Star Wars: The Truce at Bakura

By: Kathy Tyers

Narrated by: Anthony Heald

Length: 3 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's Summary

No sooner has Darth Vader's funeral pyre burned to ashes on Endor than the Alliance intercepts a call for help from a far-flung Imperial outpost. Bakura is on the edge of known space and the first to meet the Ssi-ruuk, cold-blooded reptilian invaders who, once allied with the now dead Emperor, are approaching Imperial space with only one goal: total domination.

Princess Leia sees the mission as an opportunity to achieve a diplomatic victory for the Alliance. But it assumes even greater importance when a vision of Obi-Wan Kenobi appears to Luke Skywalker with the message that he must go to Bakura - or risk losing everything the Rebels have fought so desperately to achieve.

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©1993 Lucasfilm Ltd. and TM. (P)1993 Lucasfilm Ltd. and TM.

Critic Reviews

"A worthwhile addition to a popular sf subgenre." (Library Journal)

abridged!

why make an audiobook if you're just going to cut out the story, its a great book but it's a shame it's missing.

Bakura Review

Average:
This book is not necessary to read in order to understand future books. Well written, lacks humor, descriptions of situations gives the listener a great visual.

Another Book Ruined by Abridging

The story is severely compromised through abridgement. The narrator talks way too fast and seems disinterested in being there in the first place. Please stop abridging these books!

Great plot, poor narration

Where does Star Wars: The Truce at Bakura rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Hard to say, I've listened to a lot. It's somewhere in the middle as far as Star Wars novels go; not bad, lots of good action and interesting plotline, but not as exciting as other EU stories like the Thrawn trilogy or the yuuzhan vong war.

What did you like best about this story?

How often is there one specific thing someone likes about a story above all other things? Moving on...

What didn’t you like about Anthony Heald’s performance?

Part of my criticism might be overly harsh because Marc Thompson does such an amazing job in later EU books, but the only thing I didn't like about this book was the narration, it made it hard to listen to at times. The inflection in the narrators voice doesn't have enough range to clearly distinguish characters. The one thing I did not like at all, and honestly irritated me quite a bit, was the portrayal of Han Solo. The narrator gives him this nasally, almost 1920s gangster sound to his voice (Gimme all yer creds, see), which is just weird. I'm actually curious as to why they would take a character portrayed by Harrison Ford, who has a deeper tone to his voice, and turn him into Lucky Luciano Solo, to the point where I'd like to ask the narrator. Also, there are times when it feels like he's speaking too quickly, to where it throws the cadence off every now and then, almost like someone who is trying to spit out the sentence they're on before they run out of breath.

Not a great listen

After getting used to Marc Thompson, Johnathan Davis and January LaVoy, it’s very difficult to listen to Anthony Heald. It seems like he’s often rushing to get through the story, and his various voices are not that various. But it’s his rushed cadence that is hardest to endure. Given that it’s an abridged story, you don’t have to endure for very long, but the story is choppy as a result of the abridgment. Unfortunately, it appears that a ton of the early novels are abridged and narrated by Heald. Unfortunate. Most unfortunate.

not the full book

They cut out so much from the book and the chapters do not properly correlate.

Great book, disappointed with the audiobook

Read this in paperback years ago and was excited to revisit it with this audiobook. The abridged version gets the gist of the story, but three hours really doesn't do it justice. It was sad knowing how much was missing here. Although the reading did improve dramatically after the first 20 minutes (narrator forgot to stop to breath lol), he kept pronouncing words funny ("Han", "Palpatine", etc) and his characterization of voices felt way off. It's like he'd never even watched the movies himself. My suggestion? Skip this one and grab the paperback instead.

Brevity and clarity leaves something out

The narration/performance left something to be desired, especially considering that I had just before, listened to Revan and Deceived, from the Old Republic series, which were masterfully done. I just don't care for abridgment I guess. Still, it was a great story and I enjoyed it thoroughly, as I'm sure any true fan would.

Poor narration

The narration seemed rushed and I didn't like it at all. Story probably would have been more enjoyable if it was a different narrator like the one for the Thrawn trilogy.

Nostalgia Trip

never thought I'd ever get to hear this recording again! Amazing work! excited for more