Cover of the novel “Star Wars: The Last Command.”

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

I just finished reading the third book in Timothy Zahn’s “Thrawn Trilogy,” The Last Command. Oh “spoiler alert,” it is Thrawn’s last command because he dies, which I didn’t see coming.

Grand Admiral Thrawn having acquired the “Katana fleet” in the previous book and with a massive army of clones to man them, proceeds to press the offensive, even to Coruscant.

Leia has her twins and cares for the infants with the help of her aide Winter, but that doesn’t keep her out of the action as the story progresses.

The clone of Jedi Master Joruus C’baoth goes further off the rails, claims the Empire, galaxy, and the whole universe for his own, and is still raving about having Luke, Mara, Leia, and her babies as his apprentices. He decides to leave the Grand Admiral’s ship for the planet Wayland, which is where Thrawn originally found him. Thrawn grants this, but turns the tables. He makes C’baoth his prisoner in the Emperor’s own throne room in the mountain fortress where the clone factory and all of the Emperor’s other secrets are hidden.

Smuggler Karrde is set up by Thrawn and nearly framed as a traitor to a gathering of other smugglers, but manages to convince everyone of his innocence. But having to deal with so many troubles makes it impossible for him to retrieve the recovering Mara Jade and the slicer Ghent from Coruscant. As it turns out, in their own ways, both make themselves very useful to the New Republic, although in Mara’s case, it’s reluctantly.

After helping to save Leia and the twins from a covert Imperial kidnapping, she admits to knowing the location of Wayland and the hidden cloning equipment. She agrees to go with Han, Lando, Chewie, Luke, and the droids to investigate and if possible to destroy the cloning apparatus.

No Star Wars story would be complete without a big space battle. With Thrawn’s fleet having successfully captured or blockaded several planets including Coruscant, the New Republic attempts to lure Thrawn into believing they’re attacking one of his positions while they are really after another target. Naturally Wedge and Rogue Squadron get thrown into the thick of it when Thrawn figures out their real plan.

After Leia’s successful mission on their home planet, the Noghri swear allegiance to Leia and Luke as the offspring of Vader including offering their services as bodyguards. This proves invaluable, especially in guarding the twins.

I must admit my guess that Fey’lya was the spy in the Senate was totally wrong. For a while in this book, I suspected Winter just because she’s mysterious and may have hidden motives. But all that was wrong. The real “spy” was an organic plant system in the main corridor leading to the Senate floor where everyone has to pass and where everyone seems to talk too much. Leia figures this one out but the lack of information doesn’t seem to slow Thrawn down too much.

While Han, Luke, Mara, and their party are walking into a trap on Wayland, Leia convinces Karrade to help rescue them.

As it turns out, although Thrawn was supposed to have turned the Force off with his biological inhibiters, C’baoth turns it back on just as Luke and Mara find him in the throne room. They also are confronted with a clone of Luke, made from the hand he lost at Bespin and it’s using Luke’s old lightsaber.

With Jade seemingly helpless, Luke is in the battle of his life. Leia arrives and with Han tries to help, but the insane Jedi Master is too powerful. Lando and Chewie figure out a way to destroy the complex and do so reluctantly since they can’t rescue Luke and everyone in the throne room.

Meanwhile, the great space battle goes bust, not just because some of Karrde’s people and associates show up to steal something from the beleaguered planet, but because Thrawn’s own personal Noghri learns of the Empire’s secret plot against his home planet. He murders Thrawn in the midst of the battle and his minion Captain, unable to save the battle, orders a general retreat. Poof, just like that, it’s over.

In the throne room, Luke tricks his clone into thinking he was defeated and temporarily blinds him. Mara moves in and kills the clone, satisfying the urge implanted in her years before by the Emperor to “kill Luke Skywalker.”

C’baoth’s powers seem so inconsistent in that between her and Luke, they’re able to defeat him and rescue everyone in the throne room. Karrde’s ship arrives just in time to get everyone out before the entire mountain blows sky high.

All is right in the galaxy for once and in the end, Mara agrees to be the liaison between the smugglers and the New Republic, signaling a new and more positive relationship between her and Luke..

Overall, the novel was good, the entire trilogy was good, and captured a significant amount of “Star Wars-ness.” It still was different enough to make the tales something all their own. The ending was kind of weak, not the huge finale I would have expected. Some of the details slowed the story down such as Artoo’s wheels having trouble with the Wayland terrain and such.

All and all, it’s more “Star Wars” than much or most of what Disney is putting out these days. Lucasfilm missed a great opportunity to make these books into a new movie trilogy. The franchise could have moved into a more exciting and imaginative direction if Zahn’s books were used as a model.

Alas, it was not to be. However, Star Wars lives on in so many more works like these. I’ll go in another direction for now, but I will be returning by the by.