Book Review: An overview of the works of Timothy Zahn

"Hello, My name is Abigail Lane, and I thoroughly enjoy reading science fiction and fantasy. So I intend to started writing Blogs on the books that I read and shows I watch."

"Finally, a Star Wars book I want from an author I admire." This is what I thought a year ago when I bought Thrawn, and then proceded to buy the other two new books of his as well, and instead of just reading them and enjoying them as I had done hundreds of times before with other books I thought I should start a reviewing blog of all the Star Wars Books I have read so far.  

One of my favourite authors to be found writing novels for the old EU of Star Wars and the new Canon is Timothy Zahn. Focusing on the political views within the galaxy and giving the reader the opportunity to see the villain as much as we are used to seeing our heroes enables us to visualise the galaxy through a fresh pair of eyes, and prevents the staleness growing from the much repeated science fiction cliches.  
So, a little about Timothy Zahn. He is a famous novelist from the United States of America, who likes to write novels based on the fantasy and science fiction genres. He is known for his work on Star Wars, the Blackcollar trilogy, the Cobra series, other novels and short fiction stories. He has been successful, and won the Hugo Award in 1984 for 'Cascade Point'. He started off his writing with a bang and in the 90's he inspired the Star Wars expanded universe with his trilogy and has continually written Star Wars books every one to three years.

Here is a list of all the other different works by Timothy Zahn,  and the highlighted books are the few that I have read.

Publication Order of Blackcollar Books

The Blackcollar	(1983)
The Backlash Mission	(1986)
The Judas Solution	(1983)

Publication Order of Cobra Books

Cobra	(1985)
Cobra Strike	(1986)
Cobra Bargain	(1988)

Publication Order of Star Wars: Thrawn Books

Heir to the Empire	(1991)
Dark Force Rising	(1992)
The Last Command	(1993)

Publication Order of Conqueror Books

Conquerors' Pride	(1994)
Conquerors' Heritage	(1995)
Conquerors' Legacy	(1996)

Publication Order of Star Wars: The Hand Of Thrawn Books

Specter of the Past	(1997)
Vision of the Future	(1998)

Publication Order of Star Wars: Return Of The Jedi Books

Mara Jade: By the Emperor's Hand	(1999)
Survivor's Quest	(2004)
Outbound Flight	(2006)
Allegiance	(2007)
Choices of One	(2011)

Publication Order of Quadrail Books

Night Train to Rigel	(2005)
The Third Lynx	(2007)
Odd Girl Out	(2008)
The Domino Pattern	(2010)
Judgment at Proteus	(2012)

Publication Order of Cobra War Books

Cobra Alliance	(2009)
Cobra Guardian	(2011)
Cobra Gamble	(2012)

Publication Order of Terminator Salvation Books

From the Ashes	(2009)
Trial by Fire	(2010)

Publication Order of Star Wars: Legends Books

Winner Lose All (not read yet)	(2012)
Scoundrels	(2013)

Publication Order of Cobra Rebellion Trilogy Books

Cobra Slave	(2013)
Cobra Outlaw	(2015)
Cobra Traitor	(2018)

Publication Order of Manticore Ascendant Books

A Call to Duty	(2014)
A Call to Arms	(2015)
A Call to Vengeance	(2017)

Publication Order of Wayward Pines Short Stories

Tree of Life

(2014)

Publication Order of Basil & Moebius Adventure Short Stories

Of Biblical Proportions	(2015)
Knife's Edge	(2015)

Publication Order of Heroes Reborn Books

A Matter of Trust

(2015)

Publication Order of StarCraft Books

Evolution

(2016)

Publication Order of Chronicle Of The Sibyl’s War Books

Pawn	(2017)
Knight	(2019)
Queen	(2020)

Publication Order of Star Wars Books

Thrawn	(2017)
Thrawn: Alliances	(2018)
Thrawn: Treason Thrawn Ascendancy: Chaos Rising	(2019) (2020)

