"The Last Command," by Timothy Zahn [Bantam, 1993]

[image=http://www.theforce.net/books/images/ttt_tlc.jpg]

Synopsis:

The embattled Republic reels from the attacks of Grand Admiral Thrawn, who has marshaled the remnants of the Imperial forces and driven the Rebels back with an abominable technology recovered from the Emperor's secret fortress: clone soldiers. As Thrawn mounts his final siege, Han and Chewbacca struggle to form a coalition of smugglers for a last-ditch attack against the Empire, while Leia holds the Alliance together and prepares for the birth of her Jedi twins. Overwhelmed by the ships and clones at Thrawn's command, the Republic has one last hope - sending a small force, led by Luke Skywalker, into the very stronghold that houses Thrawn's terrible cloning machines.

There a final danger awaits, as the Dark Jedi C'baoth directs the battle against the Rebels and builds his strength to finish what he had already started: the destruction of Luke Skywalker.

 

After two decent books that initially drew me back into the Star Wars universe that I had missed for so long, this was the closer that didn't come close to meeting the most mundane expectations.

The book really felt like Zahn was tired of the series and just trying to tie up the loose ends without any real care for the story itself.

 

I feel the book was of quality, but the ending was a bit to clean and simple.

in the end everyhting worked out just fine, kind of like a Deus Ex Machina, just too automatic. Zahn wrote himself into a corner and the end result was lackluster.

 

I wasnt exactly excited for this series having read Heir to the Empire, but Dark Force Rising gave me some hope. Sadly, my prayers were not answered.


I didnt like the way how Mara was treated throughout this series. Too many seemed to disreguard Mara saying she was going to kill Luke, as if they knew she was kidding around or something. I also didnt like how Mara was the saviour by the end, while Luke was ineffective. Also, I didn't like Zahn's views on the force. He made it feel like a skill rather than a power.

Probably my biggest gripe was coincedences. It read to me that Thrawn would have been unbeatable had it not been for sheer luck. Indeed, I felt Thrawn had been written TOO good throughout, and that any death would have been dissapointing.


4.5, rounding up to 5

 

I loved this book. Just the character of Thrawn, who in my opinion is inherently cool, make this one my favorite. I also though the endiing was very fitting, even though many people complain that it wasn't grand enough and that Thrawn died to easily. I think that' s the point, however.

 

OK, let's get started with some reviews!

TLC was actually the first SW book I read (found it in a second-hand-shop) and I still consider it one of the best examples of SW lit out there. To me, the ending is fitting; because Thrawn loses by his own bad management. He mismanaged the smugglers; he wasn't able to predict Luke Skywalker. Those were his two errors. As always, the character of Thrawn is excellent and enjoyable, although he was to later become Zahn's 'trademark' in SW. I really enjoyed the scenes with Thrawn, and the death seemed so fitting; "But it was so artistically done..."

Classic!

(Btw; for those who feel Thrawn was fouled up by dumb luck; in the SW Galaxy, there is no luck, there is the Force. Therefore, the Force was against him..! )

 

A great finish to a great trilogy. 10

 

10- This sits up there with the greatest EU.

 

A 10 out of 10,the story is awesome and Joruus C'Baoth is an awesome Dark Jedi,his power struggle with Grand Admiral Thrawn was more enjoyable than the New Republic's battles with thrawn,it should be noted that if Ruhk had never murdered thrawn then he would have ultimately won the Battle of Bilbringi but still lost the war eventually anyway.

 

perfect 10
this is my fav SW book, eventho 2 or 3 others are close behind it, but nothin can compare.

 

Perfect Ten


This is simply the finest Star Wars book by the finest Star Wars author that ever lived!

 

A perfect 10, and I wish it could be higher. This book was a fantastic close to an amazing trilogy. Thrawn's death was executed perfectly; there simply isn't a flaw. All the characters from the movies are handled brilliantly and are marvelously in character, as in the previous two books, and Zahn's new creations contribute beautifully to the plot. This is easily one of the best Bantam books.

 

10


I have many friends who are just getting into SW. When they ask me which series they should read, I always point them to the first and the best: The Zahn trillogy, and they always end up liking that series better than any others.

 

10

The characters are certainly portrayed the way they were meant to be. Thrawn is perhaps at his best in the third book in the trilogy, and it truly is a shame that he was killed.

The only problem I have with the book is that Zahn had a tendency to use titles too often "Wing Commander Antilles" and "Imperial Captain Pellaeon" are the two biggest pet peeves, I had in the book. Other than that, everything was excellent.

 

As before, 10 for a Thrawn Trilogy book!
Couldn't be otherwise!
It's all so perfect:
the smugglers; the Noghri; Thrawn; the Delta Source; the amazing end battle in Mount Tantiss
Excellent!

 

Tis book was enjoyable. I gave it an 8 because although it was good I think it could have been better. Here's a few reasons I thought it wasn't the best in the trilogy. The first reason was that in the final battle scene it kind of made Luke look like he had no major role in the battle. I mean Mara does everything in the fight. I think having Mara kill Luke's clone was perfect but I didn't like the fact she killed C'baoth too. To me it should have been Luke to kill C'baoth. But because he didn't it make his role in that battle looked unimportant. He basically didn't do anything in that battle, which made the whole battle disappointing. Mara should've only killed Luuke and Luke should've been the one to finish off C'baoth. That would've made the story and the battle better. The other thing that didn't give it an extra point was the ending. I don't know, to me the ending of the book didn't seem complete like it just stopped. When you read the ending it's like something is missing like an extra scene to close out the trilogy. The ending was really disappointing to me. So all in all, I definitely give it an 8.

 

My favorite Star Wars novel ever. I love this one.

The battle between Luke, Mara, and C'baoth was incredible.

Even though I think Thrawns fate was a little bit rushed, overall I think this is the greatest EU of all.

 

I love it! Zahn is a really good writer. I give it a 10.

 

10
Excellent ending to a very well written trilogy by Thrawn. I loved Mara Jade's character growth throughout the trilogy.

 

10, the smugglers were fantastic in this book especially. Like the overwhelming majority of you, I thought it was awesome.

 

9 --I just finished TLC yesterday. I think Zahn continued his story very well in this book. It did have a slow part or two that I didn't like, but they didn't last for long. Overall, a great read.

 

this was the first book i had read of star wars andi t got me hooked. it could have been better but then so can everything we come across. so i give it a 10

 

A perfect book capping off a perfect series. . . . all the way up to the last couple of chapters. Then suddenly everything felt rushed - as if the word cap was rapidly closing in on Zhan and he needed to finish things up quickly. Another 30 pages and I would have been able to rate this a 10. As it stands, it only gets a 9.

 

Best Star Wars book, as part of the best Star Wars series.. Perfect 10!!
Timothy Zahn is awesome!!