Thrawn

I honestly never really got the hype over Heir To The Empire, which was the series that introduced the character of Thrawn to the Star Wars EU back in the 90s. I feel like people remember it more fondly than it actually is, or appreciate it for what it did to the expanded universe back in the day.

Grand Admiral Thrawn remains a fantastic character though, so I was glad to really get to know him in the Star Wars Rebels series, and now in this book (which serves as a prequel to that series).

Technically, we get Thrawn's origin story in this, but also Governor Pryce's story, which I eventually also found incredibly interesting. The book itself had a really strong start, wandered a bit towards the middle, and then really picked up again by the end. Excellently written, and probably my favorite Empire-focused novel so far. I hope Timothy Zahn ends up tackling a few other novels and characters outside of Thrawn, because I'd definitely be interested in seeing that.