Book Review: 'Star Wars: Thrawn'
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| Cover art by Two Dots. (C) 2017 Del Rey Books and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) |
Grand Admiral Thrawn was originally conceived by Zahn in the early Nineties when Lucasfilm and Bantam Spectra hired the Hugo Award-winning author to reboot the moribund Star Wars Expanded Universe. Star Wars - Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. the final chapter of George Lucas's storied trilogy, was only followed by a handful of Lando Calrissian novels set before Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope and a lackluster Marvel Comics line that ended publication in 1986. And with the long-rumored Prequel Trilogy apparently on permanent hold, it looked as though the franchise itself was in danger of dying.
The publication of Zahn's Star Wars: Heir to the Empire in the spring of 1991 changed all that. Set five years after the events of Return of the Jedi, the first novel in a three-book series not only spawned a long-running series of novels and comics that continued Lucas's sprawling saga of heroes, villains, and aliens from a thousand worlds; it also revived interest in the franchise and made possible the Star Wars Renaissance that continues to the present day.
Thrawn, the blue-skinned, red-eyed humanoid who was a cross between Erwin Rommel and Sherlock Holmes, became a fan favorite, and even though he was killed off in Zahn's Star Wars: The Last Command, Zahn and other Star Wars authors told other stories that featured the Chiss Grand Admiral that fascinated readers and book reviewers alike.
Yet, even though George Lucas had given Zahn and other Expanded Universe writers permission to play in his galactic sandbox, Thrawn and other characters created for the novels and comics were not considered part of the official Lucasfilm canon. They were, at best, semi-canonical, even before the 2012 sale of Lucasfilm to the Walt Disney Company and the 2014 edict that relegated the Expanded Universe to "Legends" status.
That is, until producer Dave Filoni, now head of Lucasfilm Animation, and the Lucasfilm Story Group decided to make Grand Admiral Thrawn the main antagonist in the third season of Disney XD's Star Wars Rebels television series.
Even better, Lucasfilm called on Timothy Zahn, Thrawn's creator, to not only advise Filoni and the Star Wars Rebels team about the character's personality and skills set, but also to write an origins-of novel titled Star Wars: Thrawn.
Published shortly after the end of Star Wars Rebels' Season Three, the novel is the first half of a duology set shortly before the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope. (Zahn's second book, Star Wars: Thrawn: Alliances, is due for publication on July 24 and, at the time of this writing, is available for pre-order at Amazon and other booksellers.)
I study the art of
war. Work to perfect it." —Grand
Admiral Thrawn
One of the most
cunning and ruthless warriors in the history of the Galactic Empire, Grand
Admiral Thrawn is also one of the most captivating characters in the Star Wars
universe. From his introduction in bestselling author Timothy Zahn's classic Heir to the Empire, through his
continuing adventures in Dark Force
Rising, The Last Command, and
beyond, Grand Admiral Thrawn has earned an iconic status among Star Wars' greatest villains. But
Thrawn's origins and the story of his rise in the Imperial ranks have remained
mysterious. Now, in Star Wars: Thrawn, Timothy
Zahn chronicles the fateful events that launched the blue-skinned, red-eyed
master of military strategy and lethal warfare into the highest realms of
power—and infamy.
After Thrawn is
rescued from exile by Imperial soldiers, his deadly ingenuity and keen tactical
abilities swiftly capture the attention of Emperor Palpatine. And just as
quickly, Thrawn proves to be as indispensable to the Empire as he is ambitious;
as devoted as its most loyal servant, Darth Vader; and a brilliant warrior
never to be underestimated. On missions to rout smugglers, snare spies, and
defeat pirates, he triumphs time and again—even as his renegade methods
infuriate superiors while inspiring ever greater admiration from the Empire. As
one promotion follows another in his rapid ascension to greater power, he
schools his trusted aide, Ensign Eli Vanto, in the arts of combat and
leadership, and the secrets of claiming victory. But even though Thrawn
dominates the battlefield, he has much to learn in the arena of politics where
ruthless administrator Arihnda Pryce holds the power to be a potent ally or a
brutal enemy.
All these lessons will
be put to the ultimate test when Thrawn rises to admiral—and must pit all the
knowledge, instincts, and battle forces at his command against an insurgent
uprising that threatens not only innocent lives but also the Empire's grip on
the galaxy—and his own carefully laid plans for future ascendancy. – Publisher’s
blurb on the first edition’s hardcover dust jacket flap
Zahn begins Star Wars: Thrawn with a flashback - told in the first person by Thrawn himself - at the start of his exile by the Chiss Ascendancy to an unnamed world in the part of the galaxy known as the Unknown Regions, It's a brief glimpse into Thrawn's past - no longer than a page and half's worth of text in the hardcover edition - and it is followed quickly by the rest of the first chapter, in which the exiled Chiss warrior is discovered by an Imperial landing party from the Star Destroyer Strikefast.
It is in this "first contact" mission where Captain Voss Parck and Imperial cadet Eli Vanto first meet Thrawn and witness his skills as a cunning warrior. Eli, who is training to become a logistics officer in the Imperial fleet, knows how to speak Sy Bisti, a language spoken in the Empire's Wild Space region, so Parck assigns him to serve as Thrawn's translator and unofficial aide while the Strikefast heads to Coruscant, the city planet that serves as the Galactic Empire's capital.
The ambitious Parck, aware of Thrawn's skills as a tactician, presents him to Emperor Sheev Palpatine, hoping that the Chiss will become a prized asset to an Empire that is fighting to quell a growing Rebellion:
It was probably only
five seconds. But to Eli it felt like a medium-sized eternity. The entire
throne room was utterly still, utterly silent. The only sound was the thudding
of his pulse in his ears, the only movement the shaking of his arms in his sleeve
“Captain Parck,” the
Emperor said at last, his gravelly voice neutral. “I’m told you bring me a
gift.”
