Timothy Zahn Wraps Up Another Trilogy and Sets Audiences Up for a Thrawn-less Sequel

At a whopping 500 pages, Thrawn Ascendancy: Lesser Evil by Timothy Zahn wraps up yet another Thrawn trilogy in Zahn’s signature style of leaving some questions unanswered, yet successfully leading readers to Thrawn’s next adventure within the Galactic Empire. Lesser Evil commences where Greater Good leaves off and takes no time to dive into the tactical space battle action we’ve come to expect from a Thrawn novel. As expected, Jixtus is still conspiring to gain control over the Chaos, and he is now partnered with the Kilji - a religious sect intent on forcing the galaxy to achieve their version of enlightenment - who, inevitably, are a pawn that Jixtus sees as a means to an end. Overall, Zahn masterfully crafts a story set in unfamiliar space with interesting new characters that carry Thrawn’s origin story, while investing audiences in these characters so subsequent stories can take place to further fill readers in on the story of the Chiss without Thrawn’s active presence. I’m purely speculating and thinking aloud here, but if Zahn decides to create another trilogy following Ar’alani, Thalias, and Che’ri to parallel the latter half of the 2017 Thrawn trilogy and beyond, I think the Ascendancy trilogy builds upon these characters enough to where they can carry their own story - plus bringing back Eli Vanto to connect this proposed new parallel trilogy to Thrawn 2017 would be a bonus.

Zahn’s tactful prose transforms the pages into a grandiose chess board allowing readers to be a silent observer in a match between Thrawn and his adversaries, captivating audiences from start to finish despite the hefty page count. Those who read Zahn’s 2017 Thrawn trilogy will find the ending rewarding as it provides context for Thrawn’s exile and naturally leads audiences to pick up his story again in those pages. “Memories” is another integral aspect of Lesser Evil, but this time around the memories are primarily led by Thrass - someone you’ll recognize from Zahn’s first contributions to Thrawn that now fall under legends continuity. Besides Thrass, there is another character prominent in the memories sections that is a key player in Thrawn’s past, but not for the reason you might suspect. The Ascendancy trilogy provides an all-encompassing backstory to our favorite anti-hero and successfully connects the material to what it needs to in order to fit continuity; however, there are aspects I would have liked to see come full circle that aren’t completely resolved in these pages - like who exactly Jixtus is for example. I won’t get into too much detail here, but I will say the potential for subsequent trilogies to stem from this is rather high, and perhaps necessary to bring everything to a close.

Final thoughts: Lesser Evil continues the trend established in Chaos Rising of showcasing pertinent events in Thrawn’s backstory through the perspective of characters close to him. Throughout the Ascendancy trilogy, we’ve come to understand a different side of Thrawn and the inner-workings of the Chiss Ascendancy while meeting new compelling characters along the way. I believe Zahn is in a good spot to create a spin-off series of books following these characters, besides Thrawn, in the Ascendancy trilogy - with the addition of Eli Vanto - to bring more adventures from the Unknown Regions to bookshelves. I enjoyed immersing myself in the Chaos and can’t wait to see where everyone’s adventures will take them!

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