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3.97 AVERAGE
3.97 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
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:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Zahn wrote some of the best Star Wars EU fiction out there. My 13 year old self ate this shit up. My 24 year old self still eats it up.
And that's why I have an X-wing tattoo.
And that's why I have an X-wing tattoo.
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
adventurous
dark
reflective
relaxing
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The massive conclusion to Spectre of the Past in a Duology that may have benefitted from being a trilogy. A lot going on here, with many different threads set up in the previous book all coming together marvellously. None of the characters felt superfluous and the payoff was very satisfying.
Very enjoyable book, but longer than it needed to be in my opinion
Like many fans, I consider Timothy Zahn to be the best of the Star Wars novelists, so it goes without saying that I enjoyed Vision of the Future. However, for me, it didn't quite reach the same level as his excellent Heir to the Empire trilogy, which breathed new life into the Star Wars franchise even before the Special Edition films and prequel trilogy came along. Part of the reason is that there is simply so much going on in Vision of the Future, with so many subplots and characters, that it gets to be a little too much; even halfway through the book, new characters and new side stories are still being introduced.
Granted, most Star Wars novels are ensemble stories, so fans are already used to switching back and forth between various stories and narrators. But even by those standards, there is a lot to keep track of in Vision of the Future, including some subplots that easily could have been edited down or perhaps removed altogether. For example, pilots Wedge Antilles and Corran Horn are assigned to the Bothan homeworld to investigate possible plots against the planetary shield, only to be recalled shortly afterwards; and yet that storyline continues, with newly-introduced characters that we've not previously become invested in. Likewise, smuggler Talon Karrde and his new bodyguard Shada (who herself was shoehorned into the earlier book, Specter of the Past, at the last minute) spend a considerable amount of time searching for a newly-introduced character who has an extremely lengthy and convoluted back story, none of which really serves the main story at all.
I find most Star Wars novel trilogies often have a lot of filler material to justify having three books, resulting in at least one of them (usually the second one) feeling a bit flat. But Zahn's Hand of Thrawn story is a two-book series, and may suffer from the opposite problem: there is perhaps enough here to have justified splitting Vision of the Future into two books and making it a trilogy.
Despite all of this, however, Zahn is an excellent writer, and I did really enjoy Vision of the Future. It was particularly interesting to see the Thrawn decoy storyline play out, and to see the once all-powerful Empire now using guerrilla and "dirty tricks" tactics that might have been more common among the Rebellion a few years earlier. I also knew to expect the romance between Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade to fully develop in this book, and I was a bit dubious about how that would go, since I really love the Jade character, but it seemed to me that her pragmatism and hard-edged personality might make a romance story difficult to pull off. But by tying it into her development as a Jedi, and her helping Luke acknowledge his own limitations, I think Zahn pulled it off about as well as anybody could. Good stuff.
Granted, most Star Wars novels are ensemble stories, so fans are already used to switching back and forth between various stories and narrators. But even by those standards, there is a lot to keep track of in Vision of the Future, including some subplots that easily could have been edited down or perhaps removed altogether. For example, pilots Wedge Antilles and Corran Horn are assigned to the Bothan homeworld to investigate possible plots against the planetary shield, only to be recalled shortly afterwards; and yet that storyline continues, with newly-introduced characters that we've not previously become invested in. Likewise, smuggler Talon Karrde and his new bodyguard Shada (who herself was shoehorned into the earlier book, Specter of the Past, at the last minute) spend a considerable amount of time searching for a newly-introduced character who has an extremely lengthy and convoluted back story, none of which really serves the main story at all.
I find most Star Wars novel trilogies often have a lot of filler material to justify having three books, resulting in at least one of them (usually the second one) feeling a bit flat. But Zahn's Hand of Thrawn story is a two-book series, and may suffer from the opposite problem: there is perhaps enough here to have justified splitting Vision of the Future into two books and making it a trilogy.
Despite all of this, however, Zahn is an excellent writer, and I did really enjoy Vision of the Future. It was particularly interesting to see the Thrawn decoy storyline play out, and to see the once all-powerful Empire now using guerrilla and "dirty tricks" tactics that might have been more common among the Rebellion a few years earlier. I also knew to expect the romance between Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade to fully develop in this book, and I was a bit dubious about how that would go, since I really love the Jade character, but it seemed to me that her pragmatism and hard-edged personality might make a romance story difficult to pull off. But by tying it into her development as a Jedi, and her helping Luke acknowledge his own limitations, I think Zahn pulled it off about as well as anybody could. Good stuff.
Possibly my favorite Star Wars book yet! Bringing back so many characters from the Thrawn trilogy and seeing their stories play out further is soooo amazing! I love this author and have never been disappointed by him.