Thrawn (novel) sucks ass

Turkey · May 13, 2017, 01:00:18 PM

Halfway through this book, which I'm reading because EU novel fans (which I'm not) froth at the mouth over Timothy Zahn and finally seeing Thrawn brought back into canon. But damn, this book fucking sucks. It's passable as far as licensed sci-fi novels work. It's about as good as the Halo books, which also suck. These books are generally given a lot of leeway because they expand the universe of beloved media, but stop giving this tripe a pass.

The story is almost nonexistent. It's a collection of """highlights""" of Thrawn's rise to power, and I need to emphasize how sarcastic this is because those highlights are just dumb snippets of sci-fi drivel. Each chapter is prefaced with incredibly cringe-worthy blurbs presumably written by Thrawn, ranging from ""tactics"" to personal growth. It's like Chicken Soup for the Military Sci-Fi Writer's Soul. The novel constantly masturbates to Thrawn's genius intellect and tactical ability, but the author has neither of those. There's effectively no character development so far, and the narrator character feels really out of place, and is clearly just a stand-in for the audience.

Anyways, it's pretty bad. Not sure what SW fans are drooling over. If this is reflective of Timothy Zahn's other work, I didn't miss out on much by skipping them.

Ian · May 13, 2017, 01:13:37 PM

Is Outbound Flight in the novel?

Turkey · May 13, 2017, 01:17:04 PM

Quote from: Ian on May 13, 2017, 01:13:37 PM

Is Outbound Flight in the novel?

The novel doesn't actually use any of the Legacy novels for material, so nothing from previous Thrawn books is in this one -- it's all focused around a new story and set of characters.

Ian · May 13, 2017, 01:20:15 PM

What a tragic waste of the best EU character.

Quote from: WarTurkey on May 13, 2017, 01:17:04 PM

The novel doesn't actually use any of the Legacy novels for material, so nothing from previous Thrawn books is in this one -- it's all focused around a new story and set of characters.

Turkey · May 13, 2017, 01:22:57 PM

Quote from: Ian on May 13, 2017, 01:20:15 PM

What a tragic waste of the best EU character.

Quote from: WarTurkey on May 13, 2017, 01:17:04 PM
The novel doesn't actually use any of the Legacy novels for material, so nothing from previous Thrawn books is in this one -- it's all focused around a new story and set of characters.

Rebels does a much better job at re-introducing him than the book. This is like rebooting Superman and then showing his adventures stopping a petty thief in a shopping mall.

BaconShelf · May 13, 2017, 01:47:38 PM

I liked the Halo novels. Not the newer ones, but I loved the ODST drop on I04 and Covenant perspective on HCE/ Harvest.

Anyway, do you have any particular recommendations, OP? I'm currently reading the Expanse novels but I'm nearly done with them.

Mmmmm Napalm · May 13, 2017, 02:03:40 PM

I personally enjoyed it.

Mmmmm Napalm · May 13, 2017, 02:04:42 PM

Quote from: Ian on May 13, 2017, 01:20:15 PM

What a tragic waste of the best EU character.

Quote from: WarTurkey on May 13, 2017, 01:17:04 PM
The novel doesn't actually use any of the Legacy novels for material, so nothing from previous Thrawn books is in this one -- it's all focused around a new story and set of characters.

Did.you actually read the novel?

Mmmmm Napalm · May 13, 2017, 02:10:53 PM

Also, The Thrawn Trilogy is legitimately fucking good Turkey, I highly advise you read them.

Your criticisms are valid but personally I thought the book was pretty enjoyable. I didn't think it was the greatest thing in the world, but not terrible.

Turkey · May 13, 2017, 02:49:03 PM

Quote from: Mmmmm Napalm on May 13, 2017, 02:10:53 PM

Also, The Thrawn Trilogy is legitimately fucking good Turkey, I highly advise you read them.

Your criticisms are valid but personally I thought the book was pretty enjoyable. I didn't think it was the greatest thing in the world, but not terrible.

I think I'd definitely enjoy him as a villain instead of a protagonist. He's such a flat character in this book.

Mmmmm Napalm · May 13, 2017, 02:59:42 PM

Quote from: WarTurkey on May 13, 2017, 02:49:03 PM

Quote from: Mmmmm Napalm on May 13, 2017, 02:10:53 PM
Also, The Thrawn Trilogy is legitimately fucking good Turkey, I highly advise you read them.

Your criticisms are valid but personally I thought the book was pretty enjoyable. I didn't think it was the greatest thing in the world, but not terrible.

I think I'd definitely enjoy him as a villain instead of a protagonist. He's such a flat character in this book.

He gets more interesting at the end of the book.

Deleted · May 13, 2017, 03:22:49 PM

Quote from: WarTurkey on May 13, 2017, 01:00:18 PM

. It's about as good as the Halo books, which also suck.

Blacklist requested

Turkey · May 13, 2017, 03:28:27 PM

Quote from: BaconShelf on May 13, 2017, 01:47:38 PM

Anyway, do you have any particular recommendations, OP? I'm currently reading the Expanse novels but I'm nearly done with them.

For sci-fi? I've read a few good books lately:

The Three-Body Problem
Ancillary Justice
Solaris
Cloud Atlas

BaconShelf · May 13, 2017, 04:10:37 PM

Quote from: WarTurkey on May 13, 2017, 03:28:27 PM

Quote from: BaconShelf on May 13, 2017, 01:47:38 PM
Anyway, do you have any particular recommendations, OP? I'm currently reading the Expanse novels but I'm nearly done with them.

For sci-fi? I've read a few good books lately:

The Three-Body Problem
Ancillary Justice
Solaris
Cloud Atlas

I'll have a look.

I'm still annoyed that I found a book that sounded really cool in WHSmiths (a high street book store here that devotes like, half a shelf to scifi and fantasy and half that shelf is game of thrones - I had a voucher) about an empire using relatavistic ships and interstellar sub-light speeds war, but it was the fifth in the series. The one time I see something cool and it's a sequel

The Hån · May 13, 2017, 10:50:11 PM

A good number of the SW books are shit. The only one i think i REALLY liked was shadows of the empire.

Korra · May 13, 2017, 10:59:10 PM

Quote from: WarTurkey on May 13, 2017, 01:00:18 PM

It's about as good as the Halo books, which also suck.

Sir, I'm gonna need you to stop posting fake news.

Mattie G Indahouse · May 15, 2017, 05:17:49 PM

What's great about ASoIAF is that GRRM is the only one writing the books so his universe is not going to end up being a cluster fuck by many different authors which may end up writing boring books. I tried reading the Republic Commando novels but I couldn't get past the first five chapters due to how boring they were, what's funny is that I've found her Gears of War novels entertaining on the other hand.

Big Boss · May 15, 2017, 05:25:04 PM

Quote from: BaconShelf on May 13, 2017, 04:10:37 PM

Quote from: WarTurkey on May 13, 2017, 03:28:27 PM
Quote from: BaconShelf on May 13, 2017, 01:47:38 PM
Anyway, do you have any particular recommendations, OP? I'm currently reading the Expanse novels but I'm nearly done with them.

For sci-fi? I've read a few good books lately:

The Three-Body Problem
Ancillary Justice
Solaris
Cloud Atlas

I'll have a look.

I'm still annoyed that I found a book that sounded really cool in WHSmiths (a high street book store here that devotes like, half a shelf to scifi and fantasy and half that shelf is game of thrones - I had a voucher) about an empire using relatavistic ships and interstellar sub-light speeds war, but it was the fifth in the series. The one time I see something cool and it's a sequel

REPRESENTIN WH SMITHS

OSHIT WADUDP G