Choices of One

AUTHOR: Timothy Zahn
COPYRIGHT: 2011
SERIES: Hand of Judgment
SEQUEL TO: Allegiance
TIME FRAME: Rebellion -- between ANH and ESB

The Rebellion is looking for a new base, and they've just heard of a location that may be too good to be true. Han's loyalty to the Rebels' chain of command is tested as his feelings for Leia grow. Meanwhile, Mara Jade has a mission of her own which brings her to the same location, and she's brought along some friends to help her on the job: the Hand of Judgment. As with previous Zahn novels, the plot of Choices of One relies on secret identities and loyalties, twists, and a mastermind playing all our characters for saps. Ultimately this is a story about a fight between Grand Admiral Thrawn and the warlord Nuso Esva who has a master plan of assassination attempts and deceit which plays all our characters off each other. After truths are revealed and the dust settles, the Rebels are back to looking for a new place to call home, but Thrawn notes to Vader that they have stocked up supplies suggesting a move to a cold world...

Choices of One continues Zahn's effort to connect the dots to Empire Strikes Back, and the ending certainly accomplishes that. While Allegiance had an interesting story regarding the deserting troops, the way the Rebels were brought in wasn't satisfying for me. This time around, the plot works much better for getting Luke, Han and Leia involved. There's maybe not quite enough of the Hand of Judgment this time around; they are not main characters in this story, more like supporting players. But they are given a nice little send-off, when Thrawn asks them to join him and help train his forces in the Outer Rim. That's a satisfying resolution to their story. Zahn is also using these books as much to set up his existing characters as to tie in to the films. So we spend more time with Mara Jade, and this time Grand Admiral Thrawn. There's not as much of Mara this time around, but she does interact with Luke this time. I think this is their first meeting (I don't remember them meeting in the last book).

While some of the story points are definitely stronger than in Allegiance, I'm starting to grow weary of Zahn's plotting style. It's always some crazy scheme to get eight characters to the same locale, and then surprise! some of them are being played by a master manipulator. After several of his books in a row, this formula is growing tiresome. It starts to feel as if EVERY character is really a nice guy protecting his family, or really a traitor all along, or is a double agent of some sort. There is just a lot going on; at times too much for me.

I do give Choices of One credit for having a great space battle, the first one I've really enjoyed so far in any of these novels. I've mentioned it's hard to write them so they sound interesting, and Zahn succeeds here.

Han's character arc is nice here, though it mostly amounts to proving to everyone that he's smarter than they are. His growing relationship with Leia is a highlight. As for Luke, Zahn inches him further in his knowledge of the Force. He's being manipulated too. Because of his lightsaber training, he's being set up to take the fall for muder. It's interesting to note that he's told to act like he's a Jedi even though he's not, a tactic which he utilizes again at the start of Return of the Jedi.

It's difficult with these books to say whether they would be better after having read some of the later books published first. Is this book better as a prequel, knowing what goes on in the Thrawn trilogy, or is it better on its own? Ultimately it has to stand on its own as a work and while I think Choices of One improves significantly over Allegiance in several points, it lacks a little of the novelty the prior book had. It is another solid Star Wars novel that's everything you'd expect from Timothy Zahn.

GRADE: B