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

A Coming of Age	(1985)
Spinneret	(1985)
Triplet	(1987)
Deadman Switch	(1988)
Warhorse	(1990)
The Icarus Hunt	(1999)
Angelmass	(2001)
Manta's Gift	(2002)
The Green and the Gray	(2004)
Soulminder	(2014)
Cloak	(2015)

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Distant Friends and Others	(1983)
Alien Stars	(1985)
Cascade Point	(1986)
Time Bomb and Zahndry Others	(1988)
Star Song and Other Stories	(2002)
Pawn's Gambit and Other Stratagems	(2016)

Dragonback Series: 

Dragon and Thief           (2003)

Dragon and Soldier        (2004)

Dragon and Slave           (2005

Dragon and Herdsman   (2006)

Dragon and Judge          (2007)

Dragon and Liberator     (2008)

So now it is time for the Star Wars book collection.

I shall be writing the years the books were published, and also the Galatic year they are in relation too.  Galactic year example:

A New Hope: 0 BBY

Empire Strikes Back: 3 ABY

Return of the Jedi: 3.5 ABY

BBY stands for 'Before the Battle of Yavin' and 

ABY stands for 'After the Battle of Yavin'.

Starting off with his best seller was the the Thrawn Trilogy: 

Heir to the Empire (1991) 9 ABY

Dark Force Rising (1992) 9 ABY

The Last Command (1993) 10 ABY

The Trawn Trilogy

Galactic Year 9 ABY.

These first three books start off with the narrative that the Rebellion has become established and now hold a position of strength having taken the capital Coruscant for the Alliance of free planets, and Luke having just started his jedi academy on Yavin four. However, unlike other books in S.W. canon the book equally follows the three story lines of our so called villains. One of the last Grand Admirals of the Empire, Thrawn; a young Mara Jade who was a force-sensitive, personal assassin, once Hand of the Emperor; and Joruus C'Baoth, a dark side user, very strong in the force and getting a bit mad, he is revealed as a clone of an old Jedi that died 40 years prior. 

Now, from the heroes point of view Leia and Luke have had a huge target placed on their backs because of the news that Leia is now pregnant with twins, the imperials are trying to kidnap her and make up their force-sensitive sabre wielder army. After an assassin fails to assassinate Leia, he tells her he is honour bound by a blood to serve her like he did her father before, and calls her, "Lady Vader"  Leia hoping to find out the truth of this legacy of her so called father "Vader" goes off with Chewie and the Noghri assassin to find the reason for their honour bound servitude to the Empire.

"And that is how much I can reveal of the story without destroying the joy of reading it for yourself. Please read it." 

Character Study

"Do you know the difference between an error and a mistake? Anyone can make an error. but that error doesn't become a mistake until you refuse to correct it." Grand Admiral Thrawn

A brilliant introduction within the first chapter created a feeling of great fear and respect for the imperial admiral making us unsure how to perceive him. It becomes evident that he holds the empire up by threads and they put their faith into him more and more, as he wins back planets and star systems. 

He also is coming from a place of loss and defeat, as the Empire's resources have become deplemished and the republic holds more territory than it ever has before. He has given hope to the remnants of empire and is leading them to one victory after another. This makes you feel conflicted as a reader as we have been conditioned to support the underdog in a given situation, and in this case it is the Imperial Grand Admiral.

"I'm a fighter. I've always been a fighter. The few times I've been at leisure, I've been miserable. I want challenges. I crave them." Mara Jade

Mara is introduced as a beautiful and intelligent smuggler appreciated by her boss for her resourcefulness, and promoted quickly over other smugglers in their organisation as her skills become more valuable to them. 

She gives off a feeling of regret for the life she lost, and the desire for a greater purpose. She regards Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader as a joint entity a usurpers and murderers to her master the Galactic Emperor Sheev Palpatine. She feels it is her mission to end Skywalker and only then would her master be at peace.

