Outbound Flight: Star Wars Legends

At last, the the cunning mind that made Mith'raw'nuruodo's military service in the Chiss Expansionary Fleet so remarkable--and eventually set him on the path of becoming Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn--is opened to us! Of course, Timothy Zahn is an author every bit as cunning as you would expect when dealing with such a character, and he knows very well that Thrawn should always be viewed from the outside in order to keep his allure. He is still every bit as complex and mysterious as in previous books, as we never see the story narrated through Thrawn's point of view. We get mere glimpses into how he thinks, and what he plans, as Jorj Car'das openly questions and guesses at Thrawn's motives, and Thrawn in his turn either confirms it or steers Jorj to the correct answer on his own.It's a little difficult to reconcile this version of Thrawn, milder in manner than the coolly detached Imperial leader who once had a crewman executed on the bridge and destroyed an alien village because those aliens failed in a mission. The deadly Imperial warlord who could do that without flinching is definitely not the same man that we meet in this book. The version of Thrawn we see in Outbound Flight is a military leader who is preemptively striking against a culture that enslaves other races as they raid their way across the Unknown Regions, and Thrawn is every bit as intent on stopping them because they are threat to weaker races as he is to stopping them because they MIGHT be a threat to the Chiss. This attitude gets him in hot water, of course, and if you know this character's general history by now, 30+ years after the Star Wars EU introduced him to us, you know how things ultimately end up going for him. If you don't, well the novel includes a short story called "Mist Encounter" which was originally published in Star Wars Adventure Journal 7 by West End Games in August 1995. This was the short story which told us how Thrawn actually came into Imperial custody. And a new novel coming out later this month should tell us the rest of that story and let us see Thrawn's rise to ultimate power.In case you can't tell, Thrawn is why I bought this book to begin with, and why I will read it again several times over. But he is hardly the only Zahn-created character we get to meet again. Jorj Car'das comes into Thrawn's life at this time, and most of the interaction with Thrawn is told through his eyes, and we see the birth of this very unlikely friendship. We also get to see the beginnings of Jedi Master Jorus C'baoth's descent into insanity, which actually explains a LOT about the version of C'baoth we got to know in "Heir to the Empire." Without giving away any spoilers, let me just say that the craziness we saw in C'baoth in HTTE was not entirely due to his circumstances in that book; this version of C'baoth was already teetering on the edge of Darkness. Like Thrawn, this mysterious creation of Zahn's is viewed through the eyes of others: his padawan, Lorana Jinzler; Obi-Wan Kenobi, who is, at this time, training a 12-year-old Anakin, and certain members of Outbound Flight's crew. You won't like C'baoth, and you are not supposed to.Personally, however, I didn't like Lorana Jinzler, either. Her constant worry and second-guessing herself fits perfectly well with her lack of self-confidence, which has been more or less carefully crafted by her master, C'baoth. But after so many years of having at least one strong female lead in nearly every book, not having one this time was a real let-down. Lorana spends so much time wondering if she is doing "the right thing" and, deep down, knowing that C'baoth is teaching her things which are against the Jedi Code, yet whenever she is given the opportunity to voice those thoughts, she simply pushes them aside and takes C'baoth's side. Her wishy-washy attitude makes her completely ineffective as anything other than a narrator for C'baoth's actions, so if you are expecting to see Jedi action out of her, don't hold your breath. She is certainly not on a level with someone like Mara Jade. I do wish Zahn had given us a stronger female this time around, like he has in the past, and I know Lorana has her place in this story and she fits there. I just was not impressed with her, even at the end.Obi-Wan tells most of the rest of the story, but unless you are a big fan of the Jedi and the inner workings of their Council, you might not care so much about what he is doing or how bratty Anakin is being. (Really, sometimes I think Obi-Wan could have saved the galaxy a whole lot of trouble by putting Anakin over his knee or in time out or something.) If I have one *real* disappointment about this book, it's that I don't see the point of having these characters in the story at all, let alone for so much of it. Their presence changes nothing in the outcome of the story, and in fact it seems like exposure to C'baoth may have adversely affected Anakin and given him ideas that he should not have at that age.Over all, however, the book is a tightly written piece of engaging fiction. We see the start of Palpatine's manipulations into power, the dissent in Jedi ranks that will have repercussions in the next generation, and an expansion into parts of the galaxy that maybe the Empire should have left alone in order to save itself. It's absolutely on par with Zahn's previous forays into the Star Wars mythos, and just being able to read Thrawn as alive and well and displaying the military brilliance which will, later in his life, bring the New Republic to the brink of defeat is a treat. I admire THIS Thrawn better than the one who was trying to kidnap and/or kill my favorite SW heroes all through the HTTE and its sequels, but that is part of what keeps him from being some throwaway two-dimensional evil character. The appeal in HTTE was that the bad guys are not supposed to win, yet he almost did, and it was actually impossible to hate him for it. I would not want to meet him in battle, or a dark alley, but I knew he would have respect for my strategical ability if I had to. What makes him more appealing now, in his younger and slightly more reckless days, is seeing that he still has the same military brilliance, and he is willing to lay down his life to rescue a friend, and risk his career and social advancement to stand up for his beliefs.

