Spaar a tyrant gets what he deserves from people he enslaved. But wait, Nil Spaar was fighting for the Yevetha. In fact, his murders were captors he took prisoner from an Imperial base that enslaved the Yevetha to begin with?!? Still, both parties were evil and it was interesting there. Heh.

Push comes to shove, it could have been written by KJA

[Kazuaki Shimazaki]

Personally, BFC had three sections that could be made into three separate stories.

The Lando subplot, SCREW IT! That's a story for Star Trek! Fuck off!

The Akanah subplot, it would have been minorly amusing to see Luke get duped and the Current was somewhat amusing as another "Force-using philosophy". Too bad they had to ruin the fleet battle for it.

The Leia subplot in fact wasn't too bad. In fact, I kind of liked the Yevetha. It is at least a change from the Imperials all the time. The fleet battles were as good as any so far. Leia changed, but I guess the author did have a point that people might change in 15 years. I found the Chewbacca thing somewhat amusing.

The really the best thing, which made it a worthy read in my book, is the battles and tech descriptions. If only I didn't have to read the other parts. I'm vaciliating between saying it was OK and it was sucked. If only there was an option for cutting out both the Akanah and Lando subplots.

[Eleas]

"As some others might have noticed I've gotten into a bit of a spat over the quality of the Black fleet crisis. Personally subtracting large segment sof "Shield of Lies" it was one of the more enjoyable readings I've had since starting into the EU. Well have at it."

These are excerpts from a review I did a few years ago. Pardon the rather stilted English.

"The author shows no respect for what has happened in earlier books. He frequently mashes Star Wars canon flat just because he thinks that things "couldn't be that way", and doesn't even bother to research or verify his conclusions."

"The author seems to revel in things like swollen fighting crests, blood sacrifice, self-flagellation, and bickering among the main characters. At least, that constitutes most of the contents of the books."

"All of this can be summed up to describe what is inherently lacking in these books. This is simple enough - these books simply are not Star Wars. They do not have the true Star Wars atmosphere, they denounce action, and spit on the philosophies of the movies. Let them be forgotten."

[Smalleyjedi]

I recently re-read it, skipping Lando and Luke subplots. It is much better this way. One thing I hated was how they used phantoms to defeat the yetheva. They had two fifths of ONE of the five NR fleets. That is only eight percent of their battle fleet (probobly had many more ships in defence fleets/patrols etc like the impnavy did, but less centralized) With no other threats around, why didnt they just send in the whole damn fifth fleet? And they had to use that force copout....o, we will just use the force and everyone is happy. I'd be interested to see what a REAL author could have done with this. Drop Lando/Luke plots, which means drop phantom ship copout. Maybe add some more material to the REAL plot, and you have a pretty good duology. I want to see how the NR can win WITHOUT cheating. And i liked the imp revolt.

[Pablo Sanchez]

The only thing I liked about it was the technology and tactics being properly explained in a way that made sense. Other than that, it had multiple sharply divided sub-plots, mediocre characters, and an anti-climactic end.

It balances into an average mish-mash for two reasons.

Pro: The author attempted to apply some sort of logic, and even if it was sometime poorly researched and implemented, at least he tried.
Con: The damn subplots! It was like reading several different books.

As for how the Yevetha were able to threaten the NR:
It again comes down to the incredible control that politics exerts over the whole NR, and the very logical strategy of force concentration. Overall, the NR has enough power to slam the Yevetha into the ground, but they don't have enough power in any one place to do so.

As with the Yuuzhan Vong, the Empire, where security and stability trump politics, and some modicum of standing fleet power existed, the Yevetha would never have been more than a speed bump.

"So, you want your land back? Fuck you, you bunch of psuedo-insect xenophobes. All vessels, fire at will."

[Master of Ossus]

I was thinking about this last night and I had one other problem with the books. After I read Shield of Lies (good title, BTW, terrible book), and to a lesser extent Before the Storm, I was TIRED. I do NOT get tired when I read. I was more tired than I felt after reading Moby Dick, and I was very nearly as tired as I feel after reading The Inheritors. This is just bad, because there is really nothing to these books. It was not SW. It was not even a great book outside of SW. It just kind of sucked.

[SPOOFE]

I liked the basic premise of TBFC. The fact that the author had FINALLY moved beyond the "Ooh, ANOTHER old piece of the Empire is trying to reclaim Coruscant!" shtick. The fact that the author had FINALLY tried to show some military forces other than X-wings and Mon Calamari cruisers.

But then we had the inconsistencies. In the beginning of the series, Luke is an INSANELY powerful Jedi Master. He can lift thousands of tons of rock and rebuild a castle out of them (a castle which violates the laws of physics, mind you). He can fly. He was reserved and withdrawn and didn't want anything to do with ANYTHING outside his shell, whatsoever. By the end of the book, he couldn't summon up enough Force power to squeeze a piece of chunky shit through his sphincter.

Lando's plot was interesting, and it did help in providing a bit more "flavor" to the SW galaxy... but it was unnecessary. The purpose of the whole thing was to keep Lando, Artoo, and Threepio "occupied" during the whole Yevethan war (obviously, MPK-M couldn't find a way to slip them into the plot).

[David]

I liked the basic premise of TBFC. The fact that the author had FINALLY moved beyond the "Ooh, ANOTHER old piece of the Empire is trying to reclaim Coruscant!" shtick. The fact that the author had FINALLY tried to show some military forces other than X-wings and Mon Calamari cruisers.

But then we had the inconsistencies. In the beginning of the series, Luke is an INSANELY powerful Jedi Master. He can lift thousands of tons of rock and rebuild a castle out of them (a castle which violates the laws of physics, mind you). He can fly. He was reserved and withdrawn and didn't want anything to do with ANYTHING outside his shell, whatsoever. By the end of the book, he couldn't summon up enough Force power to squeeze a piece of chunky shit through his sphincter.

Lando's plot was interesting, and it did help in providing a bit more "flavor" to the SW galaxy... but it was unnecessary. The purpose of the whole thing was to keep Lando, Artoo, and Threepio "occupied" during the whole Yevethan war (obviously, MPK-M couldn't find a way to slip them into the plot).

I didn't like the Lando part, but the rest was good.


Unfortunateyly we see two different Lukes and two different Leias throught EU. The Luke of BFC and DE are uber-powerful, kickass, no-nonsense Jedi Masters ( that one I like) and the other is a weepy little shit like you discribed. That is one of the main reasons I don't like a lot of NJO. Luke is as whiny and weak as he was in ANH. The idea that jedi who have been training for a few years and have very little ability in the force could be as good as Luke makes me sick.

As to Leia, in BFC and JAT she knows how to use the force and a lightsaber, while in everyother book she can't do shit and isn't even interested in the force.

[Kuja]

I was reading BFC, and I read...and read...and read... and nothing was happening! The books are not provacative in the least!

What's with these subplots? Lando's should've been a seperate book, although no one would want to read it. Luke searching for his mother? Leia told Luke she was dead in ROTJ, so at least he should've been suspiscious.

BFC was a good attempt, but simply falls short.