English language
Published Jan. 5, 2010 by Dark Horse Books.
this is a classic and there really isn't much to say that hasn't already been said. I only docked one star because Thrawn isn't actually smart, at least not consistently. He's alternately smart and stupid as the plot demands and his strategies really don't make sense if you actually think about them.
While I find some flaws in Zahn's prose, I really enjoyed the plotting. It felt like an organic continuation of this story. Weirdly, if I wish there were more changes to the final draft, it's regarding Mara Jade. Intriguing character, but the reveal about her past oddly lacked atmosphere. It's about as far from the Revelation in Cloud City as you can get. Knowing what I know about where Mara goes next, I kind of wish her obsession with Luke wasn't this...one-dimensional, but I'm still intrigued to see how Zahn develops her further.
Now, I know I read this one back in the 90s when it came out, and probably a couple of times, since back then, we just had so many Star Wars books around. However, that is clearly a long time, so I don't remember them, and I'm kind of looking at it as never reading them before. Well, technically, since I'm listening to them, and I never did that before, it actually is true, from a certain point of view. ;)
Anyhoo... however, now I do have the bias that there is a new Thrawn trilogy and Thrawn in Star Wars Rebels to be had, and I've listened to those books a couple times each already... and yep, I do like them better. This one so far, has a lot of Thrawn that we are used to - the art student, the guy that can see things and pick out …
Now, I know I read this one back in the 90s when it came out, and probably a couple of times, since back then, we just had so many Star Wars books around. However, that is clearly a long time, so I don't remember them, and I'm kind of looking at it as never reading them before. Well, technically, since I'm listening to them, and I never did that before, it actually is true, from a certain point of view. ;)
Anyhoo... however, now I do have the bias that there is a new Thrawn trilogy and Thrawn in Star Wars Rebels to be had, and I've listened to those books a couple times each already... and yep, I do like them better. This one so far, has a lot of Thrawn that we are used to - the art student, the guy that can see things and pick out what's going to happen before anyone else, his ship is the Chimera. The thing that is hard to get used to is that Luke, Leia and Han are around with no Vader and Emperor, the crew of the ship isn't enamored with Thrawn, and yeah, sure, the voice isn't the same (like they could predict they were going to make Thrawn have his nice and super calm voice 20 years ago, right? LOL).
With the New Republic and no Emperor, this is the original version of life in the far, far away galaxy a couple years after ROTJ, with the Empire's remnants hanging on like in the newer Aftermath trilogy, but this one is being led by our favorite blue Admiral. I haven't gone to the other two just yet, but while I like it so far, I'm still liking the newer version of the Grand Admiral far more. But, it's still to be continued to parts two and three. :)
It has been, oh, wow, a quarter of a century since i read the Zahn books these graphic novels are based on. I found it quite nice to get back with the original Extended Universe, before the reset after Disney bought the rights to Star Wars. The graphic novel is nicely done and adds to the books, in that it provides some visuals. I recommend it if you've read the Zahn books.
This is the graphic novel version of the trilogy of books. If I hadn't read the original books a long time ago, I would have had a really hard time following what was going on. The story itself is great but the execution as a comic is awful.
