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Available
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Series
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Collection
Publication
Del Rey (2019), 352 pages
Description
Fiction. Literature. Science Fiction. HTML:NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER � Grand Admiral Thrawn faces the ultimate test of his loyalty to the Empire in this epic Star Wars novel from bestselling author Timothy Zahn. �If I were to serve the Empire, you would command my allegiance.� Such was the promise Grand Admiral Thrawn made to Emperor Palpatine at their first meeting. Since then, Thrawn has been one of the Empire�s most effective instruments, pursuing its enemies to the very edges of the known galaxy. But as keen a weapon as Thrawn has become, the Emperor dreams of something far more destructive. Now, as Thrawn�s TIE defender program is halted in favor of Director Krennic�s secret Death Star project, he realizes that the balance of power in the Empire is measured by more than just military acumen or tactical efficiency. Even the greatest intellect can hardly compete with the power to annihilate entire planets. As Thrawn works to secure his place in the Imperial hierarchy, his former prot�g� Eli Vanto returns with a dire warning about Thrawn�s homeworld. Thrawn�s mastery of strategy must guide him through an impossible choice: duty to the Chiss Ascendancy, or fealty to the Empire he has sworn to serve. Even if the right choice means committing treason. Praise for Thrawn: Treason �Another excellent addition to the new canon . . . Thrawn: Treason will reward you thoroughly for your time.��GeekMom �If you�ve ever enjoyed a Thrawn story�whether that was Heir to the Empire and its sequels or Zahn�s new novels�you�ll find more of what you enjoy in Treason.��Dork Side of the Force.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Othemts
In the finale of this trilogy of books, Grand Admiral Thrawn finds himself in the middle of a conflict between Governor Tarkin (of the original Star Wars fame) and Director Orson Krennic (of Rogue One fame). Even more pressing is an incursion by the war-like Grysks from the Unknown Regions into
To fight this new threat, Thrawn must work with his own people, the Chiss, with Admiral Ar'alani leading a fleet in an uneasy alliance with Thrawn and the Empire. This book also marks the return of Eli Vanto, who has defected to the Chiss, and it is great to have him back. Commodore Karyn Faro is established as another great character who becomes a great leader under Thrawn's tutelage.
It's interesting that Thrawn is associated with the evil Empire, because he's an excellent example of leadership in the way he establishes Vanto and Faro as his proteges and then trusts their experience. It's very different than the rest of the Empire where the "leaders" either step over one another or cower in fear. Brierly Ronan, Krennic's deputy who is sent along to watch over Thrawn, is a slippery character who is more typical of the Empire we know, although his character also develops in interesting ways.
This book is excellent at building intrigue and gamesmanship. The only flaw in my mind is that when the story finally builds to a climactic battle, it's not all that interesting to read about, compared with how exciting it would be depicted in film. There is more Thrawn to read, as Zahn is now publishing an Ascendancy trilogy about Thrawn's experiences before he joined the Empire. And this trilogy of novels I just completed also tie in with the animated series Star Wars: Rebels, so I'm going to have to catch up on that too!
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Imperial territory.To fight this new threat, Thrawn must work with his own people, the Chiss, with Admiral Ar'alani leading a fleet in an uneasy alliance with Thrawn and the Empire. This book also marks the return of Eli Vanto, who has defected to the Chiss, and it is great to have him back. Commodore Karyn Faro is established as another great character who becomes a great leader under Thrawn's tutelage.
It's interesting that Thrawn is associated with the evil Empire, because he's an excellent example of leadership in the way he establishes Vanto and Faro as his proteges and then trusts their experience. It's very different than the rest of the Empire where the "leaders" either step over one another or cower in fear. Brierly Ronan, Krennic's deputy who is sent along to watch over Thrawn, is a slippery character who is more typical of the Empire we know, although his character also develops in interesting ways.
This book is excellent at building intrigue and gamesmanship. The only flaw in my mind is that when the story finally builds to a climactic battle, it's not all that interesting to read about, compared with how exciting it would be depicted in film. There is more Thrawn to read, as Zahn is now publishing an Ascendancy trilogy about Thrawn's experiences before he joined the Empire. And this trilogy of novels I just completed also tie in with the animated series Star Wars: Rebels, so I'm going to have to catch up on that too!
