Question about 'The Black Fleet Crisis'

Hey guys.
I have just recently started getting into some of the Star Wars books, and now that I have I can't believe I hadn't done so earlier!
Anyways, right now I am reading 'The Bounty Hunter Wars', and I was looking in the back at the book at the summeries of other novels. This is what I read for 'The Black Fleet Crisis':

A restless Luke must journey to his mother's homeworld in a desperate quest to find her people...

Are they refering to Naboo? Because never before have I heard any mention of the planet in the EU, and lot's of people believe that because it was never mentioned in the OT it no longer exists. (which in my opinon is ridiculous, just because something isn't shown or mentioned doesn't mean it is gone...whatever)
Anyways, to anyone who has read this trilogy, can you let me know it it IS Naboo that is concerned in these books? Thanks so much.

Chosen to Rise - Destined to Fall

 

No, the books came out before George Lucas came out with details about Amidala and Naboo for Episode 1. The writer thought it would be a cool storyline, and somehow it made it through George Lucas, though, so whatever the story sets up (sorry, it's been a long time since I read those books and the story is a bit vague) doesn't conflict much with Lucas's plans, or at least didn't at the time.

 

Not Naboo at all. And Naboo isn't in the EU simply because nobody new about it, because it wasn't invented until EI came out.

And there is absolutally no conflict with the story set up in EI.

 

Quite often the back cover summaries can be misleading, at best. The answer to your question can be found in the last book of the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy. Trust me, there's no mistakes in the trilogy (except possibly ones about a certain Force philosophy, but there's time for that another day )

I'm not going to comment on the Bounty Hunter Wars I can't trust myself to be fair, impartial or even coherent in my description of it

 

Basically, to get an idea of the timeframe in which the books were written, Michael P. Kube-McDowell -- quite simply, one of the very finest hard-SF pros working today, BTW, with the chops and the publishing record and the professional awards to prove it -- began writing the novels around early 1995, with Before the Storm hitting bookstore shelves in March 1996.

Mr. Kube-McDowell was wanting to explore certain areas that had not yet been touched by other writers at that point in time; one of these being Luke and Leia's mother. Of course, George Lucas himself was waist-deep in pre-production on the prequels at that time, and was set to deal with this very issue himself, but graciously allowed him to come up with a story that touched upon the issue, as long as he didn't answer it conclusively.

Put it another way, pick up The Black Fleet Crisis when you're able; you won't regret it, and you'll get a nice taste of some hard-SF writing in the Star Wars universe that really wasn't seen again until Greg Bear's Rogue Planet.

 

Naboo is still around. It is the Emperor's vacation retreat.

 

it doesn't contradict the PT

You'll have to read it

 

Great. Thanks so much for your help!
I'm going to ask another question though... by the sounds of what Leto II said, Rouge Planet is a good SW book (I actully picked that up from the library along with the 'Bounty Hunter Wars' and am due to read it after I am finished the BHW trilogy), but what are others? What are other novels that you would recommend - and ones that not having read to many EU books, I wouldn't be confused with? What is the order you would suggest?

One last question...The Approaching Storm...has anyone read it? I've heard quite a few people say they didn't like this book and I was wondering why? I've personally read it twice and I really enjoyed it. Though it is not much, I really like the sections where you get to see more of Anakin...the good, the bad...and definatly the unexpected! (refering to when he sings)
Let me know what you think on that too.

Chosen to Rise - Destined to Fall

 

There's a handy-dandy novel timeline at the beginning of every New Jedi Order novel which covers most of the EU's major plot points (not all of them, mind you).

Personally, I would recommend reading them in chronological order (as that's what I would like to have done), but reading them in the order they were published works just as well.

If I were you I would read all the books on that timeline before venturing off into the other realms of the EU (comics, video games, etc.), though the Dark Empire, Dark Empire II, and Empire's End comic series contain what is probably the biggest plot point not on the NJO timeline.

And The Black Fleet Crisis Trilogy does not in any way contradict The Phantom Menace.

 

The problem is that Luke and Leia both knew their mother was already dead. And suddenly we're told that they had no idea if she was dead or not. Leia basically gives up trying to find her do to all the fakes out there while Luke is ready to believe. No, not a chance. McDowell needed a reason to get Luke off on a side adventure and failed to come up with something believable in lieu of what was already known.