"But I really don't think he's a Dark Jedi. He's erratic and moody, but he doesn't have the sort of evil aura about him that I could sense in Vader and the Emperor. I think it's more likely that Master C'Baoth is insane." Luke Skywalker, to R2-D2

Joruus is a very powerful force sensitive being who is adamant that he must have and train the Skywalker twins, Luke and Leia, and her children yet to be born. This character feels like wizard in the oldest sense, unpredictable and controlling. He demands respect whether or not he has earned it, and he delights in manipulating people. 

He works with the empire temporarily in order to acquire Luke and Leia, but he fails to get the respect he demands from people. As everyone thinks he is crazy.

Next SW books to be written by Timothy Zahn came The Hand of Thrawn duology. Set nineteen years after the Battle of Yavin. The first book I read by Zahn was the Spectre of the Past. I was immediately interested in the stakes of the story and the characters.

The Hand of Thrawn duology:

Specter of the the Past (1997) 19 ABY

Vision of the Future (1998) 19 ABY

Specter of the Past (1997) GY 19 ABY

Specter of the Past, is told a full 19 years After the Battle of Yavin (ABY), and covers a period of time where an illusive character seems to have come back from the dead to haunt the new republic.
(again... aka 'Thrawn')

The Jedi order has been built up to a position of strength, but Luke Skywalker is haunted by visions and dreams of his friend Mara Jade lying dead in a pool of water, and sets off to find her. 

Meanwhile tensions rise in the New Republic as Leia Solo is constantly challenged by the Bothans regarding her connections, and the rising menace from her past. 

"Looking back at this now, I loved seeing how Zahn creates misgivings between groups, and putting doubt into peoples minds about Leia by insinuating that... 'Just maybe... although she is not like her father what if giving her a position of too much authority  she suddenly became him. And because of her place in the Republic she was a danger to herself and other.' The Political balance within this story is captivating, the loss of intel creates more tension as talks about traitors get pull to the forefront and pulling the plot in opposite direction is Luke. Although very balanced and at peace within himself and his duty. He feels conflicted about his relationship with Mara, and after a terrible dream where he thinks he sees her dead in a pool of water decides he must save her and prevent her from meeting this terrible end. So, Luke sets his heart on meeting up with her and in the next book he does, continuing to find reasons to be with her waiting for the moment of his vision to occur." 

"One major problem I have with the story... Why is hot chocolate mentioned?.... Why? Why? couldn't you have made up another name for it. It's like saying Luke went out to milk the cows on his Tatooine farm. We don't bring common ever day items from our world into Star Wars. They are not from our world. They have ale, but it is not our ale, it is named after something from their galaxy. They have cards, but not our playing cards it's different. They need to be different otherwise it takes the reader out of the story."

Vision of the Future (1998) GY 19 ABY

Vision of the Future covers the story of a mastermind that is manipulating behind the scenes, and the New Republic is on the verge of civil war, the republic is spread too thin. The heroes and their allies must face the new challenge, and infiltrate a hidden fortress filled with Imperial fanatics. And on the planet Nirauan, Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade find a few hidden secrets and become closer. 

The Mystril warrior Shada seeks out Jori Car'das an old smuggler that is rumoured to hold a copy of the Caamas Document, an imperial letter that implicates a Botham for the slaughter of the Caamsi. Wanting to use it to stop a civil war from starting in the New Republic, above the Botham homeworld.

"I absolutely loved the political intrigue in this book and I was speaking out the character's diolog aloud to try and capture the essence of the characters. I felt very sorry for the clone of Thrawn and the way he was puppetted about by the imperials. I was invested in the incredible discovery by Han Solo, and of Mara and Luke, with their battle against all the droids in the facility. I did think Luke was missing more development of his force powers in this book, I didn't like the Qom Qae the alien race that help him find his way to Mara, and into the 'mysterious fortress', but I think that could just be how Zahn likes to write his characters (must have help, unless they are Thrawn and can work it out by themselves). I couldn't wait for the love between Luke and Mara to blossom and on first reading I will have to admit I skim read the book to only read the sections where Luke and Mara were involved. As I first found the second book in 2005 whereas the first I bought in 2002. So, I was keen to finally read it and it couldn't have happened sooner, as I didn't understand the internet at the time. It has been long awaited."  

