[Posting now because the links at Jedinet.com no longer work]

Outbound Flight is the seventh of Timothy Zahn's Star Wars books, but the first in time chronologically. As with the other six books it is linked so that there is now effectively a Zahn septology involving the story of Grand Admiral Thrawn. Alternatively this book can be considered to be the opening of a duology comprising it and Survivor's Quest.

This book takes us back to the period between Episodes I and II - four years after The Phantom Menace, when Anakin was a fourteen-year-old Padawan. We meet classic Zahn characters in their earlier days - Jorj Car'das, Jorus C'baoth, Doriana Kinman and, of course, Mitt'hraw'nuruodo himself.

Car'das is just a young man starting out in the smuggling trade when circumstances lead him into the Unknown Regions and his first contact with the Chiss, including Thrawn. Thrawn and Car'das teach each other their languages and learn a bit about each others' cultures then each have their first contact with the Vagaari (to be heard from again in the final book of the Septology/Duology, Survivor's Quest).

In the meantime, Jorus C'baoth is getting the Outbound Flight Project (which involves taking several thousand people and a couple of dozen Jedi to the edge of the galaxy and, it is planned, beyond it into the next galaxy) up and running whilst being required by the Jedi Council to deal with other disputes and finalising the training of his Padawan, Lorana Jinzler. The Jedi Council are not entirely sold on the need for Outbound Flight but agree to it progressing as long as Obi-Wan and Anakin are taken along in the early stages to search for Vergere (and try to keep an eye on C'baoth). They have a starfighter onboard to enable them to leave before the project reaches the outer limits of the galaxy.

In continuing this review I am assuming that people will have read the others of Zahn's books, but for those who haven't, what follows contains spoilers.

As the story progresses we find out why things went wrong on Outbound Flight (including why the Jedi became so hated as well as how it came to be lost for so long), how and why Thrawn first came into contact with Darth Sidious, why he took such drastic action against Outbound Flight and why he was likely to be exiled by his people.

I found the book to be rather slow-moving but nonetheless a very interesting and satisfying read. The background to all of those parts of the story we have previously read was handled very well, including nice cameos by several of the Prequel movie characters.

The involvement of Anakin and Obi-Wan has been strangely controversial with many people suggesting that they add nothing to the storyline and that their involvement is gratuitous. I find this point of view to be somewhat ironic given that the predominant argument against Zahn's work in the past (including from me) has been that he deals mainly with his own characters to the exclusion of most others. Here he has included the two major characters of their era and, in my opinion, has done so in a way that helps to develop his own characters, especially Lorana Jinzler. Their inclusion also adds a little to the tapestry of Anakin's attraction to characteristics generally considered by the Jedi to be negative, and gives us a nice little sub-plot involving Palpatine.

Overall I enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to both long-term Star Wars EU readers and first timers, the latter being able to start the story from the very beginning rather than getting it in the slightly out-of-synch order experienced by the rest of us.

My only real criticism is that I found the portrayal of Thrawn as a hero rather incongruous with his characterisation in the original Thrawn trilogy (although there were indications in the Hand of Thrawn Duology that this was how he could be perceived). I plan sometime soon to re-read all seven books in chronological order to reconsider what new insights this book might add to the whole story.