"Star Wars: Thrawn" by Timothy Zahn

Now that the third major Star Wars trilogy is nearing its grand finale I thought I should also get back into the extended universe and all the great books that are now considered canon. Since I had read some books by Timothy Zahn before, I thought I should start there with “Thrawn” (released in 2017).

The story takes place between the movies “Revenge of the Sith” (episode III) and “Rogue One” over the course of around 10 years. The Empire is at the height of its power and the reader gets to know it from the point of view of Thrawn, a highly skilled Chiss warrior who’s building himself a career in the Imperial Navy, and Arihnda Pryce, daughter of a mining dynasty on Lothal in the Outer Rim, who wants to become a big number of the political playfield of Coruscant and the galaxy as a whole.

What follows are lots of conspiracies, tactical maneuvers, and tons of surprising strategies especially by Thrawn. As with all the other other books by Zahn that I had read decades ago, the author manages to build a believable universe that is at least en-par with the major movies. There are lots of side-characters that do not feel like fillers but like people who could end up getting backstory being told in the future.

As was to be expected I really liked this book. Sure, it’s pretty clear where the storyline of Thrawn would go if you’ve ever heard of this character before, but that doesn’t detract from the experience. If I were to look for something to complain about, though, it was the lack of any real highlight. The whole book was thrilling and entertaining but somehow lacked the one big highlight. Still, if you like Star Wars, “Thrawn” is definitely something for you! I will definitely also read the other books in that mini-series, although I probably won’t be able to do that until watching episode IX ;-)