Thrawn Ascendancy: Chaos Rising Book Review

By: Christian Corah

Descriptives

Page count: Kindle Edition, 390 pages

Author: Timothy Zahn

Timeline: 18 BBY

Intended Audience: Adult

Main characters: Thrawn, Che’ri, Thalias, Ar’alani, and others

Brief synopsis: With potential dangers rising within the Chaos, Thrawn is determined to sniff out and destroy any threat to the Chiss Ascendancy.

Gut Feeling

Before getting into my review of Thrawn Ascendancy, I want to point out that I have not finished reading Zahn’s newest Canon trilogy yet. I have only read the first book of the series (you can read that review here) and have merely begun the second. Because of that, I have likely missed many Thrawn Easter Eggs scattered throughout this novel.

That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed Thrawn Ascendancy. It contained everything that I enjoyed about Thrawn, but somehow I enjoyed this book even more. While I do enjoy Thrawn in Rebels, he is truly at his best in book form with Zahn in control. Throughout almost the entire read, it inspired critical thinking: teasing me to think one step ahead of Thrawn (I could never do it). Even though it took me about a month to read, I never wanted to stop reading when I got into it. It was consistently good from beginning to end. It is clear that I like this book a lot and that it deserves the praise that is getting, so let's see just how high it will score.

Characters (10/10 pts)

This section is surprisingly one of the strongest, if not the strongest, part of the book. It is not that I expected the characters to be bad, as I gave characters a perfect score in Thrawn, I just didn’t expect them to be this good. Zahn’s strength in characters usually lies in their depth. That is, we usually have a great understanding of what makes each character tick. He really delves into their thoughts and backgrounds to accomplish this. Even though this strength was certainly present in Thrawn Ascendancy, it was also accompanied by a strong emotional connection to certain characters. Specifically, I was attached to 10 year old Che’ri. I felt agony whenever she was in danger and was filled with euphoria whenever she experienced success. While I do care what happens with Thrawn, this emotional connection is not as present. This greatly improves the overall quality of the book, which is already excellent. 

And, of course, Zahn focused a considerable amount of the book on applying character development/background to Thrawn. As Thrawn has traditionally been the villain of the story, he was not in Thrawn Ascendancy. This really gives us a new perspective on this character. We also get to see him interact outside the realms of the Empire within the Chiss Ascendancy. This gives us a more complete understanding of the character and clues us in to how he became the character we are more familiar with in Rebels and Zahn’s previous Canon trilogy. Zahn outdid himself here with the characters and easily earns a full 10 points.

Writing Style (9/10 pts)

It is no surprise that Zahn is one of the more accomplished Star Wars authors. And as this group of authors all produce work of a high quality, this says a lot about the writing ability of Zahn. His writing style is rather dense, with many details included on each page. When this happens, it can take away from the readability of the novel. It is a tradeoff. However, this is not the case with Zahn’s work. The work is still easy to read, and even more so in this book when compared to Thrawn. My only critique of Zahn’s writing style is that the dialogue is a bit awkward at points. I understand that the way Thrawn communicates is unique, but some of the conversations do not sound completely authentic. But this doesn’t hurt the score much, it only keeps it from being perfect. I am giving 9 points.

Plot (8.5/10 pts)

The plot in Thrawn Ascendancy felt rather similar to that of Thrawn: not exactly in its content, but in its flow. The book started out exciting and it had a slow build up to a climactic finish. While there were certain peaks and valleys throughout the book, they served well to move the plot along and I always knew the situation wasn’t revlovled, which only built anticipation for the ending. And the ending was certainly exciting. It wrapped up the story for this book, but still opened the door for an exciting second book, which is what it was supposed to do. It also benefited from numerous “Memories” sections that delved into past moments of Thrawn’s life. This gave not only a better understanding of Thrawn’s character, but also a better understanding of the overall story. This is something that Zahn accomplishes well in most of his novels. My only criticism of the book is that it didn’t quite feel like the first book in a trilogy. Even though it did open the door for the next book, the story of this novel felt too self-contained. However, this is difficult to determine before the next book comes out. So, I will not be taking away significant points for that and am still giving a strong score of 8.5 points.

