Thrawn by Timothy Zahn
A long time ago in a galaxy far far away…
Mitth’raw’nuruodo or simply Thrawn, is a disgraced Chiss in exile from the unforgiving Chiss Ascendancy. Thrawn, a member of the Chiss Ascendancy himself, was exiled to a larely uninhabited planet in the Unknown Regions as a punishment for going against his superiors orders. Thrawn had been living a peaceful and uninterrupted life in Exile until The Empire decide that the region of unknown space he was exiled in, was in need of exploration. Thrawn in a bid to impress the The Imperials takes-out numerous TIE fighters and leads Imperial troopers in circles in the woods which surrounded his hut.
The Imperials, following UA (Unknown Alien) protocols, have to preform a study of Thrawn’s habitat as he had, to that point, evaded their notice. Therefore his species was, at that time, unknown. Thrawn’s persistent trouble meant that the exploratory team were unable to study his hut for fear of being attacked. The Commander at the time decides to bring the hut aboard their vessel to be studied there, instead of out in the open sitting ducks for Thrawn to do whatever he wished to them.
Thrawn manages to sneak onto the vessel and his antics caught the attention of the high command and the Emperor himself. How could one lowly Alien get the attention of the Emperor himself? Surely there must be more at play?
Thrawn, an Alien humanoid, and Eli Vanto, Thrawn’s aide, from Wild Space himself could not have be a bigger target for abuse, in the Human and Core World dominated culture, making their ascension through the ranks almost impossible. Thrawn and Eli both having no powerful friends to turn to and neither having any political knowledge or tactical abilities in that area either, will have little hope of ever ranking up in the politically dominated Imperialistic Empire. How will the strategic Chiss and resourceful Eli make the most of the cards which they’ve been dealt? How did Thrawn know the Emperor, almost on a personal level?
Teen Rating: A grand in-site into the life of the Thrawn and an epic window into the mechanics and politics of the Empire. An unmissable read for fans of Sci-fi and of course Star Wars itself and a book which I myself thoroughly enjoyed! 4.6/5 13+