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LibraryThing member DarthDeverell
Timothy Zahn’s Star Wars: Thrawn – Treason takes place a few weeks after the present-day events of the previous novel, Thrawn – Alliances (pg. 134). This work continues the storyline of that novel, with Admiral Thrawn again working with Chiss Admiral Ar’alani against the Grysk, who have
The subtitle, “Treason,” indicates the various divided loyalties among the characters: Thrawn left the Chiss Ascendency to serve the Empire, but remains an outsider in the humans-only Imperial Navy; Eli Vanto is serving aboard Admiral Ar’alani’s ship in order to help defeat the Grysk, who Thrawn views as a potential threat to the Empire, even though most in the Empire consider Vanto a traitor; Assistant Director Ronan serves the Empire and Director Krennic loyally, but holds the Emperor and the political elite in disdain; and other Imperial forces work to advance their own causes at each others’ expense, all in the name of the Empire. Zahn brilliantly engages with these complex loyalties, imbuing his characters with a great amount of depth. Further, Zahn’s writing typically adds more science to the science-fantasy universe of Star Wars and this book continues that trend as he draws upon his physics background in his description of the Grysk array (pg. 244). Fans of Zahn and his most well-known character will find an entertaining story with all the elements they expect from a Thrawn novel in this book.
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further infiltrated the Empire and appear to threaten Director Orson Krennic’s Project Stardust. Similarly, the Grysk have again kidnapped a Chiss child who shows latent Force abilities. Zahn further situates this story within the current timeline by including a reference to Hera Syndulla in the custody of Governor Arihnda Pryce on Lothal, placing this novel sometime between the events of “Rebel Assault” and “Jedi Knight” during the fourth season of Star Wars Rebels (pg. 10).The subtitle, “Treason,” indicates the various divided loyalties among the characters: Thrawn left the Chiss Ascendency to serve the Empire, but remains an outsider in the humans-only Imperial Navy; Eli Vanto is serving aboard Admiral Ar’alani’s ship in order to help defeat the Grysk, who Thrawn views as a potential threat to the Empire, even though most in the Empire consider Vanto a traitor; Assistant Director Ronan serves the Empire and Director Krennic loyally, but holds the Emperor and the political elite in disdain; and other Imperial forces work to advance their own causes at each others’ expense, all in the name of the Empire. Zahn brilliantly engages with these complex loyalties, imbuing his characters with a great amount of depth. Further, Zahn’s writing typically adds more science to the science-fantasy universe of Star Wars and this book continues that trend as he draws upon his physics background in his description of the Grysk array (pg. 244). Fans of Zahn and his most well-known character will find an entertaining story with all the elements they expect from a Thrawn novel in this book.
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LibraryThing member Lucky-Loki
Zahn continues his revamping of Grand Admiral Thrawn into the new Disney Star Wars canon with this third novel. Where the first one was an origin story and the second was set at a later stage in his career (albeit with a lot of flashbacks to the Clone Wars), this book catches us up to Thrawn's
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activities between his appearaces on the final seasons of "Star Wars: Rebels", and is probably the strongest read of the three. It very much stands on its own legs, but many secondary character arcs and plotlines will be given added weight and interest if you've read either of (or both) the preceding novels, or even have caught some of Thrawn's appearances on the animated "Rebels" series. The novel series' central subplot of Thrawn's potentially questionable loyalties (Empire, Chiss, or perhaps some other, grander ideal altogether) is furthered, while this book's main story ties into the "Rogue One" premise of Tarkin and Krennic fighting for control of the Death Star project, with Thrawn finding himself caught up in the middle of their machinations. The audiobook is, as the other two, stirringly read by Marc Thompson, unfailingly giving every recurring character their own voice and sound, which with the occasional snippets of Williams' classic score adds considerably to the listening experience. The main draw, though, is Zahn's continued balance act of writing a story giving insight into a character whose main appeal is the precisely the mysterious and unknowable Sherlock Holmes-esque inner workings of his mind. It's a difficult task, but while there is the occasional awkward moment, Zahn continues to handle it very well, by spending the majority of the chapters from other characters' points of view, but allowing the occasional glean into Thrawn's cooly analytical mind. The book also does a great job of portraying more sympathetic Imperials with benign or at least nuanced morals and ideals side by side with the more unapologetically evil ones, an effort which always enriches the Star Wars universe for me. Show Less
LibraryThing member bespen
Thrawn: Treason is very much the culmination of Timothy Zahn’s Grand Admiral Thrawn. And also, in a sense, the culmination of all his work. Here, we get to see the Grand Admiral at his best: elusive, brilliant, enigmatic. Victorious against all comers [perhaps]. If you want to know why the
I kind of doubt that we will engage a serious number of readers at this point who aren’t Star Wars or Thrawn fans who know exactly what they are getting into, but let us briefly address the book in a way that meets the current standards for spoiler free reviewing. In Thrawn: Treason, the titular Grand Admiral engages with enemies within and without the Empire, using his unique ability to read the the intentions of others to navigate the tensions inherent in his position as the only non-human Grand Admiral as he investigates the disappearance of cargoes destined for Project Stardust.
