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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Alzrius" data-source="post: 9767003" data-attributes="member: 8461">I just finished reading Timothy Zahn's 2017 novel <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_Thrawn" target="_blank">Star Wars: Thrawn</a>.Those who've noticed my prior mentions about how I've <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/the-mandalorian-grogu-trailer.715417/post-9760197" target="_blank">fallen out of love</a> with Star Wars, and that I had no particular affection for the <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/unpopular-geek-media-opinions.701155/post-9735765" target="_blank">original novel</a> where Thrawn appeared, might be surprised by my having chosen this for reading material.If that's the case, then I suspect that it's because I've done a bad job of explaining how I came to those opinions. To make things short and sweet, it's because most recent Star Wars projects (i.e. the sequel trilogy and almost everything that's come after it) haven't felt very engaging to me, whereas Zahn's Heir to the Empire felt (to borrow a quote from someone else's review) like a good science fiction novel but not a particularly good Star Wars novel.This one, however, feels better in that regard.At the risk of making this more about me than about the book, I think that Star Wars works at its best when it sticks to its original operatic tenor. While that necessarily rules out certain kinds of stories, I think that's worthwhile; maintaining a coherent identity, in my mind, necessitates not trying to be all things to all people. Even when spread across different instances of media, I'm of the opinion that trying to make something be different things runs the risk of diluting it more than broadening its appeal (though I'll admit there are techniques for ameliorating this).What I think makes this book work is that, unlike Heir to the Empire, there's an operatic theme to it. In this story, which follows the course of Thrawn's rise to prominence within the ranks of the Galactic Empire, there's a sense of...not tragedy, but almost fatalism, that follows the course of events. While Thrawn himself isn't given to bouts of melancholy, his presentation is one that can be characterized as "detached." Having a brilliant tactical mind, with no concern for politics or ideology, and seemingly no ambition but to do his absolute best at whatever he's engaged with, Thrawn's seeming lack of emotion evokes the idea of a tragic character without actually making him into one.Of course, this doesn't precisely match his presentation in Rebels (which I generally liked) or in Ahsoka (which I didn't), but the cynic in me can't help but ascribe at least part of that to his having a different narrative role there. While Thrawn's talents stand on their own, his hyper-competence is thrown into stark relief by his being surrounded by people who are more focused on politics, ideology, or simple bigotry; this is a character for whom "not carrying the idiot ball" is a superpower.But that's easier to pull off when you're the protagonist of the media in question, as Thrawn in here.Contrast that with his appearances in Rebels and Ahsoka, where the script needs him to lose tactical engagements against characters who are his tactical inferiors. That's much harder to pull off, and part of why I think this novel succeeds more than Thrawn's appearances in other media; in that regard, Zahn is writing the character on a metaphorical "easy mode."On a tangential note, it took me far longer than it should have to realize that this novel is, in many ways, a prequel to Rebels. That's largely because I don't see Thrawn as a Rebels-specific character, and had completely forgotten the character of <a href="https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Arihnda_Pryce" target="_blank">Arihnda Pryce</a>, who's a major secondary character here. Chalk that one up to my having put most things Star Wars-related out of my mind, I suppose.Still, I liked this enough that I wouldn't be averse to reading the sequel novel, Star Wars: Alliances, which deals with Thrawn's working relationship with Darth Vader.I may not be a fan of Star Wars anymore, but I'll admit that I get goosebumps at the idea of an entire book about those two working together.</blockquote>

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