gffa:
SOME MORE THOUGHTS FROM OTHERS RE: THE THRAWN NOVEL
Anonymous said:
Thank you for answering my question about Thrawn! I appreciate your quick response (and honesty) Book-Thrawn sounds like my kinda guy so I’ll check it out 🙂
You’re very welcome! I hope you enjoy it! You can also potentially check out the audiobook as the other commenters suggest, though, I wouldn’t recommend reading the comic version. While I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read of it, it’s a condensed version and so doesn’t work as well, imo. It’s good at what it is (an abridged version with art!) but I liked the long version better.
@skywalkerscalamity replied:
Had it not been for the audio book, I probably would not have liked Thrawn. I had a sample sw book with excerpts from upcoming sw novels that was released in like 2015? And I remember trying to read the Thrawn one getting super bored. However, with the audio book, you get well performed different voices for each character, music, and sound effects which made it not only easier but more enjoyable to get through
I haven’t listened to the Thrawn audiobook, but between you and Icsek, I think I’ll have to! Sometimes the audio slides right off my brain (because I’m usually doing other things at the same time, like working on graphics or filling up my queue or playing Farmville), so I like reading books when I can, but sometimes a person just wants to experience a story, not really concentrate on it–and the audiobooks for Star Wars are so good at that! (And this is a good suggestion for the anon if it starts slow or you prefer audio experiences!)
@icsek replied:
Marc Thompson did both series of audibooks and I’d recommend them. He’s my favorite audiobook reader more than anyone. We went to his panel at SWCO and he was fantastic!
I’ve heard nothing but good about Marc Thompson (and I’ve liked him in both Last Shot and now Aftermath), though, I think January LaVoy just barely edges him out for me. But that might be because I’m fresh off Phasma and how much I loved that one. EITHER WAY, THERE ARE SO MANY GOOD BOOKS WITH BOTH OF THEM. ♥
@alizrak replied:
From the old canon the only one I have read is Outbound Flight which I believe is more in inline with the personality on the current book!Thrawn by Zahn. Less of a cartoonish evil genius villain from Rebels, and much more of a guy too smart for his own good doing what he thinks is necessary to keep everyone safe, set a few years before the Clone Wars. I want to see just how much of that carries over with Alliances.
I haven’t yet read Outbound Flight (but it’s on my list, because I liked Thrawn and I liked the Clone Wars-set short story Zahn wrote) but that’s really good to hear! I like Zahn’s writing and I’m actually really excited about Alliances coming out tomorrow and will probably drop everything for it. It’s the style of storytelling that’s definitely not going to work for everyone (I have to give points to those who find Thrawn to be The Most Special XD) but “a guy too smart for his own good doing what he thinks is necessary” and the blend of honor yet working for the Empire so you get that he’s a bad guy, idk that really works for me!
@amethystgypsy712 replied:
gffa:
Hi! Mileage definitely varies on this and I think a lot will come of where your tolerance levels are at. I could not get into the old Legends Thrawn novels, I tried a couple of times and they slid right off me–but this may be because pretty much all of the SW books slid off me until I came back to fandom a couple of years ago! Some people still really love those books, though, and some people still find them way, way overhyped.
For the canon one (the second one isn’t out until tomorrow), a lot of people have the same approach–some really love the book, some find it way overhyped and that Zahn writes Thrawn as The Most Special Ever. There is an element of that, but I didn’t find it intolerable and instead found it more kind of delightful because he’s so terrible with understanding other people and basically needs a friend to be his social buffer like 90% of the time!
I loved the Thrawn book, in a way that the character in Rebels show never quite worked for me. I do find that they’re fairly distant from each other (the book version is more honorable, while the Rebels version tends to be a straight up villain who’s not terribly smart) but not an unbridgeable gap.
Basically: I totally recommend the novel, the TV version of the character is solid but my heart is with the book version, but it depends on your tolerance for Super Smart, Super Honorable, But Also Willing To Play Kinda Dirty characters. If you like Honorable Villains who are pretty smart, I’d say check the book out!
Well I’ve always been a Star Wars fan, and Thrawn and T Zahn’s characters have always been my favourites. If you like legends material, Thrawn is a SUPER mastermind. But I hated the Hand of Thrawn and Survivors Quest books. Rebels has him in a way that is intended for younger audiences, but the new canon book with him was very good; I loved all the little references Zahn made to his other works. The only thing I don’t like about this new Thrawn is his alliance with Pryce. I HATE her!!! 🤬
Well, you’re definitely supposed to dislike Pryce! I liked her because I really dig ruthless, awful women (when balanced out with more complicated women and heroic women, which Rebels and SW in general has given me!). Rebels is definitely for a younger audience and it wasn’t Thrawn’s story, we weren’t inside his head, and I think that probably makes a big difference in how he comes off!
I recommend all holodocs on me to be read.