If you don’t want the book spoiled, don’t read past this point.
What I would really like to do is engage with the book in a way that will illuminate its hidden depths, much like Thrawn himself continues to surprise even those who think they know him.
The Admiral Thrawn we meet in Thrawn: Treason reminds me very much of the unstoppable force that we met in Zahn’s original Heir to the Empire trilogy. Finally, in the third book of the trilogy set in the new Disney canon, we get to see again the machinations of an Imperial Commander who knows the enemy better than they know themselves. In the first volume of this new trilogy, we got to see some of this, but the scope of Thrawn’s brilliance was limited by the scope of Thrawn’s responsibilities. Now a Grand Admiral, in command of the Imperial Star Destroyer Chimaera, the master can set to work.
In the two years since Zahn re-launched his most popular character in the Star Wars universe, I have been working my way through Timothy Zahn’s extensive back catalogue. When I first read Thrawn, I was a little surprised that it took the form of a political thriller. In retrospect, I can now see that the intersection of Machiavellian politics, mystery, and science fiction is where Zahn works best. At the time I read Thrawn: Alliances, it struck me as somewhat experimental in style for Zahn. I still think that to be true. While Zahn has written books with as wide a sweep of years as are covered in Alliances, the parallel structure of the narrative, switching back and forth between the Clone Wars and Imperial eras was something I haven’t seen in Zahn’s works to date.
Now, in this final volume of Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy, everything is coming to fruition. In style, Treason is very much the best of what Zahn has done over his very long career. Subtle clues are seen from the point of view of characters like Eli Vanto and Commodore Faro, allowing perceptive readers to have the fun of seeing where Thrawn is going before he acts. And yet, the greatest conflicts that Thrawn faces are only implied, and also left unresolved.
In my review of Alliances, I suggested that Kathleen Kennedy’s decision to sweep away the entire Extended Universe was a blessing in disguise for Zahn. The previous version of Thrawn’s origin story, Outbound Flight,lacked sparkle. I suspect the reason is that there was simply too much that had changed with the prequels and fifteen years of Extended Universe for Thrawn’s original setup to work anymore, and Outbound Flight couldn’t quite bridge the gap.
However, at the same time, Treason feels like it could pretty exist comfortably within the old Extended Universe. I admit that I am fascinated by the way in which Zahn pretty clearly has his mind set in the old ways. For example, the opening paragraph of Treason:
The Imperial Star Destroyer floated lazily over the blue-green planet below it, a hint of those colors reflected faintly against its hull in the shadows created by the distant sun. The warship reached the end of its patrol sweep and, apparently satisfied that there was nothing amiss in the vicinity, angled away toward deep space. It continued its leisurely course until it reached the edge of the planet’s gravity well, then in a flurry of flashlines made the jump to lightspeed.
With both The Force Awakens and Rogue One featuring ships entering and exiting hyperspace quite close to planets, this idea of mass shadows preventing hyperspace travel that I think came from the old West End Games RPG sourcebooks doesn’t clearly make sense anymore. But here is Zahn, writing a whole trilogy that depends on the concept still working.
Ultimately, I find this to be a feature and not a bug. Arguments about canonicity and plot holes tend to be pointless, especially when I know good and well that everyone involved in any big fictional universe is just making stuff up as they go along. Zahn’s original Heir to the Empire novels were beloved long after the prequels made a hash of their backstory. And it doesn’t matter much now that these novels seem not to match two recent movies.
What is truly interesting is whether this might have been deliberate. Thrawn, like the Mandalorian, draws heavily on the Extended Universe for inspiration, and feels like it could easily exist in a fictional universe where the Disney sequels never happened. I suggested as much in my review of Alliances, and I don’t see anything here that changes that impression. The way this trilogy wraps up feels like Zahn has perfectly set up Thrawn to turn into the colder, harsher, more ruthless Grand Admiral we met in the Heir to the Empire books.
