Star Wars: Outbound Flight (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Another puzzle piece in the Star Wars universe falls into place with this action-packed prequel to Hugo-winner Zahn's Star Wars: Survivor's Quest (2004). Familiar characters such as Obi-Wan Kenobi, young Anakin Skywalker and the evil Lord Palpatine (aka Darth Sidious) make appearances, but the true star is Commander Thrawn, a red-eyed, blue-skinned alien. On the Outbound Flight, a mammoth Jedi exploration and colonization vessel sent to far-off reaches of the cosmos to identify potential Force-users and hunt down a lost knight, Jedi Master Jorus C'baoth struggles with an inappropriate lust for power. Thrawn's attack on the ship (secretly influenced by Darth Sidious's agents) insures his own eventual exile from his race and sets other sinister wheels in motion. As these old and new characters wrestle with difficult moral questions, Zahn deftly portrays their inner struggles in fluid prose, while also affirming his status as a skillful creator of dazzling futuristic worlds. Though more time with the doomed Outbound Flight's passengers, who are the subject of Survivor's Quest, would round out the story, the book is nonetheless an enthralling page-turner sure to appeal to its target audience.
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Product Description

It began as the ultimate voyage of discovery–only to become the stuff of lost Republic legend . . . and a dark chapter in Jedi history. Now, at last, acclaimed author Timothy Zahn returns to tell the whole extraordinary story of the remarkable–and doomed–Outbound Flight Project.

The Clone Wars have yet to erupt when Jedi Master Jorus C’baoth petitions the Senate for support of a singularly ambitious undertaking. Six Jedi Masters, twelve Jedi Knights, and fifty thousand men, women, and children will embark–aboard a gargantuan vessel, equipped for years of travel–on a mission to contact intelligent life and colonize undiscovered worlds beyond the known galaxy. The government bureaucracy threatens to scuttle the expedition before it can even start–until Master C’baoth foils a murderous conspiracy plot, winning him the political capital he needs to set in motion the dream of Outbound Flight.

Or so it would seem. For unknown to the famed Jedi Master, the successful launch of the mission is secretly being orchestrated by an unlikely ally: the evil Sith Lord, Darth Sidious, who has his own reasons for wanting Outbound Flight to move forward . . . and, ultimately, to fail.

Yet Darth Sidious is not the mission’s most dangerous challenge. Once underway, the starship crosses paths at the edge of Unknown Space with the forces of the alien Chiss Ascendancy and the brilliant mastermind best known as “Thrawn.” Even Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi, aboard Outbound Flight with his young Padawan student, Anakin Skywalker, cannot help avert disaster. Thus what begins as a peaceful Jedi mission is violently transformed into an all-out war for survival against staggering odds–and the most diabolical of adversaries.

Timothy Zahn’s unique mix of espionage, political gamesmanship, and deadly interstellar combat breathes electrifying life into a Star Wars legend.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey (January 31, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345456831
• ISBN-13: 978-0345456830
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (99 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #451,017 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Zahn does it again, Outbound Flight gives great new insights in to Thrawn, February 6, 2006

By	J. K. Moser "JKM" (Flemington, New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Back in the early 1990's, Tim Zahn wrote a series that opened up the floodgates for the expanded Star Wars universe. He introduced perhaps the most complex and interesting character ever created for science fiction: Grand Admiral Thrawn. Over the last 15 years, readers have been treated with small glimpses of the destruction of Outbound Flight and the personality of Thrawn but with the exception of a short story, the Grand Admiral has not shown up again. Now he does with a vengeance. The history of Outbound Flight, the totalitarianistic ideals of Jorus C'Boath, the Chiss, Obi-wan and Anakin, Palpatine and most importantly Thrawn all appear in this book set approximately 5 years after Episode I. The characters come to life with startling clarity and at the head is Thrawn himself and his genius for combat. What Zahn does not do is give too much about Thrawn away. Even though the reader learns much about this fantastic character, Zahn still keeps him shrouded in mystery. He never commits the cardinal sin of letting us inside Thrawn's head in the way that so many other bad guys have been ruined (Boba Fett & Darth Maul to name a couple). Overall this is a great read, a fantastic addition to the Star Wars universe and a fine book.

