Nice To Have Thrawn Back, But...

Timothy Zahn returns to the Star Wars universe with Thrawn, the titular character that first appeared in print back in the 1990s and helped reignite fan’s interest in a galaxy far, far away. 1991, when Heir to the Empire was first published, presented a very desolate landscape for Star Wars fans, and was certainly a far cry from the series current-day resurgence. Back then, we only had three films – Episodes IV, V, and VI. There were no prequels, no other sequels, no real line of novels, video games, Funko Pops! and cartoon series. Fans were starved for more stories set in their favorite cinematic series. Timothy Zahn helped change all that with his initial Thrawn Trilogy, reintroducing us to the heroes of the Rebel Alliance cum New Republic five years after the The Return of the Jedi and the Battle for Endor. Right from the outset, Thrawn was a bold new villain and cunning strategist, and an immediately iconic one at that.

Nowadays, Star Wars is everywhere. The series of Expanded Universe novels was relaunched in the build-up for The Force Awakens, and a series of tie-in novels helped lay the new groundwork between Episodes VI and VII. One question that kept coming up among fans and readers was, Where is Grand Admiral Thrawn? Was there even a Grand Admiral Thrawn anymore, or had his enduring legacy between swept away in the relaunch?

Well, now we know. Thrawn is, indeed, a canonical part of the new Expanded Universe – and still an enormous threat for the galaxy to reckon with. With this novel, Zahn dives into origin story territory, detailing the blue-skinned alien’s rise to power within the xenophobic and fascistic Empire. For readers of Zahn’s original Thrawn novels, the character will be intimately familiar. This is still the same character, his keen intellect and powers of observation fully intact, and reintroduced into the Star Wars timeline between Episode III and Rogue One.

I, for one, am thrilled to have Thrawn back in action again. This is a thinking-man’s villain, one who uses his brains above all else, never relying solely on brawn and bluster to get through the day, but rather through sly, Sherlock Holmes’ style observation and chess-like maneuvers. It’s great to see him again outwitting his opponents and manipulating his way through the Empire’s ranks. The story suffers, though, with a side-plot revolving around Arihnda Price, an ex-miner forced by external powers into the Empire’s employ. The dual narratives provide insight into the political machinations of the Emperor’s regime, and it’s interesting to listen to how both maneuver through the Empire in order to meet their own goals. The biggest problem, though, is that Price’s story is a bit dull with its focus on politics and takes a long while to really get anywhere. The same is slightly true of Thrawn’s narrative as well. While it’s interesting to see him work his way up the ranks, we also know how this story ends. The plot device hanging in the middle of this story, operating behind the scenes and driving Thrawn and Price toward their end-goals, is one that Star Wars fans will be able to peg right from the outset.

Thrawn presents little in the way of surprise, and given the nature of the Empire and the character’s carving their way into and through it, it’s also difficult to find reason to root for any of them. Anyone who is familiar with Star Wars knows exactly what the evil Empire is, what it’s all about, and what it represents. Do we really care, ultimately, if any of these characters succeed in reaching the top of Mount Evil, particularly in light of the story’s lack of worthwhile protagonists? Thrawn works well when we have a central heroic, good-guy (or gal) character to root for, and there’s none of that here. While Thrawn is interesting, it’s never really very exciting or fun, and it never reaches the heights of greatness exhibited in the original Thrawn Trilogy. Sadly, from a story perspective, this book’s a bit of a dud.

Thankfully, Marc Thompson’s narration is brilliant. After listening to his voice talents on Chuck Wendig’s Star Wars trilogy, I was really chomping at the bit to see what Marc would do with Zahn’s novel. In this respect, I was not the least bit disappointed. He presents a number of varied voices, tones, and speech patterns, and does an absolutely superb job all around. The use of sound effects and music throughout help up the ante on the production front, reminding us regularly with its familiar score and laser blasts that this is a legit Star Wars story.

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143 people found this helpful

Un-Surprisingly, Beautiful

Zahn and Thompson come together once more to weave an exceptional story! Zahn has woven another patch into the quilt that is Star Wars. His writing is superb, and thankfully we have someone just as brilliant to narrate! I can not applaud this enough! I also plan on purchasing the physical copy, because apparently there is a pull out poster featuring the Grand Admiral himself! But do yourself a favor and jump into this audiobook!


A few notable aspects that I can remember (re listening after this!) NO SPOILERS!

