The Thrawn Trilogy

Recently I’ve been revisiting a portion of the Star Wars “expanded universe.” The first of the Star Wars novels that I was aware of was the Thrawn trilogy by Timothy Zahn and his books continue to be my favorites. It’s been a few years since I last read any of them so it was fun to go back and spend a little time with the characters.

The Thrawn trilogy, which consists of Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command, takes place four years after Return of the Jedi. Everyone’s favorite Rebels are working hard at setting up the New Republic while the Empire is rallying under a new leader to make a renewed push against them. Han and Leia are married and expecting twins. Luke is trying to figure out how to be a Jedi Master and teach his sister and her children to use the Force.

The overarching story of the trilogy is of the resurgence of the Empire under the leadership of Grand Admiral Thrawn. Thrawn is a humanoid alien who was secretly promoted to the position of Grand Admiral by Emperor Palpatine. He is a tactical genius with a gift for predicting his opponent’s actions. He enlists the help of Joruus C'baoth, an insane clone of a Jedi Master in his war, promising to deliver Luke and Leia to be C’baoth’s apprentices.

Leia, Luke, and Han are working hard to build a new government with the rest of the former leaders of the Rebel Alliance. Over the course of the books they find new allies in General Bel Iblis, a former member of the Rebel Alliance who split off to fight his own war; Talon Karrde, a smuggler chief, who is reluctant to commit to one side or another; and the Noghri, a race of warriors, who have been tricked into aiding the Imperial cause.

I’ve always been impressed with Zahn’s ability to keep the characters real. So many of the other writers in the expanded universe tend to reduce them all to caricatures, but in Zahn’s hands they feel more like real people. He’s also created some of my favorite characters, Grand Admiral Thrawn, Talon Karrde, and, of course, Mara Jade.

Mara is a former Imperial agent, who was known as the Emperor’s Hand. Because she was Force sensitive she was able to learn rudimentary Jedi skill that allowed her to act as the Emperor’s personal secret agent. After Palpatine’s death she lost everything that she had ever known and places the blame on Luke’s shoulder’s, swearing to kill him. Her relationship with Luke is nuanced and very well written. Zahn manages to create a perfect foil for Luke in Mara and I’ll have much more to say about their relationship when I write about the Hand of Thawn.

I first read Heir to the Empire when I was 12 and I’m glad to say that I still enjoy it and the other installments in the trilogy as much as I did back then. That probably says more about me than it does about the books, but I’d like to think that it is a strong argument for the quality of Zahn’s work.

Everything Looks Cooler In Black And White

When I get bored I often start taking pictures of whatever random things are in front of me. That's how I wound up with a series of shots of my hand.

Game It Up!

Clay playing Xbox football with Stephen

Keeping Watch

Desie keeps an eye on things from inside her basket.

Just A Few Out Of Thousands

Now that I don't have to pay for film or developing I spend large amounts of time trying to coerce the cats into posing for me.

George is so over the whole modeling thing.

It Smells Really Good Too

Because I Won't Need Them For The Next Few Days

In honor of the unseasonably warm weather that we're currently experiencing in New York, a celebration of my favorite winter accessories.

The embroidery on my favorite scarf

Me in my supercute hat

"Hundreds to the shelf..."

I figured out how to take Black and White pictures and started playing with my knick knacks.

The kitties decided that they are more interesting than inanimate objects.

I agreed and went back to focusing on them.

Ah Narcissism!

What does a narcissistic sort such as myself do with a new digital camera? I took many closeup pictures of myself of course!

Swedish Angel Chimes

Mom's Angel Chimes

The Top Angel

Spinning Angels

Candles

Fun Tilted Angels

O Christmas Tree!

Thanks to my wonderful family I received a new digital camera for Christmas. This should lead to more frequent picture taking and blogging. Thank you Clay, Mom, Daddy, Amy, Jeff, Jenny, and Dave.

One of the first things I did with my new camera is take many pictures of the ornaments on Mom's tree.

This is one of my favorite ornaments ever.

