The Thrawn Trilogy was written by Timothy Zahn and published in 1991-1993 (they really stretched things out back then) and is widely credited with revitalising the EU in the period between movie trilogies. It is set 9 years ABY.

The trilogy is under discussion in the BC&T forum here and further information regarding the books and their blurbs can be found here.

This is the trilogy in which Leia gives birth to Jaina and Jacen, and in which we meet Gilaed Pellaeon, Mara Jade, Ghent, Talon Karrde, the Noghri and of course Thrawn.

Zahn has also written a few short stories that provide backstories for some of his characters that are available on hyperspace fiction - Command Decision about Thrawn, Handoff about Mara Jade and Ghent (and Karrde), First Contact about Karrde (and a mysterious redhead).

There's also the four part Side Trip written with Michael A Stackpole, referred to in my I, Jedi blog in which we see Thrawn in his earlier days.

My thoughts on this trilogy were posted here:

I've just finished re-reading these books and was not disappointed - they were just as enjoyable this time around as before (and as with the others that I am re-reading chronologically it is interesting to see the way that subsequent EU books have drawn on what went before).

I had not realised until re-reading that Shada was in this series - another of Zahn's creations that he took further in the hand of thrawn duology. It made me realise just how little we have seen of her and Karrde in the NJO - I hope that they have a role to play in TUF.

I had also forgotten just how big a role Lando had in this series.

I hope that he, along with another Zahn creation Garm Bel Iblis, also make an appearance in TUF. It was interesting to read about Bel Iblis, but he seemed to be under-utilised in the final part of the trilogy.

Sadly, I thought that Ackbar was a little two-dimensional in this series. I suppose that his tactics were not meant to be great in contrast with Thrawn, but his character could have been written a little better IMO.

I really enjoyed Leia's trip to Kashyyk and her interaction with the Wookiees, although it was a little disappointing that there was no real development of Chewie's role - eg description of family etc.

But my favourite part was meeting the Noghri ... they were extremely well developed, and it's a shame that they have played so small a role in the subsequent EU (although there are still a few pre NJO books that I have yet to read - I'm waiting to get to them in chronological order).

Also connected with this trilogy is The Hand of Thrawn Duology to be dealt with in a later blog, Survivor's Quest, also to be dealt with in a later blog and the eyt to be published prequel era Outbound Flight due at the end of January 2006.

There will also be a standalone called "Allegiance" to be published in 2007. Whether or not this book will be connected to the Thrawn books remains to be seen...



Links to all of my reviews/overview blogs can be found in this blog.