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alizrak · 5 years

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Thrawn Treason Review

You know me. You know how much I love Thrawn and Zahn, but I’ll try to be as objective as I can with this.

At first I was going to give it a 8/10 but having these few days to go over my feelings and putting the issues I found to words, I believe I’ll have to make that a 7.5/10. I liked Treason, but I liked Thrawn and Alliances better.

This is my spoiler free review comparison:

Thrawn 2017 - 9/10 I loved the heart this book. Just watching the struggles that Thrawn and Eli faced to get to the top was worth it. I was surprised by the revelations and implications the story had for the Galaxy at large… but especially by how emotionally charged the ending was.

Alliances - 8/10 Anakin and young Thrawn were amazing and so fun. There were several emotional scenes and a HUGE setting up for potential story lines now that we know Ezra and Thrawn are lost out there in the UR, but I’ll be honest and say I had a few problems with some slow parts.

Treason - 7.5/10 What I loved about Treason were the characters. I wish we could have explored them more but the plot didn’t allow it. If I had one request for Zahn in the next book it would be less math, more character development. There are other issues but I’ll explain them below the cut.

Now, the full review:

[SPOILERS FROM THRAWN, ALLIANCES, OUTBOUND FLIGHT AND TREASON AHEAD]

Positive:

The story was very fast paced. There was always something going on, people doing a thing, going places, trying to stay a step ahead, not a moment to spare. Some parts from the previous books felt like they were dragging their feet so this was a change of pace.

The book was mostly serious compared to the hilarity we got from Anakin and Thrawn, and even Vader and Thrawn in the last book, although there are a few fun gems too with Ronan and how everyone reacts to Krennic.

Zahn also did a splendid job to establish the grysk as a -real- threat. In Alliances I couldn’t help but feel the Grysk were too similar to the Vagaari but with more black mail. Now, we get to partially see how they keep their slave/clients in control which is… scary. Really scary. I even think there might be some Force domination at work but I guess the only way to be sure would be for Ezra to confirm it if he ever gets to meet them in the future with Thrawn.

The book it’s at its strongest when the main characters interact. I liked the personality of the new characters and they feel very distinctive from one another. Ronan was a rollercoaster of “I like him- I hate him”. Ar'alani was amazing to have back after reading her in Outbound Flight. Every time she talked with Thrawn, Eli or Faro it was a top notch experience.

Faro is having second thoughts on her competence because she thinks she might have let down Thrawn in some way, Eli continues to be the goodest space cowboi in the Galaxy which I love and cherish, and Thrawn… well, Thrawn is Thrawn, which is both good and bad. Also the new Chiss girl was interesting but I hoped we could have learned more of them.

My issues:

The plot quickly shifts from a politically charged bet to get rid of pests, to a big conspiracy to con resources out of Stardust, to overly complicated battle plans against an invasion force that you must follow closely word by word to try to visualize and understand what is happening... or you will get lost. That’s going to be a problem for a lot of people. I struggled.

I actually felt tense and exhausted because there was no chance to catch your breath before we got another invisible Grysk ship or complicated puzzle to solve with science. When Thrawn explains a plan I honestly feel like I’m getting a class on astrophysics and thermodynamics. I didn’t need every little detail of how everything will work down to the angles because I started to get lost. Looking back I realize that perhaps a good third of the book might be comparing data, analyzing said data, making an intricate mathematical plan, revising the data and applying it. I commend Zahn for his amazing descriptions at how they get to a solution, but even for me it was a little too much. I feel a bunch of that time could have been used to develop a few other issues that we were misled to expect…

For example, we were technically lied in the premise of the book. The premise at the back was the one it was marketed by the publishers and SWs and speaks how Eli seeks out Thrawn to warn him about a big problem in Csilla… and that never happens. Not even close. They stumble into each other by accident when their respective “prey” encounter each other. That was a let down. I expected more information on Csilla and interactions between Eli and Thrawn. In fact, they were barely in the same room, let alone... alone. I’m starting to fear steps were taken from high up to tell Zahn to “tone them down”, going as far as hinting a possible female interest for Eli because Eli and Thrawn have undoubtedly gained certain popularity. I’d think this is the case, as even Zahn wrote Eli wondering why was Thrawn being so aloof towards him and chalking up to having to be professional in public. That’s too much of a coincidence. In any case, many of us came hoping to see how their friendship from the first book had evolved after such a long time... but it just fell flat.