Eli winced. A gift?
For the Chiss of the stories, that would have been a deadly insult. Thrawn was
behind him, and he didn’t dare turn around, but he could imagine the expression
on that proud face.
“I do, Your Majesty,”
Parck said, bowing low. “A warrior reportedly of a race known as the Chiss.”
“Indeed,” the Emperor
said, his voice going even dryer. “And what, pray tell, would you have me do
with him?”
“If I may, Your
Majesty,” Thrawn spoke up before Parck could answer. “I am not merely a gift. I
am also a resource. One you have never seen the like of before, and may never
see again. You would do well to utilize me.”
“Would I?” the Emperor
said, sounding amused. “Certainly you’re a resource of unlimited confidence.
What exactly do you offer, Chiss?”
“As a start, I offer
information,” Thrawn said. If he was offended, Eli couldn’t hear it in his
voice. “There are threats lurking in the Unknown Regions, threats that will
someday find your Empire. I am familiar with many of them.”
“I will learn of them
soon enough on my own,” the Emperor countered placidly. “Can you offer anything
more?”
“Perhaps you will
learn of them in time to defeat them,” Thrawn said. “Perhaps you will not. What
more do I offer? I offer my military skill. You could utilize that skill in
making plans to seek out and eliminate these dangers.
“These threats you
speak of,” the Emperor said. “I presume they’re not simply threats to my
Empire?”
“No, Your Majesty,”
Thrawn said. “They are also threats to my people.”
“And you seek to
eliminate all such threats to your people?”
“I do.”
The Emperor’s
yellowish eyes seemed to glitter. “And you wish the help of my Empire?”
“Your assistance would
be welcome.”
“You wish me to assist
people who exiled you?” the Emperor said. “Or was Captain Parck incorrect?”
“He spoke correctly,”
Thrawn said. “I was indeed exiled.”
“Yet you still seek to
protect them. Why?”
“Because they are my people.”
Despite Thrawn's non-human origins, Palpatine is intrigued by the idea of recruiting him as an officer in the Imperial Navy. The wily Sith Lord accepts Thrawn's offer of loyalty and service to the Empire and arranges for Thrawn, now accompanied by a somewhat reluctant Cadet Vanto, to enter the Imperial Academy on Coruscant for accelerated training and indoctrination that will allow the Chiss and his human friend to earn their commissions - Thrawn as a junior lieutenant, Eli as a newly-minted ensign.
Set approximately two years before A New Hope, Thrawn chronicles its eponymous main character's swift ascent from lowly lieutenant to higher command. Accompanied by Eli, who eventually becomes Thrawn's aide-de-camp, Thrawn overcomes xenophobes in the Academy and the Fleet, fights both petty criminals and would-be rebels, and studies alien species' culture and art to better understand friends and foes alike.
The novel also chronicles the rise to power of Arihnda Pryce, a young woman from the planet Lothal, an Outer Rim world which has just recently been occupied by the Empire. A firm believer in Palpatine's New Order, Pryce is as ambitious as she is ruthless in her single-minded endeavor to become Governor of Lothal. Driven by the desire to avenge the theft of her parents' mining company by Lothal's present governor and other politicians, Arihnda curries favor with Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin, the regional governor of the Imperial Outlands and one of the Emperor's closest advisors.
And like Sheev Palpatine himself, Pryce sees the Chiss officer as another useful ally in her duplicitous campaign against Governor Ryder Anzati, the politician who plotted to take over Pryce Mining, and his co-conspirator Senator Domius Renkling.
My Take
Reboots - whether they are "soft" or "hard" - are tricky beasts in most circumstances, especially when they involve a popular franchise and its most popular characters. The reintroduction of Thrawn as a canon character is no exception.
In the hands of a less-talented creative team, both of the Star Wars projects in which Thrawn is a major force could have been a disaster. The Grand Admiral is almost as iconic as Darth Vader, and long-time fans, especially those whose first exposure to Star Wars came from Timothy Zahn's 1990s Thrawn Trilogy, would have been disappointed if the character had been altered beyond recognition.
Fortunately, the Lucasfilm Story Group, whose members include most of the people officially responsible for the "old" Expanded Universe, called Zahn and asked him for input about his creation.
Not only did Lucasfilm - which despite its status as a division of the Disney empire is still in creative control of Star Wars media - hire Zahn as a consultant to advise Dave Filoni on how to depict Thrawn as a character on Star Wars Rebels, but it also commissioned the New York Times best-selling author to write a Thrawn duology.
This first book in the series is set shortly before Season Three of Star Wars Rebels. As such, it must ignore much of the backstory established in Legends, particularly the plot points from Star Wars: Outbound Flight and the Hand of Thrawn duology from the late 1990s and early 2000s. (Some characters from the latter, such as Voss Parck, appear in Thrawn as Easter Eggs, but other incidents, such as Chancellor Palpatine's aide Kinman Dorianna's role in the destruction of Outbound Flight, are ignored.)
As in Zahn's other Star Wars novels, the quality of the writing is top-notch. Star Wars: Thrawn is full of action, suspense, character development, and political intrigue set in an era rarely explored by Star Wars novels: the pre-Rebellion Empire. Readers will get glimpses at palace intrigue on Coruscant, double-dealing on Lothal, and the harsh life of Imperial Navy officers as they rise through the ranks and face foes from within their own service, as well as the growing unrest in a galaxy on the brink of civil war.
As a long-time Star Wars fan and reader of Zahn's novels and short stories set in that galaxy far, far away, I'm happy to report that the Force is still with the author who created Thrawn.
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