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  • Thrawn (Star Wars)

  • By: Timothy Zahn
  • Narrated by: Marc Thompson
  • Length: 16 hrs and 56 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (3,863 ratings)
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Thrawn (Star Wars) cover art

Thrawn (Star Wars)

By: Timothy Zahn
Narrated by: Marc Thompson
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Summary

In this definitive novel, listeners will follow Thrawn's rise to power - uncovering the events that created one of the most iconic villains in Star Wars history.

©2017 Timothy Zahn (P)2017 Random House Audio

What listeners say about Thrawn (Star Wars)

Average customer ratings
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  • 5 out of 5 stars
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    3,246
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    2,795
  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Don’t understand the high reviews

This is a well narrated book, but I can’t understand the high reviews.

It never once gripped me, Thrawn is basically an invincible master strategist who never makes a mistake and is never in danger. The other characters are stupid compared to his genius, so there’s no threat and no peril, there’s no villain or main obstacle for him to overcome and therefore no stakes and no tension.

I think this got high reviews because compared to most of the other Star Wars books it is better and Thrawn is an interesting, (if totally one dimensional) character. Most of the other Star Wars books are terrible. The best ones by far have been Revan and Darth Plagueis.

Thrawn himself may as well be a robot programmed with flawless strategy and once you read chapter after chapter of him effortlessly defeating enemy after enemy it gets very old very fast.

It also introduces a side plot involving a female character with a seemingly pointless rise to power story that goes nowhere and takes forever to get there. This character I found totally uninteresting.

So I have no idea why this book has the high reviews it does, perhaps children would like it or young teenagers. I can’t recommend it for anyone else.

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20 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable story, but

Why all the background buzz!? I can see the sound effects relevant to the story working well - lasers, ships in flight - but a lot of the ‘on bridge’ scenes have a background hubbub that is very distracting, especially when listening in the car. I even thought it was a strange noise my car was making when I first heard it!

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18 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great story. Terrible audio.

The story of Grand Admiral Thrawn's rise to power is brilliant and well written.

The audiobook is nearly unlistenable. The audio is full of sound effects and ambient sound. It's like the grown up equivalent of those books for 3 year olds that have a column of animals down the right hand side that you press for a sound effect. The foley guy slapping the button for droid noises or shuttle engines whenever he hears those subjects mentioned.

Sometimes the background noise is so irritating and loud that you have to really concentrate on the dialogue. I don't need to hear crickets to know that the scene takes place in the wilderness.

The foreground sound effects are grating and unnecessary. I really don't need to hear chewing noises when a character eats. I don't need to hear random beeping and servo noises whenever a droid is mentioned.

The voice acting is mostly ok (Thrawn and the Emperor are spot on) however some characters and the narrator himself come across as artificial and over acted. Probably the worst bit is when Thrawn is talking to an insectoid alien... the overly produced screeching voice and background are akin to finger nails down a chalk board.

A brilliant and well written story completely ruined by terrible audio.

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17 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

This brought me back

I really enjoyed the book and this excellent audio book. It brought me back into the Star Wars fold and get me reading the various adventures again and exploring the newer tales and spin offs

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

My first Star Wars novel

A really great performance, fantastic story and wonderfully fleshed out characters.
Not a mention of the force/Jedi/Sith which was refreshing. An insight into the imperial navy and a side of the stories you wouldn’t normally hear.
Can’t wait to read/hear more about Thrawn.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Most enjoyable. Thrawn is a great character.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. Some great characters and interesting situations. Thrawn is one of the greatest Star Wars characters in my opinion.

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11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great story with lots of twists

Great story with lots of twists I am looking forward to the next one, will download tomorrow

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great story but...

The only downside was the voicing of female characters... they sounded like some very bad drag acts. However the other characters were largely brilliant.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great

Wonderful to have a full book focusing on thrawn as a character and not just adversary. Timothy Zann really does him justice as he did in the now legends series. It is set just after the clone wars and really goes into the expanded universe wouldn't recommend to anyone just getting into the many star wars novels but you enjoyed plasma you will love this.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Thrawn

The first new star wars cannon book I've listened to. Looking forward to the rest

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4 people found this helpful