Star Wars: Outbound Flight Expanded Universe Book Review

Star Wars: Outbound Flight Book Review

Star Wars: Outbound Flight was written by New York Times Bestselling Author, Timothy Zahn. This novel is the eighteenth novel on the Legends novel timeline. The tale takes place during the the Rise of the Empire Era. It takes place 27 years before A New Hope.

SUMMARY

On the run from an angry Hutt, a smuggling group find themselves outside of known space. A mysterious, unfamiliar ship with an unknown race of people, put an end to the furious chase by the Hutt and bring the smugglers aboard one of their ships. Thrawn, of the Chiss alien race, calls on Car’das, the smuggler navigator, to basically be his assistant of sorts. Through Car’das, Thrawn learns of the Republic, and other cultural details. They were able to speak to each other through a language known by both cultures. The relationship between Thrawn and the foreign strangers, puts a wedge between himself, and other Chiss leaders.

Meanwhile, at the heart of the Republic, Jedi Master, Jorus C’baoth has pushed hard politically and against the Jedi council to achieve his goal, Outbound Flight. C’bouth wants to take a number of people along with a select number of Jedi and an extreme amount of living rations and supplies, far into the unknown regions for exploration and colonization. The stubborn Jedi wants to explore the greater galaxy and establish new territory for both the Jedi and the Republic. The mission will place individuals and Jedi as colonists on far off worlds. The Outbound Flight Vessel is made up of six giant dreadnaught ships, attached to a large core, full of supplies.

Darth Sidious interferes once word reaches him that a Jedi he’s rather fond of, is selected to take part in this mission that would send him out among the unknown stars. The duel stories with Thrawn and Jorus C’baouth collide in a crazy standoff that is so tense, you’ll wish this book put to film. Will Outbound Flight establish new colonies for the Republic? Will Thrawn Leave the Chiss people?

CHARACTERS

Jorus C’baoth: He is a no nonsense type Jedi Master. He’s extremely cocky and well, pretty darn rude. He doesn’t care what others think of him, and he’d rather apologize later rather than ask for permission, only… he wouldn’t apologize. He has no problem taking control and manipulating others into doing his bidding. C’bouth is dead set on taking Outbound Flight into the unknown regions of the galaxy and will do whatever he can to make it happen.

Thrawn: He comes from a race of blue folk, known as the Chiss. This race is unknown to the Republic. Thrawn’s formal name, is Mitth’raw’nuruodo. He’s a commander in the Chiss military, he’s very well organized and thorough. He mannerisms are well calculated. Once you’ve thought of something, odds are, Thrown has already thought of it, and many other calculations in his brain, narrowing down the conclusion to almost every detail of the matter at hand.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

I loved this book! It was so awesome and a pleasure to read. Honestly, I was suffering a little Star Wars fatigue, but this novel reignited the enjoyment of Star Wars reading.

Timothy Zahn develops an alien race with interesting lore that expands the Star Wars universe outside of the known galaxy we are used to reading. Although this is his first appearance of Thrown in the expanded universe, chronologically speaking, he was introduced to the reading community long ago at the rebirth of sorts, of the Expanded Universe, in the Heir to the Empire “Thrawn Trilogy.

Thrawn is a unique character. Sometimes it’s a little too silly that he’s able to predict so much and be the nearly perfect character. For me, Thrawn was handled pretty good in this novel, but what made the book so wonderful for me, is the duel story lines taking place. Jorus C’bouth was such an interesting character. He’s unlike any other Jedi that I’ve read about. I loved to hate him. One of the moments between C’bouth and Thrawn was so tense, my eyes dried up from lack of blinking as I read.

I love the idea that there is space in the galaxy untouched by the Republic. Unknown alien species and technology exist that we are unfamiliar with. That unknown aspect is pretty cool when looking through the eyes of the new alien species, fearing that these strange people randomly show up in your territory and then find out about the Jedi, who weld some strange sorcery.

Timothy Zahn did a great job with describing all the details, painting an excellent minds eye visual of each scene and character interaction. Zahn built his little “sandbox” as they say, and I love everything he did with this story.

So, do I recommend that you read Outbound Flight? A big yes!

RATING

I will give this book an A+. This book may wear off some of that Star Wars fatigue if you’re suffering from such a thing.

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Star Wars: Thrawn Treason Book Review

by Matthew Wilson

Star Wars: Thrawn Treason was written by New York Times Bestselling Author, Timothy Zahn. This is the third and final installment of the canon Trawn trilogy! This tale takes place before the Rebels television series.

SUMMARY: Politics among the Empire’s ranks is ever present in this tale of war and greed. Director Krennic’s Stardust project is hit with delays as an infestation of Grallocs (a cousin of the Mynock), feed on the power of the cargo freighters hauling parts and weapons. These creatures latch onto ships as they fly through space, leading the empire to believe a glitch in the freighters hyperdrive blasts the ships into space, dropping out in the middle nowhere.

