Star Wars: Thrawn: Alliances – A Beyond the Films Review

Star Wars Beyond the Films‘ Nathan P. Butler is now posting short, non-spoiler reviews for many new releases. Spoiler-filled discussion will often follow in the weeks or months thereafter on the podcast.

Thrawn: Alliances by Timothy Zahn (hardcover, 2018)

Mitth’raw’nuruodo of the Chiss, better known simply as Thrawn, was an iconic character in the Star Wars continuity that we now know as Legends. The news that a new version of the character would be introduced into the Story Group’s new Canon in the third season of Star Wars: Rebels and that he would be getting his own new novel, Thrawn (see my review here), written by his creator, Timothy Zahn, nearly broke the internet, or at least the Star Wars corner thereof.

Now, with Rebels having concluded (leaving the fate of Thrawn somewhat unresolved), a year having passed since Thrawn gave us the character’s canonical origin story, and just a short time after that same novel’s comic adaptation has concluded, Timothy Zahn returns to the character with a new novel, Thrawn: Alliances, which finally provides the tale of Thrawn’s encounter with Anakin Skywalker (referenced multiple times in Thrawn) in a story that is equal parts Clone Wars era Anakin/Thrawn tale and Rebels era Vader/Thrawn tale.

How does this new Thrawn novel stack up to its predecessor, and is it worth your time and credits?

Thrawn: Alliances

The first thing one should understand about Thrawn: Alliances is that it varies greatly in format from Thrawn. Whereas 2017’s novel (and its subsequent comic adaptation by Jody Houser) was an origin story that covered a huge stretch of time (beginning with the circumstances leading Thrawn to enter Imperial service through just before his first appearance in Rebels, Steps Into Shadow), Alliances is a far less chronologically expansive story. Rather than frequently jumping through a large span of time, the story is essentially split into two eras.

The earlier of the two is set late in the Clone Wars, sometime between Ahsoka Tano leaving the Jedi Order (The Wrong Jedi) and Revenge of the Sith. (How it fits in relative to The Clone Wars: The Lost Missions or the upcoming The Clone Wars 12-episode revival is currently unknown, but it doesn’t really make much difference unless Thrawn appears in the revival, which is highly unlikely.) This portion of the story follows the first encounter of Anakin Skywalker and Thrawn during the period when Thrawn is serving the Chiss Ascendancy. Padmé Amidala finds herself in trouble while investigating the fate of one of her handmaidens, and it is up to Anakin and ally-of-convenience Thrawn to find out what has happened to her.

The latter of the novel’s storylines follows Thrawn and the crew of the Chimaera as they must work with Darth Vader and his First Legion (his personal stormtrooper force, drawn from the ranks of the 501st) on a mission that takes them back to the same system in which Anakin and Thrawn’s earlier adventure took place. In this case, the adventure is set during the gap between the third and fourth seasons of Rebels (i.e. between Zero Hour and Heroes of Mandalore). Can Thrawn and Vader find a way to work well together, despite their differences in approach? Where do Thrawn’s loyalties lie: with the Empire or the Chiss? Does Thrawn know or suspect that the very Sith Lord he is working with is the same man (more or less) that he fought alongside during the Clone Wars?

Despite this split between two chronological settings (and even a brief third when we get to learn a bit more about Padmé’s own mission), the novel is quite straightforward. Its twists and turns tend to be few, though there are revelations to be had about the Chiss, and fans will find a certain concept from Legends being addressed in Canon again after only a brief canonical mention previously. It is also interesting to see more of the inner workings of Vader’s stormtroopers, who are treated as individuals and given ample page time when compared to most of the times we see his troopers alongside him in Canon. Even Rukh gets a fair amount of page time, as does Karyn Faro (a character carrying over from Thrawn). References to Rebels are also found in just enough quantity to keep things feeling connected without feeling heavy-handed in the process. Most importantly for fans that were turned off by Thrawn’s later portrayals in Legends (when he went from a tactical genius to a nearly-omniscient, god-like character), Thrawn remains appropriately grounded as more of a Sherlock Holmes analogue than an all-knowing, all-seeing, ultimate fifteen-dimensional chess player, which is a welcome bit of consistency with his other canonical appearances.

For those who have been particularly frustrated by how so many Star Wars novesls in Canon have tended to be character studies or origin stories that sometimes focus so much on character backstory as to lose much of that single tale’s own adventure, you will be relieved to know that this is a straightforward mission-based novel, not the kind of character study or origin story that we’ve come to see so often since 2014. Is it an amazing adventure? Not especially, but it certainly isn’t a book that focuses on character origin to the detriment of action either.

I would note as a final comment, without spoiling anything, that the means by which Zahn expresses Anakin and Vader’s Force abilities and the Force-user’s instinctive sensing of theats is perhaps the most well-done we have ever seen that concept described in canonical Star Wars fiction. It’s a little thing but quite nice to see.

The Verdict

Whereas Thrawn gave us the origins of the titular character, Thrawn: Alliances gives us the dynamic between Thrawn and Anakin/Vader in the context of two missions into the borders of the Unknown Regions. Fans of both characters should find something to enjoy here, and the period in which the stories take place will please fans of both canonical Star Wars cartoon series (The Clone Wars and Rebels).

That said, I have to say that this book didn’t particularly thrill me along the way. There were some nice moments, and the dynamic between the two lead characters was interesting to see in both eras, but the story did not feel as impactful as I would’ve expected. Perhaps if we had seen interaction between Thrawn and Vader in the final season of Rebels, this would have felt like more of an important story to be told. As it stands, it feels like Zahn dropped hints of an encounter between Anakin and Thrawn in the previous novel just to provide a necessity for Alliances to be written (perhaps building on the same notion of events mentioned in The Thrawn Trilogy leading to the publication of Survivor’s Quest and Outbound Flight years ago). It was an enjoyable read, but I wouldn’t put it among the top tier of canonical novels at this point, nor would I say it surpassed its pedecessor (which I expected its change in approach to do handily).

In all, we have a solid Star Wars novel here that connects some well-written characters, but I’m not sure it falls into the “must read” category of canonical works.

Lastly, I should note that, as per the norm these days, we have multiple versions of the novel from which to choose. There is a regular edition, a Barnes and Noble exclusive edition (with a poster insert), a Books-a-Million signed copy (with the typical extra page for the signature), and a convention exclusive version that presents a cover image similar to the regular version but with both characters in their Clone Wars era apperances instead of their Rebels era looks.

Recommended for: Those interested in more on Thrawn outside of Rebels or the interplay between Anakin/Vader and Thrawn, along with fans who are fond of the animated series.

Not recommended for: Those who loathe the “blasphemy” of bringing Thrawn into Canon from Legends, or those who expect their Star Wars novels to have galaxy-wide implications.

The copy used for this review was provided by Del Rey. However, the reviewer subsequently also purchased a Books-a-Million signed copy.

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