Star Wars: Vision of the Future (The Hand of Thrawn Duology, #2) in The Expanded Universe

Jan 26, 2011 Linda rated it it was amazing

Shelves: star-wars, science-fiction

The Hand of Thrawn duology should be a movie. Or movies. Or TV-series, animated series or any other cinematographic adaptation you can think of. When I finally put down the book after an almost non-stop read, my first thought was: "Yes. This is Star Wars."

Specter of the Past set up a great premises for a good storyline and Vision of the Future has clearly come to the potential, even exceeding it. The plot was not entirely foreseeable and in places where it was, the characters even implied that The Hand of Thrawn duology should be a movie. Or movies. Or TV-series, animated series or any other cinematographic adaptation you can think of. When I finally put down the book after an almost non-stop read, my first thought was: "Yes. This is Star Wars."

Specter of the Past set up a great premises for a good storyline and Vision of the Future has clearly come to the potential, even exceeding it. The plot was not entirely foreseeable and in places where it was, the characters even implied that something was bound to fail. There is just the right amount of action added to the adventure combined with some good places of suspense and scheming, topped up with realistic dialogues and interactions.

Just as in Specter of the Past most characters are kept into their canonical selves, keeping in mind the great time that has passed since the movies' (and the reader is constantly reminded how many years it has been. The level of character development is moderate, probably most evident in Luke and all of his dilemmas. Several characters were introduced anew, but the plotline mostly kept to the known characters with all the limitations it set in place (no, he's not dead, because that'd break the space and time continuum) and it done so very well.

Now I'm still a newcomer to Star Wars novels, but this book seems to contain a greater deal of romance than the average. It has a great deal of jedi-esque (there is no emotion, there is peace, therefore we must never tell our true feelings and all that) romance and a good deal of Leia worrying about Han and Han worrying about Leia and some other characters either sending loving eyes at each other (or blaster bolts at the bad guys they're against) in addition to several implied situations. While normally I don't like my science fiction sweet, this time it sort of adds to the charm.

However be aware that this book will spoil you in at least two ways:
1. Just like the Thrawn Trilogy, it sets up high expectations for other Star Wars books, expectations that are rarely met.
2. If you haven't read any other Star Wars books, it will spoil a great many events that occur up to the events of the book. ...more

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Dec 05, 2009 Keith rated it it was ok

Shelves: star-wars

Stars: 2.5
Re-read? Maybe.
Recommend to: This duology is significantly beneath Zahn's earlier works. It's entertaining enough if you don't think about it too much. Not too high on the recommended list from me.

The biggest problem with this duology is that everything stretches beyond credulity in terms of motivations and reasons for why the plot happens. It is beyond weak in that regard. The plot centers on (view spoiler) Stars: 2.5
Re-read? Maybe.
Recommend to: This duology is significantly beneath Zahn's earlier works. It's entertaining enough if you don't think about it too much. Not too high on the recommended list from me.

The biggest problem with this duology is that everything stretches beyond credulity in terms of motivations and reasons for why the plot happens. It is beyond weak in that regard. The plot centers on (view spoiler)

Sadly, this example of poor justification for plot events and character decisions is illustrated throughout the two books. Other examples:
- This was the worst one, and it was infuriating. (view spoiler)
- A lot of the plot occurs due to an extremely annoying habit of the characters and governments refusing to communicate with one another. (view spoiler)
- Another large part of the plot was all a misunderstanding that made no sense once it was revealed. (view spoiler)

Other things:
- The location of the Imperial capital, Bastion, being kept secret for so long is pretty laughable. It's not a secret base, it's the center of your political power. Tens of thousands of people would work there, and many more would have that knowledge. There is zero chance this is a secret for longer than a week. Zahn makes a big deal out of this being a secret for some reason, and then at some point Pellaeon just tells someone from the New Republic where it is for no reason or gain.
- Back to things not making sense, (view spoiler)
- I wish someone could've explained to all of the EU authors that the major characters in these stories are all famous, and it is absurd to have them constantly going undercover and not being immediately recognized. In this book alone, we have Han, Lando, Corran, and Wedge going undercover. All four of them are insanely famous galaxy wide. And you'll have Imperial agents interacting with them and not immediately recognizing them. It'd be like if you were a reporter who exclusively wrote about the NBA for 30 years, and then you don't recognize when Lebron James and Michael Jordan walk into your office. At least Han/Lando tried to keep their faces covered, but I mean the only people it would be worse to send would be Leia and Luke.
- I appreciate that Zahn put some thought into the Force and attempted to reconcile many of the stupid decisions Luke has made in previous books, but it ultimately fell flat. (view spoiler)
- Variable use and effectiveness of Force powers was an annoyance, which is often the case and is almost unavoidable. A Force user will casually rips the blasters out of the hands of multiple opponents in one scene, but in the next similar armed opponents will be portrayed as nearly impossible to defeat. I think most readers will wonder why they don't just disarm their opponents with ease like we saw three pages ago.
- Zahn casually introduces technology that is completely world-breaking but is just glossed over. (view spoiler)
- A smaller gripe. (view spoiler)
- I laughed at how stupid everyone was at the climactic scene. (view spoiler)
- There is an annoying scene in the end where Zahn introduces a concept and has a philosophical discussion about it, and then immediately destroys everything he wasted our time discussing. (view spoiler)
- (view spoiler)
- I think this book does a relatively decent job setting up a light foundation for the next major series in the EU.

Ultimately, the story had far too many storylines with extremely flimsy foundation. (view spoiler)

First Reads: 4 Stars (2002/2005) ...more

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