Star Wars: The Truce at Bakura review

The Basics

Book Title: Star Wars: The Truce at Bakura

Author: Kathy Tyers

Pages: 341

ISBN: 0-553-56872-8

Genre: Science fiction

Defining Quote(s)

"We will never be free from tragedy, Gaeriel. Each of us must be free to pursue her own tragedy." -p. 237

"Light endured, and so did darkness. He would choose daily." -p. 339

Summary

Picking up the story from where Return of the Jedi left off, we join the crew on a mission to Bakura, an Imperial-controlled planet. Bakura finds itself under attack by an alien race outside of Imperial or Alliance control, known as the Ssi-ruuk, wanting to transfer the human mind into machinery. Join the crew as they maneuver to save the Bakurans without getting stabbed in the back by the Imperial forces they have to join up with.

Thoughts

This is my first time delving into the written works of the Star Wars mythos and was pleasantly surprised with this. So many times, you see the conversion from book to movie and become upset with the movie for not holding up to the same standards as the book. In this case, it was the reverse process and provided more than what we could get in the movie. Due to the nature of being a book, we are able to view the thoughts and actions of multiple characters (including Chewie!). By being able to see Luke and Leia's thoughts, we're able to understand the nature of the Force and what needs to be done mentally in order to grow stronger. 

The Ssi-ruk in this story are a formidable villain, but the extent of their actions and deplorability is epitomized in the human, Dev Sibwarra. He is a servant of one of the Ssi-ruk and to see his actions and thoughts is what really makes this story exciting to read. 

My biggest problem with it, which I knew going into it, was the terminology. In the movie, it's quite easy to glaze over all those fancy made-up words and understand the gist of what they're doing/saying through their actions. In this format, you have to create some of these unknown terms from your own imagination and within the context that it is given to you, making it much more difficult compared to the movie format. My husband has read these books probably 100 times and says that it gets easier the more times you read it, which I believe. I'm sure you don't need to read it 100 times in order to understand it. Just be prepared if this is your first time around that it may be difficult to get through at times, BUT the story that is there was very much enjoyable.

I am planning on continuing with this series.

Pros vs. Cons

• Pros
• Follow all your favorite characters 
• Great insight into the Force
• Interesting character development
• Cons
• Difficult terminology at times
• Lots of newly introduced side characters

Overall Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Is there an instance you can think of where the movie was better than book? Let me know what you think!