Star Wars: X-Wing: The Krytos Trap (1996) Book Review

 Hey everyone, how's it going? Happy Friday! I'm back with my review of the third novel in the Star Wars: X-Wing series, The Krytos Trap, by Michael A. Stackpole. Like with my reviews of the previous two X-Wing books, there will be spoilers so if you've never read this book, or haven't read it in a decade or more, then if you're interested please do so before reading this review. Let's get into it.

Of all the books in this series, The Krytos Trap is probably the most political because of things like Tycho's trial and the New Republic replacing the Empire as the administrators of Coruscant. It's also a book that is far more relevant now than it was 27 years ago given that we've been living in a pandemic for the last, almost, four years. While Rogue Squadron focused on the space battles and Wedge's Gamble focused on the covert operation to liberate Coruscant from the Empire, The Krytos Trap focuses on the aftermath of the Liberation of Coruscant, Corran's supposed death, and the political ramifications of dealing with Thyferra to get Bacta to cure the Krytos virus. 

For the first time in the series, Nawara Ven becomes a POV character as he's Tycho's lawyer. Which gives me way more to do than he had in the first two books. Gavin and Asyr have two chapters but we don't get anything from Ooryl, Inyri, Erisi, Shiel, Aril Nunb, and the only time we get anything with Pash Cracken in it is when he's a witness at Tycho's trial, and during a mission briefing. That's it. Otherwise it's very much focused on Wedge, Tycho, Corran, and Nawara, as well as Iella Wessiri and Kirtan Loor. Which is fine, but it once again shows how bad Stackpole is with ensemble casts and utilizing non POV characters.

As for new characters, we only get four. Urlor Sette, who ends up playing a tragic role in the eighth X-Wing book, Isard's Revenge, Jan, who turns out to be a character we already know from A New Hope, Iella's husband, Diric, and Halla Ettyk, the prosecutor at Tycho's trial. Urlor is one of the two people that Corran interacts with at Lusankya, which turns out to be a Super Star Destroyer called the Lusankya, which Palpatine somehow buried underground on Coruscant, but doesn't have much to do. Neither does Jan. Halla and Diric are the only two who actually have a ton to do in the story because of their connections to Iella and to Tycho's trial. Which makes it really hard when someone kills Loor, Iella shoots the assassin, and then discovers it was Diric, who was one of Isard's sleeper agents from the Lusankya.

The big thing I want to talk about in this review is the stuff that Stackpole wraps up in this book. The biggest thing is Tycho's storyline of whether he's an Imperial agent or not. The other thing is who the Imperial agent in Rogue Squadron is. Reading this for the first time it was a bit of a shock that the spy turned out to be Erisi Dlarit. However, every time I re-read it it's become less shocking. Afterall, who else could it have been? Wedge and Corran are POV characters so it couldn't've been one of them, we don't get enough of Ooryl, Shiel, Nawara, Rhysati, Aril or Inyri for any of them to make sense, and Gavin is a Darklighter, a family we know is supportive of the Rebellion and the New Republic. Which leaves Tycho and Erisi as the most likely suspects. The thing is though is that Tycho had already been in thirteen issues of the X-Wing Rogue Squadron comic, which had started coming out in 1995, and he was a prominent character in that series, which was also written by Stackpole, and they take place a couple of years before the novels. So the chances of Tycho actually being the spy were very slim. But of course when I first read this book, I didn't know that Tycho was in the comics, being that my only knowledge of them was from the ad for them in the back of Rogue Squadron. Which leaves Erisi as the only viable option to be Isard's agent in the squadron. And yes, I suppose that Mirax Terrik could've been the spy, but, like Tycho, Mirax shows up in the comic, AND is a close friend of Wedge's, who also knows Tycho and Winter. 

I also wanted to menton that Isard's security at the Lusankya prison is kinda pathetic. I mean she gave Loor crap in the first book for relying on his intelligence and ability to remember everything he sees, reads, and experiences without conducting further research on a subject, and yet she assumed that just because nobody had succeeded in escaping her prison meant that somebody COULDN'T escape her prison. And of course, Corran proved just how stupid Isard's notion was by escaping from the prison and discovering that it was hidden on Coruscant the whole time. Also Isard thought it was General Derricote, not Corran, who had escaped. So much for Imperial intelligence.

