Through the years, I’ve been tempted to label authors other than Timothy Zahn as my favorite “Star Wars” scribe — Michael Stackpole for his plotting, Aaron Allston for his humor, Karen Traviss for her characters — but maybe there was no reason to veer away from Zahn in the first place.
With “Choices of One” (July, hardcover), his ninth “Star Wars” book dating back to “Heir to the Empire” 20 years ago, Zahn proves he’s still got it.
There’s something special about Zahn novels that makes me want to savor them, reading just a chapter or two at a time and then sitting back to think about what I’ve read. Part of it is the complex plotting: You need to read it fairly slowly to keep everything straight. And if there’s one fault of “Choices,” it’s that — like George Lucas cramming four battles together at the end of “The Phantom Menace” — there’s almost too much going on by the end of the book, which finds the Rebel quartet (Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie), Mara, the Hand of Judgment (the vigilante stormtroopers from “Allegiance”), Pellaeon, Thrawn, an Imperial governor, oppressed aliens and a warlord from the Unknown Regions converging on a double planet at the galaxy’s edge. There are at least a half-dozen separate agendas, and it’s easy to lose track of who is fighting for what cause. But I sort of blame myself for reading it too fast.
Another reason to savor Zahn books, though, is that they have an air of being particularly important “Star Wars” works. This guy totally gets “Star Wars”; every element he adds to the saga (and there have been a lot of them) totally fits. Making up for the plot’s density, this might be Zahn’s best character effort.
“Choices” is set between “A New Hope” and “The Empire Strikes Back,” and it’s a sequel to his previous novel, 2007’s “Allegiance.” He reminds us that Luke is a not a Jedi yet. Several times a frustrated Luke self-loathingly thinks about how he’s carrying a lightsaber yet he doesn’t know how to use it; it’s a complete 180 from the Luke we know in the current “Fate of the Jedi” series.
In fact, cover subject Mara Jade — the Emperor’s Hand, the future wife of Luke, and the most popular non-movie character according to a poll conducted about a decade ago — is the much more advanced Force-wielder at this point. In “Choices,” Mara and Luke can’t meet, yet they are fighting amidst the same battle, so the proceedings take on a similar air to “Shadows of the Empire” (a novel linking “Empire” and “Return of the Jedi”), where Luke and Vader don’t meet even though they cross paths.
Speaking of linking elements, Zahn includes a cool twist relating to Vader’s search for the Rebels toward the end of the book that directly connects with “Empire.” Also, we get a clear picture of what future-Grand Admiral Thrawn’s plans are for his little corner of the Empire. Granted, readers will already know Thrawn’s agenda if they’ve read Zahn’s other books (especially the five post-“Jedi” entries), but it’s still neat to see it all tie together.
Coolest of all, “Choices” is the pivotal novel for Han joining the Rebellion as a full-fledged member. We see the inner workings of the Alliance hierarchy — militaristic yet rather laid-back compared to the Empire — and how Han feels like an outsider. He wants to become a full-fledged member of the team, but true to his character, he’s too proud to admit it. Of all the characters here, Zahn seems most comfortable writing Han, and I enjoyed the reformed smuggler’s segments the most.
“Star Wars” novels are now released in quicker succession than ever before, with a large stable of talented authors working in the universe. Yet a Zahn book still stands out from the pack as a must-read for “Star Wars” fans who want to know the saga’s most important plot and character details — stuff you might not even realize you hadn’t read about before until you turn the page and come upon that “wow” moment.
Just remember to pace yourself.
Did you enjoy “Choices of One?” Share your thoughts below. I’ll be back in my next post to take a look back at “Heir to the Empire,” which will soon get a 20th anniversary special edition release with annotations and a new short story at the end.