Next is the inconsistencies with time. Those who are also fans of Rebels know that from the moment Thrawn leaves Lothal a number of events happen that critically endangered the TIE Defender project. We get at the beginning of the book one such scene: Thrawn speaking with Tarkin, asking him to come to Coruscant. We get it from Faro’s pov, allowing us to have another look at that talk and a little more of Thrawn’s insight on what might happen if they leave Pryce in charge. He assumes the Rebels will attempt to rescue Hera and might succeed given Pryce is emotionally compromised. The moment Thrawn left Lothal, a timer started in my head to the next scene linked to these events in Rebels: the very next day Thrawn would have a holocall and confront Pryce for her incompetence, he would look more than just displeased… he would be angry. A type of frustration that carried on to the finale where he seems ‘incredibly done’ with everything and he’s trying to salvage the situation as best as he can. That’s… that’s a big thing if we are talking about Thrawn.

As a lover of Rebels and the Thrawn books I expected to get the answer that explained why Thrawn was acting like that. So, as the plot developed, battles were won, puzzles were solved and treasons were unearthed, I started to realize the book was running out. I wondered if something would happen at the end that messed everything up and his call with Pryce would be the last strand. But there was no call. The book ended. A whole week had somehow passed already. I was aghast. At no point it felt we were witnessing the events of several days. The book talked of hours passing by so I assumed this would be “Thrawn and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day”… but instead he seems satisfied with the results even though he lost the bet on a technicality and, just like that, Thrawn states he must return to Lothal in the brevity. So in the end, Thrawn simply gets a holo meeting with the Emperor who is not exactly satisfied with his results and questions a his loyalty a little, so they will talk about that after Thrawn gets the Jedi chamber into the Chimaera and brings back Ezra to him. Aaaand the book ends. I was… stunned.

There were no answers here. And Zahn didn’t seem to align the most important story arc of Rebels and how it affects Thrawn other than a mention at the beginning and the very end. For someone who is painfully detail oriented with their battles, this was a huge oversight. You could even argue this plot could have happened at any point in S4 but Zahn saw an opportunity to patch it right after Jedi Night.

In any case. While we get a few lovely scenes with Eli and the Chiss… there’s one thing that has become what I regard as emotional highlight for the last few Thrawn books: even though Thrawn wins, he loses something that you could regard as personal. In Thrawn (2017) he loses Nightswan, a rival and almost an equal he hoped could become and ally, as well as “losing” Eli by doing the best for him by sending him away. In Alliances he let’s go of Anakin, both in the past and the hope that he can bring him back in the present. Even more importantly, in Outbound Flight he loses Thrass. But there’s no such thing here. Thrawn wins the battle but loses the funding bet and still doesn’t look phased.

Also, compared to the previous books, there was no point in which Thrawn wasn’t in control of the situation. In the first book Thrawn was a little at a loss with the politics and society which is why Eli was always doing his best to help him. In Alliances, the real danger was the possibility of Vader having the last word on whether or not help him retrieve the girls and stop the Grysk. It was something out of his control, and it showed. I hoped the third book was Thrawn facing an impossible choice, hence Treason. But it wasn’t. It was Thrawn slightly bending Imperial protocol and rules like we are used to by now. I suppose that’s on me. I wished we had seen *something* that Thrawn can't face with logic. Treason ends there, just as Ezra was about to become that *something* immediately after you close the book.

Overall, the enjoyment of this book may vary at certain points if you don’t like math battles or care too much about the timeline. I don’t feel there wasn’t any big revelation like in the two previous books like Thrawn saying there were bigger threats than the Empire lurking int he UR and that he playing the long game to replace the Emperor. In Alliances we got the bomb with the Chiss navigators and how their powers work different than the rest of Force Users. I don’t feel anything in Treason gets to that level. Nothing happens that changes your perception of the Galaxy at large or even the story that was happening parallel to it Rebels. You could arguably skip this book but you would be missing some great Eli, Faro and Ar’alani content that makes this book truly shine.

I’ll reread it soon but now I’ll likely skip on the battles and focus on the characters because ELI IS JUST THE BEST AND YOU ALL KNOW IT. xD

#Star Wars #Star Wars Rebels #Thrawn Treason #Thrawn #Review #Spoilers

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