"I also think the character of Shada is not as interesting as I think Zahn wants her to be. She feels like a Mara Jade copy and acts like it too. But she can't use the force... and she has blonde hair. 'WOW' a girl with blonde hair in Star Wars that is a rare thing. That's about as much as I remember about her."


"Other than a few nit picking pieces, I liked the descriptive start and analytical side to the story, as this was my first introduction to the Expanded universe the great reveal of the so called Thrawn was spoiled on me, as I wasn't really that aware of any of the other books that had come before, so I was glad for the info dump that pulled me into the story, but on reread, I do think this slowed down the pace of the book and makes it harder really read at speed. But I eventually got lost in the world."


Fool's Bargain (2004) GY: 22 ABY

Fool's Bargain (2004)

"Taking place after events in book Survivor's Quest." The Plaenet Kariek has had a history and reputation for endless violence due to the native Eickarie race battling for dominance, but not their power has diminished since a warlord and his alien mercenaries began their 50 year terror upon their homeworld.

This story opens with the Aurek company of the legendary 501st Legion in a disguised transport preparing to attack the stronghold of a Warlord in order to free a people called the Eickarie. The story follows a group of troopers called Unit Aurek-Seven. They leave the transport and proceed to the alleyway they have been assigned to. 

Now, an Eicharie named Su-mil emerges from a nearby cantina and invites the stormtroopers into a building where they make a bargain: the troopers help to free the Eickarie prisoners before attempting to capture the Warlord in exchange for a way into the fortress. The Eckiares and stormtroopers use an under ground passage and gain entry to the fortress, where they fight their way to the prison area. After convincing the Eckarie prisoners to join the battle, they split up. Two stormtroopers and many Eckaries returned to the city via the tunnel well the other troopers and Eickaries proceeded to the centre of the fortress. After fighting past an ambush, the second party secures the fortress and captures the Warlord. 

"It is interesting that the troopers' unit '501st', chosen for this task of capturing a warlord, are renowned for being the once great and powerful 'Vader fist' his selected troopers, and they are still known for that, but now serving in the Post-Palpatine 'Empire of the Hand'."

"This book is one of the reasons I find Timothy Zahn to be one of my must read authors in sci-fi books, he fleshes out characters and can write stories on a smaller scale, instead of writing a book about the huge galaxy destroying weapon or person who will rule the whole galaxy he focuses on discovery, betrayal, loyalty or manipulation and make those small stories into ming masterpieces."

"More of this type of storytelling needs to be written."

Survivor's Quest: 22 ABY                     Outbound Flight: 29 BBY

Two brilliant books told in very different times. A little fact for you, Zahn wrote Survivor's Quest to be a parallel book for Luke and Mara that Tatooine Ghost was for Han and Leia. And he was planning Outbound Flight at the time when he was approached to write this other book and decided he could tie the two stories together. 

The first one to come out Survivor's Quest, is about the discovery of old wreckage found in what had been considered unexplored space, but now can be identified as Chiss Space. 

Survivor's Quest (2004) Outbound Flight (2006) 

A hidden message is sent to Luke Skywalker and he but before the message could be passed on, however, it was stolen by a roque man of Karrde's organisation called Dean Jinzler. Afraid that the message is connected to the menace that Parck and Baron Fel had warned them about two years prior, Luke and Mara set a course on the Jade's fire to Nirauan. 

When they got there, they learned from Chiss Aristocra Chaf'orm'bintrano (Formbi) that the message had come from him and that his people had found the remains of the old Jedi expedition, 'Outbound Flight Project' a great ship almost like a space station, from before the old clone wars. This had been destroyed by Thrawn many years ago. The Chiss now wish to hand over the remains to the New Republic.

Luke and Mara join a odd group of observers, some people who claim that the belongs to the occupants of the star system and the republic have no claim; the Geroons who claim to owe a debt to the people of Outbound flight and only come to pay their respects; the fake New Republic Ambassdor; and a squad of stormtroopers (501st).

