Star Wars: Dark Force Rising was written by bestselling author, Timothy Zahn. This Expanded Universe tale takes place during the New Republic Era, nine years ABY. This is book two of the original Thrawn Trilogy.
SUMMARY
The stakes are raised in the second instalment of the Thawn trilogy! The New Republic and the Empire are in need of war-ships. Talon Karrde has information on the whereabouts of a Clone-Wars era fleet known as The Katana Fleet or Dark Force. The news travels fast as both factions learn where the ships are located.
Leia and Chewbacca are on a mission to gain a new ally for the New Republic, Han and Lando are on the search for the Katana Fleet, and Luke Skywalker meets with Jorus C’baoth to discuss the future of the Jedi! Meanwhile, Borsk Fey’lya is determined to climb the political ranks of the New Republic! He’s desperate for power, and will stop at nothing to put an end to the “wreck less heroics” of Republic heroes.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
The second book in the Thrawn trilogy is definitely more entertaining than the first book, Heir to the Empire. Timothy Zahn had certainly had his hands full with all the characters and events taking place throughout the galaxy in this one. While some of the character quests taking place were a tab boring, others were more exciting.
While Leia had a lot to do in this story, I wasn’t much a fan of her storyline. tryng to mentally wake up an alien race that basically worshiped Vader and served the Empire. They thought the Empire had been helping them cleanse their planet. Turns out, the Empire wasn’t doing anything to help them. Leia does her best to open their eyes to that fact.
I was really captivated when Timothy Zahn brings Luke Skywalker to Jorus C’baoth. Zahn did a good job making me feel the discomfort Luke was experiencing during their meeting. Luke is very hesitant when it comes to Jorus, he’s uncomfortable around him. Luke doesn’t know if the old Jedi is in his right mind.
There was one big thing with the writing I couldn’t stand; Luke is seriously doubting Jorus C’baoth the whole time he’s with him, but when ill intentions are made known by C’baoth, it’s a total shock to Luke. This whole time Zahn has us believing that Luke has his wits about him and feels really uneasy about C’baoth… just to find be told that Luke didn’t expect such darkness and distrust from this crazy old mad-man.
Overall, Zahn balanced out the many plots fairly well. He builds up tension and puts in a few unexpected surprises throughout. Leia with a lightsaber, C’baoth stepping up to be a bigger threat than Thrawn realized, Borsk Fey’lya getting his voice heard in the uppper politics of the New Republic, and a few other things.
I once really enjoyed Thrawn, thinking he was a cool character. He’s so calm, collected, loves art and knows cultural war tactics. However, upon this re-read, I found the character to be highly annoying and uninteresting. I know I mentioned this in the review of Heir to the Empire, but this book solidifies the dislike of the character. I found Jorus C’baoth and BBorsk Fey’lya to be far more interesting.
Do I recommend you read Star Wars: Dark Force Rising? Yes.
RATING
For the rating of the second book of the Trawn trilogy, I give it a B