Product Description

Luke Skywalker and his wife, Mara, get a strange message from the Chiss: Come and get the remains of the mysterious Outbound Flight Project. But there is more than meets the eye to this unexpected gift, as the newlyweds come face to face with the past! For someone is still alive in the Outbound Flight ships, and they're not interested in visitors. Plus there's at least one imposter along on the mission, and maybe more, and it will be up to Luke and Mara to figure uncover all the secrets and prevent another war from breaking out.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #103973 in Books
• Published on: 2005-02-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 420 pages

From the Publisher
Fans of classic Star Wars spin-off fiction and especially fans of Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade will love this adventure that weaves together past and present in the Star Wars galaxy.

About the Author
Timothy Zahn has been writing science fiction since 1975 and sold his first story to Analog in 1978. Since then Zahn has published nearly seventy short stories and novelettes, nineteen novels, and three short fiction collections. Along the way he has won a Hugo Award (for the novella Cascade Point, in 1984) and has been nominated twice more. He is best known for his five Star Wars books (Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, The Last Command, Specter of the Past, and Vision of the Future). His most recent publication is Dragon and Thief, the first book of a six-part young-adult Dragonback SF series. He has a BS in Physics from Michigan State University, and a MS in Physics from the University of Illinois. He lives with his family on the Oregon coast.

Customer Reviews

What do you get when you cross two jedi?
One of the nice things about Del Ray's series of Star Wars books is that they are not just concentrating on their New Jedi Order books. They are also producing some books that take place further back in the Star Wars novel history, when Bantam was running the show. Thus, they can refer to events that took place in earlier books (such as Tatooine Ghost), and they can even supply sequels. Timothy Zahn's Survivor's Ghost is one of those, and it's quite thrilling.
Luke Skywalker and Mara Jada Skywalker, married for three years now, are helping Mara's old boss, Talon Karrde, go straight by informing some of his old friends that he will no longer be doing business with them. After rebuking one irate customer, Karrde catches up with them and gives them a message to go to Nirauan (the planet where they faced down the Hand of Thrawn in Vision of the Future). There, they are told that Outbound Flight, an exploratory mission sent out by the Old Republic 50 years ago, has been found by the Chiss (who happen to be the species of their old enemy, Admiral Thrawn). Outbound Flight was a ring of six massive dreadnaught battleships bound to an inner core, resulting in a huge ship, but the Chiss reportedly destroyed it years ago. The Chiss have asked Luke and Mara to come and inspect it, representing the New Republic. They have to keep their eyes and ears open, however, as old enemies show up as well as new. Who will be their allies and who will betray them? Mara also has to come to terms with her former life as the Emperor's Hand during the time of the Empire, making a decision that could change her life forever. Luke and Mara have to stretch their Jedi skills to the maximum to make it out of the bowels of Outbound Flight alive, as well as preventing a galactic war.

I love the fact that the recent Star Wars non-NJO books have focused on only a few of our favourite characters. This gives the book an opportunity to really expand on their characterization, as well as explain certain changes between the old series and the New Jedi Order books. Survivor's Quest focuses exclusively on Luke and Mara, their relationship, and Mara's past. I've always enjoyed Mara, as she's one of the most dynamic new Star Wars (i.e. non-movie) character around. She's gone through massive changes since Zahn's first novel, where she wanted nothing more then to kill Luke Skywalker. Now they're married, sharing a bond that goes beyond love, a bond through the Force. When they first meet up with Commander Fel (the son of one of their old enemies) and his stormtrooper squad, memories flood her, memories of her time with the Empire. She begins to fall into old habits of command. She has a case of "survivor's guilt," as she realizes that while the Emperor was horrible, some of the Imperial policies may have actually been good. She and Luke have seen the New Republic struggle with petty wars and other conflicts among member planets, and the Imperials were efficient. Watching her thoughts is very intriguing.

The best thing about this is that Zahn doesn't push this in the reader's face by trying to explain it. Instead, the reader gets to see some of her thought processes as she handles the situations that come up during the events of the novel. Luke occasionally presses her to talk, but he's usually unsuccessful. Instead, he just has to be supportive as well as being a good teammate. Watching them work together was a real treat. We've seen it in the New Jedi Order books, but this is when it was still fresh, and it was a wonder to see.

Mara is Zahn's creation, so it's not surprising that he handles her well. The good thing is that he handles pretty much everybody else reasonably well too. This is especially true of Fel and, to a lesser extent, the stormtroopers. The troopers are individualized as far as having names goes, though they aren't given a great deal of character. One negative is that a big deal is made of one of the troopers being an alien, which would have been unheard of in the Empire's time where anti-alien prejudice was prominent. However, nothing much is made of it other then the odd mention or two. Still, the book does a good job (along with Tatooine Ghost) of making the troopers much more competent then they were in the movies. Fel is an interesting character to watch as he leads his squad in action. He's thoroughly competent and intelligent, and the best thing you can say about him is that you're not wishing for the book to go back to someone else when he's on screen.

There are some unanswered questions that bring the book down, however. There is a scene in the middle of the book where Fel and one of his troopers talk about hiding something on the Chiss ship, but it's never referred to again. After this scene, you keep expecting the Imperials to eventually do something that they never do. It was jarring. Secondly, the animosity that the Outbound Flight survivors have toward Jedi is never explained. These feelings have a major impact on the story and the result, but we are given no reason why it exists. Is it just because the Jedi failed to successfully fight off the Chiss when they attacked? If so, it seems rather harsh to be feeling that way 50 years later.

All in all, Survivor's Quest is an effective tale, full of action and great characterization of the main characters. While there are some plotting difficulties as mentioned above, it's an enjoyable read, especially for those who are getting a bit tired of The New Jedi Order. Give it a shot.

David Roy

Good Star Wars book
This book is very good and is written by one of the best two star wars authors T Zahn the other being M Stackpole. This is one of the best Star Wars books and came as a welcome relief after the new jedi order series.

This book is well worth reading and was one that I read quickly since you don't want to put it down. The book features old characters: - Luke, Mara. And also features new characters that are all developed well. However the drawback compared to other star wars books is that is relatively simple with only a limited number of characters compared to the other books that often have several plots running simultaneously.

This book is well worth reading for any star wars fan. The book is similar more similar to to a thriller than the earlier books. However I would reccomend that they read the earlier star wars books by T Zahn because they provide useful information for the story.

A really good read.
Timothy Zahn is one of the very best Star Wars authors, a fact that is reflected in all his books, and Survivor's Quest is no exception - although it is undoubtedly inferior to his others, that still puts it well above the standard of most other Star Wars novels. In fact, once I began reading it, I was completely unable to put it down for more than a minute at a time - I ended up spending an entire afternoon reading until it was finished.

The Chiss have interested me ever since his last two books, and in here we learn more about them. As ever, Zahn is in his element with the character of Mara Jade Skywalker, and having a book that concentrates mainly on just two characters (Luke and Mara) is refreshing after so many NJO books full of different characters and plotlines. Although Survivor's Quest is in some ways a detective story, it was in no way easy to guess what the ending would be.

Basically, this is probably the best Star Wars book I've read since Aaran Allston's two NJO novels, and Timothy Zahn is, as ever, brilliant.