A trilogy that evolved in a wise way. But it was so artistically done. HOW A TRILOGY SHOULD BEMaybe how a trilogy should be it’s that all three parts would be the same as good. I am sure nobody would mind about that.However, if perfection isn’t in the equation, I think that a wise approach is constructing a solid first part, not necessarily extraordinary, but with great potential to become better and introducing interesting new characters. Then, having a second part involving a bigger scope action and since we would have an expected third part, so why not a victory for the bad guys? So far, it was a format quite similar to the original movie trilogy of Star Wars (while I do think that the first film was truly extraordinary, where yes, the scope in the second film was bigger and more intense, both movies the same as epic and iconic). Then the fearful third part comes.Moviegoers can tell you how hard is having good third movies in a trilogy (why? I don’t know, maybe some voodoo curse, or something!) but it’s almost inevitable after two good movies, having a failure in the third movie. Even sometimes, if we are so kind with those third movies, we can rescue some elements, we can appreciate some effort, but the unmerciful general opinión decrees that the third movie wasn’t near as good as the previous ones.You know? I like the third movie of Star Wars. Close friends know that my complain is about the use of the Ewoks. And it’s not the Ewoks per se, since I find them as an interesting alien species and even they had a whole better 80’s animated series in comparison with the boring and poor produced Droids. My objection falls in making a comedy-like battle of primitive almost-naked care bears against profesional trained armored-suited soldiers.In any case, we could have an eternal discussion if Return of the Jedi is as good as its two previous installments.The same kind of arguments, I’m sure, since I have no doubt there must be many readers who consider that all three books in the Thrawn Trilogy deserved a full 5-stars rating. Where I have no problems with that, since it’s the right of each reader to give the ratings that they feel that it reflects as their own personal reading experience with the books.In my own personal case, it was like an increasing reading experience. Heir to the Empire was a 3-stars’ experience (still on the good side of a positive reading), then Dark Force Rising was a 4-stars’ experience, and now, in this book, The Last Command, I am truly glad of finding it as a truly 5-stars’ experience, that seeing the trilogy as a whole long story, I found that it’s the ideal way to present a story, since indeed the climax, the final part should be the strongest and most solid section of the entire narrative. A LEADER IS AS GOOD AS HIS/HER OFFICERSGrand Admiral Thrawn was a formidable strategist and a born leader.However, a leader is as good as his/her officers. I still am kinda hesitant about his appreciation of how the Emperor may use the Force to coordinate fleets formations but it’s clear that Thrawn has a vision, a clear vision of how to deploy an effective plan to give back the Empire its former glory.Sadly, he can’t be everywhere, and he needed to trust in the decisions of his/her officers and associates where even they may have “good intentions” to help the cause (sometimes they may be just plain crazy), but the final result can be disastrous. And even Earth’s Roman Emperors’ history can give useful tips of how crutial is who you choose as your own personal security (of course, it’s possible that since Earth is in another galaxy, far far away from them, the Empire wasn’t aware of certain history’s valuable lessons) but still since Thrawn is shown as some formidable strategist and a military leader seeing two steps ahead of his fellow comrades and enemies, it’s kinda odd that he may be susceptible to such dangerous situations. ATTACK OF THE CLOONEYSThe idea of having evil crazy clones is really cool. However, their choices of names is kinda odd.I mean, without making any spoiler (don’t worry), there are clones there, okay? But their names is basically the same name of their original counterparts but just adding an extra vowel (a,e,i,o or u) in their names, and while there are some vowels where when you have a distinct sound (Geez! I feel like doing a Sesame Street segment!) there are some vowels that even having two of them, the sound would be pretty much the same. Sure, in a prose novel like this one, you can easily differentiate them from your comfy position as reader......but how the heck the characters can tell any difference in the names?!!!It’s not like Jango Fett’s clones just decided to name themselves “Jaango” as an unanimous call. No, they chose to name themselves like Cody, Rex and so on. Even Jango’s unaltered clone is named Bobba. Totally different names.Even weirder, I think that there is some intention of deception in the crazy evil clones here, in the sense that they may want to be perceive as the “originals” and not clones, so why bother even to choose names that they are virtually the same that hearing them, it will be heard without any sound difference?Street Fighter may show easy wisdom in the case of Ryu, where his evil clone is named... Evil Ryu!!! See? Easy! Anyone will be able to say... “Aaah! Sure! You’re Evil Ryu!” (Of course, besides the clear name, you have a cool dark aura, but still…) it’s not like Evil Ryu appears and he says... “I’m Ryuu!” and people would just hear the name as “Ryu” without knowing that there is a dang extra vowel “u” in the name! Geez!!! NEVER WILL BE THE SAME ANYMOREAny good book in a series should create an everlasting impact, in the sense of the introduction of new characters, the forge of new interactions between characters, crutial change in the status situation of the characters, etc... in that way, the story can be felt as something relevant in its existence in the developing of the series.And certainly, the Thrawn Trilogy had all that!So, putting aside some inconsistencies due the theatrical films made several years after the publication of this book trilogy, no one can deny the importance of it, with the introduction of key characters that they become crutial in the development of the Expanded Universe in Star Wars during 25 years since then.