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very good read, February 12, 2006

By	L. A. Kane (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Despite the title the book is really much more about Thrawn and first Republic contact with the Chiss than it is about the Outbound Flight Project. Outbound Flight is the central mechanism around which the plot unfolds, of course, but isn't the prime feature of the story. Nevertheless, this is a very good book, well worth reading (as are pretty much all of Mr. Zahn's works). The only thing I didn't like was the superfluous inclusion of Anakin and Obi Wan but they only play minor roles and leave before the ship reaches the Unknown Regions so it's not that big of a deal (though it's somewhat inelegant that Palpatine leaves after the project's launch only to show up at the last stop before the Unknown Regions to personally pull them off the Project too).

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, the pacing is great, the plot is complex (especially Thrawn's scheming and masterful military machinations), and the characterizations are first rate (except for Anakin and Obi Wan as mentioned previously). There is some great insight in to Sidious's overreaching plans, a foreshadowing of the Yuuzhan Vong's impending invasion, a first look at the evil nomadic Vaagari, an introduction to Thrawn's genius (and a foreshadowing of why he ultimately sides with the Empire later on), and a look at the fall of Master Jorus C'baoth to the Dark Side.

Jorj Car'das, is introduced in a very interesting and likeable way (all Correllians seem to be cool, huh?). Jedi Knight Lorena Jinzler, C'baoth's former padawan is well done as well. I like the way she is torn between loyalty to her friend and former master yet conflicted as his excesses become greater and greater over time. Great interplay amongst the jedi and non-jedi crew demonstrates what happens when the focus goes from serving and guiding to leading and ordering. And Thrawn is at the top of his game. He's one of my favorite Star Wars characters so I really appreciate learning more about him. Good stuff.

Overall this is a well-written, fast paced, and very enjoyable book. A very good read.

25 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I've been waiting a long time for this., February 2, 2006

By	Malcolm C. Eckel (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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If you, like me, read Zahn's Thrawn trilogy a very, very long time ago, and you've followed the universe even through all of the meandering nonsense of late, this is the book you've been waiting for. Aside from an early diversion with Obi-Wan and Anakin that's completely incidental to the plot (and almost feels like it was forced, as if he was required to add them to his story), this is completely and totally the first chapter of ZAHN'S Star Wars universe. His books hang together remarkably well, and form a very small, rational subset of a universe otherwise churning with inconsistencies of theme, plot, and character.

This book introduces us to Thrawn before he was an imperial commander, Jorj Car'das before he was a famed outlaw, and Jorus C'baoth before he was an insane clone. We finally get the whole story of Outbound Flight, and along the way a healthy helping of Palpatine's machinations and Thrawn's motivations (to the point where I'd argue that Thrawn is more Zahn's tragic hero than a villain at all.) And, if all that wasn't enough, the book is worth it just to see Thrawn back in action again - Zahn's knack for writing his extreme genious in a thoroughly believable way hasn't gone anywhere.

Anyway, I wouldn't hesitate to say that these days I'm getting very tired of Star Wars. The prequel movies didn't impress me, what prequel era novels I've read are laughable, and the New Jedi Order was about two plot holes shy of complete incoherence. But this, here, finally ties together the last threads left of Zahn's stories, which are essentially the reason I became a fan in the first place. I don't know if this would appeal as much to people that are new to the universe, or that have only read prequel era novels (I would highly reccomend having read Zahn's utterly fantastic Thrawn Trilogy and Hand of Thrawn series before this novel), but it certainly is exactly what I wanted.

Incidentally, if you are the same kind of fan as I am and bought Survivor's Quest and was disappointed, read it again after you've finished this. Zahn intended Outbound Flight to be published first, and it shows. Read in the proper order, the books make a magnificent bookend to Zahn's Star Wars adventures, which, for my money, are the only Star Wars adventures genuinely worth spending any time on at all.