Star Wars: The Truce At Bakura Review

I felt a bit nostalgic after reading The Light Of The Jedi and decided to do something a little fun.

In terms of film reviews the Sequel Trilogy is next for this site so I thought it might be fun to look at what was originally the next chapters for the Star Wars franchise... you know... until Mickey snapped them....

I think it makes sense for me to cover The Thrawn Trilogy in that case but then that’ll lead to something a little awkward on this site.

You see, I’m a completionist. If I review the Sequel Trilogy I’ll want to review the Thrawn Trilogy and then I’ll want to review the new Thrawn Trilogy... so what do I do?

Do I combine them into one giant thing and just publish that? Well yeah, I think it’s fair that if I’m doing something like that it belongs on the site as I’ll have past reviews on here. So if I continue with future books in order or just leave the Sequel Trilogy off the site it’ll feel half empty with all the other reviews here.

Okay then what about my thoughts on the books and films individually because then they’ll get muddled in one large article for those that only want to read about one of them?

So in that case I’ll write the smaller reviews around the big article... but what if there people that don’t want to read something that big?

Well then I’ll turn it into my next video project for my YouTube channel...

Oh Lord this is going to be quite a bit of work isn’t it?

Well let’s start off with something in the meantime to get things going shall we?

The Truce At Bakura takes place immediately after the ending to Return Of The Jedi which puts this in a fun place to start. The story goes on literally in this case!

Something that makes me instantly happy is that the focus is still on Luke from the start. We follow him the day after the funeral for his father which has clearly taken a toll on him. Not just that but one of the first hurdles he has to get through is his electrocution torture from the Emperor.

The Emperor torched the crap out of him the consequences of that horrific event show. That’s awesome!

This book deals with that aftermath in the best way in my opinion.

Luke is dealing with the fact that he may be the only Jedi left, leaving him with the responsibility to rebuild the Order. But before that we get to see how he figures out exactly what that would mean.

The rulebook for being a Jedi was always enforced by multiple teachers but now that same book lands at Luke’s feet and he does exactly what someone in that scenario would likely do. He panics. Being a Jedi and a known face around the galaxy brings reputation and it’s that reputation that drives this plot.

Does he keep the lessons taught by Ben and Yoda alive or does he rework them?

He’s the only one that saw Vader throw the Emperor down a shaft and kill him but does that mean anyone will believe Luke when he tells them that?

Keep in mind, this is right after Return Of The Jedi which means that some of the Empire haven’t received the news yet. So when a situation slams the Alliance and Imperial sides together what’ll happen if that news escapes? Not just that but also Luke and Leia being Vader’s children will surely stir things up a bit?

I think I was just excited to see a Star Wars sequel ask all of the right questions in the most intriguing set of circumstances for them to be asked.

With the positive does come the negative though and I’ll get that over and done with.

The cover shows our usual ragtag team but Han is unfortunately sidelined for a chunk of this. For me personally, Han never really got the grand comeback he deserved after Empire Strikes Back as Return Of The Jedi starts in the middle of a large scale fame of chess meaning no time to stop and say hi. This could’ve been a great opportunity to get him back in the forefront but he’s more of the brick of the group here. Whenever someone has a bit of a headache he throws a few encouraging quips and everything’s slightly better.

Oddly enough Chewie gets more of the spotlight here with the roles almost seemingly being reversed.

As much as I love the opening of this book I do have to admit that it’s a little too fast. Less in terms of pacing and more in terms of how quickly the cast get the information they require to advance the story. It’s once the main plot on Bakura kicks off that we get some time for reflection and it works quite well. It’s just that initial bit you may need a seatbelt for.

Tonally this book does quite well to keep things grounded. Just because this is a book with no visual budget doesn’t mean they can push things to the extreme and have a billion X-Wings and Tie Fighters go at each other. Instead Kathy Tyers, the author, remembers what this is a sequel too and writes it according to that.

As for the story itself, you might’ve guessed from my comments earlier, this is a character driven novel. Yes you do get your slices of action but this is ultimately about a tense situation that requires all of our characters to come together and put their fears aside for the greater good. With that premise you’d naturally expect a lot of downtime focusing on what characters are thinking of and going through. And you’d be right.

As a follow up to the Original Trilogy this is the perfect direction to take this series and I loved every second reading this.

Atonement and forgiveness are the two words I’d choose to describe the themes of this book as it transitions our heroes, villains and the galaxy itself into a new era for Star Wars.

A new era I hope I’ll do just in the future when reviewing and analysing them!

9/10