Victor Hugo Kebbe

Timothy Zahn is widely considered one of the cornerstones of the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Indeed, it is impossible to imagine this universe without his masterpiece, the Thrawn Trilogy. These books, which paved the way for everything that followed, introduced us to his most famous creations: Mara Jade Skywalker, Grand Admiral Thrawn, Joruus C’Baoth, and Talon Karrde.

I vividly recall reading the trilogy for the first time and being fascinated by the richness of detail and how Zahn managed to capture the essence of the original films. It was all there: not just the voices and behaviors of the classic characters, but their placement in a pulsating, living, and—poetic license aside—realistic universe.

Survivor’s Quest is, in a way, an offshoot of that original trilogy, maintaining a direct link to the legacy of the late Admiral Thrawn. It is the opportunity fans had been waiting for to see the development of Luke and Mara Jade’s relationship as a married couple and how they handle adversity together. It certainly laid the groundwork for what we would see in later titles, such as the New Jedi Order series.

The plot begins while Mara Jade is still trying to "clean up" after her former employer, Talon Karrde, regarding broken agreements with other smugglers across the galaxy. Amidst this, the couple receives an invitation from the Chiss Ascendancy to visit the wreckage of the recently discovered Outbound Flight, an ancient Old Republic colonization expedition that carried several Jedi—including Joruus C’Baoth.

Seeing this as a window into the history of the Old Jedi Order, Luke immediately recognizes the potential for learning. Burdened by Yoda’s charge to pass on his knowledge, Luke constantly doubts whether he is leading the New Jedi Order correctly. Filled with uncertainty, he convinces his wife to embark on this journey into the past in search of guidance for the future.

They do not head into the heart of the Unknown Regions alone. Beyond the Chiss escort—the discoverers of the wreckage—they are joined by the Empire of the Hand (a sanitized and supposedly benevolent version of Palpatine’s old Empire), the Geroons (a species claiming to have been saved by the Jedi of the ancient ship from a predatory people), and "Ambassador" Jinzler, a former employee of Talon Karrde with a strictly personal agenda: finding traces of his sister, Lorana, a member of the original Outbound Flight crew.

However, not everything is as it seems. The journey takes on the tone of a mystery story akin to Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, but maladroitly executed. We eventually discover that the Geroons are, in fact, the very predatory people (the Vagaari) they claimed to be victims of. In the end, this twist transforms the "Geroons-who-are-not-what-they-seem" into the story's main villains, but the reveal feels rushed and disjointed.

I often wonder if the Zahn who impressed me so much in the Thrawn Trilogy spent all his creative force on those first books. In my opinion, almost all of the author’s works following that trilogy are weaker or uninteresting. Perhaps he raised the bar too high, becoming unable to keep up with or maintain his own literary quality.

The narrative as a whole fails to engage. This is the second time I’ve read this book (after a gap of more than a decade), and it was often a slog. Survivor’s Quest also suffers from raising too many questions that would only be answered in another of the author’s books, Outbound Flight. The problem is that Outbound Flight tells the original events of the expedition (a prequel) and was released years later. It feels as though the author assumes we will read both books in tandem. If the intention wasn't to sell a mandatory duology, why trap the reader like this?

Another issue that bothered me—and which is, unfortunately, quite recurring in both the Expanded Universe and the new Disney canon—is the requirement for encyclopedic knowledge. The author writes as if the reader has an "internalized Wookieepedia," religiously following every book, comic, and game.

Many use the vastness of the Star Wars universe as an excuse for this reliance on constant Google searches to understand a simple plot (the worst-case scenario being James Luceno’s books, which are cluttered with excessive connections). However, it is perfectly possible to tell a contained, fun, and meaningful story without requiring the reader to be a lore scholar. An excellent example of this is Kenobi by John Jackson Miller, which delivers a complete experience with a clear beginning, middle, and end.

First read - March/2013 - Astonished. Speechless. It was the best fantasy book I've ever read.

Second read - February/2014 - Once again, definitely, the fantasy book I've ever read.

This afternoon, I read Jody Houser’s comic book adaptation of Thrawn. At the same time, I’ve been rereading Timothy Zahn’s Survivor’s Quest—which focuses on the Chiss—for the first time in years. Both experiences have been shockingly dull and exhausting. I get the feeling that Zahn gave it his all—spending every ounce of his creative energy—on the original Thrawn Trilogy, leaving his later works feeling lackluster by comparison.

In the comic, we get a version of Thrawn that feels like a watered-down shadow of the original Expanded Universe character. On top of being diluted, he’s incredibly boring and uninteresting, with a trajectory that couldn’t be blander. And poor Eli Vanto just seems out of place the entire time.

Meanwhile, part of the story covers Arihnda Pryce’s journey, but in a very disjointed way. The whole subplot involving the 'doonium' mineral is tedious and feels like it was shoehorned in just to force a connection between the book and the Rebels animated series.

Then there’s Survivor’s Quest, which covers Luke and Mara’s adventure in Chiss space. I had forgotten just how much of a slog this book is, too. It is shocking that even Zahn’s signature character, Mara Jade, feels nothing like the Mara Jade from the Thrawn Trilogy! I really don't understand what happened there.

However, the biggest weakness in both works is that—like many entries in both the Expanded Universe and the post-Disney canon—the authors assume readers are religiously keeping up with every single movie, show, book, comic, and video game released. It turns the story into a disjointed Frankenstein’s monster that is only comprehensible to people who have memorized Wookieepedia.