As they travel deeper into Chiss space through the Redoubt on the 'Chaf Envoy' Luke and Mara grow more uneasy as random occurrences of sabotage and theft are happening all over the ship. And Mara starts to question her allegiances to the New Republic as her respect for the methods of their imperial comrades impresses her throughout the journey. 

"I loved this book, I read the whole story in two days and enjoyed the introduction of Fel, the terrifying alien race bent on destruction of the inhabitants of the lost ship, and Mara's reluctant reliance on the imperials to support her and Luke. I also love that this is actually a mission that both Mara and Luke go on. 

"When I read this I thought it would make for an excellent horror or suspenseful computer game. Really creative and a great opportunity to develop and get to know the extensive cast in an interactive medium. Moving around a crashed ship with traps in lifts, and hallways with creatures that have been trained to hunt you down was thrilling, and many years later I am still excited by the idea."

Outbound Flight (2006)
Back in the Past 29 BBY 

In the book Outbound Flight we follow two well-known characters Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi as they see the coloniser ship out to edges of the galaxy. "Insert Star Trek Phrase, (Go boldly where no man (no one) have gone before)" This expedition has been led by an old Jedi called C'Boath and he is of the opinion that Jedi are superior than non-force sensitives. (This I think is strange... From the way Zahn's original trilogy is written it comes across that C'Boath was elitist because he was a crazy clone made and experimented on by Palpatine to test the transference of life onto, and I always thought he became that way because of the foul abuse of the force, not because his predessor was like that....anyway.) 

Obi-Wan has misgiving about him, and was asked by the Jedi Council to keep an eye on him. As they too are becoming aware of his grandstanding and wish to dominate lesser lifeforms.

When the Chancellor Palpatine finds out that Anakin and Obi-Wan are with the Outbound Project, he gives out a few orders that they must be brought back....

The journey of Outbound Flight Project ends when they encounter the Chiss fleat led by Thrawn, and is disabled by the chiss, the ship crashes in the unknown system. No survivors are expected, and they are left for dead out there lost and alone. The republic send no more ships out there to investigate. 

"Why was this ship sent out? and why did the chancellor allow it to be destroyed. Maybe the main objective of Palpatine in this case was to kill as many young and old Jedi by accident in one sad bang, and be able to completely wash his hands of the whole affair. But he had already settled upon the idea of Anakin being his next apprentice and had spent a few years moulding him already."

The Mara Jade duology:

Allegiance 0 ABY

Choices of One 2 ABY

Allegiance (2007) and Choices of One (2011)

One of the largest gaps Timothy has left between related books, Allegiance and Choices of One follow the life of Mara Jade primarily, and a few stormtrooper deserters. The first story has been told in three parallel threads which eventually intertwined in the later part of the book.

One follows a few troopers from the Imperial Star Destroyer 'Reprisal' who after participating in the massacre of innocents on planet Teardrop, start doubting their allegiance to the Empire. The planet had had a secret rebel base that had left before the imperials arrived, but they were given orders to execute the civilians anyway. After their ISB officer got shot by his own weapon, the troopers guessed that they might get done for murder and took the opportunity to leave. They get branded as Deserters until a young Mara Jade commandeers them for her service. 

Another thread follows Leia who has been dispatched by the Rebellion Alliance to the Shelsha Sector to meet three local representatives of the Rebellion. Luke, Han and Chewbacca went along as her escorts, but they got separated in order to pursue different leads, the men to investigate pirate attacks on the Rebel supply line, and Leia to negotiate with the governor of Shelsha sector about declaring independence and joining the Rebellion.

And finally Mara Jade has been given the task of investigating corrupt Imperial moffs, and finding clues from stolen valuable artworks leading her into the Shelsha Sector, but undercover. She must not be discovered.

"I love stories that are based around assassination plots and detective work. In many ways I feel that the story would have been so much better just focused on Mara and the troopers. When I was first reading this book I was afraid Timothy would contradict his first trilogy where the main OT characters met Mara for the 'first time', that didn't happen, although Luke glanced her as she used her lightsaber to deflect lasers as she crossed a bridge above him, Mara never encountered any of the OT Heroes as she was focused on her own task." 

