main
side
curve
  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Books Thrawn - New canon Star Wars book by Timothy Zahn (Spring 2017)

Discussion in 'Literature' started by Diego Lucas, Jul 16, 2016.

  1. DarthKuriboh

    DarthKuriboh Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Aug 8, 2007

    That's not necessarily true. Leia, Han, and Lando brought information and Borsk and his fellow idiots wouldn't bother to listen to it.
     
  2. Sable_Hart

    Sable_Hart Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2009
    This was something that always annoyed me about Thrawn/Zahn, as well.

    With all due respect to Thrawn's abilities as a military commander/naval tactician, Palpatine is honestly leagues beyond him as a political manipulator and strategist in general. No one in Star Wars, canon or Legends, can match Sheev's CV with respect to strategy. So Mara's remark that "Palpatine was 1 step ahead of the Imperial court and Thrawn at least 2" always struck me as being particularly unsavory.

    But thankfully, Zahn seems to be starting on the right foot here: Palpatine is supreme and Thrawn, for all his talents, is utterly subordinate in every possible manner.
     
  3. Vana

    Vana Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 25, 2005
    It seems to me that Thrawn's weak spot had always been politics. Zahn stated in various books that Thrawn didn't like politics and was not good at it, preferring the battlefield.

    You can also see in his new "Thrawn book", in the synopsis, that Thrawn is bad at politics and will be manipulated/have bad surprises.

    So Thrawn was always shown as a better tactician/strategist when it comes to war, but Palpatine was always better when it comes to politics.
     
  4. Barriss_Coffee

    Barriss_Coffee Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 29, 2003
    Warfare is an art; politics is a brawl.
     
    Ben09 likes this.
  5. Ackbar's Fishsticks

    Ackbar's Fishsticks Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 25, 2013

    Wasn't that at least partly an act? Thrawn screwed up some Imperial Court battle and was exiled to the Unknown Regions for it, but that later turned out to be just the cover story.
     
  6. fett 4

    fett 4 Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Jan 2, 2000
    He was probably worse with Mara (rather than Thrawn) in that regard (Alliegance still makes me shudder) but it was still jarring but I agree that this is a starting on the right foot. If it's like how he'd written Thrawn in OF (which I think is his best book so far) and Thrawn written at his finest, then Thrawn should be a great story.

    Provided he doesn't get to hung up on Pirates
     
    Jedi Knight Fett and Vialco like this.
  7. La Calavera

    La Calavera Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2015
    Hopefully there will be less character shilling this time.
     
    fett 4 likes this.
  8. Vana

    Vana Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 25, 2005

    The lost Court politics battle was indeed an act, imagined I guess by Palpatine and Thrawn played the game because it was what he wanted too. But it doesn't mean that Thrawn is good at politics. He hates politics and is not good at it, and so maybe it was easy for him to lose that Court battle, he didn't have to act much.

    In the new book it seems that Pryce is far better than him at politics and will use him or manipulate him.
     
  9. Vialco

    Vialco Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 6, 2007
    It's Zahn....of course there's going to be pirates. Or smugglers or some other fringe element. Force forbid we get a unique villain for Thrawn to fight. Or a sympathetic one.

    A good way to portray Thrawn would be to have the antagonists of this book be sympathetic heroes with a legitimate cause. And hopelessly outclassed as they face a superb opponent in Thrawn.

    But I have a feeling we'll get another villain in the Nuso Esva class.
     
  10. SyndicThrass

    SyndicThrass Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 25, 2016
    We should be so lucky. I want Space!Moriarty to be made canon.
     
  11. Stymi

    Stymi Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 10, 2002
    I'm hoping for some well described scenes of Thrawn steepling his fingers, contemplating the greatness of his long game master plan.

    But seriously...This book has work to do to make Thrawn a credible threat.

    So far, he's managed to narrow down the possible locations of a rebel cell base and figure out Kallus is Fulcrum. Ohhh...Chilling.

    sent from my Moto X-Wing
     
    Vialco likes this.
  12. Taalcon

    Taalcon Chosen One star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 12, 1998
    My two hopes:
    1. "Point."
    2. A Punny Ship Name
     
    Revanfan1, JediMara77 and Stymi like this.
  13. SyndicThrass

    SyndicThrass Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 25, 2016
    The glorious return of hot chocolate.
     
