Monday, May 4, 2020

The Last Command (Timothy Zahn)


Soon after Dark Force Rising . . .

Though Admiral Ackbar's name was cleared, Luke escaped the mad clone Jedi C'baoth and Leia turned the Noghri to the New Republic cause (and gave birth to twins), there's no time to celebrate: Grand Admiral Thrawn beat the 'Rebels' to the Katana fleet.  Now, with nearly 200 dreadnaughts and a cloning facility capable of growing clones in weeks hidden away on Wayland, he looks to reverse the Empire's losses and bring the Rebellion to a crushing end.  Meanwhile, C'baoth isn't done with Skywalker . . . or Leia, or Mara Jade.  As Thrawn launches a cunning attack on Coruscant and a reeling New Republic plans a counterstrike at Bilbringi Shipyards, the smuggler Talon Karrde and his alliance of deviants may hold the key to victory . . . if they can survive.

The conclusion of the Thrawn trilogy was as satisfying and suspenseful (and fast-paced) as the prior offerings, if suffering a bit from what felt like an especially accelerated climax.  Though some concepts in these three books would be negated by the later-released prequel movies (I'm thinking here of the 'Spaarti clone cylinders' and now-inaccurate references to the nature of the Clone Wars), Zahn did a great job introducing exciting new characters and adventures.  In fact, after Disney 'negated' this original Star Wars Expanded Universe, they opted to bring back Grand Admiral Thrawn, who shows up in the Rebels television series largely unaltered from his portrayal in these Zahn works.

Rating: A

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