Meanwhile, there’s a kind of beauty in how logically Thrawn puts together his counterattack on the New Republic, gathering resources and allies like C’baoth with a very calm disposition. It’s Star Wars‘s answer to Holmes and Watson, as the two Imperials discuss tactics and art. In-Depth: Honestly, any scene between Thrawn and Pellaeon is a treat.

Thrawn begins his campaign against the New Republic, taking out several starships and sowing discord in the higher ranks. Luke investigates a smuggler ring and comes into the crosshairs of Mara Jade, the late Emperor’s personal assassin, whose final order was to kill him. Meanwhile, Leia is expecting twins and take refuge from Noghri assassins on the Wookiee homeworld. He uncovers a hidden weapons depot on Wayland and acquires the service of an insane Dark Jedi Master named Joruus C’baoth. The Plot: Grand Admiral Thrawn arrives to take command of the surviving Imperial Fleet, with Captain Pellaeon by his side. So I’ll get into each book, with a quick rundown of the plot and what I enjoyed most about each novel. But at the same time, Zahn was able to recapture the spirit of the original films, bringing us the joy of space battles, lightsaber duels, smugglers outflying Star Destroyers, and seeing life on new and colorful planets. Even the mystical Force was taken down a peg thanks to Force-nullifying creatures like the ysalamiri and how unreliable a mad Force-user like Joruus C’baoth can be in the grand scheme of trying to restore the Empire. He gave us Imperials who were sympathetic, showed us what life was like for smugglers and other fringe dwellers, and raised the bar on military campaigns and strategies with the genius of his main villain, the alien mastermind Grand Admiral Thrawn. Zahn redefined a lot of what we know about the Star Wars universe in these novels. In all seriousness, when I heard that Disney was going to produce the long-awaited Star Wars sequel trilogy, I was hoping that they’d be adapting this series above all others. Up until the time when I discovered the kick-ass glorious works of Matthew Woodring Stover, the absolute best novels I’d read in the EU was the Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn, which ran from 1991 to 1993.

I got into the Star Wars Expanded Universe as a kid (through several YA books like Young Jedi Knights, I must confess), but it wasn’t until later that I started reading more serious books.

The thrawn trilogy