Book Review: Star Wars Thrawn Ascendency - Lesser Evil

Reading through Timothy Zahn''s final entry in the Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy has cemented Thrawn as one of my all time favourite Star Wars characters. Ever since I started reading this series back in 2020 I was just absorbed by the rich world and layered plotline that sought to establish the origins of the most adept strategist to ever grace the Empire's ranks. Grand Admiral Thrawn (Or Mitth'raw'nuruodo as he's known in the Chiss Ascendancy) is a magnetic entity within the universe of Star Wars and what I've loved about the Thrawn Ascendancy series is it's established a clear origin for his character.

When we last left off with Thrawn Ascendancy we saw Thrawn and his crew among the Springhawk manage to stop a civil war erupting between the Syndicure's ruling families; foiling a intricate plot layered by a cunning alien called Haplif. What we soon learned after Haplif's defeat was the events of Chaos Rising and Greater Good were all an underlying plot established by an alien called Jixtus. After foiling both of his plans, Jixtus soon decides to take matters into his own hands and advance the final stages of his plan into action. As the Ascendancy is trying to establish how they came so close to civil war, Thrawn and his comrades among the Chiss Expansionary Defence Fleet set out to unravel the tangled web Jixtus has weaved for so long and gear up for a major scale conflict which could determine the fate all Chiss in the Ascendancy.

The narrative is so comprehensive in all the best ways. The way Zahn utilised all of the prior story beats from the other two books in the series to cap off this storyline in such a fulfilling way cannot be underappreciated. It feels like a seriously precise and layered story which doesn't waste any of your time. It's rare to find a story with so much content and for it to never feel padded or wasted with unnecessary fluff. Every subplot and character in this overarching trilogy gets a satisfying conclusion that utilises all of the world building that Zahn built up for so long. The stakes have never been so higher in this story either, and to see all that build up conclude in a major scale conflict helps add a sense of satisfaction for investing so much time into this overarching narrative. Timothy Zahn is easily one of my favourite authors in light of his ability to not just establish a captivating story but fill it to the brim with detailed descriptions and terminologies and a cast of characters that feel real and an active part of the events unfolding/

In terms of pacing and tone as I previously noted with the narrative, this book feels like a satisfying cap off to all the build up from the prior two books. There's such a satisfying pacing to the entirety of the book, the stakes and action build up quickly and you get a real impression of how serious the risks are now. The tone is as tense and as nuanced as any war-time drama and it's made all the more captivating watching the conflict unfold from multiple character perspectives. It's a grounded and well thought out book which doesn't try to pander or hold your hand throughout all of it. It respects you enough as a reader to allow you to follow it all on your own with your own understanding. I appreciate that this might be a negative for some, especially with the in-depth world building and terminologies, but spending all the time to get invested in this series is honestly one of the most rewarding parts of reading through Thrawn's origins.

It's been a really challenging past three years, but if there's been one consistent aspect to it all it's been Thrawn Ascendancy. Each year brought a new and expansive chapter in this trilogy and I say this with little hyperbole that it's one of the best set of sci-fi books I've took the time to immerse myself in. I'm looking forward to what the future holds for Thrawn; I still have a couple of his other books to work through and we also have his live action debut in Ahsoka to look forward to; I simply cannot wait.