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Thrawn (Star Wars: Thrawn, #1)

Timothy Zahn

Start date: April 30, 2017

Finish date: May 31, 2017

Discussion: Group Stuff

Why we're reading this: It's been a while but finally he is back. The dude in blue. I'm so happy to have Tim Zahn and his amazing…more
[close] It's been a while but finally he is back. The dude in blue. I'm so happy to have Tim Zahn and his amazing character Thrawn back in the universe.

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May 24, 2017 Josh Lewis rated it really liked it

Shelves: sw-canon

I don't know what it is about classic Star Wars villains, but I've definitely been feeling the new canon novels centered around them. Thrawn has the added bonuses of resurrecting a pinnacle character of the Expanded Universe AND being written by the amazing author that created him, Timothy Zahn. If there are any fans of the Expanded Universe that didn't immediately jump on this novel, then they should--I enjoyed this book immensely, and I think it spells good things for future upcoming canon nov I don't know what it is about classic Star Wars villains, but I've definitely been feeling the new canon novels centered around them. Thrawn has the added bonuses of resurrecting a pinnacle character of the Expanded Universe AND being written by the amazing author that created him, Timothy Zahn. If there are any fans of the Expanded Universe that didn't immediately jump on this novel, then they should--I enjoyed this book immensely, and I think it spells good things for future upcoming canon novels.

Disney/Lucasfilm has thus far been fairly careful about balancing between resurrecting Expanded Universe characters, plots, etc. and breathing new life into the Star Wars universe with their canon, and Thrawn is a perfect example. This novel takes place years before A New Hope, and even before "Star Wars: Rebels," the animated series where Grand Admiral Thrawn made his first comeback appearance, where the Chiss genius first encounters the Empire in the Outer Rim. He quickly gains the interest of Emperor Palpatine (and the shock of the Imperial officers who found him), and begins his quick succession through the ranks of the Imperial Navy.

The rest of the novel follows his Naval career in a very Sherlock Holmes-esque fashion as he runs around with his new aide (friend?) Eli Vanto solving military problems for the Empire with tactical genius. Similar to Captain Palleon from the original Thrawn trilogy, Eli's perspective of Thrawn is very much the "Watson" foil: the sidekick who is awed by his partner's intellect, but slowly starts developing the same intellect (albeit not to the same level). In contrast to the original Thrawn trilogy, though, we get to see the novel's events from Thrawn's perspective, and let me tell you: it's such an odd thing to see an early Thrawn and feel that his character is so refined from his first incarnation. Obviously it makes sense from a real-world perspective, because Zahn's written so much in between the two incarnations. But this Thrawn is much more interesting beyond his intellect: his motivations are compelling (especially in the end), his faults (which do, in fact, exist) are believable, and he's certainly not the sadist vampire type we see in "Rebels." I also enjoyed Zahn's functional use of Thrawn's eyes as part of his (and in effect the Chiss race's) intellect.

One thing that started to grow tiresome in the latter half of the book was when other characters would question Thrawn's actions, wait for an answer from the speechless Chiss, and then suddenly "understand" what he was doing. I also had a hard time understanding the importance of Arihnda Pryce, until I went back to Rebels and realized she was a key character in the show.

Overall, this is a must-read for Star Wars fans of canon and the EU alike. ...more

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Apr 30, 2017 Scott rated it it was amazing

Shelves: need

Such an excellent book and going into season 4 of Rebels is going to be difficult with this new emotional attachment to Thrawn.

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Apr 19, 2017 Joel rated it it was amazing

Timothy Zahn bringing Grand Admiral Thrawn back into canon? Yes please!

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Jul 20, 2017 Amber rated it it was amazing

Thrawn's back! Zahn's back! It's all good!

I love Thrawn's characterization. I love Vanto. I really couldn't care less about Pryce, but I like the tie-in to Rebels.

I'm still frustrated with Disney's pattern of writing one sweeping novel covering a character's entire history and not leaving much room for more stories, but at least I liked this plot. ...more

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