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I reread The Thrawn Trilogy and the Hand of Thrawn Duology recently.
Timothy Zahn is so very much more awesome than I could have thought. Previous readings were circa 2005, when I'd just finished seeing "Revenge of the Sith" and was afire with blind love for Star Wars. I read all the Star Wars novels. All of them. I went and bought every novel that wasn't part of the local library. This includes every part of the New Jedi Order, though at least I waited until I'd read everything else before I got to that. I think the Thrawn books were read fairly on, and they were part of the huge block of books that didn't leave much impression on me one way or another. I was bored and confused by Stackpole's X-Wing novels, I liked Allston's run, Hambly bored and frustrated me, "I, Jedi" was good, the Jedi Academy Trilogy was incredibly stupid, and the anthologies were an incredibly mixed bag - otherwise, I didn't really form an opinion on any of them. Not until I was hip-deep in the NJO and struggling while authors tried to make me hate characters I'd liked just fine before.
Couple years ago when my family went on vacation I took "The Courtship of Princess Leia" with me, found at various points that when I had nothing to do, points where I normally read, I didn't want to read. Because, while it left no impression on me the first time, the second time, I hated that book. Dear gods, I hated that book. I suppose this was around the time where I started being pickier about books, noticing that most books in the Young Adult section with female protagonists feature clumsy spineless jellyheads who totter from one event to the next, get saved by Big Strong Perfect Temperamental Guys who are inexplicably in love with them, and never aquire a clue, confidence, or any vestige of competence. My expectations for female protagonists were set up by Tamora Pierce, and they are worlds higher than those ninnyhammers ever dream of matching! But that's besides the point.
Don't get me wrong, I still love Star Wars. I'll not get into that now, since essay-length screeds get old. But while my loathing for the Dark Nest Trilogy, what comes after, and Karen Traviss knows no end, I haven't stopped reading the books. Just not Traviss books, or anything past the NJO. And when I read "Allegiance", it was a delight. The kind that comes with curled toes, squealing, and the desire to bite something out of joy. Apparently I like stormtroopers being complicated and competent.
I read the other Zahn books in my library. "Green and the Gray" bored and confused me, moreso than "The Icarus Project" or whatever the title was. The Dragonback series was good. I read "Survivor's Quest" and found it good even if it was sad in the end, and then "Outbound Flight" when it came out. Which was good, but one of the heaviest downers I have ever read. I mean wow. Wow. Zahn karking broke my heart! They died to save those who were left - and from "Survivor's Quest" I know how horribly they were remembered! Even Luke and Mara didn't figure out what had happened! Heavy downer!
And most recently, I reread the Thrawn books.
Zahn is amazing. I kept having trouble getting into them at first, and once I was enough pages in it becomes so addictive. He weaves together the narrative. Characters in groups part, the narrative follows them as they meet and part again, they all do things... I can't really describe it. But it all seems totally natural. He has all these flicks of other events, mentions of other places and events and people, which hint at the vastness of the 'verse without being heavyhanded about it - the Hand of Thrawn books are stocked with offhand references to other books as well as more new things. He reads the other books. When he uses things from them, he has read the books themselves! That may seem a small thing, but after Traviss? Hah!
And I love his Imperials. I cannot express how much I love his Imperials. Seriously, I can't. But I love them. As I've gotten older I've had a stronger and stronger kneejerk reaction to flat-out Always Chaotic Evil governments/cultures/species. I love that Zahn's Imperials aren't simplified, they aren't two-dimensional idiot thugs. I really do. Pellaeon! Pellaeon is the best! I love a lot of his characters, but Pellaeon more than the others. (Sorry Mara, Karrde, Thrawn. I like you. But I like Pellaeon better. I mean, peace treaty with the New Republic!)
Finishing them is actually a bit of a downer. It's like... well, what now? I'm sad that they're over! By the time it gets going the narrative is gripping me hard, and there's practically pain when it finally lets go. I wish more Star Wars EU was written by authors of Zahn's caliber.
Imagine if he'd written the script for the prequel trilogy. Oooooh. Lucas would've provided the basic framework, so the general path would be the same, and he'd probably have additions and work on some details, and people would complain about characters using "Point" (as in, "Good point")... It would be so awesome. I don't object to most of the ideas of the prequel trilogy, just the ways they were carried out.
I'm forgetting something... Oh, right. It was sixty-six years from the Wright brothers to Apollo Eleven. It's been forty years since Apollo Eleven. This song gives me goosebumps.