Intrigue (8/10 pts)

Since this novel is led by characters, it is the development of characters that is largely the source of intrigue throughout the novel. Although there are some exciting space battles and fights with villains, we are more concerned with the development of characters. The climax of the book does peak the intrigue, but it is not the main focus. Throughout most of the book, the motivation to keep reading was because I wanted to learn more about Thrawn, other characters, the Chiss Ascendancy, and the Chaos instead of being on the edge of my seating waiting to see what is going to happen next. This intrigue is good, and I will still give an above average score, but, for books that keep me on the edge of my seat, I will give a higher score. It is nothing against Zahn or the novel, it is just the nature of the story that he is telling. I am giving 8 points for the intrigue. 

What does it add? (10/10 pts)

This section was the biggest surprise for me. Thrawn was a great story, but it didn’t really have any room to add anything to the Star Wars universe. So, I expected mostly the same from Thrawn Ascendancy. Boy, was I wrong. While we have been somewhat familiar with the Chiss and their culture, this book really dove deep into it. We really got a good understanding of one of the more complex and interesting species in the Star Wars universe. Also, the entire region of the Chaos is essentially a new world to Star Wars full of new planets and villains. Even though it is set during the time period of the Clone Wars, and this is evident through certain scenes within the book, it feels like the book is set in a different galaxy. And that is certainly not a negative thing. The appeal of the High Republic content is that it will be new, and that is what we get from Ascendancy. For those of you that want a Star Wars novel separate from the Skywalker Saga, this could be the perfect book for you.

While everything above would have given a great score to the novel, it is not what I’m the most focused on. I really want to avoid spoilers when talking about this subject, so I will tiptoe around it. But there are certain people within the Chiss Ascendancy that appear Force sensitive, but are unlike what are used to with Jedi and Sith. Whenever we get content of Force sensitive beings outside of the norm (like the Force Wielders on Mortis), we end up learning a lot. Both what they do with the powers and how the powers interact with them make it very interesting. It certainly sparked a lot of conversation during the TSO Book Club Podcast. You can check that out here, but be aware that many spoilers will be present.

I am surprised to be giving this score, but I see no other option: 10 points for what Thrawn Ascendancy adds to Star Wars.

Logic (0 pts)

There is nothing in Thrawn Ascendancy that added to nor took away from the logic within the Star Wars universe. So, I am neither adding nor taking away extra points. 

Final Thoughts

My final score for Thrawn Ascendancy is a 9.1/10, or an A minus. I do not give many books an A, as it will join only four others with a grade this high. I went over the scores multiple times to make sure that it was right and I see no other answer than that it deserves such a high score. There is simply no weakness in the story. This is surprising because it is the first in a series, and usually the books just keep getting better. If that is the case, this trilogy may be one of the best in Star Wars. If you have not read Thrawn Ascendancy yet, I definitely recommend it. There is something within it for every Star Wars and science fiction fan.

I hope you enjoyed this book review and if there is a book that you want me to read or review, please let me know at christiancorah@gmail.com. As for now, I will only be doing Canon books (but in the future that might change).

Thrawn Book Review

By: Christian Corah

Descriptives

Page count: Paperback, 470

Author: Timothy Zahn

Intended audience: Adult

Timeline: Between 13 and 11 BBY

Main characters: Thrawn, Ahrinda Pryce, and Eli Vanto

Brief synopsis: After mysteriously being picked up by the Empire, Thrawn starts to apply his military genius to the Empire and rapidly rises in rank.

Gut Feeling

I think I understand the hype behind Thrawn’s character and this trilogy. I have already started the second book of this series, am currently reading the new Thrawn novel, and have started rewatching Rebels just to get some more of Thrawn. I am very glad they decided to make his character Canon again as I’m sure that Legends Thrawn was pretty awesome too. That being said, I enjoyed this book more than I expected. Especially because all of the main characters of the book were fairly new (aside from Rebels), this makes it more difficult for me to buy into it. Because of that, it took a little while for the book to get going, but once it did, I was definitely hooked! I don’t have too many specifics to say that won’t be covered in the rest of the review, so I’ll just say that I loved this book and am excited to continue the series!

