Lit Books Thrawn: BOOK III: LESSER EVIL by Timothy Zahn. Nov 16th, 2021.

That would certainly make the First Order more interesting and elevate it beyond bland OT retread status, which is more or less how I see it now. It would also have elements of the "rhyming" thing that's sometimes at play in the SW universe, in that it would echo the PT machinations of Sidious.

 

It is something that's for sure, but it's sorta hard to tell where that goes in the future, especially how much of Zahn is gonna stick to this little corner of the universe or what i call the Zahnaverse

 

When you look at projects like Shadows of the Sith opening the door for major Sequel Era stories being told outside of just the movies, a Zahn penned novel in that era that provides more context wouldn’t be unlikely.

 

true point and I wouldn’t mind a Post Endor Zahn novel even if it’s more about what he’s been covering lately and how the Chiss, Grysk and other UR nations are fairing in that timelime

 

It's very interesting to me, your last point, because to me, Chaos Rising felt the most "prequely" to me, which is to say, it was mostly setup of stuff that happened later, whereas Greater Good and Lesser Evil both increasingly got me invested in both Thrawn himself (in the flaws Zahn explicitly gives him) and in the other Chiss, both in the military, and the glimpses of the civilians we see in Greater Good. I really was genuinely emotional at the end of Lesser Evil in a way I haven't been at the end of a Zahn book since Vision of the Future - I've liked all of the books he's done between now and then, but Lesser Evil had the kind of emotional power for me that Mara's journey in Last Command or Luke and Mara's fight at Nirauan had in Vision of the Future.

I think you're not wrong in the critique of the way Zahn presents the Grysk, but I've never really cared as much about the villains as I have about the heroes.

It still hurts that the only Chiss warship we have seen so far is in the last pages of the Thrawn novel adaptation. It was so pretty, I want more! But it must not have sold very well.

I really wish we could get some kind of "Fall of Thrawn" novel from Zahn where he really grapples with the serious moral evils Thrawn does in the original Thrawn trilogy - the Noghri, the betrayal of Mara, and the use of the clones. Perhaps some kind of real tragedy or loss between his exile from the Empire to the return to the Chimera that hardens his heart.

Thurfian really annoyed me in the first two books, but I did start to see some growth in him in the last book.

I'd love to see more from Zahn in Star Wars in general, but still wish they'd let him write an AU Luke/Mara/Ben novel more than anything else.

 

Not every villain of the week needs to be fleshed out a whole lot, (the Vagaari are a prime example of villains that work purely as evil marauders and nothing else) but with the Grysk...they’re essentially the backbone of this modern Thrawn saga and impetus for the character’s arc. So I need more from them than to be a legion of faceless goons for Thrawn to destroy.

With this trilogy there was some improvement, but more needs to be done I think.

 

I will admit that I was a bit bummed that the General villain from Chaos Rising was not the series big bad, because he was a really good Moriarty type for Thrawn to face off against.

 

Amazon UK delivery man brought my copy today.

 

Is this young Thrawn, looks good.

 

It's so pretty. Almost pretty enough to make me splurge. But...I shall resist and save money!

 

It's supposed to be Thrawn, but I don't think he actually looks like Thrawn at all.

 

Fans on twitter just want to jump Thrawn’s bones.

 

Same. It's the hair. I can't see his hair being that long.

Same. I thought he was sexy on the first Disney Thrawn book but damn, son, at this cover. I just can't justify the cost...

 

Treason had my favourite artistic depiction of the character. He looks nice and threatening there without looking too creepy:



As an aside, I wish we had gotten an alternate cover with Thalias for one of these books.

 

Absolutely. They nail the naturally menacing look. The prominent cheek bones and sharp facial features make him one intimidating dude.

 

He'll never look quite right to me as long as he doesn't look like Leonard Nimoy.

Headcanon is a powerful thing.

 

What DOES it contradict?

 

Ah, fair enough, though there are two explanations - Chiss months are very long, and also years are made up of months. It would also be technically true to say "seconds" have passed...just like a million of them.

 

Actually, I do believe that Chiss months might be longer than standard months upon reviewing the events between Greater Good and Chaos Rising, but Zahn doesn't give many concrete dates and he's always written as if his characters operate on a twelve-month calendar from what I remember.

 

I swear we’ll get C’Baoth and Lorana’s names mentioned in some sourcebook or something. No reason not to at that this point.

At very least I’d want them to include Outbound Flight in their Essential Legends thing.

 

So we can finally get a full audiobook! Maybe with the canon Thrawn voice too!

 

Had completely forgotten the audiobook situation, but yeah that would make it a lot more likely to be redone.

 

So just finished the book.
Wow what a journey that was, very enjoyable. Love all the characters and the memory chapters were lovely to read. Had to re-read the last one to make sure I understood the implications haha