Reviews Books The JC Lit Reviews Special: THRAWN ASCENDANCY: GREATER GOOD (spoilers)

Thrawn Ascendancy: Greater Good by Timothy Zahn

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We return to the vast reaches of the Chaos for another adventure with young Captain Thrawn, and while there are more adversaries for him to face, they are more elusive than ever, hiding in plain sight and obfuscating his efforts to act on behalf of the greater good of the Chiss Ascendency.

Having covered the earliest aspects of Thrawn’s rise to prominence, Zahn focuses on the present in this book, partially dealing with the aftermath from the events of Chaos Rising and partially presenting a new threat for Thrawn and co. to deal with. Though interestingly enough for most of the story Thrawn is on a seemingly unrelated mission involving some refugees from Yiv the Benevolent’s conquest. Naturally we still get to see Thrawn’s analytical prowess on display as he finds himself entangled in a mystery involving unknown attackers; we get an interesting new perspective on his enigmatic methods in the form of Captain Lakinda, as straight-laced as they come but savvy enough to recognize winning tactics when she sees them. Even later on when she realizes she’s made a grave mistake she’s able to set aside her pride to work together with Thrawn to fix the situation. But much of the novel is focused on a new threat that’s steadily infiltrating Chiss society- the Agbui, a seemingly nomadic species who can secretly read people’s emotions. It’s definitely a different sort of threat, and plays into the title of the last book with them sowing chaos into Chiss family politics. Zahn’s given us some nasty villains in his older books, and he does really well here once again creating some baddies that you just want to punch right in the face for being so conniving and toxic towards the good guys. And though he provides some of that cathartic release with the main Agbui’s fate, he pulls the rug out from under us by revealing that the ones who tasked the Agbui with their mission are none other than the Grysks.

Along with Thrawn we get a little more development for Thalias and Samakro, who are both prodded along by Thrawn into taking more responsibility in his mission to safeguard the Ascendency. Though similar to the last book, they react in opposite manners to Thrawn’s encouragements, with Thalias coming to respect him more and Samakro coming to respect him less; however both have learned to trust in Thrawn’s methods, so even when they’re at odds on how to think about him, they’re on the same page in thinking that his methods get **** done. It’s a direct representation of the ways various characters perceive Thrawn throughout the Chaos; indeed we follow Syndic Thurfian again as he schemes to bring Thrawn down, not really understanding just how difficult a task that is, and on the flip side we see the pathfinder Qilori again and he straight up warns the Grysk interloper not to underestimate Thrawn. It’s a bit of an ironic effect of conflict that Thrawn’s enemies understand him better than his allies.

There’s a lot of good twists and turns in this book, and as per usual for a Thrawn story there’s plenty of great space battles with some inspired battle tactics both from Thrawn and from his opponents. Having established the core mechanics of the Chiss family hierarchy in the first book Zahn dials those plots down a bit here, but the addition of the Agbui gives him a chance to show just how easily those political relationships can be undermined. With Thrawn off on a mission to save some refugees, we get to see the Chiss come under attack in a very surreptitious way, paving the way not only for future battles but even more strife within the Ascendency’s own ranks, and as Thrawn often learns too late, that can be the most damaging attack on his people of all.

I give this an 8.95 out of 10 for a fun further exploration of Chiss society and Thrawn’s place within it. It’s not the most eventful book ever, but it still weaves an interesting story with a balanced mix of action and intrigue.