"Vision of the Future," by Timothy Zahn [Bantam, 1998]

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

Synopsis:

"The Empire's master plan is under way. The New Republic is on the verge of civil war and the rumor that the legendary Admiral Thrawn has returned from the dead is rallying the Imperial forces. Now Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, and their allies face the challenge of their lives. They must infiltrate a hidden fortress filled with Imperial fanatics, rendezvous with a double-dealing Imperial commander, and journey into enemy territory to learn the identity of those responsible for an act of unthinkable genocide. But most important of all is the truth about Thrawn. In his hands--alive or dead--rests the fate of the New Republic."

I came into this book with hope, having just read Spectre of the Past While not perfect, the previous book was a solid start to the duology. But were my hopes answered?





...no

Sadly, I find this to be one of my least fvourite novels. Too much of the plot was based on Luke and Mara, which did not have any real point aside from to show the power of the Chiss, to have Mara tell Luke how wrong he has been all these years, and to suddenly have them engaged, before they have even kissed.

I also disliked how the Bothawai plot was done. The only reason the Imperials didnt suceed was because of Borsk having a small army there.

This was something that annoyed me, the overuse of coincedences. Like in TTT, the bad guys would have been unbeatable had it not been for some lucky happening. This I didn't like.

I felt Han was poorly written as well. This is the man who drew quickly and fired the moment he saw Darth Vader. So why was he so scared of Thrawn? This isnt the Han who was having his teeth explode in order to save his friends.

Positives? Well, Ghent is always written well, and the Karrde plot was intresting, even if it didn't go anywhere.



Overally.......2.5, rounded up to 3.

I think it's a good book. It's written very well and I like the story.

I rated this a 7, and while it may admittedly be a bit high, I have my reasons. The main one being, I really enjoy Timothy Zahn's writing style, if not all of the content of his stories. His books are very easy to read, unlike others in the EU like Children of the Jedi.

In this book, Mara became more than an infection. She became a plage. The Red-Gold Death. She is responsible for the castration of the galaxy's (at the time) lone Jedi Master, and the effects of that have carried over into the New Jedi Order.

So for content I give it a 4, but for style I give it an 8 or 9. Hence, the 7 rating.

JMA

Mara's dialog with Luke in the fortress on Niruan, was the best part of the book methinks.

The only weak spot for me was way to much time spent on the imperial operatives.

I must agree, han seemingly on the edge of peeing his pants upon meeting 'Thrawn', is not reflective of his usual boldness, but hey, maybe his testosterone count was low that day.

One of my top 5 SW books.

All in all, while I felt people were WAY too afraid of Thrawn, I gave it a 10, because it really helped pave the way for the NJO by showing just how unstable the galaxy was. As for Han being a wuss, I can understand that, after all, at this point he has a wife and kids, how reckless is he gonna be (the fact that he's a Corellian notwithstanding).

Exactly what stecm said.

it was pretty good. I didn't like how it rushed the developement of Mara and Luke's relationship so i gave it an 8

I liked this book. However in comparison to Zahn's other works, it is the worst. Still a good book, but a lot of it seemed wrong. Plus having Mara tell Luke how wrong he was throughout the book, bothered me. I did enjoy it, but not as much as HTTE or SotP.

Edit: I gave this book an 8

I gave it an 8. All of Zahn's books are incredible, the best of all the EU in my opinion, but this one lost two points. Why? Well I'll just post a quote here..

"In this book, Mara became more than an infection. She became a plague. The Red-Gold Death. She is responsible for the castration of the galaxy's (at the time) lone Jedi Master, and the effects of that have carried over into the New Jedi Order."

Not only has she corrupted Luke, brainwashed the Solo kids, and seems to be waging a propaganda campaign against Leia, Mara also struck a blow against the Hand of Thrawn, the ONLY planet-spanning group to be prepared for the oncoming Vong invasion. Imagine if the Hand had grown stronger, had joined either the Rebellion or the Remnant instead of remaining solitary thanks to Jade's interference. Maybe then, the galaxy wouldn't have had to suffer as horribly and for this reason, VotF, an otherwise dead-on Zahn book, loses 2 points. 8 out of 10.

I gave it an 8. Good plot, but I found it boring at times.

I gave it a ten. Not only did Zahn mature as a writer, but in this one he really tried to let us get to know the SW characters better.

And - Luke and Mara hooked up! I must admit, reading that totally shocked me. I think I said a few bad words out loud. But once I got over my shock, I really liked the idea. Mara is one of the few characters who sees Luke for Luke - not Luke the Jedi Master, or Luke the Hero. She also has a very pragmatic (even cold, sometimes) attitude compared to Luke's idealism and optimism. They just contrast wonderfully.

Honestly, I don't remember much of the rest of the plot. The parts with Luke and Mara I've read over and over again.

I simply loved this novel. Even the non-Luke/Mara parts.