Now, for the ultimate of spoilers, I will look at the way the ending of Thrawn: Treason echoes the Last Command. In my review of the previous series, Zahn set Thrawn up in classical Greek style. The New Republic had no chance of defeating him on his terms, but he was undone by hubris, when his Noghri bodyguard drove a knife through his chest. Similarly, here Thrawn’s greatest opponent is not the venial and incompetent Grand Admirals and Moffs with which he routinely deals, nor the Grysk who encroach upon the Empire and the Chiss Ascendancy both, but the Emperor himself. In his hubris, Thrawn seeks to withhold his ultimate allegiance from a Sith.
The cover art for the series deserves credit for recapitulating Thrawn’s character arc. The serene Thrawn of the first book has been replaced by a harsh one, with the Emperor looming in the background. Which perfectly represents the key conflict in this book, which despite its criticality takes place almost entirely off-stage. Outwardly, Thrawn is almost entirely victorious. In reality, he is in utmost peril.
The book ends on a rather dark note for Thrawn. Zahn leaves unsaid what happens in the final confrontation between the Grand Admiral and the Emperor, but it isn’t hard to imagine that even someone with as formidable a mind as Thrawn could be broken and corrupted by a Sith Lord as powerful as Sheev Palaptine, if Palpatine chose to put his full effort in. Thus, Zahn has created the perfect origin for a Thrawn very much like his previous incarnation, who calmly executed a conscript on his bridge who wasn’t giving his utmost effort.
The Thrawn we meet in this series of books has been absolutely fascinating. He chose to swear allegiance to the Emperor, dividing himself from his homeland and his heritage. He clearly does much good for the Empire, rooting out corruption, subtly promoting the competent and the honest from within. If a theme of the first book in this series was how the Empire came to be led by lickspittles and incompetents, a theme of this book is how there are nonetheless many virtuous and public-minded Imperials who seek to do good and serve within the system within which they find themselves.
Contra the Thrawn of Heir to the Empire, this Thrawn seeks to promote the good by protecting even his enemies within the Empire, giving opportunities for redemption and service for those who would otherwise be destroyed. The change is subtle. Thrawn is perfectly comfortable with enduring slavery, and hunting rebels against Imperial authority. Yet he clearly judges that order is superior to disorder, and that far greater threats exist than the Emperor and his rule. It is possible that Thrawn is mistaken in this judgment, but the evidence is at best ambiguous. Thrawn clearly has attempted to set up a kind of mental reservation, like Sir Thomas More, he is the Emperor’s good servant, but [blank’s] first.
To what, exactly, Thrawn owes his ultimate allegiance to is currently unclear. Zahn is committed to writing at least two more books, further back in time, so perhaps we shall find out. In the Star Wars universe, martyrdom is only available to Jedi, so I don’t know whether any kind of redemption is available for Thrawn. It certainly wasn’t for Goth Sullus. Nonetheless, I shall hope for him.
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[perhaps], then indulge me.I kind of doubt that we will engage a serious number of readers at this point who aren’t Star Wars or Thrawn fans who know exactly what they are getting into, but let us briefly address the book in a way that meets the current standards for spoiler free reviewing. In Thrawn: Treason, the titular Grand Admiral engages with enemies within and without the Empire, using his unique ability to read the the intentions of others to navigate the tensions inherent in his position as the only non-human Grand Admiral as he investigates the disappearance of cargoes destined for Project Stardust.
If you don’t want the book spoiled, don’t read past this point.
What I would really like to do is engage with the book in a way that will illuminate its hidden depths, much like Thrawn himself continues to surprise even those who think they know him.
The Admiral Thrawn we meet in Thrawn: Treason reminds me very much of the unstoppable force that we met in Zahn’s original Heir to the Empire trilogy. Finally, in the third book of the trilogy set in the new Disney canon, we get to see again the machinations of an Imperial Commander who knows the enemy better than they know themselves. In the first volume of this new trilogy, we got to see some of this, but the scope of Thrawn’s brilliance was limited by the scope of Thrawn’s responsibilities. Now a Grand Admiral, in command of the Imperial Star Destroyer Chimaera, the master can set to work.
In the two years since Zahn re-launched his most popular character in the Star Wars universe, I have been working my way through Timothy Zahn’s extensive back catalogue. When I first read Thrawn, I was a little surprised that it took the form of a political thriller. In retrospect, I can now see that the intersection of Machiavellian politics, mystery, and science fiction is where Zahn works best. At the time I read Thrawn: Alliances, it struck me as somewhat experimental in style for Zahn. I still think that to be true. While Zahn has written books with as wide a sweep of years as are covered in Alliances, the parallel structure of the narrative, switching back and forth between the Clone Wars and Imperial eras was something I haven’t seen in Zahn’s works to date.
