Star Wars: The Black Fleet Crisis: Before the Storm

Book 1

By: Michael P. Kube-Mcdowell

Narrated by: Anthony Heald

It is a time of tranquility for the New Republic. The remnants of the Empire now lie in complete disarray, and the reemergence of the Jedi Knights has brought power and prestige to the fledgling government on Coruscant. But the peace is short-lived. A restless Luke must journey to his mother's homeworld in a desperate and dangerous quest to find her people. An adventurous Lando must seize a mysterious spacecraft that has weapons of enormous destructive power. And Leia must face down the ruthless leader of the Duskhan League, an arrogant Yevetha who seems bent on a genocidal war that could shatter the fragile unity of the New Republic.© and (P)1996 Lucasfilm Ltd. and TM.

Critic reviews

The New Republic faces a terrifying threat from the darkest depths of the Empire.

Hard to listen to

Didn't care for pace and mispronounced words were distracting. Not a terrible story but overall disappointing.

Another poor performance by Anthony Heald

Why does he continue to be allowed to read for these stories?? He has no real voice range, uses no chapter breaks, and his retelling seems to be too abridged!!

nice attempt

great story.WHY didn't somebody correct Anthony Healds CONSTANT mispronunciation?! completely tears me outta the story...

great story

if you're loyal to the prequel movies this book seems a little weird in the case of Luke searching for his mother but this is my view before reading the other two books

Acceptable

Not one of the best Legends books and honestly doesn't really feel like it fits with the rest of the series primarily because, it uses a lot of vocabulary that isn't seen elsewhere in Star Wars novels, such as referring to the Chief of State as "President".

The actual plot line is pretty interesting, as there is a large amount of political background throughout the novel and a larger emphasis on military strategy and tactics. It without a doubt leans more towards the Sci-Fi end of the Star Wars spectrum, rather than the more fantasy take that books such as Planet of Twilight delve into it.

Overall it's not bad, Anthony Heald isn't the best Star Wars narrator by any means but he's passable. The abridging was fine, but like always I wish it was just the full book.

Overall a 3/5. If you're trying to push through as much of the mainline post-ROTJ Star Wars Legends novels as you can like I am, than it's at least worth a look.