neumi5694: First novel of the new Thrawn series.
real.geizterfahr: Is it any good? I was a huge fan of Star Wars books in the first half of the 90s. I especially loved the original Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn.
The original trilogy was great, yes. I also liked the later books about Thrawns Hand and the one about his story within the empire.
This one is quite ok. It's about Thrawns early days in the Chiss ascendancy, how he dealt with pirates and always was one step away from getting kicked out of the military by politicians. Later in the book the story where he first meets Anikin Skywalker is partially told again, but this time from Thrawns perspective.
As usual, Timothy Zahn is a little too proud of his genius (I also read a couple of non Star Wars books, it's always the same with him :)). When he has a good idea or inspiration, he tends to focus on that and doesn't get tired to talk about it. And despite him repeating over and over that Thrawns has absolutely no sense for politics, the character seems to know a lot how all these things work, also the politics of foreign cultures. He just suffers from plot blindness when he himself is involved.
He's depicted a lot like Sherlock Holmes in the later TV series and original books. A genius with a good heart, but with very bad social skills and no interest in blending in, who has friends in higher positions who know how good he is and protect him from the consequences of his actions.