The war against Thrawn reaches it's surprising conclusion.
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Five years after 'Return of the Jedi', Grand Admiral Thrawn desires to draw the New Republic into a decisive battle. To that end he launches cloaked asteroids into Coruscant's orbit and the New Republic have no choice but to attempt the theft of an Imperial anti-cloak device. Meanwhile, Han, Luke, Leia, Lando, Chewie and Mara undertake a mission to destroy Thrawn's cloning facility on Wayland. However, the insane Jedi Joruus C'baoth awaits them avidly.
This book has all of the great elements of the previous two, dramatic action, subtle military strategy, political tension and extensive character development. The climatic Battle of Bilbringi is an unmissable Star Wars moment, recalling elements of the Emperor's 'surprise' in 'Return of the Jedi'. My favourite part of this book is where the New Republic's heroes defy their government to break Mara out of imprisonment, an act of faith in her that causes some dramatic development of her character. The confrontation in the Mount Tantiss throne room also brilliantly captures the atmosphere of 'RotJ', but with C'baoth's minion proving to be a welcome surprise (I won't give away details, but it's one of the best handlings of this sort of thing happening to a main character that I've read).
Thrawn's end, although entirely fitting, was somewhat abrupt and the otherwise excellent battle scene therefore also ended too abruptly.
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Brill
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Although Im a great fan of Star Wars, I never really cared for the 'Expanded Universe Books', I thought that they couldnt give me more joy and excitemnet as the films did, I was wrong! After reading Zahn's, 'Heir to the Empire' and 'Dark Force Rising', I was utterly enthralled by them, I had to buy the third enstallment, 'The Last Command', whhich in my opinion, is the best of the Trilogy. The way that Zahn describes every tiny detail to get the image across is excellent, I never thought that there could be another villian to fill the shoes of Vader and the Emperor, but Zahn delivered us Grand Admiral Thrawn, everything you'd expect of a Warlord. The book is written beautifully, the scenes between Mara Jade and Luke Skywalker are superbly written, although they are not together in this series, you can see their relationship develloping. The insane Jedi, Joruus C'boath is excellently potrayed in this book, even the words he says give a sense and feeling of madness!. I would recommend this book to anyone.
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Genius!!!
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It's a classic example of writing at its best. anybody who is a Star Wars fan will love it but it's easy to understand if you are not already a fan(MAD!!), but you must read the first two books in the Thrawn Trilogy.
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Wow... Does this guy know his stuff or what?
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I've got all three versions of this, (paperback/graphic/audio) and aside from listening to Anthony Daniels doing all the other voices on the tape versions, (Absolutely hilarious by the way...) this is one of the best star wars books I've seen so far. I did notice one important mistake though, which was 'how did C'Boath brainwash the clone if he couldn't use the Force?' but even this can't take away from the rest of the book, which truly shows how much effort and attention to detail Zahn put into this. All in all an amazing end to a top notch trilogy which gets better with each book.
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Gripping till the end
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I have just finished reading the empire trilogy. In brief, I can only say that I was transported into the midst of the action with a big tub of popcorn on my knee. TZs writing is second to none - all our favourite characters were there - he captures the ambiance that is Star Wars. Thrawn was so well described you could see him constantly coming out of the shadows with some deadly counter action if you dared to even put the book down for a second (which was practically impossible). As a trilogy, I had to keep all three books together for fear of loosing the continuity. But dont just listen to me rambling on about it, go and buy the books "YOU WILL BUY THE BOOKS!"
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