David's Review of Dark Force Rising

5/5 Rancors - Dark Force Rising is the second book in the Thrawn Trilogy and is a great continuation of the struggle between the Republic and Grand Admiral Thrawn’s forces. What we are most interested in this time is the legendary Katana fleet, a large fleet of dreadnoughts lost years ago in the depths of space. It is somewhat difficult to imagine that a fleet of this size has never been found, but space is a big place. The fleet is considered to be a myth by most people, but a few know otherwise. Both sides desperately want to find the dreadnoughts as they could prove to be the difference in the war.

Mara Jade and the smuggler Talon Karrde play major roles in this tale. Karrde wants to remain neutral and profitable, but Thrawn forces his hand by attacking the smuggler’s base of operations on Myrkr. Mara Jade is an extremely interesting character. She is determined to kill Luke because of his role in the death of the Emperor, but she just never seems to be able to actually do it. She works with Karrde and then with Thrawn and creates several interesting complications.

Luke is still involved with trying to shape the Jedi movement, and he is drawn into a confrontation with the rogue Jedi (or Jedi clone) Joruus C’baoth on Jomark. C’baoth considers himself to be the true leader of the Jedi, and he wants Luke as well as Leia and her twins so he can train them in what he espouses to be the correct Jedi way. Leia is busy for much of the book trying to make allies of the Noghri, an alien species that is an excellent addition to the Star Wars realm.

The Thrawn Trilogy is consistently outstanding. I believe that any Star Wars fan will love all three books in this series.