Star Wars - Thrawn

Star Wars: Thrawn is a science fiction novel by the American writer Timothy Zahn, published by Del Rey Books on 11 April 2017. The book brings the character back into the franchise as a novel, twenty-five years after Zahn first wrote about him in the Star Wars novels of the early 1990s.

The story begins with Thrawn found on a remote planet and ends his exile the moment he is given a place in the Imperial navy. Rank there depends on political skill as much as ability, and Thrawn reads his opponents by studying their art and their history rather than by collating intelligence reports, which wins him battles and irritates colleagues who cannot follow his reasoning. His aide is Eli Vanto, a cadet from a world nobody important has heard of, whose own career becomes attached to the alien officer he is asked to assist.

The character began in the Legends line of Star Wars novels, which was set aside when the franchise's continuity was redefined in 2014, and this book brings him into the current story. Zahn wrote the novel as the first of three about him, followed by Thrawn: Alliances and Thrawn: Treason.