Thrawn and Zahn are back! Again! Out today, Thrawn Ascendancy: Greater Good by Timothy Zahn continues to delve into both the Chiss society and Thrawn himself prior to his eventual Imperial service. We’re firmly in uncharted territory now which means there are surprises a plenty between these two covers for both old school Thrawn fans and new ones. But just what sort of trouble has Thrawn and his complete and utter lack of political awareness gotten into this time?

Now a Senior Captain in the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet, Thrawn is doing relatively well for himself especially since he’s fresh off a collaborative victory. The Springhawk heads to the Rapacc system only to find themselves drawn into a refugee situation that’s far more complicated than it seems at first glance. Meanwhile, an Agbui named Haplif has convinced a naïve young Chiss on his gap year to help his group get use of a small stretch of land… and his reasons for doing so don’t seem entirely above board.  

Interestingly enough, the second book in what is presumably a Thrawn-centric trilogy felt like it had less Thrawn than usual. Zahn brings back the Memories sections that he utilized effectively in the first book but this time uses them to give us insight into what the antagonists are doing to move their chess pieces around the board. While there was tragically less of Ar’alani this time, Zahn’s use of a broader cast this time around was to Greater Good’s advantage as it made the novel feel more like its own thing instead of Yet Another Thrawn Being Smarter Than You book.

Like before, one of the strong points of this book is its female characters. Thalis and Che’ri return from the previous novel and this time, we’re introduced to the driven and capable Captain Lakinda. More and more, Thalis seems to be filling the typical protégé role for Thrawn but her status as a technical civilian offers a fresh new twist on the well-trod dynamic. It will be interesting to see just where Thalis ends up by the end of the trilogy. Captain Lakinda, on the other hand, finds herself torn between family and fleet; a situation made all the more fascinating by how much time we get to spend with her throughout the book.

We’re also dipping our toes a little further into different views of the Force. Zahn had previously introduced readers to the Chiss sky-walkers and how they’re able to use the Force to navigate through space up until a certain age when the talent vanishes. This time, we meet a new species who refers to the Force as the Beyond. The more Zahn shows us of how different groups across the galaxy view the same concept, the better especially when there’s a character like Thrawn around who has also been exposed to an extent to the Jedi and their beliefs. It’s a big galaxy and bits like this help readers remember the scale of the universe.

The biggest irritation with this book is a carry over from the previous one and an unfortunate side effect of how Chiss naming functions work. Too many characters have names that sound far too much alike. Those from the Xodlak family are the hardest to distinguish between this time around. While the dramatis personae list along with the Chiss cultural cheat sheet at the front certainly help, it’s ultimately not enough to help keep more than one or two of the Lak’ characters straight and there are a lot of them.

Greater Good is ultimately a step up from the first book in the Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy (despite the lack of Ar’alani) and may well be more appealing to those who aren’t quite as enthralled with Thrawn’s genius than prior installments. Fans of Thrawn and Zahn will still find plenty to like in this second book though… and likely be more eager than ever to get their hands on the rest of the trilogy.

Thank you to Del Rey for providing an early copy of the book for review purposes.