Across the Ascendancy, seemingly inconsequential events could herald the doom of the Chiss. As Thrawn and the Expansionary Defense Fleet rally to uncover the plot, they discover a chilling truth: Rather than invade Chiss capitals or pillage resources, their enemy strikes at the very foundation of the Ascendancy, seeking to widen the rifts between the Nine Ruling Families and the Forty Great Houses below. As rivalry and suspicion sow discord among allies, each warrior must decide what matters most to them: the security of their family or the survival of the Ascendancy itself.
It’s almost exactly nine years since I read my first Thrawn novel, HEIR TO THE EMPIRE. That original Thrawn trilogy was something I wanted to tackle pretty soon after I started reading Star Wars books back in 2014. I remember reading DEATH TROOPERS first, then DARTH PLAGUEIS. After that, it gets a little fuzzy. I read KENOBI. I read the Darth Bane trilogy.
But I knew the Thrawn trilogy was A Very Big Deal™️ in the world of Star Wars books & so of course I wanted to check them out. And they just…weren’t my favorites. I enjoyed them, for sure. There really isn’t a Star Wars book that I haven’t enjoyed on some level. But Thrawn just didn’t captivate me the way I wanted.
But the completionist in me means that THRAWN ASCENDANCY: GREATER GOOD is now the eighth Thrawn novel I’ve read, and goddamn…this one is miles away my favorite, and I’ve got a pretty good idea why (which I’ll get into).
The plot of this trilogy is proving to be…pretty complex. It might be a bone-headed thing to say, but I feel like the THRAWN ASCENDANCY trilogy is maybe the closest thing to Game of Thrones in the Star Wars universe. Is Thronesian a word? I feel like I’ve heard that before.
This trilogy just feels big in a similar way to what you might expect out of a sprawling epic fantasy story. You’ve got all these powerful Chiss families, vying for control, making bids for power. There’s complicated scheming. Backstabbing. INTRIGUE!!!
And then there’s Thrawn and like…he just wants to do his cool military maneuvers and outsmart his enemies & these books continue to highlight that he’s a bit lost amidst all the dangerous politics of the world.
I’m gonna be honest here, as far as the intricacies of the plot of this story…I am very much just “along for the ride,” so hopefully I’ll never be in a life or death situation where I’m asked to explain the plot of the THRAWN ASCENDANCY trilogy in any great detail. I liked reading this a lot & I continue to adore the dynamics between Thrawn, Thalias, and Che’ri (check out my review for CHAOS RISING for more on them!)
I’ve rambled on quite a bit, but I really wanted to write about what made this book stand out so much to me among all the other Thrawn novels I’ve read.
As I’ve been doing a lot lately, I started listening to some chapters of this book on audiobook. Marc Thompson has narrated a metric shit-ton of Star Wars audiobooks, but this was the first one I’ve listened to where he was the sole narrator. He’s credited on all the full-cast Star Wars audiobooks I’ve listened to (like DOCTOR APHRA and DOOKU: JEDI LOST), so I’m at least somewhat familiar with his voice. But my goodness, he brings SO MUCH to the audiobook for GREATER GOOD!
It’s really got me curious about the history of Thrawn, and the way that he speaks. I guess I mean…did Marc Thompson create this cadence & delivery that is just so intrinsically THRAWN? Did Lars Mikkelsen listen to one of the earlier Thrawn novels on audiobook to draw on for his performance as Thrawn in “Rebels,” and then ultimately for “Ahsoka”?
But beyond Thrawn, I was just amazed at Thompson’s ability to generate tension & excitement with his delivery. There are definitely moments where I could see his narration feeling a little over-the-top for some, but I think he fucking kills it. For sure, there are some accents he does that had me scratching my head a little (Samakro in particular…seems like Thompson is channeling a young Jack Nicholson for that character and it just…wasn’t my favorite).
But omfg, the voice that he uses for a mysterious & CREEPY character named Jixtus had the hair on the back of my neck standing up. It was fucking menacing & was for sure the thing that made me switch over to audio as my primary means of reading this book! I honestly cannot say enough about the audiobook for this, and am most definitely planning on reading most of book three in this trilogy, LESSER EVIL, via audio (I do find reading some of the physical copy really helpful with these books in particular, as Timothy Zahn is known for throwing out some absolutely wild character names, in terms of spelling!)
So all told, I had a blast with this one! It’s dense, political, weird, and frequently a touch confusing. It’s also riveting & thrilling & incredibly unique among the rest of the Star Wars canon. But the audiobook experience with this one changed my whole vibe about this trilogy…I’m really looking forward to reading LESSER EVIL sooner rather than later (and if I can read LESSER EVIL before the April 9th release of John Jackson Miller’s THE LIVING FORCE, I’ll be fully caught up on the adult Star Wars novels for the first time in quite awhile!)
May the Force be with you!!
Grimdark Dad 