– Slight Spoiler Review –
Seven months after its second entry, Timothy Zahn’s latest Thrawn-centric trilogy of novels, Thrawn Ascendancy, ends with Lesser Evil. Much like the finale of his last, though loosely connected trilogy of Thrawn novels, Zahn’s Lesser Evil flounders, more concerned with setting up the aforementioned books, once again avoiding character development, punting on answering two trilogies worth of questions, or truly exploring the Chiss’ extensive past, instead continuing Thrawn’s flawless victory status to underwhelming effect across its over expanded page count.
In the first series of Thrawn-centric books for the new canon, Zahn’s Thrawn was rather flawless, never really encountering any setbacks beyond his sole blind spot, politics. At the start of a trilogy called Thrawn Ascendancy, which promised to explore his past, it’s not a stretch to assume we’d see the character stumble, fall even, and learn to pick himself back up and become the great strategist fans have loved for decades. It was clear from book one this would never be the case, as the Thrawn we meet in both the “present” of this trilogy and its past, flashbacks via “Memory” chapters, is already the fully formed genius, with only his trademark flaw of politics, and it quickly made reading each subsequent entry of the previous and this trilogy a bore; someone who never fails offers little to no entertainment, since they are always going to succeed; where are the stakes? For some it might be interesting or even exciting for more of their flawless Thrawn, but I far enjoyed his time in Star Wars Rebels, where he had setbacks and failures, and I’m curious why Zahn decided to ignore progress or development for the character and write him as he always has written him: was it fear fans wouldn’t be interested in the character if he faltered in these early days or just an unwillingness to imagine Thrawn as anything else than Zahn already knew of him as a character, or something else? Regardless, Thrawn’s ‘failure’ at Lesser Evil’s end is really set up for his appearance in the resulting Empire-set books, so instead the failure reads like another win for the character, be it the kinds words people have about him and his deeds, his court martial stemming from a technicality of Chiss rules after the big military victory, to the whole ‘it’s all part of the plan’ reveal afterwards. Lesser Evil hammers home how missed of an opportunity this trilogy was for developing Thrawn into a complex character, one that’s more than his signature smarts and single flaw, and even a series of “Memories” delving into the canon version of his ‘brother’ Thrass falls short of compelling or important to Thrawn’s characterization. I know I’ve made this argument with the last two books, but if there’s no attempt to change on the series’ end, why should I? I eagerly look forward to what will be done with Thrawn in his upcoming live-action appearances.
The blurb for Lesser Evil promised Thrawn would dive deep into the Ascendancy’s past, but it was more Thalias, the ex-sky’walker (the Force sensitive girls who navigate hyperspace for the Chiss) now caretaker to a sky’walker, who explores the Chiss’ past and her own a bit, much like her awesome section at the end of Book 1: Chaos Rising. Thrawn’s brush with the Chiss’ ancient past comes during the Memory chapters, which explains the “odo” at the end of his Chiss name and offers a compelling story about the Starflash weapon mentioned at the end of Book II: Greater Good, but it’s not much more than an interesting story we’re told than anything meaningful for Thrawn’s choices, beyond inspiring the ‘self-sacrifice’ he nobly takes to Lesser Space (aka the rest of the known galaxy). The little hints we do get about the Chiss’ past instills a sense of wonder the main events of this book don’t and I hope maybe we’ll get to explore those moments in the future. For now though, Thalias’ exploration of the sky’walker program, after an alien named the Magys—first met in Greater Good—expands the sky’-walker’s abilities for a tactical advantage, offered Lesser Evil some intrigue, as predictable as it was, about the Chiss’ choices in the past, but it all ends with more questions than answers and I’m not sure I’m eager for them, whether or not it comes in a Thrawn-centric or Chiss Ascendancy set book.