Thrawn strikes a deal with Emperor Palpatine, Tarkin and Director Krennic, that if he can solve the Gralloc problem in a certain timeframe, his TIE defender program will receive more funding. Assistant Director Ronan is to accompany Thrawn on the Chimaera (Thrawn’s Star Destroyer) as the mission proceeds. It is on this mission when Grand Admiral Thrawn discovers the Grysks (a terror from the unknown regions), has made their way into imperial space! Also in this discovery, an unexpected reunion takes place, Eli Vanto returns with the Chiss Ascendancy!

Thrawn meets with Vanto and Admiral Ar’alani of the Chiss Ascendancy, making Assistant Director Ronan skeptical of Thrawn. Does Thrawn’s loyalty lie with the Empire or the Chiss Ascendancy? Are Thrawn’s actions treasonous? As the plot thickens, relationships are made and severed as the truth pertaining to the missing Stardust cargo is exposed.

CHARACTERS: This book has several great characters. I will mention only two!

Thrawn: The blue Chiss is calm, cool, and collected. He has a brilliant mind with a knack for outwitting his foes. Thrawn is a problem solver and genuine leader, with no hesitation to promote or reprimand his subordinates. His loyalty to the Empire and to the Chiss Ascendancy is nearly equal, and his hatred for the Grysks is great. His actions appear outright crazy and foolish, yet nothing he does is without forethought based on wisdom he’s acquired.

Ar’alani: Admiral Ar’alani is a of the Chiss Ascendancy. She’s admiral of the ship named Steadfast. She’s understanding of Thrawn’s roll to the Empire, but also can’t help but question where his heart is. She’s a hard leader that follows procedure but also willing to follow Thrawn’s instruction. Ar’alani is dead set on wiping out the Grysks.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: I’ll start off by saying Star Wars: Thrawn Treason is very clever, highly amusing, and extremely exciting! You need to read this! Timothy Zahn is a great writer and handles character development and story elements equally as good. He tends to lean heavy on a more “hard sci-fi” style of writing, compared to a more fantasy based sci-fi. This novel truly was fun to read and I found it hard to put down.

This story has several elements that link to the Catalyst novel, and I think that is brilliant. Not only do we have Director Krennic and Stardust sprinkled in this tale, but Death Troopers! The Death Troopers aren’t just mentioned, we actually follow a few of them on a mission, and it’s awesome! This book really ties into canon that’s already established, making it a great addition to the overall story.

The twists and turns were fashioned in a few different ways. Some felt organic, while others were a little too dramatic. Thrawn’s brilliance can come off too convenient at times, which can take away some of the tension, making certain outcomes predictable. However, the book is full of surprises and wonderful moments. There are indeed some of the most tense situations in recent Star Wars story telling that grab you by the collar and pull you to the edge of your seat.

Well, do I recommend that you read Thrawn Treason by Timothy Zahn? Yes, I’d say this is the best in the Trawn trilogy.

RATING: I will give this novel an A+

Select here to purchase Thrawn Treason

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Thrawn: Treason Initial Reaction

by Matthew Wilson

Admiral Thrawn is back! Timothy Zahn’s third installment of the canon Thrawn trilogy has arrived. The blue Chiss character has a knack for outwitting his opponents, either inside or outside of the Empire. As of this post, I am seven chapters deep in Thrawn: Treason and enjoying every word of it. For a quick assessment and early reaction; the story is on its way to being one of the best in recent publications. The story is simple yet clever, exciting, and amusing.

Some have argued in the past that the character of Thrawn is too perfect or even too boring! I can agree to an extent with those arguments, but Thrawn Treason… so far, is proving to be an outstanding novel!

A full review of Thrawn: Treason will be up very soon. Until then, follow these links to past Thrawn novel reviews for a refresher:

Thrawn

Thrawn: Alliances

Keep an eye out for more book reviews that will be published in the coming weeks, such as two Stranger Things novels, Star Wars: Black Spire, and Star Wars: A Crash of Fate.

Star Wars: Thrawn Alliances Book Review

by Matthew Wilson

Star Wars: Thrawn Alliances Book Review

Star Wars: Thrawn Alliances was written by New York Times Bestselling Author, Timothy Zahn.

This is the second novel in canon staring the legendary character, Thrawn! The novel takes place on the timeline after the first Thrawn book, as well as A New Dawn and during events in the Rebels television series.

SUMMARY:

So the Clone Wars era, Padme answers a call on Batuu, a planet on the edge of the unknown regions. She runs into trouble, causing Anakin to search for her. On this quest, Anakin meets Thrawn. It’s great stuff… but I’ll leave it at that.

During the Galactic Civil War era, Emperor Palpatine senses a disturbance in the Force generated from a great distance, the unknown regions. He calls upon Grand Admiral Thrawn and Darth Vader to seek out the source.

The duo isn’t too thrilled to have to work together, but they do so. Vader is appalled by Thrawn’s social/leading tactics, he lets his subordinates speak to him freely. Vader does not trust Thrawn, he’s suspicions of his loyalty to the Empire.