The story of Thrawn's ascendancy to Grand Admiral.

The unique Chiss twist of the importance in utilizing and preserving resources, which bordered on compassion for others.

The tie in to Star Wars Rebels! Providing a really rich background into why certain events occurred in the show.

A beautiful balance of political intrigue (which I ABSOLUTELY love in the Star Wars universe!), and intense action scenes!

One detail I really appreciated was the depiction and hesitance of Coruscant's underbelly. We typically see this through the eyes of force wielders or soldiers, neither of which really experience the emotions that an everyday person would when confronted with the slums.

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81 people found this helpful

The Sherlock of Star Wars

Timothy Zahn is one of the masters of the Star Wars universe. Thrawn is a masterpiece. A character study of one of the most famous and beloved adversaries in the Empire, Grand Admiral Thrawn is not driven by evil or domination. The Sherlock of the Star Wars galaxy, he is a master at military tactics and studies the culture and art of varying species in an effort to understand them. This book gives us insight into Thrawn's thought process as he ascends the imperial ranks, artfully handles core world bigotry, tangles with another tactical master and trains another outer rim outsider in his crafts. I loved watching Thrawn outwit humans who felt far superior and learned they were not. This book also featured the backstory of Lothal governor Pryce and her journey down a dark path of ruthlessness. I read this book using immersion reading, while listening to the brilliant Marc Thompson's incredible narration. His character voices are spot on and his beautiful intonations really make the story come alive. I loved Thrawn's voice. This book is another reason why he is my favorite narrator.
A must read/listen for Star Wars fans, Zahn does not disappoint. Political intrigue, action, drama and excitement await within. I took my time to savor this book and was sad to see it end. I hope we have more of the Grand Admiral's adventures both in print and on the big screen.

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48 people found this helpful

Miss the old voice

Love it. But I miss the old voice for Thrawn. The new one lines up with Rebels, but is less powerful.

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40 people found this helpful

Thrawn has survived the purge of the cannon

5 hours in and Thrawn seems to have survived the cannon purge wonderfully he is still Thrawn and this story reinstates alot of thrawns back story that had evolved other the course of Zahns other novels

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38 people found this helpful

Bad sound effects throughout

If you like audio books you won't like this. Its more of an audio drama, with constant ambient sound in the background and very distracting sound effects at every opportunity. This combined with an overly dramatic naration make the whole thing feel very childish. Very disappointing to see one of the best starwars story's reduced to a flashy gimmick of special effects. At this point I guess that is pretty typical from this franchise.

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23 people found this helpful

Somewhat disappointing

While not bad, per se, unfortunately this fell far short of my expectations. The Thrawn character here doesn't compare to his excellent arc in the 'Heir to the Empire' trilogy.

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21 people found this helpful

A Zahn Book - Expertly voiced

This is what I was looking for in a Timothy Zahn Book. I've missed his thrawn. I also want to be first to say the voice actor is perfect, even if Eli is clearly George W. Bush.

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20 people found this helpful

Not in the same league as other installments

What three words best describe Marc Thompson’s performance?

Marc Thompson was incredibly animated. This was great during moments of dialogue where he excelled with emotion and accent. But during general narration, it was distracting. A passive voice is preferred when describing the events, in my opinion. It sounded like Lars Mikkelsen who voices Thrawn in the animated Star Wars Rebels series also voiced Thrawn in this audiobook. If so, that was a great touch. And the sound effects were spot-on. Overall, not my favorite narrator, though.

Any additional comments?

I appear to be in the minority here, but I wasn't all that impressed with this Star Wars addition. I much preferred installments by James Luceno or Michael Reaves. The countless moments where the author attempts to illustrate Thrawn's calculative mind are often trivial scenarios, usually tiny political maneuvers. And the amount of time dedicated to Arihnda Pryce and her dull backstory was a grueling slog. I'm a huge Star Wars fan, so this book was a necessary read, but not the most enjoyable one. I may give it another go at a later date due to its positive reception, but not anytime soon.

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16 people found this helpful

Waited on pre-order for over a week.//

What would have made Thrawn (Star Wars) better?

If there had been any audio playing from the audio file....any what so ever... Im just watching the seconds tick by on my 24 dollar purchase with no audio playing....

Would you ever listen to anything by Timothy Zahn again?

I love Timothy Zahn and own the Thrawn Trilogy.. Have been looking forward to this book since it was announced.

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13 people found this helpful