Rating: 4 out of 5
The new Thrawn series was something of which I was aware though I did not know any details. With that in mind, I hoped that it would link to any of the other Zahn books — but all of these seem to have been jettisoned, including the ‘Outbound Flight’ which could have still worked in the canon. That is a regret as though the second book in this new trilogy mentions the events that are broadly referenced herein, the universe is slightly more boring with less known events — and that’s what the new readers should take into account for the old stories are definitely out.
But, back to this ‘Thrawn’. There’s a lot more about the Chiss that we really didn’t know, and this makes for interesting discoveries. There’s a good build-up here though the actions that are given to Thrawn are far more small-scale conflicts and not major battles — though partially this is also because there was no major conflict going on at this time.
This book includes plentiful commentary on what a leader should do and why; there are also numerous mental descriptions by Thrawn which go a long way in explaining his logical conclusions and arguments. This makes it a lot more evidence-based than some would expect — though I have to say that not all of the conclusions that are drawn are that straightforward even when explained (could be just me).
Overall, however, this is a good comeback for a character that was much admired. Friends of Gilad Pellaeon are not going to find him here and this is what I missed most — for friends of Thrawn, there is still plenty to enjoy.
