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A review by eishe
Vision of the Future by Timothy Zahn
5.0
The Hand of Thrawn duology should be a movie. Or movies. Or TV-series, animated series or any other cinematographic adaptation you can think of. When I finally put down the book after an almost non-stop read, my first thought was: "Yes. This is Star Wars."
Specter of the Past set up a great premises for a good storyline and Vision of the Future has clearly come to the potential, even exceeding it. The plot was not entirely foreseeable and in places where it was, the characters even implied that something was bound to fail. There is just the right amount of action added to the adventure combined with some good places of suspense and scheming, topped up with realistic dialogues and interactions.
Just as in Specter of the Past most characters are kept into their canonical selves, keeping in mind the great time that has passed since the movies' (and the reader is constantly reminded how many years it has been. The level of character development is moderate, probably most evident in Luke and all of his dilemmas. Several characters were introduced anew, but the plotline mostly kept to the known characters with all the limitations it set in place (no, he's not dead, because that'd break the space and time continuum) and it done so very well.
Now I'm still a newcomer to Star Wars novels, but this book seems to contain a greater deal of romance than the average. It has a great deal of jedi-esque (there is no emotion, there is peace, therefore we must never tell our true feelings and all that) romance and a good deal of Leia worrying about Han and Han worrying about Leia and some other characters either sending loving eyes at each other (or blaster bolts at the bad guys they're against) in addition to several implied situations. While normally I don't like my science fiction sweet, this time it sort of adds to the charm.
However be aware that this book will spoil you in at least two ways:
1. Just like the Thrawn Trilogy, it sets up high expectations for other Star Wars books, expectations that are rarely met.
2. If you haven't read any other Star Wars books, it will spoil a great many events that occur up to the events of the book.
Specter of the Past set up a great premises for a good storyline and Vision of the Future has clearly come to the potential, even exceeding it. The plot was not entirely foreseeable and in places where it was, the characters even implied that something was bound to fail. There is just the right amount of action added to the adventure combined with some good places of suspense and scheming, topped up with realistic dialogues and interactions.
Just as in Specter of the Past most characters are kept into their canonical selves, keeping in mind the great time that has passed since the movies' (and the reader is constantly reminded how many years it has been. The level of character development is moderate, probably most evident in Luke and all of his dilemmas. Several characters were introduced anew, but the plotline mostly kept to the known characters with all the limitations it set in place (no, he's not dead, because that'd break the space and time continuum) and it done so very well.
Now I'm still a newcomer to Star Wars novels, but this book seems to contain a greater deal of romance than the average. It has a great deal of jedi-esque (there is no emotion, there is peace, therefore we must never tell our true feelings and all that) romance and a good deal of Leia worrying about Han and Han worrying about Leia and some other characters either sending loving eyes at each other (or blaster bolts at the bad guys they're against) in addition to several implied situations. While normally I don't like my science fiction sweet, this time it sort of adds to the charm.
However be aware that this book will spoil you in at least two ways:
1. Just like the Thrawn Trilogy, it sets up high expectations for other Star Wars books, expectations that are rarely met.
2. If you haven't read any other Star Wars books, it will spoil a great many events that occur up to the events of the book.