“A friend need not be kept either within sight or within reach. A friend must be allowed the freedom to find and follow his own path.

If one is fortunate, those paths will for a time join. But if the paths separate, it is comforting to know that a friend still graces the universe with his skills, and his viewpoint, and his presence.

For if one is remembered by a friend, one is never truly gone.”

This was amazing. I would highly recommend the audiobook! The narrator does an amazing job, his voices for Thrawn, Palpatine, and even

Spoiler

Vader

are very, very well done. Plus, the added sound effects of explosions and blasts in the midst of battle, or other ambient noise, truly make reading this book an experience in which you can lay back, close your eyes, and just imagine it all playing out right in front of you, its own Star Wars series starring the rise of Thrawn.

Onto the actual content, I cannot say enough how much I love Thrawn’s mind, and even more his moral compass, however gray. He has debuted as #3 in my top Star Wars characters, behind only Captain Rex and Ahsoka Tano. I loved getting his tactical insight at the start of every chapter, and I felt that added a lot to our understanding of his character. Though I usually root for the rebels, I wanted nothing more than for Thrawn to succeed, even if that meant squandering early waves of rebellion against a tyrannical Empire. But, knowing Thrawn’s own motives by the end, and his thoughts on true evils, we grow to appreciate even more the multifaceted nature of this character who is a wise and patient warrior.

Furthermore, I think what I enjoyed the most was seeing his relationship with Eli Vanto develop organically. The “side-quest” type feel was an excellent way of both timelining the relatively rapid rise in ranks of Thrawn from a non-human who faced discrimination and had little standing to a non-human who faces discrimination and has one of the largest standings, and how a character we can relate more to (i.e. Eli) grows to love working beside someone so once-in-a-lifetime, even if he is overshadowed by Thrawn’s greatness. I just love the two of them together, so I hope to get to see them interact in the future again.

I kind of touched on it briefly above, but I also found it fascinating the alien-human and inner rim-outer rim politics with regards to hierarchy, discrimination, and thus Thrawn’s progression in the navy. Another element I thought was brilliantly done was the fact that throughout the novel, we the audience knows something our characters do not regarding the

Spoiler

increase in the Empire accumulating special ores and metals and the subsequent increase in the smuggling of those materials

. It makes everything Thrawn does in the book feel all the more important and tragic.

I fucking hate Arihnda Pryce. That’s all I’ll say about that coldhearted snake. Politicians.