"The most uninteresting thing in the story was Leia getting a job as a waitress. I feel like I was meant to enjoy it and find it refreshing, but the simple 'She serves as a waitress, but oh she's a princess' troop is over done in stories. I could think of far better places for her to be placed to work in, and it slowed the story down." 

"I did however enjoy reading about the loyalty reignited in the deserters when they met up with Mara. It felt more natural that they would want to work with and for her than to become rebels."

Scoundrels (2013)

Scoundrels: 0 ABY

The book took place shortly after the battle of Yavin, where the rebel Luke Skywalker destroyed the Death Star. Han Sol had received his reward from the Alliance to restore the Republic, but his payment got stolen by the pirate Crimson Jack leaving him in debt to Jabba the Hutt. Unable to pay him back he accepts a job request on the planet Wukkar at Reggilo's Cantina where he encounter Bounty Hunter Falsta, and Eanjer Knuarazti. 

Eanjer explained to Han that a local crime lord named Avrak Villachor murdered Eanjer's father and stole over 163 million credits from his family. With a promise to split the money between them if Han helps him get it back, Han agrees to join his team to break into Villachor's protected vault in the 'Marbewood Estate' in Iltarr City.

"Interesting premise and will soon be an interesting read, but I have yet to finish this book, for some reason my least favourite main hero is Han Solo, I'm not sure why exactly, maybe I'm not all that impressed with overconfidence, but I like him for the real friendship he develops with Luke and Leia. I'll get back to reading it one day and add that review to this list."

Zahn's newest trilogy based around his old character of Thrawn. 

Thrawn Trilogy:

Thrawn (2017) 13-11 BBY

Thrawn: Alliances (2018) 2 BBY

Thrawn: Treason (2019) 0 BBY

Thrawn (2017) 13-11 BBY

This book follows the start of Thrawn's acception into Empire and his training at the imperial academy on Corescant. Because of his accent he is given an aid to help him, another student called Ensign Eli Vanto, to speak for him. Worried about him being osctrisized out of possisions by jealous imperial officers Eli becomes aware his loyalty to Thrawn is making him more and more unpopular with the elites, and his reasoning within the story is a driving point of inner conflict for the character. Thrawn however sees him as a friend and colleague to train up in the ways of war posing questions and quizzes to increase his mental capacity constantly.

Along side this story is one of incredible struggle, a woman called Arihnda Pryce seeks revenge when her father and mother's mines are stolen from them in a business overplay, and all authority of ownership was given to someone else where it should have been hers. Angry and full of revenge Arihnda sets off to get enough money and influence to take back her family's mines and shame the one that took them from her.

"If there has ever been a decent into corruption of character done right it is here. Morals and gradually eroded as the will to be the best is pulled into the lime light. When I saw the character of Arihnda from the Animated TV show Rebels I felt a little sorry for her. She was just trying to do the best she could in that situation, but oh no. The story builds her up as a sympathetic character, and then gradually more and more she becomes hardened and ruthless. Looking after herself and turning over her rebel friends to the imperials, it becomes more obvious that her own survival comes first at any cost. This continues 'til the end of the book where horror awaits you if and when you read this book...."

"I loved it. Thrawn is back, better than ever and learning to navigate not only on the battlefield, but in the political dog fighting back in the core systems as well, but his intelligence and his cool attitude keep him from trouble time and time again. His battle against racisism and classism continues throughout the story and always gives the feeling there is more at stake. If he loses he disgraces the Empire and he should be put down to where he belongs, and if he wins... "he dare to disgrace his superior by winning where the other could not, monster, what devilish man is he?" It is very thrilling to follow the man who thinks about every corner and detail available."

"I thoroughly enjoyed this story."

