Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.36 AVERAGE
4.36 AVERAGE
WOWWWWW oh my god. that was fucking amazing. i cried more times than i can count reading this. the relationship building, the memories, the combat, the characters. everything coming to a beautiful yet sullen end, to continue thrawns story (that we have previously seen). i am so glad i took multiple months to read these books, and i can guarantee i will revisit them soon. if you were on the fence about reading six books of an alien species that you’ve seen in either rebels or ahsoka, this is your sign to do it. they’re fucking incredible.
For me, the weakest of the trilogy. Which is kinda a bummer for the ending. But still some good action and as always, well written.
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4.5/5 stars
Lesser Evil is the final installment of the Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy written by Timothy Zahn and I can give a massive sigh of relief that this series ended on such a great note.
While the first book, Chaos Rising, was great, I felt that the narrative was often disjointed with the focus shifting between characters and settings a bit too much for my preference. The sequel, Greater Good, fixed much of those issues and chose instead to stay with characters a bit longer and advancing the story a bit more patiently which I think made that book ultimately my favorite of the series.
This concluding chapter has similar issues as the first book but does a much better job balancing all the storylines that are present and weaves together characters in a far more satisfying way. I noticed in particular that I had a lot of issues keeping track of the various characters (and there a bunch in this book!) in the first 200 pages but once the intersection of their stories with the larger plot became more evident just before the midpoint the web that Zahn was spinning began to make more sense and it was far easier to follow everything that was happening. In fact, that is one of the most impressive things in this book, and the whole trilogy for that matter. Zahn does a tremendous job of providing clear characterizations making known motivations for characters and what makes them tick and then throws them in with a bunch of other characters that you thought were totally disparate from one another.
It’s impressive how good the pacing is with all that Zahn is trying to cover in this book but it all seems to flow very nicely with a wonderful flashbacks providing an illuminating explanation for Thrass, a character we have heard mentioned many times, and his intimate connection with some of our characters. However, the ending of those flashbacks is a bit abrupt and I wonder if there’s not another story that explains what led to Thrass’s demise (not a spoiler, his name has always been mentioned alongside notice of his death).
All of this leads to a final battle which is equal parts satisfying as it is exciting even if it’s a bit predictable at times. Zahn really knows how to write fun and dynamic space battles and he sure does deliver here, although I still prefer a more restrained “battle of the minds” sort of space battle but that’s really personal preference. What Zahn also knows how to write is political intrigue which takes up much of the first half of this book as the Chiss Ascendancy is reeling from the events at the end of Greater Good. It’s so well plotted and is ultimately my favorite aspect of this series along with the intricate world that Zahn has built for this corner of the unknown Star Wars galaxy.
Which brings me to my final point: I want more! The Chiss Ascendancy is so fascinating and I love the concept of a galaxy beyond Star Was but still containing similar elements that ties that universe together such as hyperdrives and the force. Disney seems to have a good relationship with Timothy Zahn so I hope that more books are coming down the line. Until then I guess I’ll read Outbound Flight or something to get my Chiss Ascendancy fix!
Lesser Evil is the final installment of the Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy written by Timothy Zahn and I can give a massive sigh of relief that this series ended on such a great note.
While the first book, Chaos Rising, was great, I felt that the narrative was often disjointed with the focus shifting between characters and settings a bit too much for my preference. The sequel, Greater Good, fixed much of those issues and chose instead to stay with characters a bit longer and advancing the story a bit more patiently which I think made that book ultimately my favorite of the series.
This concluding chapter has similar issues as the first book but does a much better job balancing all the storylines that are present and weaves together characters in a far more satisfying way. I noticed in particular that I had a lot of issues keeping track of the various characters (and there a bunch in this book!) in the first 200 pages but once the intersection of their stories with the larger plot became more evident just before the midpoint the web that Zahn was spinning began to make more sense and it was far easier to follow everything that was happening. In fact, that is one of the most impressive things in this book, and the whole trilogy for that matter. Zahn does a tremendous job of providing clear characterizations making known motivations for characters and what makes them tick and then throws them in with a bunch of other characters that you thought were totally disparate from one another.
