The Truce at Bakura (1993) by Kathy Tyers

 The Truce at Bakura

I should start tracking the "stock" Star Wars novel plots that get used over and over again and when they first appear.

0. The Empire builds a superweapon (ANH 1977)

1. A lost Imperial warlord, general, etc. shows up and kicks the New Republic's ass (HttE 1991)

2. Somehow, Palpatine returned. (DE 1991)

3. Aliens show up, forcing the Empire and New Republic to work together (The Truce at Bakura 1993)

This is the first post Thrawn trilogy adult Star Wars novel, so some big shoes to fill. 


Summary: Bakura, an Imperial frontier world, is attacked and sends a message to the Emperor. It arrives the day after RotJ and is intercepted  by a race of lizard aliens called the Ssi-ruuk who are definitely into BDSM. Leia says they should go help them to try and bring them into the fledgling New Republic. Luke (as is required at this point in the EU) gets the hots for a local, Senator Gaeriel Captison. She believes in THE COSMIC BALANCE, which is Newton's Third Law: The Religion. Jedi are bad, since when something good happens to them using the force, something bad must happen to someone else.

Leia spends most of the book negotiating with the Bakurans and trying to avoid diplomatic incidents (kidnappings, self defence killings, etc.) Eventually, the Bakurans revolt after Luke heals a local revolutionary using the Force. Luke is captured by the Ssi-ruuk after being unknowingly infected with a parasite by the Imperials.

Luke needs to prevent the Ssi-ruuk from "enteching" (pulling his soul out to power electronics) him, since his Force abilities will allow them to entech people en masse across the galaxy (instead of having to grab them and do it individually on their ships). He works with Dev Sibwarra, a Force-sensitive human who was captured and brainwashed as a child. As the space battle goes poorly for the New Republic (the Imperials betray them! Shocking!) Luke uses the Force to get rid of the parasite, and he and Dev manage to kill the Ssi-ruuk, capture the ship, and they get the Imperial fleet to stand down while the govenor is captured planetside.

What It Introduces:

The Ssi-ruuk: A race of lizard aliens from the Unknown Regions. They show up occasionally later in the series. They're pretty creepy with the abuse and the mind control and the soul stealing.

Bakura: A modestly important Earthlike planet in the grand scheme of things.

Commentary:

TTaB veers heavily into Star Trek territory as the expanded universe tries to find its feet. Religion, racism, and trauma all factor in heavily. That's not a bad thing, but it's definitely not like most of the other EU novels. Tyers had worked in her own universe for a while before this, and she does a lot more with Bakura and the Ssi-ruuk than a lot of the other authors do with their new planets/species.

Review:

3.5/5: Doesn't make a huge splash in the later EU, and (like most of the authors at this point) Tyers struggles to write Luke well. But, it is decently written, and the Ssi-ruuk are one of the more interesting not-quite-one-shot alien species we'll get. It's the first stand alone post-trilogy EU book, so that's a little significant. This is an easy recommend for anyone who likes their sci-fi a little more on the socio-political side, or torture/brainwashing scenes. It's probably worth a read through for more conventional Star Wars fans, but it's probably not going to grab as many "core" fans at Thrawn, X-Wing, etc.

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