Reviews Books The JC Lit Reviews Special: THRAWN (spoilers)

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Rate THRAWN on a scale of Pellaeon 1 to 10*, supplementing your rating with a review if you so desire. While such reviews are unquestionably preferred, they are not required.

Do not rate, or review, the book until you have read the entire thing. Thanks.

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* Scores less than 1 or greater than 10 will be counted as if they're exactly 1 and 10 . . . so by all means go to eleven if you can't help yourself, but don't expect the average score to reflect it.

CURRENT AVERAGE = 7.65 (76.5/10)

 

My first Star Wars novel, which would literally change my life, was Dark Force Rising in 1992. I was twelve-years-old and it changed my view of how Star Wars and writing were supposed to work. It was darker (but not too dark), more serious (but not too serious), and had a focus on politics as well as military tactics (but without ending up like the Prequels of Honorverse's later books). I loved them so much I read every single one of Timothy Zahn's other Star Wars books and plan to read his original works sometime this year.

I will admit, though, some of Timothy Zahn's novels haven't blown me away the same way the Thrawn Trilogy has. Choices of One was fun and I liked the Outbound Flight Project plus its companion novel in Survivor's Quest but they were just good rather than great. I loved the Hand of Thrawn Duology but that had the benefit of being the grand finale to the "Bantam" Star Wars Expanded Universe. So, where does Thrawn stand? Especially since it is the first "canon" novel to star Grand Admiral Thrawn? Around the Hand of Thrawn duology and better than most but not up there with the Thrawn Trilogy.

The premise is basically, "The Adventures of Lieutenant Thrawn, Officer of the Empire." It's kind of a weird Horatio Hornblower collection of adventures which chronicle his ascension from naive every Chiss to the 4th or 5th most powerful man in the galaxy. It also expands on, more or less gives, a backstory to Governor Pryce from Star Wars: Rebels. The book doesn't deal with any great threats to the Empire. There's no superweapons, alien races, or possible origins to Snoke and the book feels a bit subdued to what I think of as typical Star Wars fair.

I was a bit annoyed with the opening few chapters because they're imore or less a retelling of a short story ("Mist Encounter", SWAJ 7#) which Timothy Zahn wrote for Star Wars: Adventure Journal back in the day. Given it was published in 1995 in a periodical no longer commonly available and was a pretty good story, I don't hold this against Timothy but it was re-rereading events I'd already read. The subtle changes also threw me, like the introduction of a new character not in the original story but playing a vital role in Thrawn's life.

The book proceeds to follow Thrawn as he goes to the Imperial Academy with Eli Vanto on the Emperor's orders, deals with several pirate groups, and then becomes involved in a massacre mentioned in Star Wars: Rebels that gets him promoted to Grand Admiral. I enjoyed these sections a great deal but they confused the heck out of me because I find it difficult to believe the Emperor would just put Thrawn in the general Imperial Navy. I would have assumed he'd have given him a Captainship or Admiralship to begin with as he's such a valuable resource on the Unknown Regions. Also, I don't believe the Emperor wouldn't get every bit of information on them from Thrawn, including the location of the Chiss. He's not a very accommodating man.

The book also continues Zahn's portrayal of Thrawn as "The Good Imperial." This Thrawn is, with one exception where he returns Wookiee slaves to their captors, a thoroughly decent man who just so happens to be working for a tyranny. There's also a potential retcon to his motivations that he may not even be loyal to the Empire at all but just using it for his own purposes. I can't say I approve of this as while I like "decent people in awful service", I have to say I prefer Thrawn having a bit more edge and ruthlessness. Indeed, the book retcons his role in the Rebels massacre to being the fault of another.

I was actually more interested in the story of Arihnda Pryce, the Colonel Spalko-esque villain of the Rebels cartoon. It's an interesting take to have her ve a small town girl in the Big City who ends up becoming a ruthless Space Nazi but Zahn doesn't pull any punches in her corruption. Indeed, I felt she was a bit too fast in her coruption. Hypocritical as it may be, I wish she'd been a little more redeemable by the end. Really, Arihnda's story shows why so many Imperials would want to join the Empire. It serves as an alternative to the massive petty local corruption and can reward lavishly those who side with it over their home worlds.

