Hello everyone!
Back again with another book blog, and I'm continuing with the theme I began last Thursday since even my Tuesday blog was related.
Then again, Star Wars has this thing about it. Once it sucks you in, you're a goner!
I really have to thank my good friend Steven for this, because honestly, I'd been eyeballing the Expanded Universe lists for years but never actually got around to it, and then somehow by random accident there was a developing conversation on one of his Facebook status updates, I think, and in the end I walked out of it with not one, not two, not even three, but FOUR Star Wars books to get me started!
Last week I started talking about the Thrawn Trilogy with its first installment, so naturally it's time to go in with book number two now.
I mean, that's the usual, right? One, two, three.
Besides, with these books, you literally wouldn't have a clue what's going on if you didn't read the previous before it.
So let's stop talking shop and let's start talking Dark Force Rising.
After getting through and giggling my way between the pages of Shadows of the Empire, I then picked up Heir to the Empire to continue on with the saga that centers around Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa Solo, and Han Solo, with all their respective friends and counterparts. I'm making a list of books that happen during the Old Republic, which is my preferred timeframe, I think, at least at the moment, but for now I plan on finishing this trilogy first.
So it's time to crack open Dark Force Rising and see what Timothy Zahn cooked up for us in it.
Now, if you recall, in Heir to the Empire we see our original trio faced with the political intrigues of trying to establish the New Republic after the fall of the Empire, and this includes but is not limited to nearly escaping getting themselves assassinated, flying from one corner of the galaxy to another, getting captured by a crime lord/smuggler (or whatever he is), and dealing with a rather obnoxious Grand Admiral, a hold-out for the old Empire.
We should give him a special shout-out, though, because Thrawn is, for all intents and purposes, described as a mastermind among other things, and it's repeatedly stated that if he had been in charge of the Empire's forces during the battle with the Rebel Alliance, the Empire would still be standing today.
So that's where we're at. Oh no, wait, we're also with a locked up Admiral Ackbar, who's been accused of treason, and our trio hasten back to Coruscant to see what they can do about it.
This is also where I strongly desire to throtle the Bothan political, Borsk Fey'lya, because he's definitely out for Ackbar and is so smooth-talking that all I want to do is smack him in the face. Or maybe shave all that fur he has going on for him. Now THAT would be something to see!
Unfortunately, however, it appears Leia has somehow gotten pushed aside in this political confrontation, which isn't something I'm used to seeing with her, or with her mother Padmé before her; neither of the women would ever be quiet in a situation like this one, but somehow it happens, sadly, so I mean, what can you do?
Nothing much, other than try and figure things out and help Ackbar, as well as the New Republic. The Bothan could have chopped at Ackbar for real, but apparently something's holding him back, and they need to figure out his game.
Also, Leia has to go and meet with the Noghri representative, because she promised.
Cue Han being infernally pissed about it, but they end on a bargain that she's taking Chewie along with her, as well as Threepio, because of the potential language barrier.
So that's where THEY'RE going, with the Falcon in tow. Meanwhile, Han and Lando are taking Lando's ship, the Lady Luck, to a pitstop where they'll meet up with Luke so that they can compare notes, check something out, and then they'll see what to do, though the Coruscant duo are going to keep going so they try and unearth the whole money scheme that put Ackbar in shackles.
Of course, things don't go according to plan - because when do they EVER? If your last name's Skywalker, or Solo, chances are you're going to smack into trouble face-first. And pull whoever's with you right along.
Han and Lando get separated, and Han gets picked up by a rather strange woman who holds him sort of captive while he was trailing a Bothan himself, while meanwhile Lando finds Luke.
And Luke is in a pickle of his own.
In what has to be my favourite scene in the entire book, a brawl errupts in the cantina he's waiting at, and one of the brawlers calls upon the Jedi to disperse judgement - and Luke suddenly finds himself on the receiving end of the entire cantina's stare. They're all expecting him to deal with it, and, what's more, they'll accept his word as law and not fight it. It's a big responsibility, but equally it brings into focus for Luke what it used to mean to be a Jedi, the peacekeeper of the Old Republic, and that the Empire might have stamped on the people but they still remember how things used to be.
What's more, they WANT them that way again. They want the Jedi.
So with Lando's help (and the help of another thief), Luke deals with the brawl, and they're on their way to meet Han when Thrawn's minions pop up for a regular sort of check-up, only this time they might get more than they've wanted, because Luke and Han are both here.
Their new helpers, who promise to take Han to the Commander, help them escape, and Luke swings away in his X-wing since he's got a job to do. Han and Lando orchestrate the getaway and go to meet whoever this misterious commander is.
Turns out, it's an old Corellian senator, Iblis, and apparently he found the Katana fleet, or at least a part of it; short note: the Katana fleet disappeared during a voyage, apparently because a hive virus went nuts with the crews abourd ships, and with their connected computers they've all just been floating in the middle of nowhere since. But it's around two hundred ships that would be vital for each of the fighting sides - so of course both the New Republic and Thrawn want them.
Han tries persuading Iblis to come back to the New Republic, to no avail, then he and Lando take off to meet with the person who's going to give them the location of the Dark Force, which is another name for the fleet (and title!). Obviously, this doesn't end well either, since Thrawn follows them there and they're forced to let their source go. Then it's a race to Coruscant.
Meanwhile, Luke heads to a small, insignificant planet from where he heard the peculiar Force call, where he finally meets with the Jedi there, C'baoth, who was basically planted there by Thrawn, and we readers know he's a clone, but Luke doesn't. Also, Luke seems to revert right back to naive and simple-minded kid as opposed to being one of the heroes of the New Republic and potentially the most powerful person in the galaxy, because he just sort of goes along with his new "Master" while the guy is completely off the rails, saying the Jedi should lord over the lesser people and shooting lightning at someone to hurt them and "teach them a lesson".
