REVIEW: Shadow Fall & Thrawn Ascendancy

Posted by Chris on 01/09/21 at 09:45 AM Category: Books

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Shadow Fall (Star Wars): An Alphabet Squadron Novel
By Alexander Freed, published 6/23/20

The biggest things people seem to have trouble with in reference to Alphabet Squadron is that 1) It is not X-Wing Rogue Squadron and 2) it's a stupid name and they all fly different kinds of ships, which apparently doesn't make sense. My response has always been: 1) You're right, it's not; they already did that and 2) I don't care. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the first book when I read it 43 years ago in the summer of 2019 [Editor's Note: We are working to confirm this math]. As for the sequel, I liked it as well; maybe more than the first. It dispenses with the necessary but often tedious introductory material of the first book and it doesn't skimp on the action. It also gives us some really good character building for all the team members; plus Hera is in this one too! The ending left me looking forward to book three. If you liked the first installment, then Shadow Fall is a definite "buy it".

Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy (Book I: Chaos Rising)
By Timothy Zahn, published 9/1/20

The last book in Timothy Zahn's new Thrawn trilogy, Thrawn: Treason, ended just as Grand Admiral Thrawn was on his way to Lothal to deal with the events depicted in the Rebels series finale. Like everyone else I was hoping the next book would finally reveal to us the fate of Thrawn after he was abducted by the nefarious Ezra Bridger and his space whales. Instead of that we get a new trilogy of books detailing Thrawn's life prior to his service with the Empire. Sigh. Look, it's Thrawn and it's written by Timothy Zahn. It's not bad. It's a fascinating look into Thrawn and the Chiss Ascendancy, but is this really the best use of our time and our money? It is also somewhat complicated in that it jumps back and forth between two time periods (both in Thrawn's past) and I had a little trouble following sometimes because the distinctions just didn't feel that sharp. Like I said, the book is a fascinating exercise in backstory, Chiss worldbuilding, and character study; I'm just not sure if it's compelling enough. I may re-evaluate my rating when the whole trilogy is done, but for now: "borrow it".