In conclusion, this was a decent book all round and had a lot of Easter Eggs for the fans of the Rebels cartoon. I felt Thrawn was a bit too nice in the story and would have preferred to see him more willing to spill blood but enjoyed Pryce's humanization. It's probably my favorite canon book release after Lost Stars, Bloodline, and the Aftermath Trilogy.

9/10

 

My review: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertai...ic-villain-home-book-review-article-1.3033147

9/10

 

Average score: 27/3 = 9
. . .
Wow this is easy.

 

4/10.

Was this Zahn's worst SW book? No, that would be Choices of One. But this one was still bad. I wrote a pretty long review immediately after reading it, but here's the condensed and slightly re-written version:

The plot and story were dull and lacked any suspense or tension. Everything was very procedural, with Thrawn's climb up the military ranks featuring obligatory and boring battles against pirates and insurgents where Thrawn again and again uses his acumen to handily defeat them and shock everyone on the bridge. These nothing battles kept happening well into the book's third act, when a random and pointless side-quest one over Botajef happened that did nothing to advance the plot. Did we really need to sacrifice the Nightswan plot's momentum just to get another reminder of how awesome Thrawn is? He was in control of every situation and never felt like the underdog. There were no real obstacles placed in his path. Zahn's written him as an underdog before, facing heavy odds, but in this book his path to becoming a Grand Admiral was a suspense-free snoozefest.

A big problem that plagued the book was that Zahn did absolutely nothing new with Thrawn. He wrote the exact same character as the one from the old EU, complete with him annoyingly warning the Emperor against doing something that will end up failing in one of the OT films. The opening chapters were even an I, Jedi version of Mist Encounter, with Eli Vanto playing the Corran Horn role. There was nothing fresh or exciting about this book --- it was all business as usual, and that business was a chore to get through. At the end of the day I can't figure out why this book was even necessary. It didn't do enough to justify its existence.

Too much of the book was sloppily-written. Descriptions of key Coruscant locations were lacking, and there was a scene with Thrawn and Eli talking that didn't establish they were walking until it said "Thrawn was silent for another three steps." Wait, are they walking? That hasn't been established yet. Zahn's better than this. And come on, let's talk about the first-person, italicized observations in the scenes that were from Thrawn's point-of-view (I'm just going to copy and paste this from my initial review). ... Why? Why did those exist? It came off as a weak attempt to make Thrawn seem more mysterious and cool. Why couldn't they just be regular third-person non-italicized observations? Why does it have to be "His eyes widen and his posture betrays shock" instead of "His eyes widened, and Thrawn noticed that his posture betrayed shock." ? It got old very, very quickly, especially when I was reading about facial heat and about throat muscles tightening for the two-hundredth time. Toward the end of the book, those italicized bits even started referring to Thrawn in the third person. What the hell? If they're not from his POV, then who the hell's POV are they? The Whills??

As for the non-Thrawn characters... meh. I could never root for Eli, and Pryce's storyline dragged at an excruciatingly slow pace for too much of the book. Her story got better in the latter half, though, with her rising through the ranks via ruthlessness and manipulation being a nice contrast to Thrawn doing so via skills and results. The second half of the book was all-around better than the first --- Nightswan was a great character, and his parley with Thrawn was the best scene in the entire book. I also really liked how the mystery of the Death Star was overhanging everything and ultimately driving Nightswan's crusade. That was a great touch by Zahn that really made the book feel like it fit into its era, especially after Catalyst established just how large and important a project the Death Star was.

The appearance of Vader at the end fell flat. I was waiting the entire book for details about Thrawn's Clone Wars meeting with Anakin Skywalker, but they never emerged. He mentioned it again to Nightswan, but it was just a reiteration of "I've worked with him before." Without any details known, the book's final scene with Thrawn and Vader being like "I am pleased we have finally met" amounted to a whole lot of nothing.

In conclusion: A routine and procedural book that lacked ambition and spent too many pages hitting familiar notes. No tension, no suspense, and too many sloppily-written passages. Skip this one.