I picked up Outbound Flight as it was loosely canonized via the Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy. I had already read all the other canon Thrawn novels and was hoping for one last adventure, and this one certainly didn't disappoint. I think fans of both the canon and legends Star Wars franchises have reason to love this novel. Thrass isn't in the novel a lot, but what is spoken of him in the Ascendancy trilogy makes this novel feel more tragic than ever. None of the characters ever seem to contradict canon, either, so the novel fits in well. There are some reveals about Thrawn's character and associations that canon fans will be surprised by that make the canon Thrawn trilogy even better. As for Legends fan, I've been told that this book is an excellent sequel/prequel to Survivor's Quest, so you'd better read that novel first. As for the condition of the book, it was perfect. An excellent seller. I enjoyed that I received an older copy from before the Legends designation- fits perfect on my shelf with the other Thrawn novels.

I was somewhat unsure about this one, but had heard good things about it, I must confess I have never read the "Heir to the Empire" trilogy books, for some reason the "Thrawn" character I never cared much for given what I know of him, however I didn't feel as if he were the villian here, however it becomes so toward the end, this one begins with Jedi Master Ca'Both & his apprentice Lorana Jinzler meeting with Palpatine in which we learn that Ca'Both is arrogant & practically talks down to Palpatine because of his refusal to fund his pet project, that being "Outbound Flight" a "Star Trek"-like vessel that Ca'Both wants to take beyond the reaches of the known galaxy, after a heroic display at a diplomatic meeting in which Ca'Both & Lorana along with Obi-Wan & Anakin save the day, Ca'Both's "Outbound Flight" is given the green light for it's maiden voyage to the stars, however Mace Windu has his doubts about Ca'Both & dispatches Obi-Wan & young Anakin to keep tabs on him during the flight, I had no problem with Obi-Wan & Anakin being secondary, unlike some readers, I felt that Mace's instincts were right, once "Outbound Flight" is underway, Ca'Both becomes a dictator to all those on the ship, so much that even Obi-Wan & Lorana are surprised at his behavoir & concerned rightly so, elsewhere Palpatine/Sideous dispatches one of his lackey's on a Trade Federation ship to intercept "Outbound Flight" & destroy it, however he halts its destruction when he learns that Anakin is on board & quickly makes a trip to get Obi-Wan & Anakin off so he can proceed with his diabolical plan, of course fans will know why he removes Anakin & Obi-Wan, elsewhere we are introduced to Thrawn as a young military commander who also learns of "Outbound Flight's" journey after the Trade Federation ship is found & detained & boarded by him & Car'das, it is here that he first meets Palpatine/Sideous & of course he uses Thrawn to do his dirty work for him, there are other sublots as well involving some mercenary type aliens who are enslaving an alien species & have a bone to pick with Thrawn, it didn't care much for this subplot, meanwhile as "Outbound Flight makes it's way to the unknown region of space where the Chiss rule, we see more of Ca'Both's dictatorship that creates resentment from the crew of families as he threatens to forcefully take Jedi-gifted children from their parents much to Lorana's disgust, some of the crew try to stage a mutiny, but are stopped by Ca'Both & confined, shortly therafter is when Thrawn begins his attack from the Trade Federation ship along with Trade Federation fighters & his onw personal army of Chiss warriors, "Outbound Flight" is severly crippled & damaged that it was at times difficult to read, however there is one moment when a bloodied Ca"Both is in a near death state, tries to force choke Thrawn to the point where Lorana feels it & realizes to her horror that Ca'Both has indeed gone to the darkside(think Kahn in "Star Trek II" on steroids as he activates the Genesis weapon) it is clear that Ca'Both is going to take Thrawn with him, however, he dies before he can succeed in force-choking Thrawn, but boy, did he come close, Lorana eventually stears the crippled ship to its fate, & Thrawn is later ousted by the Chiss for this misdeed it seems, all in all this was a good solid book, but left more to be desired, however "Surviovor's Quest" should wet my appetite for more, This is a must read for SW fans.