 

I would recommend reading Heir to the Empire (closely followed by Dark Force Rising and The Last Command, the socalled "Thrawn Trilogy") if you haven't already, as you won't have to seen anything besides the movies to get it.

With the exception of New Jedi Order, most of the novels don't require you to have read the others (though there are references in many of them to other novels, so you could be spoiled accidentally), so i'd recommend just reading all of them in chronological order.

Even NJO was designed to be read without the others, but there are so many little cameos and off-hand explanations that it's far more enriching if you've read the others first.

 

From what I hear, Naboo is mentioned in the OT. In ROTJ when Threepio is being a storyteller to the Ewoks, apparently one word he uses is Naboo. Of course that is irrelevent, and I have been to lazy to see if that is true or not.

The Black Fleet Crisis is in my opinion one of the best SW trilogies to date. I love the political and military scenes, especially A'bhat's first appearance.

 

From what I hear, Naboo is mentioned in the OT. In ROTJ when Threepio is being a storyteller to the Ewoks, apparently one word he uses is Naboo. Of course that is irrelevent, and I have been to lazy to see if that is true or not.

I believe the line is "Naboo? Aku chak chak?"

Which means (roughly) "Are you sure there is a secret entrance on the far side of the base?"

 

>Great. Thanks so much for your help!
I'm going to ask another question though... by the sounds of what Leto II said, Rouge Planet is a good SW book (I actully picked that up from the library along with the 'Bounty Hunter Wars' and am due to read it after I am finished the BHW trilogy), but what are others? What are other novels that you would recommend - and ones that not having read to many EU books, I wouldn't be confused with? What is the order you would suggest? <

You can't go wrong with chronological order. It's the most sensible path to start on, IMO. There's a timeline in the front of any NJO book that lists all of the published novels in order that you can follow. Now, what point in the storyline you want to start on is up to you. I wouldn't recommend starting past Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy, because that book sets up many of the major events in the following novels, and you could get lost without it. Any point before that is fair game. You could start before the prequels, during the prequels, after the prequels, during the OT, any point is good. I'd recommend that you get a hold of the comic series Dark Empire, because it's a major part of the timeline.

In short, go buy a NJO novel (but don't read it yet!) or print out a chronology off the internet (the book reviews section of TFN has a good one), pick a starting point in the chronology, and go for it! And may the Force be with you!

TC

 

So basically, yeah, start off with Heir to the Empire, continue with the rest of the "Thrawn trilogy," and move on from there. Can't think of a better starting point than that.

 

Just imagine . . . a real fleet battle in the NJO the way Michael McDowell does it. And he'll give us the K-wing back!

 

Tell me about it. I secretly wished Michael McDowell would be chosen to write at least one book in NJO, but alas... He's probably the most underrated EU author.

 

McDowell would have done a real naval battle, all right. He knows his technical machinery well. We might've seen Lobot again, too. Sigh . . .

 

STAY AWAY FROM THE BLACK FLEET CRISIS BOOKS! As a green EU`er, I started reading Before The Storm by the same reason as you. Luke searching for his mother! And I thought this was this really good tie-in between the OT and the PT. But no. In the last book of the trilogy, Annakah (the woman that claimed she knew all about Luke`s mother) reveals herself as a complete fraud.

EDIT: And why GL let this through, is beyond me.

 

The one spectacular annoyance I had was the Luke section in Shield of Lies: nothing exciting happened. A third of the book was utterly boring and mediocre. A narco-interrogator droid would have been more entertaining.

I just don't understand why it was allowed to be so unexciting. Otherwise, the rest of Shield of Lies was great, Lando's explorations to Leia's battles, political and naval.

 

I loved the other two plots, though lando's seems to be half and half as far as people liking it, with most people liking the main story. I didnt like the luke parts at all. My question is, did akanah say she didnt know lukes mom at all, or was it left open that padme might have joined the fallanasi to escape the empire and that akanah just didnt know her personally?

 

It was a big fat lie to trick Luke, nothing more.

 

ok guys...besides the lie the rest of the book was gd ....
finally we get to see NR fleet operations & the first large scale fleet engagement in EU...
'The Black Fleet Crisis' is easily one of the best triologys out there ...