Thrawn: Alliances by Timothy Zahn (2018)

Thrawn: Alliances (2018) 2 BBY

This Novel focuses on Thrawn's partnership with Vader. They are sent on a mission by the Emperor to the unknown regions to explore a disturbance in the force. 
Thrawn's split loyalties are questioned by Vader  between the empire and his people the Chiss.
And delves into the clone wars where Anakin Skywalker met Thrawn for the first time and explored a different disturbance. 

"After the first book being such a great story and Vader being one of my favourite characters I was looking forward to what Zahn would do with this story, and seeing how my favourite villains would work together. I have never been more disappointed in Zahn's work before. He portrayed Vader as a stupid or foolish individual that thought a great deal about himself and wasn't all that cunning or intuitive. (more like a children's version of vader that they might watch on a lego star wars game) rather than a force of power that can hunted and killed jedi as if his life depended on it. His loyalty for the Emperor came out loud and strong, but his evaluative intelligence... not so much.  He really took away the fear and awesome strength that should be almost tangible with Vader, and replaced it with a humf, 'sit down and be good Vader.'

Thrawn comes across like he is baby-sitting Vader and (yes I think he is smarter than Vader) however I don't think Vader would or could have ever been so dim in a lot of these scenes. I wouldn't have thought much about it, if it had been one or two, but it was practically every conversation they had. 

As a quick book recap this is what the overview of their conversations felt like to me: 

Vader: "Are you half-hearted? Are you going to betray the Emperor?"
Thrawn: "No, I serve the Emperor, and the Empire."
Vader: "Do you question my skills?"
Thrawn: "No, I respect you greatly, by the way you should trust me."
Vader: "No."
Thrawn: "Well, do as I say and I'll tell you a secret later."
Vader: "You dare to patronise me?" 
Thrawn: "No of course not my old friend."
Vader: "I'm not your friend, I have never met you before."

Thrawn: "No, but I have seen a man like you that once walked the skies. Good times."

....

It felt patronising and was very much a repeated diolog like that throughout the book, not only between Thrawn and Vader, but also from the past with Thrawn and Anakin, and I wish it had been different. It really felt that the author was making his own character out to be better in many more ways than Vader, and he was repeatedly putting Vader down and making him look pathetic. The lack  of Force power use in this story is equally very prevalent. Not using the force to pull or push or crush made Vader appear even more stupid and weak. It took me a long time to read this book, as I continually felt bored or exasperated. 

I enjoyed the overall plot, and found the story exiting the factory manufacturing armour made out of Cortosis was brilliant and a good call back to legends and the SW games, but I wish Thrawn wasn't spending all his time talking about knowing things and not telling anyone. He became tiresome and felt like a Sherlock Holmes you wanted to punch in the face, and I have never felt that for this character before. 

More focus should have been given to the kidnapped children. I would have loved a character point of view from them as they are captured and used as slaves to navigate Alien's ships, and when they were rescued by the Storm Troopers. Talking about navigation I feel that Zahn missed an opportunity to show Vader connecting with the ship as he navigated it through hyperspace in a more spiritual way, totally connecting to the force in a way that I feel would be interesting for Vader to tap into, as he has always felt a force tie with inanimate objects, knowing how to fix them and how to push them to their full capacity. 

Zahn also used a two second 'Force' foretelling of events in 'italics' for Vader and Anakin which was very strange, something new that he hadn't done before. I got why he did it, and I think it was a good idea, but it ended up slowing the action down and crushing the speed of movement. And this unfortunately lead to the feeling that Vader was truly incompetent unless he used the force and even when he did, we knew he just wasn't good enough by far. It is just strange that I had such an adverse reaction to the way he wrote Vader in this book. Almost everything he wrote about Anakin and Vader I felt was wrong somehow. Vader got the C'Baoth treatment in this book.

So, I think the primary focal point of disappointment was in the fleshing out of the characters and the story, although the plot was excellent the story was jumping back and forth between the two timelines and repeating itself constantly. Maybe if the past was told in 'Italics' as a dream or memory it would have made more sense and been more engaging, or if it was divided into part 1 and 2, but as it was I felt it was boring and frustrating as the story was delayed and repeated with each flash back. I had once felt that it would be wonderful to link Outbound Flight with Survivor's Quest in a book like poetry, reading one alongside the other, but now having read this I feel it would have been ghastly. And I'm glad I got two separate books. Some authors just don't work well this way. 