"Your destiny is in your heands...in the end you're the one who makes the decisions"The final entry in the esteemed Thrawn Trilogy!The Katana fleet is Thrawn's and he has been using it quite liberally--along with a new breed of clones--to slow take back all the ground lost to the New Republic. The New Republic is scrambling desperately, but to no hope. The Republic's only chance of warding off the Empire is to destroy the unending supply of Imperial clones. And it will take the collaboration of long-time enemies to win.NOTE: Spoilers from the previous two novels may appear.I Liked:Another tough section to write as I want to include everything from the previous two novels!In this third book, Zahn steps up the threat of Thrawn by allowing him to capture the Katana fleet and be successful in his takeover of worlds. Too often, a villain is "dangerous" or "evil" because the author writes it. But the villain never does anything that really threatens the heroes and makes the reader wonder who will come out on top. This is certainly not so with The Last Command. I was a bit worried earlier on in the trilogy, when Thrawn's expertise was lauded and yet he seemed to fail at every venue. While this was notable in making Thrawn fallible, it was also possibly hurting his reputation and believability as a true villain. I shouldn't have worried. Zahn followed up with a nice little win for Thrawn, and now the stakes are truly high and our heroes do have something real to worry over.I've talked endlessly about the characters, Luke, Leia, and Han, so I won't really add anything, other than they are, as always, fabulous. I also love how Zahn gets the credit for creating the Solo twins, who would make such an impression in the New Jedi Order and the Legacy of the Force series. But I also love the path that Mara's story is taking. In many ways, the Thrawn trilogy is her trilogy. She grows, from a nomadic smuggler, running from her past, to a Rebel embracing her future. Mara realizes the Empire is dead and will never return, that the Emperor may not have always told the truth, and perhaps she doesn't want to kill Luke after all. Her growth in this trilogy is truly amazing. And while she does tread the Mary Sue line, well, I can handle it.I really like how Zahn brought in the clones and references to the Clone Wars. While much of our knowledge of the Clone Wars has changed with the prequels, I like seeing how his ideas still fit or can be worked into the "new" universe. It's also interesting to think about how the Force behaves around clones. I hope someone gets a chance to talk about that.Also, I applaud Zahn for his nice, crisp conclusion. Not too long and preachy, hopeful, yet tinged with solemnity. The universe has been saved...but the New Republic still has a long way to go.I Didn't Like:I really have to be nit-picky yet again in order to come up with anything for this section.While I like the clones, Zahn doesn't give them much of a personality (apparently, a plague of being bred in an ysalamiri environment) nor does he give much indication of what happens to them afterwards.The concept of the ysalamiri even seems to have changed since Heir. In Heir, Luke never senses the dark void the ysalamiri create, allowing himself to be captured. Here, Luke and Mara can sense that Mount Tantiss is shrouded in darkness, meaning they wouldn't be able to use the Force.Petty, but I was a little perturbed that the Solo-Skywalker clan can jail-break Mara and receive no repercussions. Just another thing that makes me wonder if the New Republic is going to be quickly corrupted.Dialogue/Sexual Situations/Violence:None.Leia gives birth to her twins and breast-feeds them.Several characters die. Luke, Han, Lando, Chewie, and Mara are sent to Wayland to destroy the cloning facility.Overall:Some things age well with time, others don't. I've read a few older Star Wars novels that just haven't quite stood the test of time. I can happily state that the Thrawn Trilogy isn't one of them.As a review of both the last book and the series as a whole, the Thrawn Trilogy is in short brilliant. There is no doubt at all that this is Star Wars. Lightsaber battles, Jedis, Imperials, smugglers, new worlds, new aliens, new technologies, new characters, Han, Luke, Leia, the Force...all are here and are masterfully written. The minute you begin reading, you are enveloped in the world and are startled when you realize you are reading Star Wars and not watching the movies! I cannot give these novels enough praise. If you are a Star Wars fan, these need to be the first novels you read.
