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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Sadly enough, I just didn’t care. I was bored. No characters truly stuck to my interests besides C’baoth and that totally turned out well.
My interest for this book was because it had Anakin & Obi-Wan in it, but these two didn’t serve a single purpose. It was like fan service or whatever. They didn’t need to be in this book.
I was never a big Thrawn fan in the first place anyways. He was characterized well but.. 🥱😔
Regardless, my biggest question that I just kept thinking about during this entire book.. why are we sending eighteen Jedi (+ Anakin I guess) on this ship, but we only sent three to arrest PALPATINE? Different timings, duh, since Anakin is only like fourteen in this book, but still? You’re telling me all eighteen Jedi in this book served a solid purpose on The Outbound Flight?
Anyways. I don’t know anymore.
My interest for this book was because it had Anakin & Obi-Wan in it, but these two didn’t serve a single purpose. It was like fan service or whatever. They didn’t need to be in this book.
I was never a big Thrawn fan in the first place anyways. He was characterized well but.. 🥱😔
Regardless, my biggest question that I just kept thinking about during this entire book.. why are we sending eighteen Jedi (+ Anakin I guess) on this ship, but we only sent three to arrest PALPATINE? Different timings, duh, since Anakin is only like fourteen in this book, but still? You’re telling me all eighteen Jedi in this book served a solid purpose on The Outbound Flight?
Anyways. I don’t know anymore.
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
informative
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Timothy Zahn and Thrawn is always a good combination, and this is no exception.
This book follows Outbound Fight as it makes its way from the Republic to another galaxy, Darth Sidious’ plan to stop Outbound Flight from reaching the next galaxy, as well as the Chiss Ascendancy as they stumble across a smugglers group from the Republic.
The actual journey of Outbound was probably my least favourite part of the book. It had a whole political plot to get it started and then took half of the book to actually take off. In this we follow Jorus C’Baoth, who is leading the flight, as well as his padawan, Lorana Jinzler, Obi-Wan, Anakin and some other minor Jedi. All of these Jedi were good characters, but the events of Outbound Flight weren’t all too interesting until the end. As much as I liked Obi-Wan and Anakin in this, they really weren’t necessary for the book, but it did once again showcase one of Zahn biggest strengths in his Star Wars books, which is his characterisations of characters we already know and love. I enjoyed Lorana quite a lot throughout, however there was a small side plot for her that felt a bit out of place. It didn’t occur too often but other than that she was great.
I enjoyed Thrawn and the Chiss a lot here. It was great seeing Zahn’s early efforts of creating the Ascendancy, as well as seeing what I assume is Ara’Lani’s first appearance. It’s always great to see Thrawn working and how he is always one or even two steps ahead of everyone else. Car’das was also a highlight of the book, along with his growing relationship with Thrawn.
Doriana, who is working for Sidious, was also very interesting. However it was more because we yet again get to see how Sidious is controlling things and planning for the future, as well as getting a glimpse as to why Sidious feels the need to do what he feels must be done.
Finally I enjoyed seeing how Zahn connected this to other of his works, as well as other large Legends stories(some of which I know of but have yet to read). Definitely not my favourite Zahn book, but by now I’m convinced he can’t write anything bad in Star Wars. I now need to start reading some of his own books outside of Star Wars. He continues to be my favourite Star Wars author.
This book follows Outbound Fight as it makes its way from the Republic to another galaxy, Darth Sidious’ plan to stop Outbound Flight from reaching the next galaxy, as well as the Chiss Ascendancy as they stumble across a smugglers group from the Republic.
The actual journey of Outbound was probably my least favourite part of the book. It had a whole political plot to get it started and then took half of the book to actually take off. In this we follow Jorus C’Baoth, who is leading the flight, as well as his padawan, Lorana Jinzler, Obi-Wan, Anakin and some other minor Jedi. All of these Jedi were good characters, but the events of Outbound Flight weren’t all too interesting until the end. As much as I liked Obi-Wan and Anakin in this, they really weren’t necessary for the book, but it did once again showcase one of Zahn biggest strengths in his Star Wars books, which is his characterisations of characters we already know and love. I enjoyed Lorana quite a lot throughout, however there was a small side plot for her that felt a bit out of place. It didn’t occur too often but other than that she was great.
I enjoyed Thrawn and the Chiss a lot here. It was great seeing Zahn’s early efforts of creating the Ascendancy, as well as seeing what I assume is Ara’Lani’s first appearance. It’s always great to see Thrawn working and how he is always one or even two steps ahead of everyone else. Car’das was also a highlight of the book, along with his growing relationship with Thrawn.
Doriana, who is working for Sidious, was also very interesting. However it was more because we yet again get to see how Sidious is controlling things and planning for the future, as well as getting a glimpse as to why Sidious feels the need to do what he feels must be done.
Finally I enjoyed seeing how Zahn connected this to other of his works, as well as other large Legends stories(some of which I know of but have yet to read). Definitely not my favourite Zahn book, but by now I’m convinced he can’t write anything bad in Star Wars. I now need to start reading some of his own books outside of Star Wars. He continues to be my favourite Star Wars author.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I was aiming for this to be a 'May the 4th' read as I continue diving into Timothy Zahn's saga of Star Wars but I started early and absolutely consumed the book in just a touch over 3 days! Somehow, Zahn's topped his original trilogy for another 5 star read!
I've said it before and I'll say it again but I just absolutely love how Zahn writes Naval battles and how he creates such a layered villain like Thrawn, who always does sincerely feel like the smartest person in the room (and without being flat or having that 'theyre smart because theyve read the script' problem)! The climatic battle is genuinely just one of my favourite battle sequences I've written, rivalling Joe Abercrombie or John Gwynne's abilities to write battle (though admittedly a different kind).
I started off thinking the Jedi plot was the weakest but I grew to like the contrast of the political investigation Vs the main military thriller plot. And I love how psycho Jorus C'boath was, showing it wasn't the cloning that made him mad, he was always an evil sociopath, even when he was acting as a so-called 'guardian of peace' (genuinely the plot with the children being uncovered gave me such a viscerally sick feeling in my stomach!). I also liked that, aside from a small role for Obi Wan and Anakin (feeling a little like a 'tie into the recent films/show' mandate), this focuses mostly on Zahn's original characters, either created for this book or from his previous entries in the universe.
Next up, time for the sequel (that came out before, for annoying movie related reasons), Survivor's Quest!!
I've said it before and I'll say it again but I just absolutely love how Zahn writes Naval battles and how he creates such a layered villain like Thrawn, who always does sincerely feel like the smartest person in the room (and without being flat or having that 'theyre smart because theyve read the script' problem)! The climatic battle is genuinely just one of my favourite battle sequences I've written, rivalling Joe Abercrombie or John Gwynne's abilities to write battle (though admittedly a different kind).
I started off thinking the Jedi plot was the weakest but I grew to like the contrast of the political investigation Vs the main military thriller plot. And I love how psycho Jorus C'boath was, showing it wasn't the cloning that made him mad, he was always an evil sociopath, even when he was acting as a so-called 'guardian of peace' (genuinely the plot with the children being uncovered gave me such a viscerally sick feeling in my stomach!). I also liked that, aside from a small role for Obi Wan and Anakin (feeling a little like a 'tie into the recent films/show' mandate), this focuses mostly on Zahn's original characters, either created for this book or from his previous entries in the universe.
Next up, time for the sequel (that came out before, for annoying movie related reasons), Survivor's Quest!!
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Utterly insane.
adventurous
funny
relaxing
tense
slow-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:
Complicated