Just finished my re-read of the opening salvo in the peerless Thrawn trilogy. The Rocky Balboa of Star Wars! Take that, Chuck Wendig! Feel the pain, J.J. Abrams!
Ahhh, yes. Home again, with our favorite characters. Such a ground-breaking series, as well. Page 106 is the first mention of a little Star Wars novelty known as: Rogue Squadron! Led by Commander Wedge Antilles, we know (from the climatic battle of Sluis Van) that the Rogues have 12 members, that they fly X-wings, and that Red Five (no other name given) is Wedge's wingman. No doubt we'll learn more in the next installment.
Lando. Han. Leia. Chewie. Luke. Ackbar. Mon Mothma.
The insufferable Borsk Fey'lya. Mara Jade. Talon Karrde. Grand Admiral Thrawn. The psychotic Joruus C'baoth clone. Interdictor cruisers invented on page 175.
Grand adventure. A big story, without another superweapon. Compelling characters, old and new. Great use of tech from the WEG archives.
Simply a wonderful read. Well deserving of its place in the Star Wars firmament. Fits well with the stellar Han Solo Trilogy. I don't care about the "Legends" appellation: I succeeded in my Will save to disbelieve. This book simply outperforms almost every piece of junk Disney has released thus far. By a wide margin.
Well done, once again, Mr. Zahn. I eagerly await the re-reads of numbers 2 and 3.