On this mission. They indeed discover a looming threat over the galaxy. Spoiler alert, spoiler alert, I’m going to mention the threat in 3… 2… 1… The Grysk! An alien species on the prowl ton concur the galaxy! They are brutal, and they have been watching the Empire, studying their tactics.

CHARACTERS:

Anakin: He’s the complete opposite of Thrawn and he’s a Jedi! He’s arrogant, likes to shoot first, (or slash with a lightsaber) and ask questions later. Who needs a solid plan when you can wing it? He’s demanding and focused on executing his will.

Vader: Bits of his past still linger, though now, he’s a Dark Lord of the Sith. He’s angry, takes nothing from nobody. He takes charge with force (pun not intended). He doesn’t trust Thrawn or his loyalty to the Empire. Vader uses a familiar Force power in an all new way that I found incredible. (Not spoiling it in this review)

Finally, I didn’t expect to mention Padme… but I will. She’s whiney, and expects others to drop what their doing to assist her in accomplishing her goals. She’s also a horrible liar, but what else can you expect from a politician?

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

The alternating timeline doesn’t bother me in this book, Zahn does a great job switching between the timelines and with writing the characters as they would appear to be during the time in which the story is taking place. However, as interesting as the story is during the Clone Wars era with Anakin, Padme, and Thrawn… I couldn’t help but want to skip over it to get to the Galactic civil war era material.

Bringing some things from the prequel era is important, and when I say that, I’m meaning the films. We have Anakin and Padme together, we have R2D2 and his jet boosters. I wonder if those boosters were always in George’s mind for R2?

I really hope that this book is the introduction to a much larger universe that will continue on in other books, shows, and future films. There is a possible hint at the origins of The Skywalker name as well! The Chiss are an amazing species that I’d love to see more of. The threat in the unknown regions seems legit. I don’t know we’d get anything more with that within the Skywalker saga. However, in other novels, we’ve read that the First Order had to overcome a powerful force. I think it would be great to have this threat explored in a film or streaming show!

Do I recommend you read Star Wars: Thrawn Alliances? Well, if you’ve been waiting for the Star Wars galaxy to Expanded in canon… yes!

RATING:

Star Wars: Thrawn Book Review

by Matthew Wilson

SPOILER FREE

Star Wars: Thrawn is written by New York Times Bestselling Author Timothy Zahn. Zahn is no stranger to the Star Wars galaxy, he is the mastermind behind the Legends canon epic known as the Thrawn Trilogy: Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command. I’ll provide links to amazon below so you can pick those up if dont already have them!

Summary: The empire takes a mysterious alien into custody. Due to the rarity of the individual, the officer in command decides to deliver the alien directly to the Emperor as some sort of trophy. The bond is formed immediately between the Emperor and this alien, a Chiss named Thrawn. Thrawn swears his loyalty to the Empire. His impressive background and military expertise leads Thrawn to many successes in the Empire, climbing the ranks faster than anyone else. Because of his alien species he does face adversaries which brings him some strife, but there isn’t much he can’t handle.

The antagonist in the novel is brilliant, only Thrawn stands a chance at piecing the puzzles together that are laid out by this individual, called Nightswan. He’s responsible for theft of a strong material that is being used by the Empire to build a certain military space station. The side story involves a young woman, Arihnda Pryce and her struggle with power and success. I want to tread lightly and not reveal spoilers, so moving on.

Characters: Because Thrawn was loaded with so many fantastic characters, I’m going to mention three of them.

Thrawn: calculated, well spoken, and well trained. The mains a military genius. He is a strange being to the known galaxy, only myths exist of the alien species, the Chiss. Thrawn is the man you’d want on your side. I found myself routing for him… I should be, because he’s a filthy imperial. To better understand his foes, he studies their art. Thrawn is one of the most elaborate and impressive character we’ve been gifted in the new canon.

Pryce: A woman from Lothal. I was actually impressed by this character, she was secondary, and somewhat disconnected from the story of Thrawn, but her story was just as fun and interesting. Her path is a crazy one. I liked this character but by the end of the book, I hated her. Not because she was poorly written, but because of her personality and what she does. Only after this book did I find out she’s in the Rebels TV show.

Finally, Eli Vanto: The character I feel a lot of us regular guys can relate to, you have plans, you can see your success paying off, then crap just hits the fan and you wind up in places or situations you never expected. I routed for Vanto from page one.

Overall Thoughts: This book is absolutley amazing! If you are a Legends fan who can’t bring yourself to read a canon book… but your watching or reading this review anyway, do yourself a favor and pick up this book. Timothy Zahn can seriously write a novel. I’ve heard folks complain that there wasn’t enough action in the book, I found just the right amount. The perfect balance of action and politics. This novel focuses on thing that is very very important, that a lot of books on both the new canon and Legends lack. STORY!

As of now, I’m going to claim that Thrawn is definitely in my top 3 canon novels. I think this is the first book I’ve read that demands a trilogy. I hope Thrawn survives season 4 of Rebels… a show I don’t watch, so we can get more books focuses on his character.

Rating: I give this book a 5 out of 5

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