Dragons.
Timothy Zahn is so very much more awesome than I could have thought. Previous readings were circa 2005, when I'd just finished seeing "Revenge of the Sith" and was afire with blind love for Star Wars. I read all the Star Wars novels. All of them. I went and bought every novel that wasn't part of the local library. This includes every part of the New Jedi Order, though at least I waited until I'd read everything else before I got to that. I think the Thrawn books were read fairly on, and they were part of the huge block of books that didn't leave much impression on me one way or another. I was bored and confused by Stackpole's X-Wing novels, I liked Allston's run, Hambly bored and frustrated me, "I, Jedi" was good, the Jedi Academy Trilogy was incredibly stupid, and the anthologies were an incredibly mixed bag - otherwise, I didn't really form an opinion on any of them. Not until I was hip-deep in the NJO and struggling while authors tried to make me hate characters I'd liked just fine before.
Couple years ago when my family went on vacation I took "The Courtship of Princess Leia" with me, found at various points that when I had nothing to do, points where I normally read, I didn't want to read. Because, while it left no impression on me the first time, the second time, I hated that book. Dear gods, I hated that book. I suppose this was around the time where I started being pickier about books, noticing that most books in the Young Adult section with female protagonists feature clumsy spineless jellyheads who totter from one event to the next, get saved by Big Strong Perfect Temperamental Guys who are inexplicably in love with them, and never aquire a clue, confidence, or any vestige of competence. My expectations for female protagonists were set up by Tamora Pierce, and they are worlds higher than those ninnyhammers ever dream of matching! But that's besides the point.
Don't get me wrong, I still love Star Wars. I'll not get into that now, since essay-length screeds get old. But while my loathing for the Dark Nest Trilogy, what comes after, and Karen Traviss knows no end, I haven't stopped reading the books. Just not Traviss books, or anything past the NJO. And when I read "Allegiance", it was a delight. The kind that comes with curled toes, squealing, and the desire to bite something out of joy. Apparently I like stormtroopers being complicated and competent.
I read the other Zahn books in my library. "Green and the Gray" bored and confused me, moreso than "The Icarus Project" or whatever the title was. The Dragonback series was good. I read "Survivor's Quest" and found it good even if it was sad in the end, and then "Outbound Flight" when it came out. Which was good, but one of the heaviest downers I have ever read. I mean wow. Wow. Zahn karking broke my heart! They died to save those who were left - and from "Survivor's Quest" I know how horribly they were remembered! Even Luke and Mara didn't figure out what had happened! Heavy downer!
And most recently, I reread the Thrawn books.
Zahn is amazing. I kept having trouble getting into them at first, and once I was enough pages in it becomes so addictive. He weaves together the narrative. Characters in groups part, the narrative follows them as they meet and part again, they all do things... I can't really describe it. But it all seems totally natural. He has all these flicks of other events, mentions of other places and events and people, which hint at the vastness of the 'verse without being heavyhanded about it - the Hand of Thrawn books are stocked with offhand references to other books as well as more new things. He reads the other books. When he uses things from them, he has read the books themselves! That may seem a small thing, but after Traviss? Hah!
And I love his Imperials. I cannot express how much I love his Imperials. Seriously, I can't. But I love them. As I've gotten older I've had a stronger and stronger kneejerk reaction to flat-out Always Chaotic Evil governments/cultures/species. I love that Zahn's Imperials aren't simplified, they aren't two-dimensional idiot thugs. I really do. Pellaeon! Pellaeon is the best! I love a lot of his characters, but Pellaeon more than the others. (Sorry Mara, Karrde, Thrawn. I like you. But I like Pellaeon better. I mean, peace treaty with the New Republic!)
Finishing them is actually a bit of a downer. It's like... well, what now? I'm sad that they're over! By the time it gets going the narrative is gripping me hard, and there's practically pain when it finally lets go. I wish more Star Wars EU was written by authors of Zahn's caliber.
Imagine if he'd written the script for the prequel trilogy. Oooooh. Lucas would've provided the basic framework, so the general path would be the same, and he'd probably have additions and work on some details, and people would complain about characters using "Point" (as in, "Good point")... It would be so awesome. I don't object to most of the ideas of the prequel trilogy, just the ways they were carried out.
I'm forgetting something... Oh, right. It was sixty-six years from the Wright brothers to Apollo Eleven. It's been forty years since Apollo Eleven. This song gives me goosebumps.
Dragons.
