Dark Force Rising

Honestly a downgrade from the last novel. While I do enjoy the characters, especially Thrawn, it feels like he never really feels like he’s winning. In universe and real life people always hype Thrawn up as a genius military tactiction, and while he does come up with interesting plans and is quite intuitive, he always loses as someone comes up out of left field. It makes the titular character of the trilogy feel like he’s not actually a threat most of the time. Another thing that isn’t necessarily a major issue is that to me the Dark Force’s existence and peoples knowledge of it is strange. I get that its a legend that probably wouldn’t have been in the original trilogy movies, but literally everyone knows what this fleet is, and that really bothers me. Despite all this, the book is still enjoyable enough, but not nearly as much as the first unfortunate.

So, continuing on with the original Thrawn trilogy that I read read once upon a time, but just don't remember at all since it's been forever... and yeah, it's cementing in my mind that I prefer the new Thrawn. Here, let's say he's a little too imperfect... which yeah, okay, sometimes with the new version seems like he figures out and gets out of things a little too neatly, but yet, it's part of his charm and brilliance (and obviously, what I'm far more used to). It's still hard to get used to him or the empire such as it is dealing with Luke, Leia and Han given they do not exist yet in the new Thrawn world, but there are still some good stuff with them too. This trilogy is giving a bigger look into the species that Thrawn's bodyguard Rukh is, the Noghri, and how they were used by the Empire. That was definitely something we haven't seen yet with the new book or really had time in the Rebels series to do. So, in short, yes, it's good, but yep, definitely thinking the new ones are better. But I still have the third and last one to listen to. :D

Due to back problems, I recently spent the weekend lying down and trying to recuperate, and I chose a fairly easy-to-follow audiobook to listen to. This site isn't for audiobooks, though, so I'll try not to go too far in detail about Marc Thompson's performance (though I thought very highly of it).

These books are very highly recomended, and for good reason. The plotting is tight, and the characterization is interesting and consistent. While some characters may seem similar, they're never cut from the same cloth, and everyone's actions and responses are always unique. The plot always has interesting things for everyone to do, and no one is ever lost or left away from a challenge that suits them.

The prose leaves something to be desired, of course, but I'm not really expecting Proust from a Star Wars tie-in novel. Zahn frequently reuses phrases ('two heartbeats', 'what in blazes', etc) and makes word choices that, while it's clear what he means, are inelegant at best (he refers to Han's disregard for authority as his 'automatic disobedience circuits', for example).

Still, it's the characters and plot that really shines. Zahn does an excellent job shaping the world his characters inhabit, making everything seem like it exists in a sensible yet surreal union that's become emblematic of the franchise. Unlike some other tie-in novels, he doesn't rely on jargon gimmicks to make his scenarios feel grounded, and instead just never forgets who his characters are and what they're doing. If this kind of stuff is for you in the first place, I highly recommend it.