"Focus on the here and now Zahn, I love your work, but please don't do this again. I like the character of Vader, don't write him like a simple fool and tool." 

Thrawn: Treason (2019) 0 BBY

Once Thrawn made a promise to the Emperor that if Thrawn was to serve the Empire Palpatine would command his allegiance. Now he has risen up in the ranks and is invaluable to the Empire, but what happens when the Emperor doesn't want to rely on his Admirals and their warships. What if he has something grander, something larger that he can look down at the galaxy from.

Thrawn in the last book had been given the go ahead from Vader to start developing the TIE defender program. However, that has been put on hold due to the 'Director Krennie's secret Death Star Project'. Wary that the balance of power has shifted Thrawn brings up his concerns about this super powered weapon to the Emperor only to have it brushed off. 

Meanwhile while battling hard for a place in the Imperial hierarchy his friend / student from the first book, (Thrawn) Eli Vanto, has come back to warn Thrawn of the dire states his home world is in. And so, will Thrawn choose his people over total obedience to his emperor. AKA the clue is in the title of the ship. He will leave the Empire for a short while to save his people from annihilation. (Maybe it is this unknown threat that Palpatine sensed, making him want to create this Death Star in the first place...)
Hmmmm


The first book for his new trilogy on Thrawn comes out on the 07th of May in 2020 and is called: 

Thrawn Ascendancy: Chaos Rising

From what information I can collect online, it is about his 'ascendancy' within the Chiss fleet and his exploring of the outer rim. It might contain more information about the traditions of the Chiss and the use of Force sensitive children in planning courses on hyperspace lanes. That would be interesting to seeing Thrawn's apprehensions about using children to navigate, or if he has any at all. 

I can appreciate style of the block like artwork on the book... but I must say it is a bit lack-luster in it's design. It makes me wonder how Thrawn would evaluate this cover, and whether he thinks it represents him well enough. Maybe he feels like he leaves monsters in his wake... or he stands above the monsters, the Chimaera, in his life... or perhaps it is a play on the title of the book, the chaos is the chimaera in red, rising to take him. Does he defeat it in this story? Or does he get defeated by this creature, maybe that is why he named his ship after the creature. He will use the chimaera to defeat his enemies.


Last thoughts on the favoured Zahn character.

Thrawn is alien from the outer rim a part of the race called the Chiss, and his real name is Mitth'raw'nuruodo. 

The ISD Chimaera pronounced, 'Kai'miere was an imperial first class Star Destroyer modified and captained by the Imperial officer Thrawn before the Galactic Civil War. He continued to use this ship even after being the Galatic Civil War. He continued to use this ship even after being promoted to commodore, admiral and later Grand Admiral. It gradually became the flag ship of the Seventh Fleet. It has the creature of a Chimaera engraved on the hull of the ship. 

No on has seen of it since the TV series Rebels, where it was pulled into hyperspace by a purrgil. This was a species of creature like a massive whale that lived in deep space and travelled using hyperspace by ingesting a certain gas that inspired the creation of the hyperdrive. (It just so happens they took this idea straight from Doctor Who, and as I didn't like it in that, I don't like it in this.)

Grand Admiral Thrawn: on the series REBELS. 

The only visual medium that Thrawn has appeared on is the Disney's TV show Rebels. He was one of the only characters alongside Vader that I thoroughly enjoyed on the show. As every other imperial seemed to be a complete and utter incompetent walkover.  These characters actually made me route for the sloppy main characters for a while, actually afraid he would catch them and secretly wishing he would, because of my dislike for them.

I continue to look forward to reading more stories written by Timothy Zahn and sometime in the future I'll read his other works as well. I might start with the dragon series. 

Thanks for reading. 

Nerdy Empress