‘Thrawn’ trilogy series review
By Duncan Fingarson, Columnist
December is here, and amidst all the usual trappings of the holiday season comes the newest Star Wars movie, the first in 10 years and the first to be handled by the franchise’s new owner, Disney. I’m cautiously optimistic about the movie, but that’s not what I’m here to talk about. Instead, I thought this was the perfect time to take a look at part of the Star Wars Expanded Universe.
The EU encompasses everything that’s not part of the six core films, and it includes a wide variety of books and video games. Unfortunately, due to the new film trilogy the EU has been declared non-canonical. Fortunately, its status of not being canon does nothing to actually delete the works in question, some of which are quite good. Possibly the best of the many Star Wars novels is Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy.
The novels pick up shortly after the battle of Endor. The Rebel Alliance has become the New Republic, and the transition from disparate guerilla force to reigning government has not gone smoothly. Political infighting is rampant, Luke Skywalker’s attempts to rebuild the Jedi Order are progressing slowly, and remnants of the Empire lurk in the shadows. The primary lurker is Grand Admiral Thrawn, one of the old regime’s best fleet commanders. An alien in an organization famous for hating aliens, Thrawn still has a sizeable fleet and the tactical acumen necessary to use it well now that the tables have turned on the Empire.
The first book, Heir to the Empire, sets the stage. We get to see what all the old cast have been up to in the five years since the battle of Endor, new characters get introduced, and the first glimpses of Thrawn’s plans are made visible. The books are all written in third person omniscient, and the perspective jumps around between all of the major players of the story. Both sides have plans and the reader knows more about each than either side knows about the other, but Zahn doesn’t show everything. There are still little mysteries everywhere and it’s a credit to his storytelling that he can build so much suspense while still showing off so much.
Book two, Dark Force Rising, builds on the framework started in book one. By now the Republic is aware of Thrawn and in desperate need of warships. Enter the Dark Force, a fleet of lost battleships from before the time of the Empire. Most of the second book follows the attempts of Luke and the others to track down the ships before Thrawn does, and take them for the use of the New Republic. Some of the intrigues from the first book are cleared up, and more are introduced. Leia goes on a journey to a planet of people loyal to the old Empire to see if she can change their minds, while Han and Luke search for the fleet. This is where Thrawn’s plans start to turn back on him.
Finally, book three, The Last Command. As might be expected of the finale to a trilogy, book three starts tying up loose ends. All of the conflicts introduced in the previous two books come to a head, one way or another. I won’t say too much about this one—it’s better if the surprises are left unspoiled. Suffice it to say, it was well worth the read.
Are these books perfect? No, they aren’t. However, they are solidly written, they’re a whole lot better than the rest of the Expanded Universe, and, most importantly, they feel like Star Wars. It’s not hard to see these books as being part of the universe, since none of the characters act out-of-character for themselves. There are no dei ex machina to be found. There are Dark Jedi, blasters and lightsabers, and, indeed, a war amongst the stars.
This is space opera at its finest and any fan of Star Wars would do well to have these books on their shelves.