What do You think about The Last Command (1994)?
I know I'll probably get slammed for this, but I don't quite get all the hype for this trilogy. It is a good three book set, but outstanding-no. Whereas Zahn had nicely avoided second book middle holder with this set, the climax of the Thrawn trilogy fell flat.Which is a shame. Zahn at the worst is a competent story teller, from what I've read of his work before this I would call him average at best when it comes to characterization, and he created an interesting character in Thrawn. Where the last 1/4-1/3 of The Last Command fails is with an insane clone of Jedi Master taking center stage as the Big Bad and that reduces much of the scope of the larger conflict New Republic/Empire clash introduced in the first book.I'm sorry to see the Star Wars EU deleted by the franchise's new owners, and yes I know Disney has said the EU still exists, but really they are going to carve their own path. This set allows one to see how Lucasfilm's editors were taking a long view with some characters, i.e. Mara Jade an Kaarde, and I've read articles that credit those editors with doing a lot of hard work to keep matters consistent in the EU history (yes I am aware of the Karen Traviss controversy).Overall this remains a good starting point if you want to delve into the EU. But is it outstanding space opera or science fiction?No.
—Alan
3.5 stars.As much as I enjoyed Heir to the Empire and Dark Force Rising, I thought the final chapter of the Thrawn trilogy was a slight step back. It was a satisfying conclusion, but either I waited too long after reading the first two or the novelty of reading the exploits of Luke, Leia, Han, and the gang had worn off. I can only endure so many C3PO-says-something-annoying-and-Han-cuts-him-off moments before it moves from cute-throwback-to-the-original-trilogy to annoying-and-redundant. Without getting too much into the details, the Rebels are struggling to fend off the once-again rising Empire led by Grand Admiral Thrawn. They've battled back-and-forth in the previous books and it all leads to the final showdown in The Last Command, with a group of smugglers being wooed by the Rebels to help defeat the Empire. Meanwhile, Insane Dark Jedi Clone C'baoth is trying to turn Luke, Leia, and Mara to the Dark Side, and rule the galaxy, despite Thrawn's plans. Like other reviewers, I was far more interested in the other characters of the series, especially Thrawn. If this were a movie, he'd be the one that stole every scene; the original characters seemed almost stale by comparison. The band of smugglers led by Talon Karrde were great, as was former Emperor's Hand Mara Jade; all provided depth and further intrigue in the story, which, after about 100 pages, zips along at a good pace.There's a reason why this series continues to be highly regarded: above all, it's entertaining and true to the spirit of Star Wars. Like Return of the Jedi, The Last Command might not be the best of the trilogy, but it's still a must-read for fans.
—Ruel
The best of a highly entertaining trilogy.What more can I say? If you dig Star Wars, don't miss out on these novels. Click here for my review of the first, Heir to the Empire, and my review of the second, Dark Force Rising. The Last Command in particular had a lot more epic space battles, which is exactly what I was in the mood for right now. I found the plot a bit tighter, and by the time we started building towards the climax, I started taking the long route home so I could listen for longer. My house has also never been this clean as I looked for any excuse to do random chores.There were some damn memorable characters in this series. Grand Admiral Thrawn. Mara Jade. Talon Karrde. Gent. Bel Iblis. C'baoth. (OK, that last one's spelling was a surprise...Not what I had in mind based on the audiobook). And of course the usual like Han, Chewie, Lando, and the rest.A big cast in a bigger world, and just what I had hoped to find in a tie-in novel.The ending was exactly how I like them: unexpected, yet inevitable.Like many before me have said, Thrawn is the best part about this trilogy, and I will throw in my agreement there. For all him supposably being the "bad guy," I would happily serve under the Grand Admiral. It is weird that (view spoiler)[his death hit me the hardest of anyone in the trilogy? (hide spoiler)]
—Alex Ristea