It’s impressive how good the pacing is with all that Zahn is trying to cover in this book but it all seems to flow very nicely with a wonderful flashbacks providing an illuminating explanation for Thrass, a character we have heard mentioned many times, and his intimate connection with some of our characters. However, the ending of those flashbacks is a bit abrupt and I wonder if there’s not another story that explains what led to Thrass’s demise (not a spoiler, his name has always been mentioned alongside notice of his death).
All of this leads to a final battle which is equal parts satisfying as it is exciting even if it’s a bit predictable at times. Zahn really knows how to write fun and dynamic space battles and he sure does deliver here, although I still prefer a more restrained “battle of the minds” sort of space battle but that’s really personal preference. What Zahn also knows how to write is political intrigue which takes up much of the first half of this book as the Chiss Ascendancy is reeling from the events at the end of Greater Good. It’s so well plotted and is ultimately my favorite aspect of this series along with the intricate world that Zahn has built for this corner of the unknown Star Wars galaxy.
Which brings me to my final point: I want more! The Chiss Ascendancy is so fascinating and I love the concept of a galaxy beyond Star Was but still containing similar elements that ties that universe together such as hyperdrives and the force. Disney seems to have a good relationship with Timothy Zahn so I hope that more books are coming down the line. Until then I guess I’ll read Outbound Flight or something to get my Chiss Ascendancy fix!
Three stars for the main story.
This is the final reveal of the true story behind Thrawn's mysterious and multi-faceted past: exile, missing sister, vague connection to the skywalker program, mission to the Empire, EVERYTHING. And for all that, it's really very... dull.
TEN stars for the THRASS FLASHBACKS. AHH.
So, we return to all of our familiar problems:
Do we fix any of them? Yes. One out of three gets mostly-successfully fixed, and I'm sure you can guess which.
The main story is a tale of Thrawn and his allies racing around the galaxy mostly doing politics and random subplots that are all advancing the goal of figuring out Jixus the Grysk's evil master plan. But they all feel disjointed and chaotic. I had trouble following the minutiae, and what's worse, I had trouble CARING enough to TRY to follow it.
The final battle is neat, and pleasingly dramatic.
The denouement is... not. Like, we all know how this is going to end. And we all know the understated, relatively flat and subdued Zahn writing style. But this is Thrawn's EXILE. I cannot help but wish it felt more emotionally devastating and less underwhelming.
There is a part where Thrawn says, "I don't expect to be gone from the Ascendancy more than a few months" that made me ugly laugh. And it seems like this is HINTING he might make it back home someday, which??? Ahsoka TV show please come through for me.
But overall, Thrawn's transgression is not astounding. He barely, barely broke the preemptive strike rule. Like, he definitely broke the spirit of the rule but he honestly may not have even broken the letter of it. Which is what he's been doing every single minute of every day this whole time. There was nothing particularly egregious about this time, except the more public nature of it.
This is definitely not the dramatic icarus-like fall from grace that Thurfian has been foretelling. I think that was actually Lothal.
It just feels a bit like a letdown, after all this buildup. I honestly wish Thrawn HAD truly done something wild and ruthless, or made some kind of a mistake.
Now that we've dealt with the main story, we can move on to the good part. This book has THRASS FLASHBACKS. These did not start out particularly impressively. Honestly, I was disappointed. Thrass didn't seem to be characterized particularly well, or mesh with what I remember from Outbound Flight. It didn't seem like any of it mattered, and I was already bored by the main story.
However, there were greater things to come:
Frankly this book is nothing but a sourdough starter, and the sourdough is fanfiction.
This is the final reveal of the true story behind Thrawn's mysterious and multi-faceted past: exile, missing sister, vague connection to the skywalker program, mission to the Empire, EVERYTHING. And for all that, it's really very... dull.