    WMIRTUTSF and Barriss_Coffee like this.
  14. GrandAdmiralJello

    GrandAdmiralJello Comms Admin ❉ Moderator Communitatis Litterarumque star 10 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2000
    Thankfully, jasonfry made sure to bring back hot chocolate to its rightful canonical state.


    Missa ab iPhona mea est.
     
    Slater, DarthSienna, jSarek and 8 others like this.
  15. fett 4

    fett 4 Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Jan 2, 2000
    The finger steeple has replaced the cocked eyebrow as the Thrawn manoeuvre
     
    Jedi Knight Fett, PCCViking and Stymi like this.
  16. Sable_Hart

    Sable_Hart Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2009
    But the conversation in which Mara made that remark was about court intrigue/politics.

    Thrawn is unquestionably the superior military commander and tactician, but Palpatine is far and away the most accomplished strategist in the entirety of Star Wars.

    But perhaps we can excuse that on the fact that the depth and scope of Palpatine's schemes didn't reveal themselves until 1999 on out.
     
    Vialco likes this.
  17. GrandAdmiralJello

    GrandAdmiralJello Comms Admin ❉ Moderator Communitatis Litterarumque star 10 Staff Member Administrator

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2000
    We're supposed to think that Thrawn was good at court intrigue, yes. VotF suggests he engineered his exile, and Palatine was on board.

    In other words, he pretended to be terrible at politics because that's what everyone would expect of that dang ungrateful alien.

    See Niriz's monologue in Command Decision for Zahn's articulation of that from the POV of a character who didn't know Thrawn had arranged his exile.

    Edit: and yes, I suspect HoT was operating off of cackling Palpatine instead of the Palpatine we now know about.

    Missa ab iPhona mea est.
     
    Sable_Hart and Vialco like this.
  18. fett 4

    fett 4 Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Jan 2, 2000
    But Choices of One Palps was just as bad though
     
  19. Nehru_Amidala

    Nehru_Amidala Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Oct 3, 2016
    That's very true, as we all know now.

    BTW, I just posted a Thrawn-centric story if anyone is interested.
     
  20. Vialco

    Vialco Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 6, 2007
    I'm always interested in well-written fanfiction. Link?


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
  21. DarthInternous

    DarthInternous Editor - Del Rey Star Wars star 3 VIP

    Registered:
    Feb 7, 2017
    Just an FYI, the book clocks in at 427 pages (446 if you include all the front/back material).

    Please update your wikis accordingly.
     
  22. LelalMekha

    LelalMekha Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 29, 2012
    Roger roger! Resident Wookieepedian at work!
     
    Darth Caliban and jSarek like this.
  23. jasonfry

    jasonfry VIP star 4 VIP

    Registered:
    Nov 11, 2003

    Hot chocolate in the 'fresher for the kriffing win, y'all.

    /throws secret Lorrdian sign
     
  24. Taalcon

    Taalcon Chosen One star 4

    Registered:
    Jul 12, 1998
    Yeah, I'm finally going through Hand of Thrawn for the first time (by means of the excellent Marc Thompson unabridged audio version), and I'm being reminded how much I enjoy Zahn's prose, narrative approach, and all of his little quirks. Really look forward to audio of Thrawn. Audio has become such a fun (in additional to practical) way for me to experience novels in general, but SW in particular - the music, sound effects, wonderful voice talent and fun extras turn a fun well written story into a full fledged audio drama. And for Star Wars, that just seems to particularly suit it.
     
    Jeff_Ferguson likes this.
  25. Nehru_Amidala

    Nehru_Amidala Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Oct 3, 2016
    Here is the link here on the Jedi Council forums and over on fanfiction.net:
    http://boards.theforce.net/threads/eine-kleine-nachtmusik-a-thrawn-romance.50044596/
    https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12403345/1/Eine-Klieine-Nachtmusik-A-Thrawn-Romance