This is strange to be reading a newer series of Thrawn which is not considered as part of the legends series. I loved the original stories of Thrawn and this shows a different side of Thrawn.
He is younger and he does seem to have the attitude and the abilities. He is arrogant but what else is new for Thrawn. He has the penchant to push things fully including annoying those at the Imperial Academy. He has no problem with bending the rules when needed.
Thrawn to me was always misconstrued as a villain and while he wasn’t the nicest person to seal with everything he did was to protect his people the Chiss.
Eli Vanto is very interesting being more of an administrator who can speak in a language that is easier for Thrawn to understand.
He is not as arrogant and doesn’t have the bad attitude that most of the people from Coruscant seems to have. He is very capable and really pushes to help Thrawn despite not sure if he trusts the Chiss
What I like is the loyalty that Thrawn shows to his aide. He is generous trying to do what is best for him even if it means the loss of a valued staff member
While there are some unrealistic parts and I am not really talking about the Force. Eli being jumped to Lt Commander from Ensign is very unrealistic even with the hook that is Thrawn and Tarkin. I liked it but it did have me shocked as generally to get promoted and leapfrogged from a low rank to one that could technically be a command rank is not heard of. Took some enjoyment out at first but it also made the story seem more fantastic.
Arihnda while part of the story for her is just set up for her eventual position it I found her to be boring at first and slowly gained in character strength. She seemed to be smart and pushing to only get revenge a perfect person to bring into the Empire. She is ruthless when needed and very sneaky.
She is a politician in every sense of the word and she has the drive to push others in a way she wants without actually breaking any laws. She has a lot of sneaky qualities that make her a great friend as well as an even worse enemy.
Thrawn and her friendship is not really the correct word but their working relationship is interesting. They deal well with each other in ways that work for each of them. Where Thrawn doesn’t show the same underhanded tactics that you see with Arihnda you can also see where this could potentially go.
It felt like this was more true to Thrawn then I would have expected. I enjoyed this so much and noted that there was a lot that he put in that could easily tie back to his previous stories that are part of Legends.
I must say I was impressed and Thrawn while he was the hero of the story I found Eli Vanto even more compelling as he was a true protege of the master Grand Admiral Thrawn.
Crazy Canadian Writing 