One of a series of hand painted ornaments that Mom made as presents

Just a pretty, sparkley snowflake

Rabbit

I meant to post this a while ago and forgot. I imagine that this is the most bizarre Macy's Parade balloon ever, Jeff Koon's "Rabbit."

Mexican Buddha

The Buddha Clay bought in Tijuana and the elephant lamp I bought at Target

She's An Excellent Helper!

Desie helps Mom and me make apple pie

*Thanks to Clay for pointing out my grammar error*

Lovely Foliage

Trinity Church

The Sphere

"The Sphere" and Eternal Flame in Battery Park

"The Sphere" by Fritz Koenig used to stand in the courtyard at the World Trade Center. After 9/11 it was recovered and placed in Battery Park as a temporary memorial.

R.I.P. Little Glass Tree

My plan was to continue with my "What I did for Thanksgiving" series, but circumstances intervened and my beautiful new Christmas ornament was accidentally destroyed. I'll probably pick up a replacement tomorrow since I'll be near Bryant Park after work and can run by the Holiday Shops. Still I wanted to immortalize my poor glass tree because it was so beautiful while it lasted.

The background is a hand painted card that Jenny sent to Clay for his birthday. Thanks Jenny!

The East River

One last shot from Top of the Rock

A Man and His Reflection

A Solitary Clay at Top of the Rock

Top of the Rock Is Awesome!

Central Park from Top of the Rock

I can see my house from here!

A Sea of Playbills

We recently redecorated the living room and changed out the framed playbills on the wall. The only sensible way to do this obviously was to spread them out on the floor so we could see everything. No this is not all of them.

Desie and George helped for a while but eventually gave up.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mountains Are The New Sunset!

The Smoky Mountains off the Blue Ridge Parkway

Fuzzy Fuzzy Branches

A very mossy tree in Cataloochee Valley

I Don't Know Where The Spider Is

This is a web that Mom and I found while exploring Cades Cove. The sunlight hit it just long enough for me to take this. I started to take another shot to make sure I had it and the moment had apparently passed. This small image really doesn't do it justice. Please click on it to get a better look. Or if you're at my apartment ask to see the original print!

Elk!

Hanging out in Cataloochee Valley.

The Riverside Church Tower

At the moment it's completely covered with scaffolding like the windows. I know it needs to be cleaned once in a while, but it's kind of depressing.

Three Junes

I’m sorry to anyone who has actually been waiting with bated breath to find out what I read next. I had a very bad cold that made it impossible for me to think, much less write. Anyway, after Midwives I picked up another Amy recommendation, Three Junes by Julia Glass.

Three Junes is made up of three stories that span ten years in the life of Fenno McLeod. The first story is told from the perspective of Fenno’s father Paul, who has gone on a trip to Greece to try and move on after his wife’s death. Paul contemplates his relationship with his wife and sons and meets a young woman named Fern, who he winds up confiding in. In the second story Fenno travels to Scotland for his father’s funeral. In flashbacks he tells the story of his friendship with a man named Mal, who Fenno cares for as he dies of AIDS. The third story is from Fern’s perspective. She meets Fenno while visiting a friend in the Hamptons. He opens up to her just like his father did in Greece ten years before.

I didn’t love the first and third parts, but I really enjoyed the middle, and longest, story about Fenno and Mal. Glass does an amazing job of painting her characters and their complex relationships; Fenno and his father, Fenno and his brothers, the brothers and their parents, Fenno and Mal. Three Junes is an excellent character study, allowing the reader to see Fenno from various angles and perspectives.

That is what I liked about the novel. My problem with the story was the tidy way in which each story wrapped up. Each story had the central character take a break from regular life, think over the life altering events of the past and realize how to move on and truly live life. Fenno’s story doesn’t wrap up quite so tightly, he’s not entirely healed when shows up again in Fern’s story, but he has learned his lesson about being afraid of life and love.

This comes across as very uneven, which is a pretty accurate picture of my thoughts. My opinions were all over the place while I was reading, but I think I finally came down on the side of really liking it. The language is beautiful and as I’ve said repeatedly, I love a good character study. I’d recommend it to anyone who has similar tastes.