Star Wars: Before the Storm (Black Fleet Trilogy) (Paperback)

There are 3 separate storylines which eventually converge at the end. It starts with Luke becoming a hermit like Obi Wan and Yoda (the explanation of which is plausible and a good start) but later he goes off with a woman called Akanah to look for his mother. It turns out that his mother and Akanah are of the Fallanassi, a group like the Jedi but who use the so-called White Current instead of the Force. This is one aspect of the books I don’t like. The introduction of this new Force-like concept is un-needed and as far as I know is never mentioned ever again in any Star Wars books ever (a slight mention of the Fallanassi in the New Jedi Order series is all I could find). Instead the Fallanassi could have a different understanding of the force to the Jedi (maybe they don’t distinguish between light and dark sides etc). The culmination of this plot is also anticlimatic and a little pointless I think as it has no reprecussions in the wider universe.

The other storyline involves Lando and Lobot trying to commandeer a mysterious organic ship called the Vagabond. While this story is okay-ish it doesn’t result in a typical star wars outcome. If anything the outcome smacks more of Star Trek then Star Wars which is a little odd. However, the introduction of Admiral Drayson and the super-secret Alpha-Blue intelligence agency is a nice side to this plot line.

The third and most interesting plot involves Leia in trying to negotiate with a species called the Yevetha. The Yevetha are a brilliant addition to the Star Wars universe as they’re not the classic dark-side/Empire villain which seeks to rule the galaxy. Instead they’re more into purging they’re territory of “vermin”. In essence they’ve combined xenophobia with genocide to produce a Nazi-like regime. The way they manipulate Leia and the New Republic is brilliant as well. Additionally the explanation of how they attained their military might is well done especially the side plot where the New Republic tries to catalogue all their ships to account for the missing Imperial “Black Fleet”.

The battle scenes are generally good I think, though the introduction of new technology like K-wings is a little strange. The E-wing I can understand (its mentioned in other books as well) but the K-wing seems totally new and not needed I think (what happened to B-wings?).

Overall as a standalone this book is a decent (though not brilliant) read. The main problem is that none of what happens here makes any difference to the star wars universe. For example the Thrawn trilogy has produced characters like Thrawn, the Noghri, Admiral Pellaeon and the Imperial Remnant, the Jedi Academy trilogy has produced the Yavin Academy, several jedi, Admiral Daala, the Maw Installation, and the retirement of Mon Mothma. The black fleet trilogy provides nothing like this and in the end does not resonate like any of the great trilogies.