Outbound Flight comments and such
Posted: 2006-02-07 08:39pm
Right, polished it off earlier today. Suffers from "prequel ness" - you already know a bit of what is going to happen, and the author has to cram all of it in in a set space. As a result, it lacks the usual "can't put it down"ness of other Zahn books. It has its good points and bad points -
1) scope of galaxy. It is fairly common for characters, even knowledgeable sources like Dorina, to have no idea bout something because of just how freaking big the galaxy is. EG Dorina knows nothing abou gravity projectors despite them being used commonly in the military before. Most of the general public has never heard of Outbound Flight despite the fact that C'boath is this grandstanding, spotlight hogging Bill O'Riely type. C'boath, a very learned Jedi Master who has traveled far and wide, has never heard of Tatooine before. Further, it goes new places, within the galaxy. The only planet we have ever heard of before are Coruscant and Yaga Minor (and that's something like a total of 5 pages). A bunch of other planets and sectors are mentioned that are new creations.
2) Tech divergence. Thrawn is proud of the fact that Chiss warship laser and missile weapons are slightly more advanced then the KT level lasers and multi MT missiles that a smuggler freighter packs; highlighting their low level of tech. They hyperdrives go FTL smoother then the freighter, but compared to what we have seen aboard Imperial warships their hyperdrive is behind there as well. The Chiss big killer is a simple neutron bomb. There is no mention of Chiss or Vagaari shields, in fact the Vagaari seem dependent on hostages to protect their ship, hoping that defenders won't fire on their own people or innocent civillians. Unfortunately there is ZERO mention of Republic shields as well, which should have handily held off the attacks he was leading. That is a major tech issue to be resolved; but given how he has been clear about the importane of shields in combat before, their absence here implies he wants some mechanism to make them not a factor that I missed.
However, he does slip in the pharase "reverse the polarity" with regard to shields. It makes them so the reflective bit is on the inside instead of letting the shots out and reflecting incoming fire.
3) Thrawn himself. This is gonna be hit or miss for a lot of people. Yes, he does get wanked pretty hard to make him uber. However, in the end a lot is revealed that people have insisted on here for a long time - that one of his big things is to make people in awe of him and let that do a lot of his work. That he isn't the end all be all, most of the plan was the work of an admiral and his brother who handeled the strategic and political ends, and he just did the tactical stuff.
4) Minor detail that stuck out - he claimed Palpatines hair was brown, when it had previously been established to be red. Dammit Publis, little details like that are only supposseed to stick out to TFN babies, not me.
I'll probably post more and quotes later.
1) scope of galaxy. It is fairly common for characters, even knowledgeable sources like Dorina, to have no idea bout something because of just how freaking big the galaxy is. EG Dorina knows nothing abou gravity projectors despite them being used commonly in the military before. Most of the general public has never heard of Outbound Flight despite the fact that C'boath is this grandstanding, spotlight hogging Bill O'Riely type. C'boath, a very learned Jedi Master who has traveled far and wide, has never heard of Tatooine before. Further, it goes new places, within the galaxy. The only planet we have ever heard of before are Coruscant and Yaga Minor (and that's something like a total of 5 pages). A bunch of other planets and sectors are mentioned that are new creations.
2) Tech divergence. Thrawn is proud of the fact that Chiss warship laser and missile weapons are slightly more advanced then the KT level lasers and multi MT missiles that a smuggler freighter packs; highlighting their low level of tech. They hyperdrives go FTL smoother then the freighter, but compared to what we have seen aboard Imperial warships their hyperdrive is behind there as well. The Chiss big killer is a simple neutron bomb. There is no mention of Chiss or Vagaari shields, in fact the Vagaari seem dependent on hostages to protect their ship, hoping that defenders won't fire on their own people or innocent civillians. Unfortunately there is ZERO mention of Republic shields as well, which should have handily held off the attacks he was leading. That is a major tech issue to be resolved; but given how he has been clear about the importane of shields in combat before, their absence here implies he wants some mechanism to make them not a factor that I missed.
However, he does slip in the pharase "reverse the polarity" with regard to shields. It makes them so the reflective bit is on the inside instead of letting the shots out and reflecting incoming fire.
3) Thrawn himself. This is gonna be hit or miss for a lot of people. Yes, he does get wanked pretty hard to make him uber. However, in the end a lot is revealed that people have insisted on here for a long time - that one of his big things is to make people in awe of him and let that do a lot of his work. That he isn't the end all be all, most of the plan was the work of an admiral and his brother who handeled the strategic and political ends, and he just did the tactical stuff.
4) Minor detail that stuck out - he claimed Palpatines hair was brown, when it had previously been established to be red. Dammit Publis, little details like that are only supposseed to stick out to TFN babies, not me.
I'll probably post more and quotes later.