Newsflash, Luke: you've seen the lightning before, haven't you? Palpatine BBQed your dad with it. So how come you're still here???
It's galling that the characterisation went in such a way that Mara Jade needs to tromp in, convince R2 not to shoot her, and get Luke out because she needs his help rescuing Talon Karrde (flashback: Mara was caught by the Imperials and revealed herself as the Emperor's Hand to survive, then Thrawn had her followed back to Karrde and he took him captive so that he can give up the Katana fleet; this is before the other guy was in play). She also rolls her eyes and tells Luke he's an idiot because C'baoth is in league with Thrawn.
Duh.
Duh.
Now they're off, and infiltrate Thrawn's ship where Luke reacquaints himself with the garbage compactor and gets Karrde out, but somehow Thrawn figures out they're there (I swear I don't get it, this guy's better than a Jedi and it's a very Deus Ex Machina role which I'm always annoyed with, because there's JUST NO WAY) and they need to fight their way out.
Luckily for them, they also grab the Millenium Falcon along, which Thrawn picked up around Endor where Leia left it. So now these three are also in a rush to Coruscant.
To finish up, what's Leia been doing?
Well, if you remember, she went to the Noghri, and unfortunately got stuck there for most of the book, because - and again, HOW IS IT EVEN POSSIBLE - Thrawn popped onto the planet to interrogate the very Noghri who brought Leia over. Luckily, somehow, our all-knowing Grand Admiral seems to go in the exact opposite direction of the obvious one JUST THIS ONCE and doesn't find them, but it takes Leia a little while to figure out what's wrong with the planet and the thralldom the Noghri are in to the Empire.
She does it though, once she realizes the battle that devastated the planet actually happened during the Clone Wars, not recently, and that the Empire could have easily healed the entire planet - but instead, they chose to do it slowly, to keep the Noghri with them, and the entire race isn't as tech-savvy as it could be, so they didn't get it until she got there.
That's that, however, because now they know. And Leia's off to Coruscant as well.
Where Fey'lya is JUST SO ANNOYING AND WANTS TO ARREST HAN AND LUKE.
And the most galling part is that Mon Mothma DOESN'T VEHEMENTLY OPPOSE THIS.
Like, seriously, people, I get there's politics, but there's also right and wrong, and if we're talking politics, did Mothma think the military would have just sat there and watched as THEIR HEROES WERE PLACED UNDER ARREST?
That's what she should have been thinking of.
Anyway, enough about that, Leia and Karrde outsmart Fey'lya when they race to the Katana fleet, where a battle of epic proportions explodes among the stars, between the small New Republic forces, strengthened by the Falcon, Karrde's people led by Mara Jade, Senator Iblis, who comes with help for the Republic, and Thrawn's people.
Only, there's a bit of a problem, either way.
There's not enough ships left in the Dark Force.
Out of the two hundred, there only seems to be a rough fifteeh or twenty left ... which can only mean one thing.
By the end of the second book, Thrawn has a fleet again, neatly stolen from under the New Republic's nose. And what's more, our heroes also realize that the enemies they were fighting were all clones, which means Thrawn has found a way to express design crews for his fleet. The brief hope that they might have years before the Grand Admiral was ready to launch said fleet evaporates with that.
He's got the fleet, he's got the manpower - now he's gunning for the throne.
To be concluded in The Last Command!
Whew, this book was a whooper.
Unlike Heir to the Empire, this one seemed to start out strong right out of the gate and didn't stop until our heroes realized they'd been outplayed, and I was left exhausted because, seriously, how much trouble can one person get into? I'm reminded of a quote by McGonagall somewhere in the Half-Blood Prince movie: "Why is it, when something happens, it is ALWAYS you three?"
I had fewer gripes with this one than the first, it definitely read faster (probably spcecifically because so much of the book was action packed), but there were still some loopholes that were big enough for an X-wing to fly through.
Like, I get that Fey'lya is attempting this coup, but shouldn't, I don't know, Mon Mothma actually actively try to counter him and NOT let him so casually win in debates? She's not doing anything to strengthen her own position! It takes the military who hear just what he thinks of them to show everyone how it's done, namely, sit your ass down you stupid furbaby and let real men and women do the job.
Second, Luke regressed in characterisation in this one. I get that C'baoth was influencing him with the Force or whatever, making him feel tired, but Luke should have been strong enough at this point to at least realize the exhaustion was weird and try to figure it out. Also, just be smarter about the whole thing AND FIGHT BACK. Who the hell cares of this guy is a supposed Jedi Master? You have your own compass for right and wrong, and frying someone with Force lightning is WRONG ON SO MANY LEVELS! AT LEAST GIVE US SOMETHING!
Third, and there's probably more, but this one jumped straight at me, was the fact that Mara was apparently able to use some Force on Thrawn despite the fact he was surrounded by those ysalamiri which negate the effects of the Force. That makes no sense whatsoever and made me feel irritated with the character, because her strength and intelligence was amplified for no good reason while Luke's was dumbed down. IT DOESN'T WORK LIKE THAT. Although thankfully there were no mentions of her hair or eye colours. SMALL VICTORIES.
There were some other minor details, and the entire plot sort of read a little bit like The Empire Strikes Back, in a way, only this should have been Thrawn Outsmarts Everyone Because He's Just Cool Like That, but it's the same gist.
However, it was a dynamic read, the plot did progress, the scenes connected well, and nobody was forgotten anywhere in a pod or damaged fighter, so I can't argue with that.
Plus, now I want to know who gives Thrawn that final kick in the ass he's been asking for.
Last Command, here I come!
xx
*image not mine
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