Book Review: Thrawn (Star Wars) by Timothy Zahn

Right off the bat, I have to say that Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn was definitely one of my most anticipated book releases of 2017, and I’m very happy to say that it ultimately exceeded my expectations for the most part. Not only is Thrawn definitely my favorite out of all the new cannon Star Wars books that I’ve read so far, I would also say that it ranks #2 in terms of how I would rank my favorite books out of all the books I’ve read so far in 2017. For the record, my #1 favorite book that I’ve read so far this year is definitely Jeff Zentner’s new book, Goodbye Days.

While I haven’t read Timothy Zahn’s original Thrawn trilogy, I felt like Zahn did a really fantastic job of presenting Thrawn as a very complex and nuanced character in this book. It was really fascinating to see how Thrawn managed to have such a successful career in the Imperial army, despite the fact that he’s a Chiss who’s living in a society that discriminates against alien races. That definitely added a very interesting element to the character Thrawn, and the book as a whole.

One thing that I really liked about this book is the fact that Zahn did a great job of writing Thrawn in such a way that while he is in many ways a genius, he still has flaws and weaknesses. I’m really glad that Zahn didn’t try to portray Thrawn as being invincible and superior to everybody else in this book, because I think it would have been incredibly frustrating if Zahn hadn’t given Thrawn some vulnerabilities and humanized him to a certain degree, especially since this book really gives people an in depth look into how Thrawn’s mind works. One of the best ways I thought that Zahn portrayed Thrawn as having some flaws and vulnerabilities was with the inclusion of the character Nightswan, who serves as a worthy adversary for Thrawn throughout the book. Thrawn may be a genius in a lot of ways, but he definitely has a bit of a blind spot when it comes to Nightswan, I felt like Zahn did a fantastic job of writing the adversarial dynamic of Thrawn and Nightswan’s relationship.

In terms of how Zahn gives the reader a lot of insight into the way Thrawn thinks throughout the book, the openings of each chapter of the book really give the reader some great insight into how Thrawn’s mind works. Admittedly, I was definitely very confused for a large portion of the book about what exactly the openings of each chapter were supposed to be, because I didn’t know where, when and to whom Thrawn was saying those things to. Eventually, it was revealed that the openings of each chapter were actually excerpts from a journal that Thrawn had written in at some point, and then later gave to Eli. Not only do I think that the excerpts from Thrawn’s journal were ultimately a really great and effective way to give the reader a lot of insight into the character; I also feel like Thrawn giving Eli his journal was a great way to show that Thrawn had really come to view Eli as his protégé.

Book Review: Aftermath (Book #1 in the Aftermath trilogy) (A “Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens” book) by Chuck Wendig

Right off the bat, I have to admit that I definitely went on quite a rollercoaster ride when it came to me simply trying to decide whether or not I should actually read Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath. When I first saw Aftermath at Barnes & Noble back when it was first released in 2015, I immediately became intrigued by the book and interested in reading it after seeing the cover of the book, and reading the plot description that’s on the cover of the book. However, seeing that Aftermath had gotten a lot of mixed, if not bad, reviews really made me reluctant to read this book. I’m a big fan of the Collider YouTube channel’s weekly show, Collider Jedi Council, and Kristian Harloff, who’s one of the show’s regular panelists, repeatedly criticizing Aftermath on Jedi Council, even calling it garbage at one point, really scared me away from reading Aftermath even more than I already had been for a very long time. However, I ultimately started to have some serious doubts about whether or not I should actually avoid reading Aftermath simply because it had gotten a lot of mixed reviews, and because Kristian Harloff had repeatedly trashed the book, after I read James Luceno’s book, Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel. I read Catalyst partly because Kristian Harloff had repeatedly raved about the book, and called it a must read; and I ended up hating it when I read it. The fact that I hated Catalyst really made me question if I should actually let Kristian Harloff’s thoughts on Aftermath be the primary basis of whether or not I decided to read it. Ultimately, I decided to read Aftermath, and I have to admit that I went into reading this book with low expectations.

With that being said, while Aftermath does have its fair share of flaws, I ended up really enjoying this book for the most part, and I’m so glad that I read it. After actually reading Aftermath and seeing for myself what I thought of the book, I definitely have to disagree with most of the comments that Kristian Harloff has made regarding Aftermath. I think it’s safe to say that my taste in Star Wars books definitely differs from his to a certain degree, and I personally feel like people in general have been way too harsh when it comes to their critiques of this book. I definitely regret letting the fact that Aftermath has gotten a lot of bad or mixed reviews be the reason that I didn’t read it sooner, because I’ve never let a TV show, movie, or in this case a book, getting bad or mixed reviews keep me from giving it a chance, and enjoying it in the past. I honestly have no idea why I let that keep me from reading this book back when it first came out, and I immediately became interested in it.

Perhaps it’s because I’ve always considered myself to be more of a Star Trek fan than a Star Wars fan; even though I’ve been a fan of both Star Trek and Star Wars since the prequel trilogy was released, and I was a kid at the time. I definitely know very little about all of the Star Wars books that are out there, and I’ve been trying to prioritize which Star Wars books I want to read based on which books have been recommended by various Star Wars fans on YouTube. I’m just now really getting into reading Star Wars books, and I ultimately feel like Aftermath definitely succeeded in getting me truly interested in reading more Star Wars books, which is definitely something that Catalyst failed to do. For the record, I’ve recently finished reading Timothy Zahn’s new book, Thrawn, and I hope to post a review for the book relatively soon, but I digress.