 

Average score: 31/4 = 7.75

 

While I got much more into it than I was expecting, especially the earlier Pryce stuff, it drops the ball at the end. Batonn soured things for me in a few ways--an underwhelming end to Nightswan, Thrawn's role in the civilian casualties landing in Pryce's lap instead (of course), and Pryce herself having a rushed ending--I wanted to see more of the fallout with her parents and their differing takes on the battle but it gets totally dropped. I was also expecting to learn the context of Thrawn and Anakin's earlier meeting, but that could have been a plot bunny for a future book as Zahn likes to do. Overall I thought the Eli arc was great and Zahn did a better-than-expected job of playing nice with the rest of canon; not just Rebels but Lost Stars as well.

8/10

 

Average score: 39/5 = 7.8
Duros Score: 10/1 = 10

 

The fact that I knew it would be somewhat limited by the timeframe it was set in helped check my expectations quite a bit with this one. I knew I wasn't going to get the next Heir to the Empire in terms of scale or something as masterfully complex and philosophical as Luceno's Plagueis novel, but I had fun with this book. I was fascinated by the look at Thrawn within the Imperial society and how he eventually found his place in that environment despite the opposition, and the examination of the elitism at play within the upper echelons of the Empire. Thrawn himself gets an interesting amount of POV time that I was honestly unsure about but quickly grew to love, showing how creepily detached and analytical his alien perceptions were. It did a great job of showing that Thrawn is indeed an alien and not just a blue human. Plus, the depiction of Governor Pryce was absolutely fantastic here and Zahn did a great job of taking what was effectively a stereotypical smug imperial and created a flawed and struggling human being who was trying to make her way in the universe.

I do wish that Nightswan had been a "proper" Moriarty type foe for Thrawn and that we could have seen some darker morality from the Rebel factions to contrast with this book's depiction of a more sympathetic Empire to create a more realistic depiction of complex morality at play in any conflict. I also would have liked some more known characters to show up in larger roles rather than just the small appearances we got, (I would have loved to see more Tarkin/Thrawn interaction) and it would have been a treat to see more classic Zahn Legends characters show up, but them's the breaks.

Overall I really liked it. I didn't adore it, but I had a great time reading it and I'd probably put it in the higher end of the current canon novels. The biggest takeaway I had with the novel was that there was this sense of joy not just from me as a reader, but from Zahn and Lucasfilm themselves at seeing this beloved Legends character return in such a big way. There was a notion at play, I think, that this book was their way of expressing admiration at the fandom for loving these Legends characters and stories enough to keep them alive within the franchise. So, yeah I was quite pleased.

8.5/10

 

Average Score: 47.5/6 = 7.9

 

I'll give it a solid 8. The book kept me engaged and interested. That goes a long way...even when I was less thrilled with the book, I was still interested to find out what would happen next. Zahn crafts a good story. But characterization is at times not his strength. Thrawn exemplifies that.

8/10

Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

 

Average Score: 55.5/7 = 7.9

 

Wisdom of the crowds (so far) has it pegged: 8 out of 10. Solid, enjoyable, comparable to Tarkin in some ways but better although with far more wincing.

 

6/10. Zahn's writing is dry and unmemorable, there isn't a moment of tension or drama, and he forgets that Thrawn is at the end of the day a bad guy. The disconnect between him and the Rebels team is clear. Frankly, I would have preferred if it was just about Pryce.

Edited to remove Shadowcat.

 

7/10 While not Zahns worst book (That's Alliegence) its not Zahns best book, it's somewhere in the middle. Overall fun and enjoyable read but ultimately forgettable though

 

Average Score: 76.5/10 = 7.65

 

I was actually reading LS recently and thought "Deenlark" sounded familiar. I was really pleased that he was also the director in Thrawn.

 

Thrawn details the titular character's induction into the Empire, his ascension through the ranks of the Imperial Navy, his tutelage of Eli Vanto and Faro, as well as Pryce's own journey to becoming Governor of Lothal, with a Rebel known as Nightswan serving as the antagonist throughout the book.

