Star Wars: Thrawn Alliances review

Thrawn: Alliances Review

Thrawn: Alliances by Timothy Zahn was released earlier this year and I read it then, I haven't reviewed it up to now, because I have been very busy. The book takes place in two time periods, that it bounces back and forth between, similar to the book, Last Shot. The earlier time period was an adventure with Thrawn, Anakin, and Padme during The Clone Wars on the planet of Batuu. And the second time period was an adventure with Thrawn and Vader in the Empire that involved them digging up their past on Batuu. The eras changing like this can sometimes be an annoyance, like when it gets very exciting in one and you have to switch. Overall these adventures are fun and have great writing. One interesting thing about them is that the planet, Batuu will be the setting for the upcoming Star Wars land at Disney, Galaxy's Edge. So you may see some tie-in to this book if you are to visit, once that opens.

Batuu

My favorite characters in this are obviously Thrawn and Vader/Anakin, there is so much insight into both characters in the book it is just so intriguing. I would also like to mention Rukh, Thrawn's Alien bodyguard, he goes aboard the  Star Destroyer and has very humorous quarrels with the imperials and later teams up with them for an epic fight against some adversaries. A character I wish had more presence in this book is Eli Vanto of the first Thrawn book and he is really not present or mentioned at that is much of a shame here. This book has great insight into the force and interactions with Thrawn and Vader, I would like for you to read this quote that shows much of that, and I think is one of the best spots in this book. Before you read it you should now that Anakin was the first Jedi that Thrawn ever met and Vader internally refers to Anakin as "The Jedi". Right here, Thrawn and Vader are aboard the Star Destroyer, Chimera and Vader is navigating the ship with The Force, when this happens:

"There was a flicker in Thrawn's sense. Vader looked up to see a small smile on his face. 'Do you find this amusing, Admiral?' he challenged. 'No, not at all, my lord,' Thrawn hastened to assure him. 'I was simply recalling a memory. I told you the Chiss call this talent Third Sight. What I hadn't yet spoken of is the title these navigators are given once they take their posts.' 'Which is?' 'The Cheunh word is Ozyly-esehembo,' Thrawn said. 'In Basic it translates to 'Skywalker.'' Another small smile. 'You can imagine my confusion when I first encountered Jedi General Anakin Skywalker.' Vader nodded. He'd forgotten that The Jedi, too, had wondered about Thrawn's reaction at that meeting. A small mystery, now put to rest. The recitation ended. 'Lord Vader, the Chimera awaits your guidance,' Thrawn said. That one, at least, was new. Stretching out to The Force, Vader keyed the Hyperdrive."

Thrawn trolls Vader several times in this book over Vader's identity and I think that is pretty cool and the fact that the name Skywalker might come from the Chiss also is. I feel like Space Navigation may also come into use when Thrawn and Ezra are in the middle of space in a Star Destroyer after Rebels, but that's just speculation.

 Yet another aspect from this book that could affect the future of Star Wars is the Grysks, they are a species from the unknown regions that is a big threat to the galaxy. That sounds very similar to the Yuhzon Vong from Legends, and that alien race would take over inhabited planets and posed a very large threat for the New Republic. But who knows what the future of Thrawn and Star Wars will hold?

Yuhzon Vong designs for cancelled Clone Wars appearance

Thrawn: Alliances was about 100 pages shorter than the first book and was probably more contained because of it, but also was free to tell its own story. Overall it felt like some of the best episodes of The Clone Wars, but just wasn't up to the grandeur of the first Thrawn book.

Thank you for reading, I hope to see you here later, and Stay Connected

Star Wars: The Mandalorian tv show revealed!

Star Wars: The Mandalorian live-action TV Show Revealed!
The Jon Favreau Star Wars series has officially been given a title, a synopsis, details on production, and the first official image. The title of the series is The Mandalorian and it will release on Disney's upcoming streaming service, Disney Plus sometime during 2019. Here is the official synopsis:

I like that it mentions both Boba and Jango Fett and while we won't see them, this Mandalorian could be a legacy character to them. Sadly, this may also be a confirmation that Boba Fett is indeed dead. Some other characters that are more likely to have involvement in the series are Sabine Wren and Bo-Katan Kryze from Star Wars: Rebels. The former is a mandalorian and we know she is on a quest with Ahsoka Tano to find Ezra around this time period. But the latter, Bo-Katan was leading the planet this show derives its name from, Mandalore, last we saw it. So I think both are possible, considering and will at least connect somehow. It is also worth noting that Jon Favreau voiced the characters of Pre Vizsla in The Clone Wars and Rio Durant in Solo, both won't appear though, because they're finna dead.
The time period for me, being the New Republic era, 7 years after Return of the Jedi is great and really heightens this for me because of stories happening in this in-between period like Shattered Empire, Bloodline, Resistance, and now The Mandalorian. Someone recently compared The New Republic period in Star Wars to a reconstruction, they have to rebuild everything after the empire, everything is almost more uncertain than during the empire, and that's where you can get into this fun underworld.

So the location (at least partially) in this show is almost 100% Tatooine. That is evident from the official picture, set photos, and comparisons. Especially next to a pic on Tatooine from the cancelled Visceral game, it's uncanny. This might be in Mos Eisley or Mos Espa, and if it is, I'd like to see some callbacks like the cantina, Watto, or a podrace. Going back to the cancelled game thing, this is taking inspiration from numerous projects (See Here) including games, 1313 and Visceral's Project Ragtag. But most of all the inspiration for this is presumably George Lucas' cancelled show, Star Wars Underworld that had over 50 written scripts, before it was scrapped because of budget issues.

The budget for a Star Wars TV series in the mid-2000's could never make a level-quality show. But it can now. This television series has the highest budget of any television series of all time, ever! Couple that with the fact that they are only spreading it out over 8 or 10 episodes and you have some quality! For other production, you have Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, and Kathleen Kennedy producing. Then Taika Waititi (Thor:Ragnarok), Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World actress, daughter of the guy who just directed the most recent Star Wars movie, She probably also directed some stuff), Deborah Chow (Jessica Jones), and Rick Famuiya (Dope) are each directing episodes. Not to mention Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Rebels, and Resistance creator, Dave Filoni directing the first episode. You also might have Game of Thrones and Thor: The Dark World director, Alan Taylor and The Mandalorian's creator Jon Favreau direct episodes, though these two aren't confirmed.
Overall this show looks so awesome. I'm getting a western vibe, like Clint Eastwood-style and in Star Wars, most similar to Solo. I would expect a cast listing, several more images, and some sort of footage in the next few weeks or months. In the meantime, I will come back with that Thrawn: Alliances review and will be watching Star Wars: Resistance in the next few days. Very hyped for The Mandalorian, like hype in the bloodstream. Star Wars and stay connected.

Sources:
Read More: https://www.starwars.com/news/the-mandalorian-revealed
Leaks1: https://www.starwarsnewsnet.com/2018/10/star-wars-new-rumors-production.html
Leaks2: https://www.starwarsnewsnet.com/2018/09/star-wars-jon-favreau-set-photos.html
Star Wars Explained: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5vNA3I6uI8&feature=youtu.be
Hellogreedo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tH1L3Q4vofk