The Hand of Thrawn Duology, Timothy Zahn
I've talked before about Timothy Zahn's first foray into the Star Wars Extended Universe, so let's talk about his second foray, the Hand of Thrawn duology. It consists of two books, Specter of the Past and Vision of the Future.
Zahn likes ongoing plots that arc over the whole trilogy/duology/whatever, and the Hand of Thrawn is no different. Where the Thrawn trilogy's plot is about Grand Admiral Thrawn making a spirited attempt at taking over the galaxy, the Hand of Thrawn is somewhat more complicated: there are three main plots that get more or less equal time. First, Grand Admiral Pellaeon (who you may remember as Thrawn's protege/Watson) has decided it's time for the Imperial Remnant to make peace with the New Republic. Second, Grand Admiral Thrawn has apparently come back from the dead (in reality it's an elaborate con game). And third, the New Republic is already having troubles with their vast diversity and many petty conflicts starting to tear them apart, when an inflammatory document called the Caamas Document reappears. Oh, and there's a random alien ship flying around. Han, Leia, Luke, and Mara Jade must team up (along with various old friends like Talon Karrde and Lando, and various new friends like Shada D'ukal WHO I LOVE) to defeat all these threats.
The plot is pretty well paced (except for one rather spoilery moment in Vision of the Future that made me want to scream), and of course the writing is excellent. Zahn has a really good grasp on the central trilogy characters, and many of his original characters have become iconic, to the point that Thrawn (and pleasegod Pellaeon) is being made canon again in the Star Wars Rebels series. They are delightful here as always, with some great shout-outs to other EU authors, some great take-thats to yet more EU authors, and some fabulous new additions, like Shada D'ukal, BEST NEW CHARACTER EVER I ADORE HER. And Zahn even threw me a bone and ship-teased her with Karrde! I can die a happy woman.
I will say this. You can tell from this duology which bits of the EU Zahn liked and which he didn't. I mean, it is really obvious. I happen to agree with his assessments, but if you don't, the judgmental bits will probably really annoy you. However, it's still very well-written and I really like his reassessment of things that have occurred, and his attempts to make everyone fit in the same timeline. Plus the cameos are awesome. Plus did I mention Shada? You should read for Shada. SHADA IS SO COOL GUYS.
That is all.
This entry is crossposted at http://bookblather.dreamwidth.org/397835.html. Please comment over there if possible.
Zahn likes ongoing plots that arc over the whole trilogy/duology/whatever, and the Hand of Thrawn is no different. Where the Thrawn trilogy's plot is about Grand Admiral Thrawn making a spirited attempt at taking over the galaxy, the Hand of Thrawn is somewhat more complicated: there are three main plots that get more or less equal time. First, Grand Admiral Pellaeon (who you may remember as Thrawn's protege/Watson) has decided it's time for the Imperial Remnant to make peace with the New Republic. Second, Grand Admiral Thrawn has apparently come back from the dead (in reality it's an elaborate con game). And third, the New Republic is already having troubles with their vast diversity and many petty conflicts starting to tear them apart, when an inflammatory document called the Caamas Document reappears. Oh, and there's a random alien ship flying around. Han, Leia, Luke, and Mara Jade must team up (along with various old friends like Talon Karrde and Lando, and various new friends like Shada D'ukal WHO I LOVE) to defeat all these threats.
The plot is pretty well paced (except for one rather spoilery moment in Vision of the Future that made me want to scream), and of course the writing is excellent. Zahn has a really good grasp on the central trilogy characters, and many of his original characters have become iconic, to the point that Thrawn (and pleasegod Pellaeon) is being made canon again in the Star Wars Rebels series. They are delightful here as always, with some great shout-outs to other EU authors, some great take-thats to yet more EU authors, and some fabulous new additions, like Shada D'ukal, BEST NEW CHARACTER EVER I ADORE HER. And Zahn even threw me a bone and ship-teased her with Karrde! I can die a happy woman.
I will say this. You can tell from this duology which bits of the EU Zahn liked and which he didn't. I mean, it is really obvious. I happen to agree with his assessments, but if you don't, the judgmental bits will probably really annoy you. However, it's still very well-written and I really like his reassessment of things that have occurred, and his attempts to make everyone fit in the same timeline. Plus the cameos are awesome. Plus did I mention Shada? You should read for Shada. SHADA IS SO COOL GUYS.
That is all.
This entry is crossposted at http://bookblather.dreamwidth.org/397835.html. Please comment over there if possible.