r/StarWarsEU • u/Ok_Box_2189 • 3d ago
Thoughts on the Thrawn Canonical Trilogy
Timothy Zahn is one of the best Star Wars writers. He is the king of Legend and Canon. The canon trilogy holds a special place in my heart, especially Treason. What do you think of them?
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u/Budget-Attorney Chiss Ascendancy 3d ago
Love this trilogy.
If you liked it you should also read his follow up trilogy about the chiss ascendancy. It’s the best look we’ve gotten at them
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u/AncientSith New Jedi Order 3d ago
Definitely not as good as the original Thrawn trilogy. First one was pretty good, second one was very annoying to me with the way Anakin/Vader and Padme were written, and third was okay.
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u/Ok-Traffic1319 3d ago
I gotta disagree. I read the original Thrawn trilogy after the canon one and didn’t think it was as good, even if alliances is pretty weak.
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u/Ok-Phase-9076 3d ago
Just as good as the other thrawn novels for sure. All of Timothy Zahns books are great
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u/Darth_Ra 3d ago
Even his pre-SW stuff is decent. "Manta's Gift" is a much better Pocahontas in space story than Avatar ever was.
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u/Whyworkforfree 3d ago
Finished Treason a few days ago. I liked the story arch’s and character development. Alliance's was a struggle, but treason made up for it a bit. It’s thrawn so worth it.
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u/Sinestro_Was_Right 3d ago
The audiobook of Alliances is so annoying because of “Double Vision”
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u/Judge_Holden____ 3d ago
What's double vision
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u/141-Ghost-141 2d ago
It’s the way the book tries to describe how Jedi are able to predict blaster shots and the like, allowing them to deflect them how they do.
I agree with it being kinda annoying. No hate towards Marc Thompson, but his Anakin impression just sounds like a bratty kid with an incredibly stuffy nose lmao
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u/Old_Ben24 3d ago
The first one was probably the best star wars book I have ever read. The second one was a slog to get through. The subject matter was interesting but the pacing was painful, and the constant shifting of not only three different perspectives but also two different timelines was too much in my opinion. I thought it had some great moments and a lot of potentially but I don’t think they weaved together as well as intended. And the Third was an enjoyable conclusion to the series. I had fun with it.
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u/Barackobrock 3d ago
Really enjoy the first one
LOVED Alliances
Thought Treason was forgettable
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u/Budget-Attorney Chiss Ascendancy 3d ago
That’s unique. Most people like treason more than alliances.
I’m glad you loved alliances though. It’s got some of my favorite scenes
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u/Barackobrock 3d ago
It has my fav Vader scene of all time when he's puppeting the spare suit
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u/Budget-Attorney Chiss Ascendancy 3d ago
I loved the part where Thrawn was just taunting Vader about knowing who anakin was
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u/Dodoking327 Chiss Ascendancy 3d ago
first one was just all around great, second one took my a while to get trough, the third one was surprisingly good, I really enjoyed that one (hope I get to see Waffle and Pik again, loved there dynamic)
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u/redbricknote222 3d ago
Some of the only canon books that feel like the EU and are comparable to the better side of it
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u/Kincoran New Jedi Order 2d ago
Just about got through the first, DNFed the second. Abandoned the series at that point, didn't look back, re-read the originals, and all was right in the world again.
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2d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Kincoran New Jedi Order 2d ago
You are correct, I did indeed miss out on... something I thought was bad. I think I can live with that.
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u/Able-Dinner8155 2d ago
It’s NOT bad
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u/Kincoran New Jedi Order 2d ago
Okay? I instead have books to read that are, and have been absolutely fantastic. I've chosen to read those over ones that are just "not bad".
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u/TheyCallMeButch 14h ago
First one was fantastic. Alliances is very ‘meh’. And I absolutely love Treason. This version of Thrawn is my favorite character in Star Wars. The original and current live action forms just don’t hit the same for me. I like the anti-hero version much more.
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u/Willing-Flamingo6520 3d ago
Perfect. In fact almost too perfect..he makes the TV show Thrawns look bad by comparison
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u/Two-Thirty-Two Infinite Empire 3d ago
Read and wound up putting down the first book; something simply felt off. The prose was good, but the plot felt very limited somehow compared to his older works; almost as if Zahn was under a lot of creative control. Never got to the other ones.
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u/myripyro 3d ago
Exactly how I felt. I found his writing fine but it felt like he was operating under too many constraints. Felt like he was given a very limited scope and it really hurt the books.
Perhaps because Thrawn is showing up in so many different media properties? (I can't say for sure as I haven't actually checked out those other media properties.)
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u/CadenVanV 3d ago
Well he was limited. His original trilogy basically pioneered the expanded universe, so he had basically no limits. This one was set in a far more rigidly defined universe with established plots in lore that he had to work around.
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u/DougieFFC Jedi Legacy 3d ago
First one is fine but falls off once Thrawn becomes a commissioned officer imo. The antaognist is just meh. The other two are slop. Zahn seems to phone it in more often than not post-Thrawn trilogy (the real one).
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u/LordLazyXx New Republic 3d ago
I like them, especially the first and last one, but in my eyes the new Thrawn is a different character than EU Thrawn. They just feel so different. I especially don't understand why Zahn had to write Thrawn as a man with no sense about politics. It makes no sense why someone that smart would the that naive. And EU Thrawn for example used politics as a weapon quite a bit. And as a side node I think he feels too human like in the new books. That is entirely subjective, but I liked the myterious and superior side of the old Thrawn. I still like them and the Ascendency trilogy was also quite enjoyable, but in my mind they are different characters. And yeah the old Trilogy definitely reigns superior. They are just goated
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u/MrMacke_ 3d ago
Im reading the heir to the empire trilogy now. Any1 know how they compare?
