Timothy Zahn

Flashback Friday: Losing power in adulthood

A Coming of Age by Timothy Zahn (Open Road Media, $7.99)

On the planet Tigris, the colonizers found that their children were born with telekinetic powers. Although the kids lost those powers as they grew into adulthood, it made them pretty frightening kids—with power over their parents, they ran amok.

Now, it’s two centuries after the Lost Generation. Institutions and rituals have adapted to cope with the powers children possess and with the show more “power-down” they face as they approach adulthood.

But of course, there’s a scientist who’s tinkering with the “tekes” ability , using kidnapped children, in hopes of extending the telekinetic power—a change that will disrupt life on Tigris, and perhaps end it.

The story centers on two threads: Lisa is a tween who is concerned about her upcoming Transition to non-telekinetic powers, and detectives Tirrell and Tonio are following leads that might bust open the plans of Dr. Jarvis before—quite literally—all hell breaks loose.

This young adult/tween book is an excellent example of using science fiction devices to address the state of affairs that exists between every kid and every society, ever. Always loved, envied and feared—think of every “new youth danger” story on the news—and inevitably about to join adults, each new generation struggles with what it means to “grow up.” This excellent YA novel, first published in 1984, is one of the good ones resurrected from out-of-print status by the digital age.

(Published on Lit/Rant on 3/7/2014: http://litrant.tumblr.com/post/78840747088/flashback-friday-losing-power-in-adul... show less

As it turns out, fourteen-year-old boys do not often make good plans. Jack Morgan has better helpers than most teenagers, but Uncle Virge is a computer and Draycos is transdimensional symbiont who is new to the Orion Arm, so Jack is effectively in charge, no matter how bad of an idea that may be.

In three volumes so far, none of his plans have worked out well, but then again, plans never survive contact with the enemy, and Jack has a lot of enemies. In fact, in order to help Draycos, he keeps show more seeking them out. Fortunately, Jack has unusual skills developed during an unusual life, plus two companions who will do their best to protect him.

Which he needs, now that he has sold himself into slavery in order to infiltrate his newest target. Like all of Jack’s plans, this is not just crazy enough to work, it is just plain crazy. However, we do get to learn some interesting things, such as the fact that the human worlds are sufficiently put off by open slavery to staff their local embassy with anti-slavery activists, but also not bothered enough to go William Wilberforce on the planet Brum-a-dum and interdict their spaceport.

Now we have an idea of why the Orion Arm is such a seedy place. The powers that do exist lack either the will or capability of enforcing their laws, and petty warlords have stepped into the gaps. We also get to learn the origin story of the K’da. A heroic myth of servitude and rebellion, passed down through the generations. It fits well with Draycos’ self-perception.

Here, we also get the first hints of something unexpected coming from the fortuitous meeting of Jack and Draycos in that ruined ship. Each of them is changing the other, but not in the sense of Heraclitus, but something more remarkable, with its full import not yet visible.

Much like the Quadrail series, on the surface, the Dragonback series seems simple, and each volume follows in a track laid down by its predecessor. But once you see the pattern, you realize that each successive story isn’t following exactly the same path, each one is expanding on what came before, building on it to end up in a place you wouldn’t expect.

We don’t know what the destination is yet, but I’m looking forward to the surprises still in store. show less

This second installment of the Thrawn Trilogy is just as good, if not better, than the first one. Timothy Zahn stays faithful to the original characters while also allowing them to grow in believable ways. Never once did I feel that the characters were acting out of sync the personalities that we know and love and Zahn's new additions to the pack are becoming even more developed and interesting.

Admiral Thrawn is still one of the coolest villains. He's a genius and is able to give the show more Republic a run for their money. While Thrawn could have become a rather boring villain by constantly out-smarting everyone and never misjudging the opposing forces, Zahn is sure to show that Thrawn is not an unstoppable force. There are various times in the book where Thrawn makes mistakes that are sometimes rather detrimental to his original plans, forcing him to regroup and restrategize. Interestingly enough, I actually kind of admire the guy despite that fact that he is evil and works for the Empire. It's hard not be awed by this guy's forethought and long term planning. I wish I could plan things as far in advance as he does!

Mara Jade is also one of those interesting characters where you aren't really sure where you stand with her. You really want to like her since she would be a huge asset to the Republic and you get really annoyed that she hates Luke with such a fiery passion but at the same time, you don't really blame for being angry. By the end, you just kind of hope that she gets over her anger and decides to side with the good guys.

I think that Zahn does a good job of balancing the action with politics. Both are highly important for the story, but going too much in the political direction could be really boring and going overboard with the action can be tiring. Overall, I think there is a good mix of both which makes the book engaging on multiple levels all the way through.

This book was really hard for me to put down. It was an exciting read that managed to develop highly interesting characters amidst all of the action taking place, which is a difficult thing to do. Very well-balanced and makes you want more by the end. And with that, on to the third one! show less

My first Star Wars read in about 5 years, I am really glad I picked up Zahn to continue this journey. To me, Zahn is the master of the post-classic trilogy canon novel. His grasp of the SW universe and the way he really charges up the characters makes, to me, for the more enjoyable SW novels. This one takes place between Episodes IV and V, and makes the interaction between a lot of the classic characters very intriguing and enjoyable. A clever plot twist allows for Imperial stormtroopers to show more actually find themselves sympathizing with the Rebels in their quest to find star systems to join their attempts to fight the Empire. One of the more interesting post classic trilogy characters, Mara Jade, is introduced in this novel as far as the timeline is concerned, and she more than holds her own in a friendly showdown with Vader. Zahn should be required to write at least one of these a year. show less