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

I think that what will also be interesting about this book is that Thrawn will have enemies outside but also within the Empire. Racist imperials, jealous superiors, politicians, people who will want to use him, to humiliate him.

That will be new, because he will not be the one giving orders. He will be like that cow sent in the velociraptor's cage in Jurassik Parck. But a blue cow with red eyes who will need to outsmart them to survive

 

That's true and the saying goes whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

 

I don't think Thrawn fighting pirates instead of Rebels would necessarily be a bad thing. The most interesting parts of Tarkin were him fighting the local wildlife.

 

Palpatine doesn't want to be fed, he wants to hunt!

 

I always thought Palpy as presented in that book was actually completely right. Sure, he dismisses the possibility of the Ewoks being used against him because "they don't like outsiders," but it's true. As we see in ROTJ, the Ewoks were originally going to eat the Rebels, and the only reason they didn't is because the Rebels inexplicably brought a protocol droid on a commando mission who just happened to both speak their language and look like one of their gods - a series of events so insanely improbable that no one can in good faith blame Palpatine for not anticipating it.

He could have tried to stamp out the Ewoks anyway just to be sure - but what good would that have done? Why would you start a guerrilla war (in which, as we saw in ROTJ, the Ewoks were deadly) on their own turf with people who, for the time being, aren't doing anything to you? That's just needlessly creating a new enemy, and ensuring that the Rebels will have local allies when they show up. Ignoring them as long as they ignore you is the sensible option.

And Thrawn's idea of making the generator completely unassailable was fine, but only if your priority is tactical (securing the generator and the Death Star). Palpatine was thinking strategically in terms of setting a trap that could have, and very nearly did, lead to the Rebellion's destruction. Was there a risk? Yes. Was it a risk worth taking? Given the potential reward, absolutely yes. Did he do the best he could to manage that risk? In my opinion, also yes.

 

While I'm with you in spirit, please forgive me if I have my hot chocolate in the galley instead of in the 'fresher.

 

After Voss Parck, Jurassic Parck, why not?


(of course I meant Jurassic Park)

 

There is no prey left in the Galaxy that are worth Darth Sidious's time. He is the apex predator.

 

The 'fresher I just saw on Rebels looked like it didn't even have a place to PUT your hot chocolate while you were, well, busy...

 

Well, I've had an email from amazon UK saying the date has changed for this novel, but the worrying news is it now doesn't have a release date on its kindle page at all. The hardback still says April 11.

 

They really seem to space these things out quite evenly don't they. Rebels ends in March, we get Thrawn in April and then the new Vader comic in June.

 

I honestly don't think that was what Zahn was going for, but that's a very redeeming interpretation.
It also reaffirms what I've been saying: Thrawn is a tactician par excellence, but Palpatine is supreme in terms of strategy.

 

Yeah. We're getting annual Star Wars movies, regular novels, and weekly releases of Television episodes and Comics.

Remember: Rogue One comes out on Home Video in a few weeks, and we're going to begin launching the media build-up to The Last Jedi.

It's... a good time to be someone who enjoys experiencing this storytelling world.

 

Just asked del rey books on twitter. The date has not been moved.

 

I don't think Del Rey has the rights to the UK. (not to sure on that)

 

That's weird. I just checked and its still showing up on my Amazon UK Kindle store as coming out on April 11. Maybe it's just a glitch in the system.

 

We are not the UK publisher, but work closely with the team at Century (who are part of the same company as Del Rey).

That alert was likely incorrect. The book on-sale date hasn't changed.

 

Tarkin, after some consideration, I've decided not to endorse your Death Star.

Having Palps dismiss the Ewoks is one thing, but having Thrawn caution him against doing so is totally another. Especially when in the same book Thrawn predicts that the Rebels will establish a base on an ice planet. We as fans can argue that Palpatine was right, but it doesn't seem at all like Zahn felt the same way. It was instance #24657 of "Look, Thrawn is smarter than Palpatine!" in a book that was already dialing the Thrawn and Mara worship up to eleven. Choices of One was awful for a lot of reasons, the treatment of Thrawn and Mara certainly one of them. I'll go into this new Thrawn book with an open mind, but I do want to establish that I'm cautiously optimistic.

 

Strange, I received an email as well from Amazon saying that the release of the book has been delayed, too...