Now, in this final volume of Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy, everything is coming to fruition. In style, Treason is very much the best of what Zahn has done over his very long career. Subtle clues are seen from the point of view of characters like Eli Vanto and Commodore Faro, allowing perceptive readers to have the fun of seeing where Thrawn is going before he acts. And yet, the greatest conflicts that Thrawn faces are only implied, and also left unresolved.
In my review of Alliances, I suggested that Kathleen Kennedy’s decision to sweep away the entire Extended Universe was a blessing in disguise for Zahn. The previous version of Thrawn’s origin story, Outbound Flight,lacked sparkle. I suspect the reason is that there was simply too much that had changed with the prequels and fifteen years of Extended Universe for Thrawn’s original setup to work anymore, and Outbound Flight couldn’t quite bridge the gap.
However, at the same time, Treason feels like it could pretty exist comfortably within the old Extended Universe. I admit that I am fascinated by the way in which Zahn pretty clearly has his mind set in the old ways. For example, the opening paragraph of Treason:
The Imperial Star Destroyer floated lazily over the blue-green planet below it, a hint of those colors reflected faintly against its hull in the shadows created by the distant sun. The warship reached the end of its patrol sweep and, apparently satisfied that there was nothing amiss in the vicinity, angled away toward deep space. It continued its leisurely course until it reached the edge of the planet’s gravity well, then in a flurry of flashlines made the jump to lightspeed.
With both The Force Awakens and Rogue One featuring ships entering and exiting hyperspace quite close to planets, this idea of mass shadows preventing hyperspace travel that I think came from the old West End Games RPG sourcebooks doesn’t clearly make sense anymore. But here is Zahn, writing a whole trilogy that depends on the concept still working.
Ultimately, I find this to be a feature and not a bug. Arguments about canonicity and plot holes tend to be pointless, especially when I know good and well that everyone involved in any big fictional universe is just making stuff up as they go along. Zahn’s original Heir to the Empire novels were beloved long after the prequels made a hash of their backstory. And it doesn’t matter much now that these novels seem not to match two recent movies.
What is truly interesting is whether this might have been deliberate. Thrawn, like the Mandalorian, draws heavily on the Extended Universe for inspiration, and feels like it could easily exist in a fictional universe where the Disney sequels never happened. I suggested as much in my review of Alliances, and I don’t see anything here that changes that impression. The way this trilogy wraps up feels like Zahn has perfectly set up Thrawn to turn into the colder, harsher, more ruthless Grand Admiral we met in the Heir to the Empire books.
Now, for the ultimate of spoilers, I will look at the way the ending of Thrawn: Treason echoes the Last Command. In my review of the previous series, Zahn set Thrawn up in classical Greek style. The New Republic had no chance of defeating him on his terms, but he was undone by hubris, when his Noghri bodyguard drove a knife through his chest. Similarly, here Thrawn’s greatest opponent is not the venial and incompetent Grand Admirals and Moffs with which he routinely deals, nor the Grysk who encroach upon the Empire and the Chiss Ascendancy both, but the Emperor himself. In his hubris, Thrawn seeks to withhold his ultimate allegiance from a Sith.
The cover art for the series deserves credit for recapitulating Thrawn’s character arc. The serene Thrawn of the first book has been replaced by a harsh one, with the Emperor looming in the background. Which perfectly represents the key conflict in this book, which despite its criticality takes place almost entirely off-stage. Outwardly, Thrawn is almost entirely victorious. In reality, he is in utmost peril.
The book ends on a rather dark note for Thrawn. Zahn leaves unsaid what happens in the final confrontation between the Grand Admiral and the Emperor, but it isn’t hard to imagine that even someone with as formidable a mind as Thrawn could be broken and corrupted by a Sith Lord as powerful as Sheev Palaptine, if Palpatine chose to put his full effort in. Thus, Zahn has created the perfect origin for a Thrawn very much like his previous incarnation, who calmly executed a conscript on his bridge who wasn’t giving his utmost effort.
The Thrawn we meet in this series of books has been absolutely fascinating. He chose to swear allegiance to the Emperor, dividing himself from his homeland and his heritage. He clearly does much good for the Empire, rooting out corruption, subtly promoting the competent and the honest from within. If a theme of the first book in this series was how the Empire came to be led by lickspittles and incompetents, a theme of this book is how there are nonetheless many virtuous and public-minded Imperials who seek to do good and serve within the system within which they find themselves.
