Author: Timothy Zahn
Cover Artist: John Van Fleet
Publisher: Random House
Binding: Paperback
Publication Date: January 2007
While perhaps surpassed in recent years by individual projects by various authors it would not be an overstatement to state that The Thrawn Trilogy – an arc released in the early 90’s – became the measure that all other shots of EU have been held against. Much of this has to do with circumstances of time as the books chronologically occur in a time that make them natural sequels to the original film trilogy and I don’t find it a coincidence that it found success during a time that would have seen the fans of the aforementioned movies reaching the second and third decades of their lives taking their first look back at products related to their childhood. I say much of it because there was no lack of storytelling ability present as Zahn successfully integrated new elements and ideas into a franchise that has become a tradition on to itself, and while there have been numerous books that told the continuing or past tales in the Lucasdom, Zahn didn’t just write of or about the myth, in many fan’s minds his work is part of the tapestry not merely a product of its legacy; he’s playing backup for Figrin D’ and the Modal Nodes he’s not a groupie, and while not in my mind the most noteworthy writer to add to expanded universe it is hard to argue that Zahn wasn’t the first real reason – and a good one – to even take note of Star Wars on paper.
Zahn’s latest Star Wars offering treads no new ground but backtracks into a timeframe that occurs between the first two canonical films and amongst its three plot threads depicts the exploits of who will perhaps represent his most significant and longest lasting mark into the mythos that he introduced in the aforementioned sequence – Mara Jade. Once the potential executor and at the same time destined wife of Luke Skywalker, she first served as a shadow operative answering only to Palpatine himself, and known as a matter of fact by a chosen few and to all others as rumor – if even at all – as the Emperor’s Hand. A second plotline explores the decay of the Empire from the inside as members of a squad of Storm Troopers are forced to differentiate between the body of ideals they proudly served as the arms of and the actual truth behind them and thus their own deeds. Rounding out the three threads we follow the familiar trio of pre-knight Luke Skywalker, pre-official rebel –as a rebel at heart he has always been – Han Solo, and pre-salvatorian Chewbacca and it is decidedly the dreariest of the trio.
After experiencing a most welcome and I thought a highly unlikely circumstance: two recent, highly recommended Star Wars efforts – written by Karen Traviss and Aaron Allston and both associated with the promising Legacy of the Force sequence – Zahn’s effort fell short of those reading experiences, not undone by premise, as this nook in the EU – at least conceptually – represents an obvious draw to fans who have been waiting to see the exploits of a certain Mara Jade in her Imperial position and to what I think is a growing trend – the popularity of military-styled SF and Fantasy represented by Storm Troopers in Allegiance. Zahn’s actual painting seemed modest in comparison to its provocative frame which made for a suitable read – still above most Star Wars books I have read – but left me pondering the moments that I thought should have shook a fan boy to the core; You know…those moments that make seem reading even lackluster novel worth it by for a second touching that inner schwartz spirit that allows us to even claim to like Star Wars even after the prequels. For example, even if you didn’t enjoy Perry’s Shadow of the Empire, one had to smile with Vader – a macarism through the page – as he proclaimed to Xizor, “In the Emperor’s absence, I speak for the Empire” (which is no doubt paraphrasing, the book is not available to me at the moment) as he laid down his ultimatum to the intergalactic boss of bosses and ultimate arriviste. These are the moments that for a second make you think you hear John Williams in your head and while I think I faintly heard Imperial March starting to play on a couple of occasions but it turned out to be more like Tesh not Williams. These are moments unperceived by even those with the most sterling of minds – that unidentifiable force that won’t allow fans denounce their allegiance despite Jar Jar’s and painful dialogue alike.