-Jeff: I've read that part again a few days ago and Thrawn did not know that the local primitives were the Ewoks. It would have sound ridiculous if he was saying that the Ewoks could be a big threat, but he just asked if there were local primitives and just said it would be a good thing to not ignore the fact that they exist, THAT'S ALL. The way you turn things sound totally different and is not what he said in the book.

 

Yup:


“Well?” the Emperor asked.
For a moment Senior Captain Thrawn didn’t answer, merely continued to gaze out the viewport at the forested landscape stretched out below. “An interesting situation,” the blue-skinned Chiss said at last.
Seated at the helm of his freighter, Jorj Car’das kept his gaze straight ahead at the moon’s horizon, wishing fervently that he was still in his self-imposed exile from the rest of the universe. Thrawn clearly didn’t need him here. The Emperor clearly didn’t want him here.
But Thrawn had quietly insisted. Why, Car’das didn’t know. Maybe Thrawn felt he owed Car’das. Maybe he thought he was doing Car’das a favor by bringing him back into contact with the high and mighty this way.
Car’das also didn’t know why the Emperor hadn’t chosen to make an issue of his presence aboard. Maybe he regarded Thrawn highly enough to forgive the other’s little quirks. Maybe he was just amused by Car’das’s obvious discomfort.
Car’das didn’t know. Nor did he really care. About anything.
“First of all, the multifrequency force field you have set up should be more than adequate to protect the construction site,” Thrawn said, gesturing past Car’das’s shoulder at the huge half-finished sphere floating above the moon’s surface. “I trust the generator has redundant energy sources, plus an umbrella shield to protect it from orbital attack?”
“It does,” the Emperor confirmed. “There are also a number of fully crewed garrisons in the forest around the generator.”
“Has the moon any inhabitants?”
“Primitives only,” the Emperor said contemptuously.
“In that case multiple garrisons are an inefficient use of resources,” Thrawn said. “I would recommend burning off the forest for a hundred kilometers around the generator and putting a small mechanized force of AT-ATs and juggernaut heavy assault vehicles under the umbrella shield. Add in point support from three or four wing-clusters of hoverscouts, and the rest of the troops and equipment could be reassigned to trouble spots elsewhere in the Empire.”
“So you would suggest I make the generator completely unassailable?” Palpatine asked.
“I assumed that was the intent.” Thrawn paused, and Car’das glanced back in time to see the captain’s glowing eyes narrow. “Unless, of course, you’re setting a trap.”
“Of course,” the Emperor said calmly. “You of all my officers should understand the usefulness of a well-laid trap.”
“Indeed,” Thrawn agreed. “One final recommendation: don’t dismiss too quickly those natives you mentioned. Even primitives can sometimes be used to deadly effect.”
“They will not be a problem,” the Emperor said, dismissing the natives with a small wave of his hand. “They don’t like strangers. Any strangers.”
“I leave that to your judgment,” Thrawn said.
“Yes,” Palpatine said flatly.

 

Nah, it's still just as bad. If you look at it from an out-of-universe perspective, then you realize that it's still Zahn trying to depict Thrawn as having more foresight than Palpatine. It's not about whether Thrawn knows how to beat Ewoks specifically --- he has Palps "contemptuously" dismiss the primitives who live on the moon while genius Thrawn, complete with Zahn's knowledge of what happens in Return of the Jedi, is much smarter than the Emperor in that regard. It's an unnecessary scene that has no bearing on the rest of the book and exists only to show how intelligent and amazing Thrawn is.

It was one thing for Pellaeon to wonder after the fact how the Battle of Endor would have played out if Thrawn had been commanding it, but for Zahn to actively depict Thrawn as anticipating how to win it years before it actually happens... ugh. It would be like the new Thrawn novel having the title character warn Tarkin about the Death Star's thermal exhaust ports because Galen Erso might have intentionally designed a flaw somewhere.

 

If I recall, the intelligence reports on Endor also went into great detail about all those ridiculous monsters from the Ewok adventure movies. They really should've chosen a different planet.


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Given that the guy in them references the Battle of Hoth, it would appear the Empire didn't really start properly exploring the planet till quite late.

 

Here's a thought.

Isn't Thrawn a criminal by Imperial Law? He ordered the use of those illegal infiltration droids. Yularen should arrested Thrawn when he arrived on the Chimaera and taken him back to Coruscant in chains for a military trial.


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