Product Description

Before the start of the Clone Wars, the future Emperor was already maneuvering to destroy the Jedi. This is the tale of the doomed Outbound Flight Project, which began as a new hope for the galaxy...and ended in despair. A grand Jedi adventure by one of the most popular Star Wars authors. Before the Clone Wars began, a group of Jedi led by Master Jorus C'baoth lobbied the Republic Senate to fund a project to search for and contact intelligent life outside the known galaxy. Six Jedi Masters, 12 Jedi Knights, and 50,000 additional support personnel boarded an incredible starship and left on their adventure...only to disappear without a trace. This was the Jedi's first encounter with the aliens called the Chiss, and the New Republic's future archenemy, Thrawn. But until Luke Skywalker and his wife Mara headed out for the Unknown Regions in Survivor's Quest, the fate of the Outbound Flight Project remained an enigma. This is the story of those Jedi Masters and Knights, their heroic quest, and their mysterious end.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #87855 in Books
• Published on: 2007-02-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

From the Publisher
Coming full circle, #1 New York Times bestselling Star Wars author Timothy Zahn at last tells the story of the mysterious Outbound Flight Project alluded to in his groundbreaking Star Wars novel, Heir to the Empire. A special treat for Zahn fans in particular.

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 B. S. in physics from Michigan State University, and a M. S. in physics from the University of Illinois. He lives with his family on the Oregon coast.

Customer Reviews

Outbound Flight revealed for the first time
One of the best books I've read on Star Wars. Timothy Zahn was my second favourite Star Wars book writer before this but he is now my favourite author after reading this book. After all the speculation and everything that the mysterious Outbound Flight project has been talked about, this book is a fitting account of how Outbound Flight got the green light and then how it's downfall happened. You will see Thrawn (and the whole Chiss species) in a completely different light and learn how he came to serve under the Emperor and why he did so. The Yuzzan Vong from the New Jedi Order books have a big effect on this book, despite never being mentioned in name. And there are one of the most cruel species ever mentioned in the Star Wars series - the Vagaari, a terrible species which uses 'living' shields - but I won't give it away. Anyway, I would really reccomend that you buy this book, it is great and will close a piece of Star Wars history to an end. Even if you have not read the other Outbound Flight novels, then this is a great book to read on it's own. 10/10!!!!

Introducing the future Grand Admiral Thrawn
This "Star Wars" story is a prequel to "Survivor's Quest" and among other things it tells the story of how the Old Republic first encountered Commander Mitth'raw'nuruodo - better known by the rank to which Emperor Palpatine was to appoint him, and by his "core name" which humans can pronounce, as Grand Admiral Thrawn.

Timothy Zahn is one of the most original science fiction authors writing today. His contributions to the "Star Wars" universe, particularly the novels in which he brought to life Grand Admiral Thrawn and his race, the Chiss, are perhaps his best work.

This story is set about four or five years after "Star Wars Episode One" at a time when Palpatine has become Supreme Chancellor but before the start of the Clone Wars in Episode two - Attack of the Clones." Anakin Skywalker is 14 years old in this book and has been Obi-Wan Kenobi's Padawan for the intervening four or five years. It becomes clear that Supreme Chancellor Palpatine already has plans for his future ...

"Outbound Flight" is a huge expedition mounted by the Old Republic and led by the Jedi. The plan was to explore and colonise another Galaxy. Obi Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker were among those who were initially intended to take part. Before it even got out of the home galaxy, Outbound Flight passed through Chiss space, where they met a Chiss force under the future Admiral Thrawn, and various other people, some of whom had very nefarious plans ...

In "Survivor's Quest", which is set some fifty years later and well after "Return of the Jedi," Luke Skywalker and his wife Mara Jade go on a quest to find what had happened to the Outbound Flight expedition all those years before. "Outbound Flight" tells the story of the original expedition from the viewpoint of the people involved: including what involvement Palpatine, Thrawn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Anakin Skywalker had with the mission.

This book also tells you something about the ideals which motivated the younger officer who was to become Grand Admiral Thrawn - who is a somewhat more sympathetic character in this volume than the older Thrawn was presented as being in Zahn's "Heir to the Empire" trilogy.

It's a good story, well told and enjoyable. If you are thinking of reading it and have not yet read "Survivor's Quest" I would recommend tackling "Outbound Flight" first. For all that it is written as a prequel, I found that because I had already read "Survivor's Quest" the knowledge of what fate is in store for the expedition and several of the main characters did to some extent reduce my pleasure on first reading this book.

Nevertheless it is an enjoyable and well written addition to the "Star Wars" canon, and I do recommend it.