Mara also struck a blow against the Hand of Thrawn, the ONLY planet-spanning group to be prepared for the oncoming Vong invasion. Imagine if the Hand had grown stronger, had joined either the Rebellion or the Remnant instead of remaining solitary thanks to Jade's interference. Maybe then, the galaxy wouldn't have had to suffer as horribly

Interesting what-if, I never look at it from that angle. But we have to remember that the Hand of Thrawn group didn't want to join the Rebellion (or more accurately, the New Republic); they were thinking about joining the Empire/Imperial Remnant, however. Now if that would have come to pass, what would have been the likely consequence? A renewed, strong Empire ruling the galaxy. And yes, maybe the galaxy would have been better equipped to deal with the Vong invasion, but at the price of falling under Imperial dictatorship once again. Is it really so good if people's lives are saved, but they have to pay for it by losing their freedom?

Mara is one of the few characters who sees Luke for Luke - not Luke the Jedi Master, or Luke the Hero. She also has a very pragmatic (even cold, sometimes) attitude compared to Luke's idealism and optimism. They just contrast wonderfully.

The parts with Luke and Mara I've read over and over again.

I simply loved this novel. Even the non-Luke/Mara parts.

I wholeheartedly second all of that. IMHO, VOTF is an excellently written, very moving tale; what to speak of the fact that it paves the way for a bigger role for the Chiss (I love the Chiss ). Deserving of a ten IMHO.

I gave it an 8. It wasn't nearly as good as TTT, but it is still an enjoyable read. It's especially interesting because it the last adult novel before the NJO.

I gave it an 8. It wasn't nearly as good as TTT, but it is still an enjoyable read. It's especially interesting because it the last adult novel before the NJO.

Is that true? I thought it was Starfighters of Adumar...

Oh, i meant chronologically.

I'll be honest - I gave it a 1.

I have a lot of respect for Zahn as an author. (Or at least I did before I read one of his recent interviews.) I don't think I read anyone write space battles better than he did (in Star Wars that is). (His evil Thrawn was leaning on the heavy side of a Gary Stu, but he was enjoyable.)

Anyway, back to VotF. The main gripes I had with the book was Mara's characterization, and especially that little scene in the back of the book where Mara "lectures" Luke about the Force.

I won't get into the details because I don't want to turn this into an anti-Mara thread, as this clearly is NOT supposed to be that, but if anybody really wants to know, then you know you can always PM me.

Aunecah

"Interesting what-if, I never look at it from that angle. But we have to remember that the Hand of Thrawn group didn't want to join the Rebellion (or more accurately, the New Republic); they were thinking about joining the Empire/Imperial Remnant, however. Now if that would have come to pass, what would have been the likely consequence? A renewed, strong Empire ruling the galaxy. And yes, maybe the galaxy would have been better equipped to deal with the Vong invasion, but at the price of falling under Imperial dictatorship once again. Is it really so good if people's lives are saved, but they have to pay for it by losing their freedom?"

Well, that really depends on whether or not you are an Imperial supporter. Personally, I don't see any "freedom" issues with the post-Palpatine Pellaeon-led Empire (which is a moot point *now*, but..). Palpatine's Empire was surely one for his own benefit, and Pellaeon himself said, the New Order itself isn't suffering from megalomania. It's a sound way to rule the galazy, especially with a million different voices in the Senate who all want to tug the galaxy in a billion different directions. There needs to be a strong hand governing, a good defense force, along with freedom. That's what I saw the Pellaeon-led Imperial Remnant being. But that's me. I still say, though, that the Hand of Thrawn should've been left alone. Mara didn't understand the changes that had happened to the Empire, she assumed that the Hand of Thrawn's power would be used against the Rebellion. Would it? Do you see Pellaeon as that type of man? I don't. Parck also *said*, he wouldn't let their resources be squandered in a selfish effort like that. They are there for the survival of the galaxy.

I gave the book an 8. I enjoyed nearly the entire thing. The only parts i didn't like were the Mara lecturing Luke part, it just was wrong somehow. And i dont really like the fact that they got Married either.

Just my .02

10. It is my first SW book, and I just love it. It's my fav Bantam book.

Very rarely am I speechless after finishing a book.....

Timothy Zahn has lost his touch. VotF is a good, interesting read with two major problems:

1. It's just too damn long!

2. There are far too many plotlines running throughout the book.

Zahn does a good job setting the stage for the NJO, which, let's face it, was the purpose of this duology, along with Crimson Empire II. He puts all the characters where they need to be for Vector Prime (which wasn't all that great).

He could've done without Shada Dukal's storyline, which would have made the book a little more comfortable of a length.

My one huge problem was the way Flim was handled. The big thing of this duology was the impostor Thrawn. Well, let me tell you a secret...It's really Thrawn. Now, there is one problem with my previous statement; Zahn leads us on for TWO PARAGRAPHS before that oaf Disra explains his whole master plan. (These events occur in Specter of the Past, but apply here, as well). I spent much of the duology laughing at the main characters. "HaHa, you idiots, it's not even Thrawn." Luke and Mara's discovery of a real fake Thrawn, this a clone in some ruins on a planet whose name doesn't come to mind, seemed a little like an afterthought, but then again, so did their marriage.

Overall, the book is a decent read. 7 of 10

That should say it's NOT really Thrawn. Oopsie.

Well, I haven't read it for a while, so I can't offer much commment on it, but...

It was on par with Star by Star. That was my impression after reading it, because I'd read SbS first. So that's pretty high praise from me, considering SbS is my favourite NJO so far.

10 out of 10! We need more Tim Zahn stories!