Thrawn: Alliances

My hands are warm, I hold my mouse tight, my eyes squint at the Goodreads form.

Argh. I wanted to love this book. I love Thrawn and Zahn and still think the original Thrawn series is the best Star Wars prose we've had to date. While there is nothing wrong with this book, Zahn remains an able writer, there just isn't any real development of titular character. It's a weird sort of origin story in that Thrawn does not change over the course of the book. Sure, his human apprentice goes full circle, but I really couldn't care at all about that. We don't really get to know Thrawn as anything more or less than what we already got in the previous EU or Rebels. Ironically, the most well-developed character in the book is Governor Price!

This is not a bad book, but it's also not a particularly impressive one either. Thrawn is a novel that seems more like a necessary work to establish the credentials of the Grand Admiral in the new canon, rather than a truly engrossing take on the character. Why Zahn could not be unshackled to do both is what puzzles me.

When Heir to the Empire came out, I was truly wondering who this Thrawn character was, and how dare they say that if he were the one guarding the Death Star, The Emperor would have ruled forever........what and My Lord Vader was just a footnote, so I started reading the first book, just so I can heap all my disgust on this, this Admiral Thrawn, if not for this emotion called love, My Lord Vader, would still be alive and the fates might have given him a different ending............hence the end of the Empire of Emperor Palpatine!!!!

I was honestly surprised that I am particularly starting to root for this blue colored non human, the things he accomplish thru sheer deduction and studying the movements of his opponents.......Masterful!!!! And so my hate for this Admiral, slowly turned to wonder then to hope that he can wrest back the control of the galaxy to the Empire, through the whole series, I was hoping and hoping but ultimately that hope burned.........again The Empire, My Lord Vader.....................defeated again!!!!!!

Years went by................when I learned of this book that will supposedly, tell us how Thrawn became one of the most distinguished Admiral of the Empire, I naturally got a copy, and after finishing it...........so this was how Thrawn began and he met My Lord Vader when he was that foolish jedi Anakin Skywalker!!!!! A truly worthy individual then and an eye opening read........

So good. Such a great antagonist.

I'm always impressed by authors who can write genius characters well. I hadn't read anything by Timothy Zahn before this, but it's clear he has Thrawn's personality down pat. I'm enjoying how blurry the lines of Good vs. Evil are when it comes to Thrawn and his actions. His military decisions usually benefit humanity and minimize casualties, but it's unclear whether that's intentional or just the most prudent action for the time and place. I suspect these decisions will increase in complexity as he continues to rise the ranks in the Imperial Navy.

At times, it felt like there was a certain inevitability and repetitiveness to his advancement up the command chain, but that provided a nice juxtaposition to the stagnation of Ensign Eli Vanto's career. I was less enthralled by the secondary storyline, but things came together nicely in the end and I'm excited to continue on with this series.

See this review and others at The Speculative Shelf.

I gotta say, I have a soft spot for this character and this series.

I grew up reading a lot of science fiction and the Star Wars Expanded Universe was an integral part to that. Yeah, they weren't big, lofty and difficult tomes, but they were fun. Those books did more to flesh out and make the Star Wars universe feel real than any of the movies or official books ever have.

So getting to dip back into Thrawn? Awesome, just awesome. Zahn is a master of pacing these books, building compelling characters and making sure that you, the reader, enjoy yourself.

A fantastic tale on the rise of Grand Admiral Thrawn, the Sun Tzu of Star Wars. In some ways, this book felt abbreviated,. like Zahn had more material that fleshed Thrawn out even more, but had been edited. In retrospect, that kept the story from becoming too long.

What I like about this book and the character Thrawn particularly, is that it brings some depth to the black and white universe of Star Wars. Whether intended by the author or not, it shows how people with good intentions can find themselves going down a dark path.

You would have to be a fan of not only Star Wars, but specifically of the Heir To The Empire trilogy, to enjoy this. But for those of us that did enjoy that series, this is an interesting look at Thrawn's origin story, and how he rose through the ranks of the Imperial Navy in the early days of the Empire.

Wonderfully written for Star Wars fans

This book is brilliantly well written and offers up lots of Star Wars lore. There are a LOT of strategical moments and it is written for those that love to think whilst they read. Would recommend being ready to concentrate!

Solid story, characters, and enjoyed the tie-ins with other Star Wars stories. Didn't like how Thrawn's interior monologue was handled, clumsy.

Timothy Zahn has again given the Star Wars universe another fantastic story. Thrawn is one of the most fascinating characters I have read. While he may be a “bad guy” Thrawn's motivations are easily understood, and to a point, acceptable. Now we finally have the story of Thrawn's early years with the Imperial Navy, from his home in exile to his promotion to Grand Admiral, and the wait was worth it.

Great! The Star Wars universe needs the movie on Thrawn to be complete. The story is great. It gives you a different perspective of the empire and most of all shows off amazing characters with lots of layers and the story never gets boring. Recommended reading if you like science fiction!

One again, Timothy Zahn knows how to spin a yarn that keeps me on the edge of my seat and hungry for more. Everyone's favorite Grand Admiral is back, and he's cooler than ever. I can't wait to see what happens next, or how this ties into the new Star Wars universe.

I honestly never really got the hype over Heir To The Empire, which was the series that introduced the character of Thrawn to the Star Wars EU back in the 90s. I feel like people remember it more fondly than it actually is, or appreciate it for what it did to the expanded universe back in the day.

Grand Admiral Thrawn remains a fantastic character though, so I was glad to really get to know him in the Star Wars Rebels series, and now in this book (which serves as a prequel to that series).

Technically, we get Thrawn's origin story in this, but also Governor Pryce's story, which I eventually also found incredibly interesting. The book itself had a really strong start, wandered a bit towards the middle, and then really picked up again by the end. Excellently written, and probably my favorite Empire-focused novel so far. I hope Timothy Zahn ends up tackling a few other novels and characters outside of Thrawn, because I'd definitely be interested in seeing that.

Dang that was good!

3.5 rounded to 4. Strong start to an ambitious new trilogy and excellent introduction to (would be) Grand Admiral Thrawn.

excellent.

some neckbeard barnes and noble employee told me in 2005 to read Thrawn, and I distinctly recalling thinking: “I'm not reading a star wars book you fucking nerd shut the fuck up”. I'd like to publicly apologise to that neckbeard, this book was more star wars than star wars, I was arrogant in my youth.

Apparently I've forgotten to add this book to my shelf after a year, which sums it up pretty much.

Didn't really care for the characters or the story, although thrawn himself is pretty bad ass. I liked it at the moment, but now a year latter don't remember much of the key plot points. So it wasn't so good as I thought.