Thrawn (Star Wars Disney Canon Novel) by Timothy Zahn

Thrawn (Star Wars Disney Canon Novel) by Timothy Zahn-427 pages

I read the Thrawn Trilogy by Zahn in 2015 in anticipation of The Force Awakens, so when I heard this was being written and released as an "official" Disney canon novel (the original Thrawn Trilogy is a "Legends" or not official Disney canon now) I immediately pre-ordered it. I really enjoyed reading this and Zahn does Thrawn well in his imagining of his rise to Grand Admiral. I especially liked that he included Thrawn's studying the adversary's cultural art as a means to glean patterns of expected behavior, just as Thrawn did in the original trilogy. Thrawn is depicted as a master tactician (although not great at politics) in this novel just as he was in the original trilogy. The fact that Zahn wrote both the original trilogy and this standalone novel helps with continuity and effectiveness. I enjoyed the secondary stories of Eli Vanto and Arihnda Pryce woven throughout this novel as companions to Thrawn's rise. Overall, this was as good, maybe better, than I expected and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys Star Wars (especially anyone who read the original Thrawn trilogy).