Contra the Thrawn of Heir to the Empire, this Thrawn seeks to promote the good by protecting even his enemies within the Empire, giving opportunities for redemption and service for those who would otherwise be destroyed. The change is subtle. Thrawn is perfectly comfortable with enduring slavery, and hunting rebels against Imperial authority. Yet he clearly judges that order is superior to disorder, and that far greater threats exist than the Emperor and his rule. It is possible that Thrawn is mistaken in this judgment, but the evidence is at best ambiguous. Thrawn clearly has attempted to set up a kind of mental reservation, like Sir Thomas More, he is the Emperor’s good servant, but [blank’s] first.
To what, exactly, Thrawn owes his ultimate allegiance to is currently unclear. Zahn is committed to writing at least two more books, further back in time, so perhaps we shall find out. In the Star Wars universe, martyrdom is only available to Jedi, so I don’t know whether any kind of redemption is available for Thrawn. It certainly wasn’t for Goth Sullus. Nonetheless, I shall hope for him.
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LibraryThing member BenKline
My first book of 2020.... yes, I'm a bit behind schedule.
But at least I'm reading really good books, and this is one of them. The first Thrawn book in the new canon is certainly the best of the three, and this is also good, but feels far more like a setup than a third book. The second in the series
I liked most of the intrigue with this, and I love seeing Tarkin/Krennic political dueling, and its interesting with Thrawn thrown into the mix.
I do feel in this book more than even the others, Thrawn certainly comes off Gary Stu ish, and definitely feels more powerful/intelligent/better than everyone else. But Zahn knows how to create good, interesting, compelling characters, and a wonderful plot, so I'm in and will gladly read plenty more like this.
But at least I'm reading really good books, and this is one of them. The first Thrawn book in the new canon is certainly the best of the three, and this is also good, but feels far more like a setup than a third book. The second in the series
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isn't bad, but its certainly not 'up to par'. I liked most of the intrigue with this, and I love seeing Tarkin/Krennic political dueling, and its interesting with Thrawn thrown into the mix.
I do feel in this book more than even the others, Thrawn certainly comes off Gary Stu ish, and definitely feels more powerful/intelligent/better than everyone else. But Zahn knows how to create good, interesting, compelling characters, and a wonderful plot, so I'm in and will gladly read plenty more like this.
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LibraryThing member GeoffHabiger
A great conclusion to Zahn's latest Thrawn trilogy. Not only does it show Thrawn at his best, I really enjoyed the tie ins to other parts of the franchise including Rogue One and the Rebels tv show. Not only was it fun to see this story within the larger framework of the Star Wars universe it
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helped to ground the time when this story takes place. We also got to see more of the Chiss in this story as Thrawn is assisted by Admiral Ar’alani as they uncover a Grysk incursion into the Empire. A fun read from beginning to end. Show Less
LibraryThing member ladyars
Thrawn is probably the ony "Mary Sue" character I not only tolerate, but love. The more he outsmarts everyone else around him, the more I like him. I also liked how this book had more female characters.
LibraryThing member Kavinay
Thrawn is very interesting. Unfortunately, it seems hard to place him in a story where he's challenged or forced to develop. Instead, everyone around him is a bit of an idiot or an eventual follower who comes to appreciate his deductive genius. It gets boring, especially the third time around.
There
It's a waste. This could easily have setup up a true crucible for Thrawn by placing him opposite a Chiss threat to the Death Star. A plot actually worthy of the book's title. Surprisingly little of note happens despite this being the third novel attempting to develop Thrawn in the new EU. What's weird is that Zahn is capable of a more engaging plot. Perhaps this area of canon is still too constrained by new movies and TV to allow for a more meaningful story?
There
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is a moment early in the book, Thrawn's Imperials encountering the Chiss, when it looks like Zahn is setting up a genuinely engaging conflict. Instead, both sides are just following the same forgettable third-party threat. It's a waste. This could easily have setup up a true crucible for Thrawn by placing him opposite a Chiss threat to the Death Star. A plot actually worthy of the book's title. Surprisingly little of note happens despite this being the third novel attempting to develop Thrawn in the new EU. What's weird is that Zahn is capable of a more engaging plot. Perhaps this area of canon is still too constrained by new movies and TV to allow for a more meaningful story?
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LibraryThing member Cbogstad
Good story for Star Wars fans who like seeing some of the insides of imperial life
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2019-07-23
Physical description
352 p.; 6.48 inches
ISBN
1984820982 / 9781984820983