Beyond the edge of the galaxy lies the Unknown Regions: chaotic, uncharted, and near impassable, with hidden secrets and dangers in equal measure. And nestled within its swirling chaos is the Ascendancy, home to the enigmatic Chiss and the Nine Ruling Families that lead them.
With the might of the Expansionary Fleet at his back, and the aid of his comrade Admiral Ar’alani, answers begin to fall into place. But as Thrawn’s first command probes deeper into the vast stretch of space his people call the Chaos, he realizes that the mission he has been given is not what it seems.
And the threat to the Ascendancy is only just beginning.
***** *** *******
I've become quite a fan of Thrawn, the blue-skinned and red-eyed Chiss with a brilliant mind and ruthless character, yet so very likeable. This began by reading the original Thrawn Trilogy books (also by Timothy Zahn) from the early 90's, which were incredibly significant books that effectively kicked off the whole expanded universe phenomenon. These are currently considered non-canon and known as Star Wars Legends. Thrawn has evidently always been a character that George Lucas has wanted to explore, and even after the transition to the Disney-owned era and a whole new canon of Star Wars lore, some of the first books published were Thrawn books (the three-part Star Wars: Thrawn series) and which were all great reads. After their successes, Zahn has again been commissioned to give us another series set "A long time ago, beyond a galaxy far, far away….". Set chronologically before the previous series, it is called the Thrawn Ascendancy series and set down for three books at this stage. Grand Admiral Thrawn is possibly going to become a whole lot more relevant in the grand scheme (note the reference to him in the recent episode of The Mandalorian TV series...) and this book is playing a key role in building his character.
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| Mitth'raw'nuruodo |
In Thrawn from 2017 (see my review HERE) we're reintroduced to him as Mitth'raw'nuruodo, exiled to a remote forest planet, his Chiss rulers having seen it fit to punish him for wrongdoing during his military career. This new series takes us back to the beginnings of that career and starts to build for us the story of how Thrawn falls out of favour with his superiors. As a quick recap, The Chiss Ascendancy is an empire of near-human Chiss located inside the Unknown Regions of the galaxy (known as the Chaos to the Chiss) which is highly secretive and strictly isolationist to outsiders. To quote from the book itself:
For thousands of years it has been an island of calm within the Chaos. It is a center of power, a model of stability, and a beacon of integrity. The Nine Ruling Families guard it from within; the Expansionary Defence Fleet guards it from without. Its neighbours are left in peace, its enemies are left in ruin. It is light and culture and glory.
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| Chiss Ascendancy logo |
Set during what fans know as the Republic era, there is some crossover with that timeline and we briefly come across a familiar character or two that Star Wars fans will know. This again points to the Unknown Regions/Chaos playing a larger role in the new-canon universe moving forward. Bring it on I say. Anyway, enough background, what about the book?
There are two separate chronological plot lines which run beside each other for the whole book. The main plot line has Thrawn as a mid-level officer of the Chiss Expansionary Defence Fleet and involved in the investigation of some disturbing events going on in space surrounding the Ascendancy. It's an intriguing and action-packed story with a number of interesting and likeable supporting characters, and portrays Thrawn as the cunning and quick-thinking officer that we've seen lots of previously. His love for art and culture is, again, very prominent and we see him deduce much about his opponents and other species from closely observing their artistic expression. The second plot line gives the back story of how Thrawn transitions from nothing to brilliant military officer in a rather meteoric rise up the command chain. There is clearly more than meets the eye going on here and as the story moves forward we learn much about the political skulduggery that dominates Chiss society. Thrawn grows up through this system into a master military tactician and leader, yet ignorant to the nuances and intricate self-serving that makes up the world of politics. You can see this weakness taking him toward that exile that I mentioned earlier. No doubt we will arrive at that part of the story later in this book series.
The action sequences are excellent and not drawn out unnecessarily, which is great for me because long space battles can have me quickly losing focus. The intrigue part of it is pretty good, and gives the reader a few things to mull over in their mind as the story unfolds. It's one of those stories which I had to keep my brain in gear enough to follow the plot, and if I let my attention wander, I found myself going back to re-familiarise myself with the guts of what was going on. This is mostly a reflection of me reading when I'm much too tired and in no way due to the writing style, which is typically mostly superb. In fact, as can reasonably be expected, Zahn displays his excellent storytelling skills. Although, for my only complaint as it were, I found the whole feel and vibe of the story as a bit "youthy", like it was targeted at a younger audience than myself. The dialog and the speech style used is very clean, almost too clean, like it's written for a teenage reader. I guess this could be the desire to have the book accessible to all age groups, and it doesn't really present much of a problem, but it's a noticeable facet. I’d happily let my kids read this and I think that they’d enjoy it immensely as would my mother, that’s if any of them were into Star Wars...
The characters are excellent. Additionally to Thrawn himself, I found myself liking just about all of them, even the more unsavoury types. There is an interesting cast of supporting players and throughout the story we learn a lot about Chiss society and the way that their hierarchy operates. I suspect that this information will be important for the new story arc moving forward; I can see the Chiss and the other species of the Unknown Regions becoming a sizeable part of the Star Wars universe. One small thing, possibly insignificant yet tantalisingly curious, is reference to the connection of the name of the Chiss child space navigators called sky-walkers and the familiar name Skywalker. Does this hint at a possible Unknown Regions origin of the Skywalker bloodline and Aanakin’s extraordinarily high midi-chlorians count? This is good, very good, especially since we’ve often been given tantalising little snippets of information over the years due to Emperor Palpatine’s interest and fascination with the Unknown Regions. This is quite safe territory for the new direction as well with little or no risk of overwriting previously published things from the expanded universe. Yet again, I'm left feeling happily content with the direction that the new Star Wars brains trust is taking things overall. The new and forthcoming High Republic Era and its stories offer more mouthwatering and alluring prospects.
In summary, this book is a pleasing addition to this new canon story arc and is one that is easily devoured and enjoyed. If you want to keep abreast with what possibly could be one of the next big movie characters, I suggest that you keep learning about Thrawn and who he is and what he represents. He might just be seeing a whole lot more of him in the coming years.
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