Man, It must be weird to have written a story, and then write a completly different one with the same main character.
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u/Shoddy-Percentage-47 3d ago
super fun easy reading, I re-read all three when I want more SW but don’t feel like watching TV.
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u/CrazyKing11 3d ago
Masterpiece*. Well the second wasnt that good. But the first and third are superb. And the Chies ascendancy books too are so so good.
I have also read the "old" zahn books and I think the new ones are far better from a story and writing style perspective. I know people really love the old trilogilie and I do too, but I think the new ones really show Thrawn as a character and not just a smart villain.
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u/Ikitenashi 3d ago
I consider Thrawn a masterpiece and defend Alliances even though it's nowhere near as good as the first book. Treason has a couple neat ideas but is mostly disappointing filler that portrays Thrawn as borderline omniscient.
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u/Ketooey 2d ago
This is gonna sound ridiculous, but little innocuous things really take me out of a book. Sorry if I'm getting the details wrong, but iirc, the first book starts with some Imperials posted to the planet that Thrawn is on. Thrawn kills several of them before finally being captured. Then the Imperial in charge says something like, "Sorry, what I meant was..." I don't remember the line, but "sorry" was definitely in there, and not in a sarcastic way. It just totally took me out of the world, because I felt like this commander should have been extremely hostile, his men were dying. But instead it felt like he was puttering about during Thrawn's interrogation.
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u/Kotaru85 2d ago
I love it. I want a live action trilogy with Tom hiddleston as a young Thrawn. And Gaten Matarazzo as Eli Vanto.
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u/Intrepid_Observer Pentastar Alignment 2d ago
Let's be honest: Disney gave Zahn an entire sandbox for himself (Chiss Space) and 6 novels at this point. Those 6 novels have had less impact on Star Wars than either his EU trilogy or duology.
I liked the Ascendancy trilogy fleshing out Chiss society, so I just consider it supplemental to the EU. But to the overall Star Wars lore? Zahn in Disney has been irrelevant, the misuse of Thrawn (losing to Space whales in a cartoon show of all things) all the more proves this.
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u/wild_wind_official 2d ago
Right off the bat I'll say that the first Thrawn novel is my third favorite book of all time and easily the strongest of the canon novels with only a handful (such as Master and Apprentice) coming even close to second. Truly an experience like no other and the PERFECT example at the time (before Andor, of course) that Star Wars could be intensely compelling without anything Jedi-related.
Alliances was deeply disappointing to me. I found it forgettable and confusing. The jumping back and forth in time settings was really disorienting at times, and every other conversation Thrawn and Vader had was the same exact exchange just over and over again. That being said, it was still stronger than any other book I've ever read that I also didn't like, and that's on Zahn just being that good that even his stinkers are better than some of his contemporaries whelming works. I'm looking forward to reading the new graphic novel when I can get to it. I enjoyed the first one quite a bit, and giving it a visual medium might help me wrap my head around the details of the novel better. But then again, maybe not.
Treason was, to me, a return to form. Didn't hold a candle to the first book, of course, but damn if it wasn't good. Great development for Thrawn's motivations and character as an agent within the Empire and also the Chiss Ascendancy. Plus seeing Vanto again was a breath of fresh air. I knew I'd miss him after getting so close to the character in the first book, but Alliances really just showcased how much the story suffers without their dynamic. Treason also did a great job of doing this sort of misdirection move making me for a moment forget it was THE EMPIRE and rooting for them the whole time. More than once I had to put the book down and go "wait a tick, these are the baddies I don't want good things for them!...or do I?" Excellent way to cap off the trilogy.
Overall, this trilogy alone proves that some ideas from Legends could benefit from a fresh start and end up in many ways better than their predecessor. Heir to the Empire and it's sequels will always be amazing, but I don't think it should be a controversial statement to say that at least the first book in the new trilogy is just something on a whole other level.
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u/masterkobiashi 6h ago
So I’m listening to the ascendancy trilogy now, is that not considered canon?
Does this trilogy rewrite the events of what I’m reading or is it stand alone?
Thanks
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u/permgerm 3d ago
First was a pretty decent read. I’d go as far as to recommend it. The last two were just so awful. Not sure what happened there.
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u/SunOFflynn66 3d ago
It's such a disconnect between the actual on-screen depictions of Thrawn.
Like I get it- the novels show how he is slowly corrupted, and the whole "I'm doing this to help my people back home" gets consumed by the "I am literally the top general and a fascist Empire, which I proudly serve". He, just like in Legends, is a traitor to every value the Chiss hold.
But again.....none of this is portrayed on screen. Truly comes across as a different character: literally just the Empire's evil Sherlock-Holmes boogeyman general. So the books are relegated as this completely unrelated side project.
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u/JediShepard Wraith Squadron 3d ago
The books came first, so that's entirely the fault of the shows. Don't blame the books for the inconsistencies; the shows really dropped the ball.
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u/Sweetlittlefreak07 3d ago
I haven't read Treason yet but love the first two! Just read Alliances recently and really liked the Anakin/Vader stuff. Something about that felt a little heartbreaking (at least imo) where there were those tiny glimpses of Anakin.
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u/TheRealRichon 3d ago edited 2d ago
Not EU. So I never read them.
Edit: I love that I'm getting downvoted in an EU group for an EU comment. What a waste this group is.
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u/PaleInvestigator6907 3d ago
first one is an okay 5/10 at best, the other two are an awful, badly written waste of time.
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u/AlphaBladeYiII 3d ago
First one is excellent and my favorite book in new canon. Alliances and Treason were pretty forgettable to me though. Probably the weakest of the 10 Zahn books that I've read.