I don’t know if it’s coincidence or correlation, but Timothy Zahn’s first five “Star Wars” books (the Thrawn trilogy and “Hand of Thrawn” duology) were great, and those were set at the end of the timeline as it stood at the time. His last five books (the “Outbound Flight” duology and the three post-“A New Hope” books) were weaker, and he squeezed those into the existing timeline. The logical conclusion is that he writes better with fewer continuity constraints.
Although I thoroughly enjoyed “Outbound Flight” (2006), making it the exception to the rule that Zahn’s last five books are weaker, “Survivor’s Quest” (2004) suffers from being constrained in more ways than one. This sequel of sorts – set 50 years after “Outbound Flight” – is almost entirely shipbound, first on the Chiss vessel the Chaf Envoy and then on the planetoid-bound shipwreck of Outbound Flight, which is investigated by Luke, Mara, some Chiss bigwigs, some Empire of the Hand representatives and some meek Geroons who want to honor their ancestors.
“Outbound Flight” likewise crammed a ton of characters into a tight yarn, but egotistical Jedi Jorus C’baoth stole the show and prompted philosophical debates about the morality of wielding power. The clash between young Jedi Knight Lorana Jinzler and Dean, her older non-Jedi brother who hated her guts, added to this.
But the best character stuff in “Survivor’s Quest” is former Emperor’s Hand Mara feeling a nostalgic tug toward the Empire of the Hand, which she sees as a kinder, gentler Empire. It doesn’t ring true, as I was under the impression that Mara had long since learned the errors of her Imperial ways. Even patient, loving husband Luke tells her: “I’m just surprised that after all this time you would still even have to make such a decision.”
While I don’t dislike Luke, and I love Mara, they are unable to carry this novel the way, for example, Han and Leia carry “Tatooine Ghost,” even though Troy Denning is generally a weaker writer than Zahn. Luke is an all-powerful Jedi, and while I admire the way he is always responsible with his power, it also makes him dull. Likewise, Luke and Mara are so loving and complementary to each other that there’s no relationship drama. I saw signs of this already in “Union,” a rare bland comic series from Michael Stackpole: They are the classic cute couple who become boring once they are together.
The Empire of the Hand’s revived 501st Legion – named after a famous “Star Wars” fan group – makes its first novel appearance, and it seems Zahn tacked them on as a tip of the cap to those fans. We don’t learn a whole lot more about the Chiss or the Vagaari beyond what we learned in “Outbound Flight” (although, to be fair, “Survivor’s Quest” was published first and perhaps should be read first, even though it takes place second). Most weirdly, Luke and Mara spend the final few pages worrying about the potential return of a Thrawn clone, but the already published “New Jedi Order” series doesn’t pick up this thread, nor did Zahn write any books set after this novel.
Also weird, Zahn puts forth the absurd notion that Thrawn’s predations in the Thrawn trilogy were a noble way to prepare the galaxy for the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, which was long-feared by a handful of people in the know. Mara says on page 415 of the paperback:
“According to (Empire of the Hand Commander) Parck, the only reason Thrawn came back to attack the New Republic in the first place was to whip us into fighting shape for some danger looming out there at the edge of the galaxy.”
My biggest disappointment with “Survivor’s Quest” is what we find on the shipwreck of Outbound Flight. Zahn spends a lot of time describing the geography of the six Dreadnaughts linked by turbolifts to a central core, but he gives short shrift to the 57 Outbound Flight colonists, the only survivors of what was essentially an atomic bomb launched by Thrawn that killed most of the 50,000 passengers. It should be fascinating to encounter a 50-year-old society that has stores food and water to survive for generations, and tons of (repetitive and creepy, with all the corpses) shipboard space to explore, but no way off of their little planetoid. Did they go crazy? Did they make the best of it?
As it turns out, the survivors’ main trait is that they don’t like Jedi or the Old Republic. One girl with Force talent, Evlyn (who is never heard from again in future stories), is mildly shunned by the other colonists, but that’s about the extent of the strife. At one point, Outbound Flight Managing Council leader Jorad Pressor tells the visiting group that two Jedi were exiled to a sealed-off Dreadnaught. From page 344 of the paperback:
Pressor: “And it’s not a death sentence, really. The place has been set up with plenty of food and power. A person could live there for a lifetime in relative comfort.”
501st member Su-mil: “But in complete isolation. You sentenced these people to a lifetime of loneliness.”
Pressor: “We’ve only done it twice. At least up till now.”
That exchange got my hopes up for some good scenes when our heroes encounter those exiled Jedi, but that plot point is never mentioned again. Did they die of loneliness in the other Dreadnaught? Did they turn into a couple of Yodas or Obi-Wans? Or if it was a Jedi couple, they could’ve had a little family of Force-users over there.
In a similar vein, “Outbound Flight” ended with the seeming deaths of Lorana and Thrass, but since Zahn doesn’t explicitly show their demise, I hoped they might pop up in “Survivor’s Quest,” perhaps in that mysterious sealed-off Dreadnaught. But nope, they’re dead.
Don’t get me wrong, Zahn’s C-game is still better than the A-game of a lot of “Star Wars” novelists. Still, “Survivor’s Quest” is a missed opportunity, and I wonder if Zahn would’ve done more with this story if he had a wide-open timeline in front of him rather than having to squeeze it in just before the “New Jedi Order” series.