Chat corner 49: Thrawn

[annathecrow]

Welcome to this week’s chat corner!

Optional prompt

This week, the topic (should you want one) is the Thrawn series, which focuses on the fan-favorite character Mitth’raw’nuruodo aka Thrawn. (… yes, I copy-pasted that name from Wookieepedia, why do you ask.)

ETA: Not to be confused with the Legends Thrawn trilogy, or the Hand of Thrawn duology, (or the newest Thrawn: Ascendancy trilogy, for that matter).

Have you read it? What are your thoughts? Would you recommend it?

 

Comments

[annathecrow]

The Dark Side post is still a thing, if you need somewhere to be angry.

[annathecrow]

help

help

somebody save me from a sea of identically-named Thrawn series

(jk; I'm sure these are all fine books, but for the love of Star Wars, why is there so many???)

[fleurviolette]

He is the blue villainous Spock in Star Wars, and a popular character. I’ve read the classic thrawn trilogy and hand of thrawn duology.

[annathecrow]

"blue villainous Spock of Star Wars" -- heh, you're not wrong.

I've read the classic Thrawn trilogy as well; I liked him as a villain there, definitely more than the Evil Clone Guy.

[kittywhite]

I’ve read the first book in the series when it was released and thoroughly enjoyed it (read 90 pages the first night I got it)
It’s a really good companion to the Rebels series, not sure what it would be like for someone who hadn’t seen the series though but I think it would still be a good read.

Unfortunately I stopped early on in the second book because the constant flashing back and forth between the past and present was really annoying and hard to follow. Best way to tell what the time period was if it was “Anakin” or “Vader” being mentioned lol

I might go back and try again because apparently the 3rd is better!

[annathecrow]

Hmm, that's a good point about Rebels; I got the same impression from reading the Wookieepedia article. I might check it out if I ever manage to watch Rebels.

(FWIW, I've heard that the Ascendancy trilogy is good as well. Well, I've heard it from a hardcore Thrawn fan, so YMMV, but if you liked this you might like that as well.)

[kittywhite]

I’ve read the first book in the Ascendancy Trilogy over on the Star Wars book club community and enjoyed it so I’d second the recommendation :D

[annathecrow]

Off-topic bits:

• I finished X-Wing: Rogue Squadron last week. I enjoyed it! It unexpectedly fulfilled my yearning for a good Star Wars MilSF. I do have some thoughts, might write up a review if I can herd some braincells together.
• There's a very minor Legends character I want to use in a fic (Zule Xiss), and yesterday I discovered that the species she's supposed to be according to Wookieepedia makes NO DAMN SENSE. Now I have to figure out whether to follow it or not, and it BUGS ME. *grumbles in Perfectionist*

[yourlibrarian]

Is this the Thrawn book series?

[annathecrow]

😠️

[headstone]

Ha, I started reading these last night... good timing. I got about 75 pages into the first book on my first sitting and am finding it quite readable, though I've definitely been skimming the Pryde sections--Thrawn and Eli Vanto's relationship is definitely the most compelling part of the story and other stuff is falling a little flat for me. I'm waiting to see how I feel about it at the end of the book to determine whether I'll keep reading the rest of the trilogy. I've never read any other Trawn books and haven't yet seen Rebels, so there's definitely a lot of context I'm missing. That said, Thrawn is a fun character and it's clear that Zahn enjoys writing him, which is always a good thing.

[annathecrow]

Ha, thanks for the dispatch from the frontlines, then! :D I do think I'll add it to my readlist, from everything people have said here.

You know what, the fact that Zahn has fun writing Thrawn and gets to do it for so many books makes me happy. It must be great to create a character that becomes such a fan-favorite, especially when it's Star Wars.