Lesser Evil Part 3

[colls]

Welcome to our third of four check-in and discussion posts for our Book of the Month.

This month’s book is Lesser Evil (Thrawn Ascendancy #3) by Timothy Zahn
Chapter 15 - Chapter 22

Lesser Evil


1. In addition to inciting Civil War in the region of space, the Magys seems to be the key to what the Kiljis were looking for. Was Thrawn's decision to keep her on board early on serendipitous? Are there others?

2. What do you make of the revelations Thalias learned from Thrass's data cylinder (the skywalker training and Thrawn's sister)?

3. How many frenemies do you think will ultimately gather to help enact Thrawn's plan?

4. Thrawn seems to be at the center of a 'Hail-Mary-Last-Resort' sort of defense hatched up by powerful leaders years ago. Now he seems like he's going to be the political version of a sacrificial lamb. Was that always meant to be part of the plan?

5. Any predictions on the ending?



FYI - There's no need to answer all (or any) of the questions above - they're just talking points to get us started. Informal chatter is more than welcome! In-person book clubs often veer off-topic, it's okay if we do as well. :)
All I ask is that you try to avoid spoilers for things past Part 3 of the book.

Comments

[brokenmnemonic]

I was pondering this while reading. I'm not sure to what extent the Magys is what the Kiljis/Jixtus are looking for, and how much the Magys was an added extra that they became aware of while working on Sunrise's destruction. I have the feeling that Jixtus plan to create havoc in the Ascendancy was always going to operate along certain principles, while he and the Grysk left space to adapt as events changed.

I was a little underwhelmed by the details Thalias recovered from the cylinder when it comes to the Skywalker training - that part seemed relatively obvious, although her actually meeting Thrawn's sister was a surprise. I'm not sure how much of a part Thrawn's sister will play though.

I think that what we're seeing is Thrawn unchecked - I think if Thrass were around, he and Thrawn would've been a very effective power couple, with Thrass providing the political acumen to channel Thrawn's abilities in ways that would be effective without crossing the lines imposed by the government (or finding palatable excuses to reason them away).

[barbiejedi]

I think if Thrass were around, he and Thrawn would've been a very effective power couple
That seems to be what Ba'kif and Lamiov had planned, when they let the Mitth take Thrawn instead of poaching him for the Stybla. What they have now is basically just a loose cannon-- incredibly powerful but almost impossible to control.


... which now has me thinking about Thrawn needing a morality pet to really function properly without being a monster. He had Pellaeon in Legends, Vanto in the first canon trilogy, and apparently Thrass before the events of this one. I think Ar'alani did an okay job of keeping him in check? But once he got his own command... it was off to the races.

[brokenmnemonic]

I'm wondering if perhaps that morality pet idea is something the Patriarch was thinking when he pushed Talais to protect Thrawn - perhaps he was hoping she would grow into the role? (I'm terrible with names, and I keep forgetting what the previous Patriarch's name was)

[barbiejedi]

OOoooo, I like that theory. I'll have to go back and see if I can find that scene again and see how it reads.

[barbiejedi]

I did... a lot of rage screaming about these chapters. Like, a lot. (Capslock removed for readability.)

In Chapter 17, there were a couple of lines that just... I couldn't even.

The most frustrating aspect was the knowledge that everything that had happened—everything she, Che’ri, Samakro, and Thrawn had done—had worked. Every bit of it.

Like-- it. It doesn't matter that it worked, it was none of their decisions to MAKE. They were not elected or appointed to that task and they did not have the consent of the people who were directly affected by it. Doesn't matter that it was effective, it was wrong because the people who did it were not capable of being held accountable for it.

They wanted order, of course. Order, and obedience to protocols that had guided the Ascendancy for centuries.

Thalias is so wrong here. The Council wants the people who make decisions to be the ones who are prepared to be held accountable for them: to make political decisions like kidnapping a fucking leader of an independent nation with whom you are not at war, you must be capable of being punished or rewarded by your people for that action! Thrawn is explicitly NOT a politician, and can only be held accountable by the military... except he has Ba'kif preventing or softening any attempt to do so. Thalias, who abetted the hijacking of a ship that she was not part of the command structure of, is not even a member of the military! She cannot make military decisions like "where the ship goes" because she is not capable of being either punished or rewarded for her action, and it was literally a crime to attempt it in the first place! She should really face some justice for it!!

Okay, calming down. For those who haven't read Outbound Flight before, what did you think about Memories XII? Because I found it confusing as all hell, because it seemed like... literally a chapter from that book? But with no setup or connection to current canon? Did I miss something?

[brokenmnemonic]

Wait, that Memories chapter was linked to Outbound Flight? I've not read it, and I've been sitting here thinking that Thrass' death felt like a sudden surprise chapter with nothing around it to explain how he ended up there or what he was doing.

[barbiejedi]

I don't know if I can say "linked" exactly, because Outbound Flight is Legends now, but like... like the scene that happens here is, as near as I can remember, lifted almost exactly from events in that book? Characters, circumstances, and all? With the caveat that I haven't read Outbound Flight in years so I may be off but...

Honestly I thought it was a callback like how in Chaos Rising we got the other half of the first conversation Thrawn had with Anakin Skywalker in Thrawn: Alliances, but as far as I can tell there's nothing in canon for it to call back to and it felt super weird to throw it in there with so little context.