The Grysk Hegemony, and their subtle tactics and usage of client races, ramps up their threat in Lesser Evil, but by the end they still felt underwhelming as an enemy, as we still don’t know enough about them or what they want, or if they truly could be a threat to the rest of the galaxy. Introduced as a threat to the Ascendancy in the first set of Thrawn books, their enigmatic member Jixtus only came to the forefront in Greater Good, and while he has more time in Lesser Evil, lacking any POV with his character (much like Thrawn) makes him feel like window dressing to the larger conflict. Sure, we get a sense of how the Grysk operate via POV chapters with Jixtus’ latest client race, Generalirius Nakirre of the Kilki Illumine, but in the final confrontation his long conversation with Thrawn before the battle feels forced, as if Zahn was looking for a way to make writing the big battle easier, as Jixtus regurgitates all the names and classes of his Grysk armada, hollowing out the character into nothing more than a Wookieepedia page writer. Grysk tactics are certainly full of potential, but when not faced with a bunch of Chiss families that somehow all are either related to or believe Thrawn is a some type of good/bad Chosen One, I’m not sure they’ll feel as considerable a threat, while lacking any real information on what they want leaves them once again as a nebulous and non-substantial threat. After 5 books of being told and not shown about their considerable threat, as the Chiss have managed to defeat them in all their appearances, they simply seem like convenient threats for these stories and nothing more, which is disappointing given their potential.
Here are a few other things:
- Thurfian, now higher up in the Mitth family Thrawn belongs to, and Zistalmu, also higher up in his family, continue on their exhausting shtick about Thrawn being the catalyst that could destroy or help the Chiss but they even admit they forget why at one point (I know I did), so thankfully the conniving ends eventually; Ar’alani, one of my favorites from the previous trilogy and earlier entries in this trilogy, still stayed a favorite but didn’t get to do much beyond a supporting role; Lakinda, the new character in Greater Good, changes families and is now Ziinda thanks to Chiss naming conventions, and her parts navigating family and military were intriguing but rote by the end; Thrawn’s first captain Samakro still doubts Thalias, which he also admits he doesn’t even truly have a reason to at one point, and finally the whole weird situation is dealt with; Qilori, the alien navigator who also uses his unique connection to the Force to navigate hyperspace for anyone who will hire him, is another outside favorite of mine, got some fun bits at the end but his revelation regarding the Chiss’ secret felt a little too convenient/goofy; And as for Roscu, another new character whose family gets embroiled in Jixtus’ machinations, I appreciated her ability to both be rational about the manipulations but also fall prey to them again afterwards, as her back and forth did provide some tension to the book, though her being another character with some bone to pick with Thrawn was a disappointment.
- Meeting Thrass and learning his history with Thrawn didn’t quite live up to expectations, as while it was nice to see someone care about Thrawn beyond his skills, it felt like he had to go through some mental hoops to be like yes, I was Thrawn’s ‘brother’ so to speak. He at least as a noble, but quiet ending.
- If I have to read a character count down from 3 ever again, it’ll be too soon.
- Thalias meets an intriguing new character, but her immediate importance feels undercut by the seemingly more important relation to a male character; if some fans think seeing cameos from familiar characters in shows like The Mandalorian or The Bad Batch gives Star Wars a small galaxy feel, read these novels and then you’ll see the Chiss Ascendancy might as well be the smallest galaxy.
By the end of Thrawn Ascendancy: Lesser Evil, everything’s set to begin the events of the previous trilogy, but it does so at the expense of this trilogy, never really letting it spread its wings and expand/focus on this new area of space, instead feeling more focused on getting us back to the rest of the galaxy.
+ Glimpses of Chiss past
– Thrawn flawless victory’s to the end
– Grysk threat undermined by their constant losses, among other things
– SMALL small galaxy syndrome
– More focused on setting up than exploring more
Ryan is Mynock Manor’s Head Butler. You can follow him on Twitter @BrushYourTeeth. You can follow the website on Twitter @MynockManor and Instagram @mynockmanor.
DISCLOSURE: I received a copy of this book from the publisher at no charge in order to provide a review. However, this did not affect the overall review content. All opinions are my own.
THRAWN ASCENDANCY TRILOGY REVIEWS:
Chaos Rising (Book 1) | Greater Good (Book 2)
ALSO BY TIMOTHY ZAHN:
Thrawn (novel) | Thrawn – Alliances (novel) | Thrawn – Treason (novel)