Even before the time of the prequels – a.k.a the Dark Times as far I’m concerned – the lynch pin of the Star Wars has been Vader – the living, breathing cynosure of the universe. When judging a EU book that features characters from the canonical films interacting with those that are not, Vader remains the comparative foil, as it is in his presence that some of the greatest interactions occur, be it with Luke, Tarkin, Leia, Fett, Palpatine, Kenobi, the next ex-admiral of the Executor or just insouciantly informing Solo he has been expecting him. This facet of Vader remains true to me even with recent efforts – like the absolutely heinous Jedi Trial – that are motivated in welcomed attempts at humanizing the character of Vader but miss and really become part of a trend that is best described as the pussifacation of one of the truly iconic figures in modern mythology. Going into this book the fan has to most anticipate the meetings of Vader and Mara, a meeting between father and future daughter-in-law, the prodigy and the progenitor of his line, for two reasons, one, the simple reverse-symmetry inherit in the event and to see how Zahn would handle Vader – the latter of special interest due to Zahn’s infrequent and perceived disdain of the character, a subject that’s the motivation of fan discussion in itself. That said, in such a system of books individual liberties are often taken, and should be understood as many find the interpretations and liberties other authors have taken with many of Zahn’s original creations (including in the aforementioned on-going Legacy of the Force series) including Mara herself. Call it an over inflated view of the Dark Lord, hell, call it simple chauvinism, but I couldn’t help thinking that the meetings between the two left me cold, as if the significance of the build-up leading to them was registered by the author but what should have been an ominous meeting of Empire’s ultra-elite – and more than that, the non-bureaucratic elite – turned into a bit of a teenage (which in Mara’s case may be apt) chest thumping performances. Vader takes on a Galactus–like role where we know he is the HNIC and that fact is used as untarnishable shortcut when writers try to show us the measure of another character. With that in mind I still couldn’t help but come away thinking even more of the Vader I thought I knew gone in these encounters where I had hoped to find another perspective on what I feel is the establishment.
Without question the most compelling episodes of Allegiance are in following the exploits of the rogue storm troopers. On the run and equipped with a nifty stolen ISB (Imperial Security Bureau – think part Gestapo, part political commissar) transport and coming to grips of the quixotic nature of the reality they think they serve. Zahn successfully paints a human face on the Empire’s infantry, and although the focus tends to be on one of them – one Daric LaRone – so much so leaving the others in the quartet rather indistinguishable, and even worse not unnecessarily so, their administration of vigilante justice and encounters with the other notables proves to be fruitful in that they give a view of the everyman in the universe and doesn’t assume such a perspective has to be exclusive to the rebellion. They are not the only examples Zahn uses to portray this element in regarding the Empire, and while it (the Empire) can correctly be characterized by corruption from its very origin there were those who believed in its ideals and were no less good citizens of the human race (or alien) because of it. In many ways Anakin himself could be viewed in the same light before he became single-minded his vision of the future regarding Padme. The biggest accomplishment of Allegiance is instilling a sympathetic, and even more than that an overall ambivalent characteristic into the Empire.
The third thread could never escape emanating the characteristic of simply existing to be an obligatory thrown-in of familiar characters to add credence thought to be needed to enhance the publicity synopsis. Indeed, on the cover of the novel while in conclusion everything ends up making a brand of contrived sense I couldn’t help thinking that whatever Allegiance would amount to, it would achieve it despite these portions of the novel featuring Solo, Skywalker, and Chewie that more or less seemed like chore to give them while Zahn a neat number to tie into his book’s title. All three segments are about forms of allegiance, – the trooper’s conflicts about their ideals no longer being mirrored by the Empire, Han coming to grips to expanding his circle to include more than two and perhaps an entire rebellion, and that of Mara, a person who has found true purpose in her teens, and with a steadfast vigor that’s loss of purpose makes the utter hatred we see in her Zahn’s original trilogy that much more organic and effective. Even beyond the three main threads, Zahn toys with concepts of allegiance in almost every other secondary character, making for either the most apt title in history or the feeling of beating a dead bantha.
There are nice touches intended for the established fan. We see anther nod to the 501st Star Wars fan group, as Vader’s personal legion of Storm Troopers are designated with the same title – the same designated legion he leads into the Jedi Temple as chronicled in Revenge of the Sith. There is also an appearance by the pre-Moff Disra, a major player who we see in a previous Zahn duology. In one of the better Vader/Mara encounters we get this dialogue:
“I don’t know if the man’s disloyal, easily manipulated, or just plain stupid. But I think he bears watching”“Leave him to me”“I think I can arrange something”
Admittedly not groundbreaking, but it’s one of few instances that the Bodhisattva-approved Vader shows up in Allegiance, and it’s a nice tie-in to a minor breath-taking occurrence that occurs in the original trilogy.
While probably a book that is on every Star Wars fan’s radar due to the draw of Zahn revisiting the Jade character, and certainly not without its moments that may ultimately make the book worth reading and even a required read for true SW enthusiasts – if only to have something to talk about – it doesn’t represents Zahn’s best, either in the EU or overall, which is undoubtedly his earlier short fiction. If the recent Legacy of the Force novels were a step forward, efforts that I think can be appreciated by Science Fiction fans in general and not just the existing built-in fan base, then Allegiance is at least an accidental stumble, but even more so it has the look of a purposeful sprint back, which is what some wanted, but I expected a Zahn effort and got something closer to a KJA effort – a lot of people will buy it, but ultimately it’s more forgettable than it is worthy of the allegiance of any but the most ardent of completist.
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