The last thing I'd like to mention storywise is the end of the book where all of Rogue Squadron resigns because Borsk Fey'lya informs them that they can't go after Isard and Erisi on Thyferra due to it being an internal political problem rather than one that the New Republic can intervene on. I wonder how much of that is just Borsk being Borsk, and how much of it is actually true. We already know by this point that Fey'lya just doesn't like Humans at all, and is probably pretty upset at Asyr for telling Wedge about the report he'd asked her to write, placing the blame for an ambush that happened in the Alderaan System during a Rogue Squadron mission, squarely on the shoulders of the Humans in the squadron. and Wedge placing said report as "Most Secret". Because I'm pretty sure if Wedge and Corran could've given Admiral Ackbar and Mon Mothma reasons for why Isard's takeover of Thyferra, whether she got in due to the Thyferrans overthrowing their current government, or her showing up with a Super Star Destroyer and forcing the current government out, was not a good thing, they would've authorized Rogue Squadron to go into Thyferra and oust Isard. Because we only hear any of this from Borsk Fey'lya, I have to wonder if his hatred of Rogue Squadron, particularly of the Humans in the squadron, is what drove him to inform Wedge of all of this.

The Krytos Trap was first published on October 2nd, 1996, and was the final X-Wing book to be published in that year. It was republished sometime in the mid-2010s with the Legends banner. I first read the book in late 1998, when Garrett lent it to me along with the rest of the first six X-Wing books. Honestly, it's the one I remember the least number of details from when it comes to that first read back in the late '90s. Luckily I've read it several times since then, because I did buy my own copy sometime in either 2001 or 2002. It's a great book. It's definitely not my favourite book in the series, but it's still a really good book.

The three books that came out after The Krytos Trap to wrap up Star Wars Publishing in 1996, were Tales of the Bounty Hunters edited by Keven J. Anderson, The New Rebellion by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and the final book in the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy, Tyrant's Test, by Michael P. Kube-McDowell. Again, it's easy to forget just how much was published in terms of the novels between 1991 and 1996. I want to include something that's in the back of every original paperback edition of the books published by Bantam Spectra from about 1995 until 1999. It's an introduction to the excerpts of the other Bantam published novels called "The World of Star Wars Novels":

In May 1991, Star Wars caused a sensation in the publishing industry with the Bantam Spectra release of Timothy Zahn's novel Heir to the Empire. For the first time, Lucasfilm Ltd. had authorized new novels that continued the famous story told in George Lucas's blockbuster motion pictures: Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. Reader reaction was immediate and tumultuous: Heir reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and demonstrated that Star Wars lovers were eager for exciting new stories set in this universe, written by leading science fiction authors who shared their passion. Since then, each Bantam Star Wars novel has been an instant national bestseller. Lucasfilm and Bantam decided that future novels in the series would be interconnected: that is, events in one novel would have consequences in the others. You might say that each Bantam Star Wars novel, while enjoyable on its own, is also part of a much larger tale.

I find this fascinating because the Bantam Star Wars novels were all set in different time periods, so that The Truce at Bakura, set immediately after Return of the Jedi, would have no bearing on Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command because they were written and published BEFORE The Truce of Bakura was published. And vice versa. And while Timothy Zahn, Kathy Tyers (the author of The Truce at Bakura), and Kevin J. Anderson (the author of the Jedi Academy Trilogy) would work closely together to make sure their books didn't clash with the books of the other authors, the entire Bantam era of Star Wars books were written in a very isolated fashion. Maybe the original intention was for the Bantam line to be interconnected, but by the time the Jedi Academy Trilogy and The Courtship of Princess Leia were published in 1994, that definitely wasn't the case. It wouldn't be until the publishing license moved from Bantam back to Del Rey and The New Jedi Order began publication in 1999 that an interconnected, linear, storyline was realized in the realm of Star Wars expanded universe fiction. Even the early comics published by Dark Horse Comics, felt like an almost entirely separate continuity from the novels even though Dark Empire was referenced in the Jedi Academy Trilogy in 1994, and in the Hand of Thrawn Duology by Timothy Zahn in 1997 and 1998.

 The Krytos Trap was re-published again last year as part of The Essential Legends Collection. This time Ysanne Isard is on the cover. Which is extremely creepy. I definitely prefer the original cover art used in the original 1996 paperback edition and the mid-2010s Legends Banner edition. Because having Isard staring out at me every time I go to open the book is basically nightmare fuel at this point.

Overall, The Krytos Trap is a great book. As I said before, while it's not my favourite book in either the overall X-Wing series or this Rogue Squadron arc of these first four books, but it's still a decent book. Definitely not as interesting or exciting as the first two books in the series. I definitely recommend reading it along with the rest of the X-Wing series.

Alright my friends, that's it for me for today. I'll be back tomorrow for my review of the pilot episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "Emissary". So until then have a great evening and I will talk to you all later. Take care.