I wish it had been all a dream too, Luke...The second book in the Black Fleet Crisis series opens with Lando, Lobot, C-3PO, and R2-D2 as they are stuck inside the Vagabond investigating. Luke is off with Akanah as she continues to search for her people, the Fallanassi, and Leia's tenure as president is on rocky ground as the conflict with the Yevetha increases.I Liked:Lando's story, while extraneous, was mildly interesting. Furthermore, it was cool to see Lobot.The real highlight here is Leia's story. I wasn't so fond of it in Before the Storm, but here, it is much, much better. I really found myself liking it at the odd part where Leia is signing a bunch of planets into the New Republic. Yeah, I know, weird, but somehow, this was interesting to me. I think MKM has done a fairly good job building this plot thread and giving it decent treatment.The characters aren't even too bad, namely Leia and Lando. Leia finally sees what an idiot she was and really has to make up for being so oblivious. And Lando, while nothing to write home to, was certainly not painful to read.I Didn't Like:Let me first pause and say, "Where did Han and Chewie go?" Why are we focusing on Lando and his Story That Goes Nowhere and totally neglect Chewie, who has taken the Falcon back to his homeworld? Why not also focus on Chewie? Or what about Han? Surprisingly, he becomes a plot point, very rare for a male, only existing to tie up the loose ends (who is taking care of the kids? Who does Leia trust enough to do her military work?). And perhaps this is the fault of the abridged audiobook, but I still have no clue how he got captured.By far the worst character remains Luke. While he does attempt to pull his head out of his rear, he continues to let himself get whipped around by moody Akanah. Instead of growing a pair and making her tell him the truth, he lets himself be bullied, pushed around, and shut up as if he has no voice. And how is this guy the head of a new Jedi Order???But that is far from all. Akanah is even more intolerable here. She demands trust and the truth from Luke but never once gives it. Like the saying goes, in order to earn respect/trust, you need to give it. Plus, every other scene, she is bawling, crying, whining, getting angry, and huffing about something. I wanted to slap her around or throw her out of the ship!And again, why, when Leia and the rest of the galaxy are going through a crisis, is Luke conveniently absent? This doesn't jive at all with his earlier incarnations! And you can't use the excuse he doesn't know, because halfway through his section, he finds out!Speaking of which...MKM decided in this book that the stories weren't disconnected enough and split them into three separate sections. On one hand, it makes skipping Luke's section a lot easier. On the other, that means you get stuck reading about any one character and no idea what is happening in another character's time line. Also, it just makes it glaringly obvious that the sections have nothing to do with each other.Again, Lando's story seems disconnected and leaves me wondering why we spend so long in the beginning learning about this weird ship. Why is it so important?As for Leia's story, much better, but still, if she hadn't been a dip-head last book, perhaps this book would have turned out differently.Dialogue/Sexual Situations/Violence:Perhaps a spattering of d*** and h***.Luke and Akanah travel the galaxy together. Akanah has a father who apparently isn't married to her mother (or isn't anymore?). It's not obvious.The Yevetha take over planets and commit genocide.Overall:Oddly enough, this book is better than the last. However, considering how bad the last one is, that isn't saying much. And still, there are enough "Huh?" moments that continue to befuddle me. Why doesn't Luke try to help Leia? Why does Luke believe his mother is a Fallanassi? Why does Akanah need Luke so badly (seems she is doing an okay job investigating herself)? Why does Luke trust Akanah? What is this White Current and is it related to the Force or not? Where is Chewie? Why hasn't he returned to help Leia? Why didn't Leia just listen to her advisers and avoid this whole mess? What about Han? How the heck did he get captured so easily? Why is Lando's mission even in here, other than to give him something to do?So, the sagging middle book retains its one star rating, and I wonder how MKM will wrap this trilogy up.
"Shield of Lies", Book 2 in Michael P. Kube-McDowell's Black Fleet Crisis series is just as exciting and pulpily fun as one would hope to get from a Star Wars novel. In this one, President of the New Republic, Leia Organa Solo, is being faced with impeachment. On top of that, her husband, Han, who led a failed mission to confront the Yevethans, has been taken as a prisoner of war. The isolationist Senate does not want the New Republican naval fleet to engage itself in another intergalactic war. After all, it has only been 12 years since the Rebel Alliance defeated the Empire at the Battle of Endor. (Refer to "Return of the Jedi".) Meanwhile, Luke is being led around the universe by a mysterious woman named Akanah, who claims to know where Luke's real mother is hiding, assuming she is alive. Luke is beginning to suspect that not everything is quite kosher with this woman. Also meanwhile, Lando, Threepio, and Artoo are still stuck on the vagabond ship with no way of contacting anyone. The ship, which is an organic "living" ship, seems to have taken a liking to its new inhabitants and is ultra-protective. On to book three!
What do You think about Shield Of Lies (1996)?
First off let me say that this book isn't as bad as everyone seems to think it is. Interesting, well written and a good, fast read, I gave it four stars only because I didn't like it quite as much as the first, 'Before the Storm'. I liked the character of Akanah and her interaction with Luke. Of all the woman they've invented in the novels as companions for Luke(Callista, Gariel, etc.) I found her to be among the most well drawn and fleshed out. Lando's story is fascinating and I really feel Lobot coming to the forefront in this one. As Lando himself says early in the novel, "Lobot, you have unexpected depth." Leia's story is by far the most interesting. She continues to be the best characterization of the Princess I've ever seen in the novels, and she really gets a chance to show her strength in the political forum. Now to address the issue of the book being divided into the three sections. This seems to unnecessarily upset people. To me, it allowed me to focus on one story at a time, and of the three sections, I read two in the same sittings I started them. Overall, a good follow-up to a great book.
—Jean
Didn’t read the novel preceding this, so I had no idea what the heck it was about. The Republic deals with some sort of crisis (apparently the Yevethan’s genocidal war against the Republic, although it seems more an indirect Cold War-type conflict), while Luke is introduced to a mysterious sect called “White Current” whose objectives remain unclear throughout the story, and whose existence seems pointless since the Force already exists. Chewbacca somehow has a son all of a sudden that he is looking after. There is some sort of mystery surrounding Lando and a certain starship that is too much of a puzzle to figure out, and a little too boring---in the end they don’t really do all that much. At the same time Leia is thrust into an array of slow, boring political subplots.A convoluted plot and stretched-out writing do not do much to make this enjoyable. Then again, that’s my fault for not reading the preceding book---maybe.
—Jerome
Overall, not too bad. The book is broken into three sections. The first is the Lando storyline, which is the most gripping part of the trilogy so far. The author has a firm grasp on Lando's character, as well as 3PO. The detail in this part of the story is vivid, and reminds me a bit of the ship from the movie Prometheus.The second section of the book deals with Luke and his expedition with Akanah. To me, it seems the author hasn't the first clue of how to handle Luke's character. The dialog feels all wrong, as is his temperament and manner. The author just isn't consistent with Luke, and it goes from Luke being grumpy to him cracking jokes, to applying flawed logic to the Force. I was hoping this storyline would pick up a bit from the first book, but it hasn't.The third section of the book deals with Leia and the political struggle on Coruscant as the New Republic is on the brink of war with the Yevetha. This part of the story is also fairly interesting, as Leia not only has to battle an enemy of the New Republic but also battle with politicians clamoring for a higher station in life.Then, of course...as if it is required when writing a Star Wars book...someone gets kidnapped.
—Bret
