At the beginning of the month we reviewed Heir to the Empire, the first book in Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn Trilogy. Now, after a couple of weeks, we pick up once more with the Thrawn Trilogy and book two, Dark Force Rising. The second book of the series maintains the Star Wars legacy of having as much bad crap as can happen to the good guys happen in as short a span of time as possible. No, no one dies, but Thrawn continues to gain power, the mad dark Jedi clone Joruus C’baoth goes a little more mad, and the final race to find the lost Katana Fleet goes to the Empire, as Thrawn beats the good guys to the punch and takes the fleet for himself, or at least part of it, thus boosting his power even more.
We get a little more insight into the character of Mara Jade, her past with the Empire, and her bloodlust to kill Luke Skywalker, who she blames for destroying the Empire as it was. We also meet General Bel Iblis, who was instrumental in creating the Rebellion against the Empire, but then had a falling out with Mon Mothma, who also helped establish the Rebellion. Bel Iblis now joins forces with the
Zahn captures the pacing of a Star Wars story better than probably any other writer. Reviews of his work claim that you can actually hear John Williams’ soundtrack while reading. He excels at creating minor characters that are integral to the storyline, yet they don’t feel like they were created solely for that purpose. They feel like they belong in Star Wars.
Re-readability: 8.9
Final Grade: B+
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