5/5 Rancors - Mr. Zahn is best known for his eight previous Star Wars books, and I have always found his work to be extremely good, especially the novels with the Imperial officer Thrawn. Choices of One is another excellent effort and is great fun to read. It takes place in the period after A New Hope but before The Empire Strikes Back. We have Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, and Mara Jade in lead roles. What could be better?
Of course, very little is simple in Mr. Zahn's books. It turns out that our heroes are not the only ones headed in that direction. Mara Jade, known as the Emperor's Hand, and the five renegade stormtroopers known as the Hand of Judgment are headed in the same direction to stop Ferrouz and ambush the Rebels. From there, one betrayal leads to another, and things are not always what they seem to be. Mr. Zahn excels in character development and in descriptions of action scenes. His portrayal of Han Solo back in those days is just classic. Sarcastic, questioning, cocky - but at the same time, extremely capable. The byplay between Han and Leia is great fun as the two strong-willed characters deal with each other.
Timothy Zahn's classic book Heir to the Empire from twenty years ago is given credit for reigniting the world of Star Wars publishing. It is a wonderful book. LucasBooks has now released a 20th Anniversary Edition of Heir to the Empire, complete with annotations by the author, exclusive commentary from Lucasfilm and Del Ray, and a brand-new novella starring Grand Admiral Thrawn. The hardcover edition looks great, and I cannot wait to read it.
Mr. Zahn's books are always worth reading, and Choices of One is no exception.
2 comments:
This book is definitely an improvement over Allegiance. I particularly enjoyed the moments of introspection sprinkled throughout the text by the various featured characters. It was great to see that Pellaeon was an "old-school" officer and a honest warrior even before he became a Captain. I thought the use of Nuso Esva as an intelligent, unseen and inscrutable menance with unknown motives was a nice touch for the SW EU which features so many larger than life villains who wear their machinations on their sleave. The story and action takes place on a more brisk pace than Allegiance and Luke Skywalker has suddenly found some courage. I am also slowly warming up to the Hand of Judgment brigade and I thought the resolution of their dilemma at the end made total sense and represented another reason why Thrawn was such a great Imperial leader and compelling adversary. I have a feeling I might have appreciated certain parts of this book more if I had read Outbound Flight first so I would note that to readers. Overall though - this book is a big improvement over Allegiance and if Zahn decided to make this a trilogy instead of a duology - I would probably buy the third book!
Good comments. Thanks.
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