Slow, but the trip is worth it
With Outbound Flight, Timothy Zahn completes his two-book series examining an expedition into unknown space during the time of the Republic in the Star Wars universe. He also gives us the first meeting of Grand Admiral Thrawn (one of first book-only creations for the Star Wars universe) and gives us a demonstration of how he became one of Emperor Palpatine's greatest military minds. Unfortunately, while the book is enjoyable, it suffers from two major characters being shoehorned in and a main plot that isn't really that interesting.

In Survivor's Quest, Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker are brought in to explore the remains of Outbound Flight after being thought destroyed for fifty years. In Outbound Flight, we see the beginning of the expedition, spearheaded by Jedi Master C'Baoth. The Senate is cutting funding for the project, which brings C'Baoth to the office of the Supreme Chancellor, Palpatine, to demand that he fight for it. Palpatine, with his own motives for getting the expedition off the ground, lures him to the planet Brolf to solve a trade dispute. Events on that planet will enhance his stature and make Outbound Flight almost a certainty. However, he doesn't foresee Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker being added to the Jedi crew by the Jedi Council. Meanwhile, a smuggler on the run from an infuriated Hutt is forced beyond known space by a hyperdrive malfunction, and they stumble upon a Chiss warship, commanded by a very intelligent Commander Thrawn. All of this comes together in a battle of wills and intelligence, with three sides all facing off against each other. Who will win? And how does Outbound Flight end up where Luke and Mara find it?

Outbound Flight is an interesting story, and it dovetails nicely with the events of Survivor's Quest. It was also enjoyable seeing Thrawn for the first time, when he's still unfamiliar with the area of space we're all familiar with. They've never heard of droids, so he's fascinated by the warrior droids that the Trade Federation has (which are obtained in a fight with the Trade Federation ship sent to destroy Outbound Flight). He demonstrates his superior intelligence many times in this book, and while we don't see the invitation to join Palpatine (I believe that happened after he became Emperor), we do see what most likely prompted it. Thrawn, as always, is a fascinating character, keeping plans within plans, so nobody is ever sure exactly what's happening until things go his way. The only problem I have with him (and it's one I've had with him from the beginning) is that he's almost too perfect. He never seems to miss anything, and if things seem to be going against him, you know it's a trick.

The part of the story dealing with the smugglers and their interaction with Thrawn is what keeps the book going. Unfortunately, the story of Outbound Flight itself isn't nearly as interesting. C'Baoth is an arrogant fool, and while it's nothing that we haven't seen before with him, he just didn't hold my attention. An attempt to humanize most of the C'Baoth scenes is made by including his Padawan, Lorana Jinzler, but that doesn't work. While she is a nice character, she doesn't help. The beginning of the book has Obi-Wan and Anakin (who is 14 years old and still quite impulsive) keeping an eye on him, and they help somewhat. Zahn does capture their relationship wonderfully and I could almost hear Ewan McGregor speaking Obi-Wan's lines.
However, they bring up one of the other problems with the book. First is a bit of false advertising on dust jacket. It implies that Obi-Wan and Anakin are around for the entire book and that they're involved in the inevitable confrontation between Outbound Flight and the Chiss. That's not the case, as would be obvious to anybody who's read the first book. They can't be on the ship when disaster strikes, as they have to be around for the subsequent movies. No, they're dumped off before Outbound Flight leaves Republic space and the scenes on the ship slow down even more. Their role in the book feels extremely forced, as if we need them around to make the story interesting. The problem is that it ends up being true.

It's also sad that when the action moves to the ship, it's just Obi-Wan and Anakin reacting to C'Baoth's obvious descent to the Dark Side. It's treated like a revelation toward the end, but all of the prideful statements, arrogant boasts, accumulation of power by C'Baoth, there's no doubt that's what's happening. The fact that this is considered a startling development is just annoying.

The book culminates in a thrilling climax that makes the rest of the book worth getting through. Three sides face off and C'Baoth's arrogance finally gets the best of him. Thrawn's plans are finally revealed and we see exactly how things finally work out. It sets up Survivor's Quest beautifully. My only problem with the ending was the misdirection Zahn employs by hiding the thoughts of one of the characters. We see his thoughts, and his thoughts seem to point to events occurring one way, but then Zahn reveals that he was part of the plan to begin with and everything's the exact opposite. I know this can be an effective writing technique, but it annoys me all the same. Otherwise, though, the last one hundred pages are wonderful.

It's too bad that it took so long to get there, though. The book moves quickly, however, which makes it an easy read, thus making getting to that ending a lot more enjoyable than it might have been otherwise. For those of you tired of Thrawn, it's not a good thing that he's the main reason to read the first three-quarters of the book, but that's what Zahn excels at. Just for the further information in the Star Wars universe, Outbound Flight is well worth reading.

David Roy