Characters (10/10 pts)

As I mentioned, the main characters in Thrawn were almost all new. Even though they had some appearances in Rebels, Ahrinda Pryce and Eli Vanto are not mainstream characters. Also, Thrawn is fairly new to Canon as well. Because of that, Zahn had his work cut out for him to develop these characters and cause the readers to like them. For the most part, the book follows two different storylines. One was of Thrawn and Eli Vanto and the other followed Ahrinda Pryce. From my experience in Star Wars novels, when there are two storylines like this, usually one is more interesting and well developed than the other. And usually, the storyline that the reader becomes less invested in is the one without the main character. So, I expected the story of Ahrinda Pryce to be rather boring. Boy was I wrong. All three of these characters were great. Their stories were compelling and relatable. When I was reading about Thrawn and Eli, I found myself wondering what Ahrinda was up to- and vice versa. Thrawn didn’t even overshadow Eli’s character. Eli shone almost as proudly as Thrawn. I say almost because Thrawn was the most developed character in this story, as he should be. I learned a lot about how he thinks, his motivations, and his behavior while also wanting to learn more. Good thing there are more books! Thrawn gets a perfect score for the characters.

Writing Style (9/10 pts)

Another Star Wars novel and we have yet another New York Times Bestselling Author. This book was pretty long and was dense with many details. Usually, when that happens, the book is difficult to read, but this was not the case with Zahn’s writing. The details included were both interesting and vital to the story. It also never really felt like too much. So despite it being dense, I still found it rather easy to read. The book was also dialogue-driven at points. While this was effective at expressing the character’s thoughts, the dialogue did feel a little awkward at points. While I understand that Thrawn’s character does speak differently, this wasn’t exclusive to his character. This is the only reason I am not giving full points for the writing style. It is left with a still great score of 9 points.

Plot (9.5/10 pts)

The plot was very strong. Perhaps more importantly, it really felt like the first book in a series. While alone it was a very exciting story, it set the stage for what I hope are excellent second and third books. The only downside I have for the plot is that it did start pretty slow. Zahn did a lot of work developing these characters from the ground up. However, it paid off well. There were balanced amounts of peaks and valleys and the peaks felt a little bit higher each time they came around. This appropriately raised the excitement until it reached an exciting and climactic finish. The book also successfully reached a satisfying closure for each character, which is no easy task. However, along with giving closure, it also opened up the story for new beginnings for each character- again making the reader excited for the next books. Overall, the plot was near perfect. I am giving 9.5 points.

Intrigue (9.5/10 pts)

Once I got past the character development stage of the novel, it became very intriguing. Even though it was dense, I found myself lost in the details. They were thought-provoking and I loved it. As the characters were thinking through different problems, it caused me to do the same. This really put the reader inside of the novel and made it so compelling. It was a book that I didn’t want to come to an end. That isn’t always the case for books that I read, especially books this long. But Zahn accomplished it anyway. 9.5 points for Intrigue. 

What does it add? (6.5/10 pts)

Here we arrive at perhaps the weakest point of the novel. When considering what Thrawn added to the Star Wars universe, I’m pretty limited to thinking Thrawn and his species, the Chiss. While Thrawn alone is an awesome addition to the Star Wars universe, he was already a character in Rebels. So instead of introducing an awesome new character, Thrawn simply provided considerable character development for that character. So I can’t award the book strong points just for Thrawn. The Chiss, however, can be considered as an addition to Star Wars lore. While there were some details about the species, I expect to hear more in book two and especially in Thrawn Chaos Rising. The score won’t be great for this section, but that shouldn’t take away from the excellence of the novel. So, just for this book, I am only giving 6.5 points for what it adds.

Logic (0 pts)

Thrawn neither took away nor added logic to the Star Wars universe. So I am neither taking away nor adding extra points.

Final Thoughts

So, my final score for Thrawn is an 8.9/10, or a B plus. This is a pretty strong score for books that I have scored and especially high for the first book in a series. I have only given four books As, and this book almost joins that elite copany.Don’t be surprised if you like the book even more than the score suggests. It is a novel of top tier quality, as expressed by the score for the first four sections. Thrawn is a really awesome character in Star Wars and a compelling antihero. If you have any interest in the time period of the Empire, you should pick up this book and take it for a ride. You won’t regret it.

I hope you enjoyed this book review and if there is a book that you want me to read or review, please let me know at christiancorah@gmail.com. As for now, I will only be doing Canon books (but in the future that might change).