Review: Star Wars: The Truce at Bakura (1993)

★★★

After Timothy Zahn kicked off the Expanded Universe, or at least kicked off the modern Expanded Universe in the early 90s, Star Wars and Lucasfilm decided to create more and more stories to tell outside the films, whether that be a book, a comic, or a video game. All of these were fully endorsed by George Lucas. He may not have read every single novel, but he did review the outline, provided his opinions, and suggested some things, as well as answering questions the authors might have.

The first standalone released after Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy was Kathy Tyers' "The Truce at Bakura." A novel that fans love to hate for some reason. I never really followed many of the fans' opinions on this novel, but I did read out some reviews I thought were genuine and well written. Eventually leading to me finally picking up the book. I had this on my shelf for a long while, but I put off reading it until I read other novels I had in mind.

While reading, I began taking mental notes. I noticed that Kathy Tyers' style emphasizes certain elements while leaving others with little to no attention. Tyers has good characterization, a good setup, and decent new characters. On the other hand, the plot, draw to action, and motivations of some of the new characters don't lead up to anything exciting or groundbreaking. It left me thinking, what could've been if the antagonists, if you can really call them that, were a bit more... threatening?

After finishing the book, I realized that while this novel suffers from an exciting plot, but the book it isn't as bad as most people think. As I mentioned earlier, there is quite a bit of good material in this story. For instance, Tyers excels at characterizing the trio. Just because they've defeated the Emperor and destroyed the Second Death Star doesn't mean they are all-powerful; they are still in the process of recovering. It was fascinating to see the aftereffects that Luke experienced after being electrocuted to death, as well as his later conversations with another character, Gaeriel, who opposes the Force due to her religious beliefs. I wished they had more page time. I also enjoyed the exploration of Han and Leia's relationship; it builds on their connection from Return of the Jedi, which I found fitting. However, my favorite part was Leia's inner conflict regarding her biological father, Anakin Skywalker. Leia has resented Vader for a long time, and even after his redemption and being saved by Luke, it remains difficult for Leia to forgive him. My one complaint was that it wasn't explored further, but at least Troy Denning's Tatooine Ghost was able to explore that plot point further.

While the plot has an intriguing setup, it ultimately feels weak. The new characters, aside from Gaeriel, are not very engaging; they lack depth and hardly present a significant threat. These negatives really lowered the overall quality of the book for me. However, that didn’t prevent me from enjoying it. Despite those negatives, I don't believe Kathy Tyers is a bad author; she is a decent writer and can craft many scenes well.

Overall, "The Truce at Bakura" is a decent novel; however, it raises more questions than it answers, leaving many readers feeling disappointed. Although it features intriguing ideas, it seems that either too much was attempted, or some concepts did not feel relevant enough to be included in the story. I wanted to enjoy this book, especially since it is set directly after "Return of the Jedi," but unfortunately, it didn't meet my expectations.