Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by lylexmackie
The Last Command by Timothy Zahn
3.0
Overall I think this trilogy of books is a bit overrated by the Star Wars fandom but it was still a fun and easy read. It's best to go through via the characters because the plot is fairly bare bones.
Thrawn - He's fun to read about but he's near omniscient and just seems to know things by being a genius and there's no explanation for why. His final demise is pretty poetic though. A lot of potential but he's so underwritten especially given he's been the villain for 3 books.
Karrde - Talon is like a self insert for someone's cool tabletop RPG character. Smuggler with a heart of gold. Fun to read about at first but I think he was the best in the first book and after that is quite bland. Wish Han had had some of his storyline beats.
Mara - Mara is probably the best written new character although sometimes I think he's a bit too nice given that she wants to kill Luke.
C'Boath - He's an Emperor stand in and his batshit insane. Which again is "fun" but there's no real depth here in my opinion he's just a generic insane bad guy who wants power. Comically evil from start to finish and like Thrawn there's no backstory he's just evil because.
Now for the returning characters:
Luke - He is spot on, so well written and a perfect continuity from the original films.
Han - Isn't given much to do, he has a few moments but Karrde gets all the fun stuff to do. Disappointment overall.
Leia - She's okay and I like she's had clear character progression since the films and her plotline with the Noghri is really good.
Lando, Wedge and Chewie - they are just there to make up the numbers.
Overall I think the books fun reads but they lack a lot of depth which you'd hope from novels of their length.
Thrawn - He's fun to read about but he's near omniscient and just seems to know things by being a genius and there's no explanation for why. His final demise is pretty poetic though. A lot of potential but he's so underwritten especially given he's been the villain for 3 books.
Karrde - Talon is like a self insert for someone's cool tabletop RPG character. Smuggler with a heart of gold. Fun to read about at first but I think he was the best in the first book and after that is quite bland. Wish Han had had some of his storyline beats.
Mara - Mara is probably the best written new character although sometimes I think he's a bit too nice given that she wants to kill Luke.
C'Boath - He's an Emperor stand in and his batshit insane. Which again is "fun" but there's no real depth here in my opinion he's just a generic insane bad guy who wants power. Comically evil from start to finish and like Thrawn there's no backstory he's just evil because.
Now for the returning characters:
Luke - He is spot on, so well written and a perfect continuity from the original films.
Han - Isn't given much to do, he has a few moments but Karrde gets all the fun stuff to do. Disappointment overall.
Leia - She's okay and I like she's had clear character progression since the films and her plotline with the Noghri is really good.
Lando, Wedge and Chewie - they are just there to make up the numbers.
Overall I think the books fun reads but they lack a lot of depth which you'd hope from novels of their length.