The tragic tale of Outbound Flight. Man C'Baoth is a such a jerk. I liked Jorj and Thrawn's interactions as well as learning more about the Chiss. And poor Lorana: having to put up with C'Baoth's tyrannical ways.

When three smugglers are running away from Pragga the Hutt, they end up in unknow region space as well as Chiss space and Pragga the Hutt gets destroyed by the Chiss, the three smugglers are then imprisoned, one of the Chiss being called Mith 'raw' nuruodo, also known as Thawn from the animation of Rebels. They end up going to the Chiss Base called Crustai, back in the Republic, Master Jedi Jorus C'baoth has a go at Supreme Chancellor Palpatine about his ship, the Outbound Flight Flight Project being thrown away, in the end if he did a favour for Palpatine then Out Bound Flight would be on it's way to unknown space. Lorana Jinzler who is 22 and eventually knighted as a Jedi Kight, has to go along to Barlok, but Mace Windu wishes for Obi-Wan-Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker to go along and keep an eye on Master Jedi C'baoth, on the other hand Darth Sidious asks an assassin called Dorriana to go to the same Planet and assassinate Jedi Master C'baoth which fails. And Dorriana finds himself on board a Trade Federation ship as well as facing the Vagaari, with 17 Jedi but 19 because of Obi-Wan-Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker who have to leave halfway through, but will Out Bound Flight Project go right or will it face terrible warships and go to it's limit?Cons:1: You have Obi-Wan-Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker leave halfway through but even on board, you hardly hear from Anakin, more from Ob-Wan2: You have 17 Jedi on board as said in the review but why is Master Jedi Jorus C'baoth and Lorana Jinzler just used?

Any Zahn Star Wars novel is worth a read and this is a good one. This is the first moment that his iconic Thrawn character announces himself. Thrawn is actually secondary to the main story which concerns a Jedi expedition into the Unknown Regions.Zahn handles the action , the characters the politics and the narrative with equal aplomb. Jedi Masters try to handle the machinations of egotistical leader Jorus C'baoth whilst being offered the full "support" of Chancellor Palpatine. One does not need to have spoilers as to how that goes.After all the difficulties of politicking, when the group of Jedi Masters with 6 fully armed Dreadnought class warships encounter an alien Empire embodied y 3 small Patrol boats under an over confident young Commander the threat level must seem so minimal as to be comical.Not when that commander is Thrawn.A good read that races by but apart from introducing Thrawn does not offer too much in canonical importance but is great fun.

This is the first Timothy Zahn Star Wars book I’ve read. Didn’t disappoint at all! Really love Zahn’s writing style and he’s become one of my favourite Star Wars writers. I’ve since picked up the follow up to this book Survivors Quest. Highly recommend!

The book is a delight to read, a true page turner... almost.It all starts really intrueging... only to be slowed down by an overly long, not to nesesery side quest, which is meant to introduce some characters and give the main story a jump start. But once you get through it, Outbound Flight flies...Timothy Zahn really knows how to make you want to keep reading, even when C'Boath's rule is to fast accepted and even Obi Wan is rduced to a help less bystander. The author also tends to overuse the phrase "his/heres throat/stomach/whatever thightened" every time someone feels kinda threatened..Maybe not a perfect book, but definelty worthy of a Star Wars fans time.Reading it I felt like beening that teenage boy again, having "Heir to the Empire" in my hands for the first time.If you do not dig Star Wars... better keep away... or at least watch the movies first...

I really enjoyed this. It's no longer Canon but doesn't contradict Chaos Rising too much re the Chis and Thrawn, (Chaos Rising is set some 6-7 years later). It has Palpatine pulling strings in it, which is always fun and has a character from Darth Plagueus, Kinman Doriana, which is quite cool. It has a cool 3way battle where Thrawn is really clever etc. It has Admiral Aralani (but she's more interesting in Chaos Rising, while Thrawn is more interesting in this book). If I and Ani appear.