Lesser Evil

I read this series of 3 books to sort of take a break from heavier stuff I'd been reading, figuring Star Wars would be easy and quick, but I didn't want a novelization with all the characters and bleeps and bloops - this is a series that takes place outside of the location and timeline of the main Stars Wars (I knew this) but still fit the tropes quite well - it fit the bill, a fun read, where I could slide with fun familiar things, like breaking my diet for one meal and driving through the hamburger joint. Plus, I trust that Zahn is a skilled author, and in this series he held up that bargain well. If this is the sort of thing you're looking for, this is for you. If you're looking for your favorite characters, they're not here: Anakin makes an off-screen cameo, and of course in this ending chapter of the book, you get set up for all the Thrawn expanded universe stuff; but it's not Star Wars. But it is in the tropes, and, not being critical, because this is what I expect, even look for in a relax read - I mean there's a lot of intellectual debt owed to Dune, E. E. Doc Smith, Sailing Ship age novels, Star Wars of course (even the long lost siblings trope makes an appearance), the whole Hero's Journey thing, and more. Nor should you expect any hard sf, I mean space is crowded with debris (it's not) and there is no smoke in space, but, we don't care, it's for fun. And as I said, I have a high opinion of Zahn to give you a good story. It does get a bit draggy when the main character, Thrawn, goes through the same battle routine over and over again, making some magically never-fail fake-out gambit - you'd think every other character would get wise after 3 books of this (well, they do, sort of) - but on the other hand, these sections read like military sf under cruise control. Set your expectations, and Zahn delivers to those. Put your feet up and read.