Reviews

** I apologise in advance if this review is a rambling mess. I just finished the book 5 minutes ago and it is 1:00 am in the morning.

Rating: 5 stars

"I pledged myself to serve the Emperor, Lord Vader, just as I once pledged to assist Anakin Skywalker."
For a long moment, they just stood together in silence. Vader thought about his secret... "Anakin Skywalker is dead," he said.
Thrawn lowered his head. "I know."
Vader nodded slowly. I know. Not So I have heard. Not So I was informed. But I know. "We will not speak of him again," he said. "You will not speak of him again."
"I understand, my lord," Thrawn said. "But I will always honour his legacy."

Oh man! This book ticks pretty much all the Star Wars boxes for me. Clone wars? Check. Single digits BBY? (That's Before Battle of Yavin, which is when the first Death Star went boom by Luke, so basically I mean 1-9 years in-universe before the events of episode IV) Check. Lightsabers? Check. Jedi? Check. Sith? Check. Anakin Skywalker? Check. Darth Vader? Checkity check check check!

After finishing Thrawn and giving it 4 stars, I could only hold on for two days before picking up Thrawn: Alliances. I quickly read the synopsis and immediately saw two buzzwords: Vader and Anakin. My scifi weaknesses! All you need to do is throw Data from Star Trek in there along with a good helping of the 10th and 11th Doctors and I am crippled. That's all the excuses I can give.

Anyway, about the book itself, Alliances tackles a dual timeline (with a third at times) and 4-5 main POV characters. It does all this without being a fantasy epic, and actually executes it pretty well. I had some issues with the POV side of things (the male and female POV chapters read quite similarly, and characters did not have strong or distinctive narrative voices) but I never had any trouble differentiating between the timelines - if Vader was talking, then it was obviously the present, and if Anakin or Padmé were (the latter who I couldn't help picturing in that white outfit from Attack of the Clones), then it could only be the past.

Speaking of him (them?), let's talk about Anakin and Vader now. According to my sleep deprived brain's notes, "Vader relationship with Anakin was written goodly" so take from that what you will. An interesting Star Wars factoid that I have stored in my brain is that Vader/Anakin is a popular character for psychology students to explore in their thesis, and the true depth of his personality can never be done justice in the films. Zhan manages to portray Vader and Anakin as two separate entities, and yet undeniably one person. I can't describe it, but whatever he did was perfect.

I cannot wait to round off this trilogy with the last book Treason. I am too tired to make a pun, but I suppose I can just say that treason is an anagram of senator and call it a night. Or, well, an early morning.

jamiebrynes7's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

3.25

jeannamarie's review against another edition

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4.0

Loved the two dynamics: the first with Anakin/Thrawn and the second Vader/Thrawn. Thrawn is always the smartest, most observant being in the room and it’s always fun to read. Another aspect was the precognitive visions that the Jedi have during combat, this was done really well.

Overall a really entertaining read and solid at progressing the trilogy along, but the pacing in some chapters was really slow and took me out of the moment sometimes, hence the four stars.