It began as the ultimate voyage of discovery–only to become the stuff of lost Republic legend . . . and a dark chapter in Jedi history. Now, at last, acclaimed author Timothy Zahn returns to tell the whole extraordinary story of the remarkable–and doomed–Outbound Flight Project.
The Clone Wars have yet to erupt when Jedi Master Jorus C’baoth petitions the Senate for support of a singularly ambitious undertaking. Six Jedi Masters, twelve Jedi Knights, and fifty thousand men, women, and children will embark–aboard a gargantuan vessel, equipped for years of travel–on a mission to contact intelligent life and colonize undiscovered worlds beyond the known galaxy. The government bureaucracy threatens to scuttle the expedition before it can even start–until Master C’baoth foils a murderous conspiracy plot, winning him the political capital he needs to set in motion the dream of Outbound Flight.
Or so it would seem. For unknown to the …
It began as the ultimate voyage of discovery–only to become the stuff of lost Republic legend . . . and a dark chapter in Jedi history. Now, at last, acclaimed author Timothy Zahn returns to tell the whole extraordinary story of the remarkable–and doomed–Outbound Flight Project.
The Clone Wars have yet to erupt when Jedi Master Jorus C’baoth petitions the Senate for support of a singularly ambitious undertaking. Six Jedi Masters, twelve Jedi Knights, and fifty thousand men, women, and children will embark–aboard a gargantuan vessel, equipped for years of travel–on a mission to contact intelligent life and colonize undiscovered worlds beyond the known galaxy. The government bureaucracy threatens to scuttle the expedition before it can even start–until Master C’baoth foils a murderous conspiracy plot, winning him the political capital he needs to set in motion the dream of Outbound Flight.
Or so it would seem. For unknown to the famed Jedi Master, the successful launch of the mission is secretly being orchestrated by an unlikely ally: the evil Sith Lord, Darth Sidious, who has his own reasons for wanting Outbound Flight to move forward . . . and, ultimately, to fail.
Yet Darth Sidious is not the mission’s most dangerous challenge. Once underway, the starship crosses paths at the edge of Unknown Space with the forces of the alien Chiss Ascendancy and the brilliant mastermind best known as “Thrawn.” Even Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi, aboard Outbound Flight with his young Padawan student, Anakin Skywalker, cannot help avert disaster. Thus what begins as a peaceful Jedi mission is violently transformed into an all-out war for survival against staggering odds–and the most diabolical of adversaries
12-2023 - adding to say that reread this now because the unabridged audiobook done with Marc Thompson is out, and I needed new Thrawn with his voice material, so totally got it. Perfectly done, of course! And the thing after listening to it this time that I didn't necessarily catch the other times I read it was a major difference between Thrawn then and now.... he understands the politics game! That was definitely a big change from then to now! LOL
Review of 'Outbound Flight (Star Wars)' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I actually surprised myself with this book, because while I've been so looking forward to the upcoming Thrawn: Treason, I first has the thought to relisten to the first two in that series, but decided against it, and started with the shorter in time Star Wars audiobooks that I still had to listen to, this one being first. I remembered the basic premise that was listed for this story - a ship with some Jedi going to the far, unknown reaches of the galaxy around the Clone Wars. But then as I started listening, and Thrawn showed up, heck, talk about a pleasant surprise.
And because of that, I really didn't care about the actual Outbound Flight part of the story most of the time. The idea was interesting by itself, with a less than stable Jedi Master leading it, but once I realized I was getting a look at …
I actually surprised myself with this book, because while I've been so looking forward to the upcoming Thrawn: Treason, I first has the thought to relisten to the first two in that series, but decided against it, and started with the shorter in time Star Wars audiobooks that I still had to listen to, this one being first. I remembered the basic premise that was listed for this story - a ship with some Jedi going to the far, unknown reaches of the galaxy around the Clone Wars. But then as I started listening, and Thrawn showed up, heck, talk about a pleasant surprise.
And because of that, I really didn't care about the actual Outbound Flight part of the story most of the time. The idea was interesting by itself, with a less than stable Jedi Master leading it, but once I realized I was getting a look at the Legacy version of Thrawn, I just kept wanting to go back to that. He isn't all that different from the Canon Thrawn of today, with obviously some differences here and there. He is still basically the brilliant tactician who can see a million moves ahead of everyone else; still has a thing for investigating art, though we don't see a whole lot of that in this one book. Here he even has an Eli Vanto character teaching him and the like. The voice doesn't match what we now know Thrawn sounds like from the Rebels show, but this was done some years back before all that, of course.
However, I don't know if it's because this was an abridged audiobook or not, but the story just kind of ends. There were still a couple of points to wrap up, but it didn't. So, even with those issues, it's an interesting look at Thrawn pre-new-Canon days where he is familiar, but yet, not 100% so. ------------- 12/2021 - I'm still on a Thrawn kick, but I didn't want to relisten (yet again LOL) to the other books, so I thought let me revisit this, but unabridged this time. And since this the legends prequel version of Thrawn, figured I could compare how this compares to the now complete Ascendancy trilogy. So, skipping most of the Jedi/Outbound Flight stuff (at least until they met up with Thrawn), it was interesting. There definitely are similarities to the newer trilogy, some things the three books delved into far more since there was more time (especially surprised with Ar'alani and Thrass), but still plenty of differences. And of course, since I'm far more familiar with the new version, I definitely prefer the new Thrawn and Chiss. But still an interesting look at early Thrawn!
Review of 'Outbound Flight (Star Wars)' on 'Storygraph'
4 stars
Outbound Flight sheds light on a region of the Star Wars mythology previously uncovered by more than rumor and shadowy hints. A good read from a good, classic Star Wars author.