The multiple different battles and missions throughout the book all have their own charms, with both Thrawn and Vanto bringing their own skills and abilities together. By the end of the book, both were solidly favourite characters of mine and although I dislike Pryce, I enjoyed her characterization and felt sorry for her with her struggles throughout the book. The best moment in the story is Thrawn meeting Nightswan, with the former explaining to the latter his reasoning for joining the Empire and the secret mission to find out whether the Empire will be an ally to the Chiss Ascendancy or an indirect enemy to weaken. Him offering Nightswan a place within the Ascendancy, with the latter having to decline due to his feelings of responsibility towards those under his command was poignant, in a different life they could have been formidable allies. The cameos from Tarkin, Palpatine and Vader are all done well and bring interesting additions to the book, while also shedding light on the inter-relationships of the Empire's elite. I also found the scenes with Pryce on Coruscant, including the moment she is almost attacked by lowlives, as well as all the stuff with Moff Ghadi to be suspenseful, political-based sub-plots. Thrawn slowly but surely getting closer to discovering the Death Star is also a great aspect of the plot, and I'm excited to see where that takes him in terms of his opinion towards the Empire he serves.

The prose is easy to read and understand, Zahn refrains from being as wordy as I find Luceno's work to be, which made it a much easier read for me and enjoyable because I didn't have to break off to find out what certain words meant as often.

Overall, a great insight to some of the most formidable antagonists of Rebels and Thrawn is quickly becoming one of my favorite characters of the franchise, it's not hard to see why he was such a fave for fans of Legends. I'm not sure how closely related the canon-Thrawn is to Legends since I have never and will never read the latter, but I love this version of the character and I'm really excited to read Alliances.

9/10

 

I read this when it came out so don't remember all the details but do remember the introduction of Eli who I really enjoyed meeting. Also showing Yularen and going deep, deep into Pryce was awesome. Great intro for Thrawn.

10/10

 

Average Score: 95.5/12 = 7.96

Wait this isn't my job any more.

If whatever mod takes over could keep the score in the OP updated that'd be grand.

 

(Reposted with mod permission due to SynCrow being an unintentional sock)

Thrawn details the titular character's induction into the Empire, his ascension through the ranks of the Imperial Navy, his tutelage of Eli Vanto and Faro, as well as Pryce's own journey to becoming Governor of Lothal, with a Rebel known as Nightswan serving as the antagonist throughout the book.

The multiple different battles and missions throughout the book all have their own charms, with both Thrawn and Vanto bringing their own skills and abilities together. By the end of the book, both were solidly favorite characters of mine and although I dislike Pryce, I enjoyed her characterization and felt sorry for her with her struggles throughout the book. The best moment in the story is Thrawn meeting Nightswan, with the former explaining to the latter his reasoning for joining the Empire and the secret mission to find out whether the Empire will be an ally to the Chiss Ascendancy or an indirect enemy to weaken. Him offering Nightswan a place within the Ascendancy, with the latter having to decline due to his feelings of responsibility towards those under his command was poignant, in a different life they could have been formidable allies. The cameos from Tarkin, Palpatine and Vader are all done well and bring interesting additions to the book, while also shedding light on the inter-relationships of the Empire's elite. I also found the scenes with Pryce on Coruscant, including the moment she is almost attacked by lowlives, as well as all the stuff with Moff Ghadi to be suspenseful, political-based sub-plots. Thrawn slowly but surely getting closer to discovering the Death Star is also a great aspect of the plot, and I'm excited to see where that takes him in terms of his opinion towards the Empire he serves.

The prose is easy to read and understand, Zahn refrains from being as wordy as I find Luceno's work to be, which made it a much easier read for me and enjoyable because I didn't have to break off to find out what certain words meant as often.

Overall, a great insight to some of the most formidable antagonists of Rebels and Thrawn is quickly becoming one of my favorite characters of the franchise, it's not hard to see why he was such a fave for fans of Legends. I'm not sure how closely related the canon-Thrawn is to Legends since I have never and will never read the latter, but I love this version of the character and I'm really excited to read Alliances.

9/10

 

You will never truly be free of this.