TEN stars for the THRASS FLASHBACKS. AHH.
So, we return to all of our familiar problems:
1. The Grysk threat
2. The fractured nature of Chiss politics
3. Lots of people hate Thrawn
Do we fix any of them? Yes. One out of three gets mostly-successfully fixed, and I'm sure you can guess which.
The main story is a tale of Thrawn and his allies racing around the galaxy mostly doing politics and random subplots that are all advancing the goal of figuring out Jixus the Grysk's evil master plan. But they all feel disjointed and chaotic. I had trouble following the minutiae, and what's worse, I had trouble CARING enough to TRY to follow it.
The final battle is neat, and pleasingly dramatic.
The denouement is... not. Like, we all know how this is going to end. And we all know the understated, relatively flat and subdued Zahn writing style. But this is Thrawn's EXILE. I cannot help but wish it felt more emotionally devastating and less underwhelming.
There is a part where Thrawn says, "I don't expect to be gone from the Ascendancy more than a few months" that made me ugly laugh. And it seems like this is HINTING he might make it back home someday, which??? Ahsoka TV show please come through for me.
But overall, Thrawn's transgression is not astounding. He barely, barely broke the preemptive strike rule. Like, he definitely broke the spirit of the rule but he honestly may not have even broken the letter of it. Which is what he's been doing every single minute of every day this whole time. There was nothing particularly egregious about this time, except the more public nature of it.
This is definitely not the dramatic icarus-like fall from grace that Thurfian has been foretelling. I think that was actually Lothal.
It just feels a bit like a letdown, after all this buildup. I honestly wish Thrawn HAD truly done something wild and ruthless, or made some kind of a mistake.
Now that we've dealt with the main story, we can move on to the good part. This book has THRASS FLASHBACKS. These did not start out particularly impressively. Honestly, I was disappointed. Thrass didn't seem to be characterized particularly well, or mesh with what I remember from Outbound Flight. It didn't seem like any of it mattered, and I was already bored by the main story.
However, there were greater things to come:
• Thrass and Thrawn are NOT in fact blood related. I had always pictured them as born brothers for some reason, but they were strangers at first and only connected by the Mitth family tie. I wasn't hype for this dynamic at first, but it did end up paying off.
• Thrass and Thrawn on coffee and board game dates.
• Political schemes and machinations engineered by family bigwigs for the SOLE purpose of forcing Thrass to publicly admit that he likes Thrawn.
• In these flashbacks, Thrawn is pretty much as vulnerable as he is ever shown to be. He is not as confident. There's a whole big point made of how MUCH he wants someone to engage with him in his Sherlock Holmes deduction games, and no one will. Sorry Thrawn, you're going to have to adopt a few humans first.
• Scene where Thrass dramatically calls Thrawn his BROTHER as part of a negotiation with an enemy. I shrieked internally, and clearly so did Thrawn. You guys, I LOVED THIS SCENE. This scene lives rent free in my mind, and is the only thing that comes close to justifying this book's existence.
• Follow-up scene where Thrawn awkwardly is like "So, ummm... did you mean it." IT'S SO GOOD.
• Thrass's final moments scene is literally just dropped into the book without any context. If anyone is reading this and hasn't read Outbound Flight first, this little moment will seem absolutely random, poorly constructed, and apropos of nothing. I went back to compare it with the actual scene from Outbound Flight and it's exactly the same with dialogue reproduced verbatim, just with a bit more of Thrass's mental perspective.
Frankly this book is nothing but a sourdough starter, and the sourdough is fanfiction.
This made up for the last book. All the threads came together in a novel full of intrigue, politics, fire fights. This is what we read Thrawn for. Zahn at his best.
I think this might have been a little bit too long. I also recognize that I am just bad at keeping track of so many characters. That being said, I do love politics and seeing things come full circle. So despite struggling in the middle, I'm still going to give this four stars.