The Grand Admiral Thrawn Trilogy (Timothy Zahn)

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The Grand Admiral Thrawn Trilogy
by Timothy Zahn

***
Star Wars books are hard to review, especially since they're not based on any of the three movies and yet depend on them for support. I would say that this new trilogy, by Timothy Zahn, is remarkably strong in its technical aspects. Zahn is undoubtedly the best when it comes to bringing alive the spirit of the original characters—their intentions, their gestures, their speech. His writing style is also rock solid—splendid detail in his descriptions, imaginative settings, convincing (if not spectacular) battles. However, without the Star Wars movies backing all this up, his novels are pretty lifeless on their own. All the brilliant bits (admittedly there are quite a few of them) are lost in three books worth of meandering plots. The whole story, taking place five years after Return of the Jedi, basically revolves around the Empire's revenge (as most of the Star Wars books nowadays do.) This time round, the Empire's fleets are headed by Grand Admiral Thrawn, a villain we're meant to like because of all his superhuman intelligence combined with the ‘glacial calmness' of a fearsome leader. (To be honest, I found his lectures on how one can use a species' art to understand that species' war tactics quite absurd.) Then throw in an insane Jedi, a la Emperor Palpatine, and you've got the formula for yet another Star Wars trilogy.

Fortunately, there are tons of interesting bits scattered throughout the novels, so that I can't say that the trilogy isn't worth reading. For instance, in Heir of the Empire, we get a hair-rasing scene involving Leia and a bunch of Wookies traversing the perilous vines of the Wookie tree-world in an attempt to evade Imperial hovercrafts. Another scene has Luke and Mara Jade (probably the best character invented after the movies) pursued through kilometers of forests by Imperial scouts. (The Empire always seems to have the advantage, even though the Rebellion is now the ‘New Republic'.) So there are plenty of little suspenseful moments, but overall, it's slow reading. One thing I can say for sure: the Grand Admiral Thrawn Trilogy is not a page-turner. The original movies had tight narratives; this trilogy feels more like a string of episodes, many which are interesting, but all amounting to not a whole lot.

I have a feeling maybe Zahn was too meticulous in his writing. I suppose it paid off for him: the Grand Admiral Thrawn books are still considered by most to be the best Star Wars books ever written. I, on the other hand, just wished that he would let loose more often. His battles often seem too technical rather than heart-pounding, and there is a lot of political discussion—a little too dry for my taste. What this trilogy lacks is good old-fashioned romance and some bigger battles. :-)

(Actually, the climax was pretty darn big, but it reminded me WAY too much of the finale to Return of the Jedi.)

So ultimately, if you're like most Star Wars fans, you'll probably like it. But I would have trouble recommending this trilogy to anyone who isn't already a one...