Star Wars: Choices of One

Fun to read and adds several enjoyable elements to the back story of several characters between the events of the movies. Took a few turns in unexpected directions, but if you enjoyed Allegiance at all then this is a must.

After his last HOJ  novel, I was extremely excited for this one. Several times it was a little hard to follow but overall a hit. I also experienced a moment of enjoyment when he slipped in Ensign Mithel from the Thrawn Trilogy. A must read for all Star Wars fans!!

As a previous reviewer stated, the word "grimaced" is very much overused in this story, which I found incredibly distracting, at least after having read that review. I felt compelled to count the occurrences, but managed to avoid it. I eliminated a whole star for the scope of the infraction.

The story itself is fairly standard for the extended universe, but does provide some time with Luke before he even knows much about The Force.

When compared with the Thrawn trilogy there's a few inconsistencies concerning Mara, which is weird considering they're all written by Zahn, but I love the story and the character interaction.
Thumbs up.

This is very much like watching a chess match. The entire novel is spent in will they?/ won't they?
Will Luke and Mara actually meet?
Will the Alliance succed in getting a permenent base ( probably not since this is pre Hoth) ?
Will Han and Leia start getting along?
This novel relies on the fact that you know who the main (and supporting) characters are and how they relate to each other and the timeline of events between ep4 and ep6 of the movies but enjoyable if you don't

It is tricky to write "inbetweenquels" to existing material, but Timothy Zahn pulls it off. His stories are always well thought out and exciting, and his characters well-developed. Choices of One was no exception.

This book was very enjoyable. Timothy Zahn always does a great job of weaving together a great plot, continuous action, and good character development. All of the greats like Han, Luke, and Leia are there, as well Zahn's own best, Mara Jade, Thrawn, and Paellion. This is one of my favorite of his books, especially regarding the main characters. It is easy to know where they are at emotionally and mentally, as it is set shortly before ESB. Recommend for even the casual fan of the EU.

Never not finished a Zahn book...but my gosh this was awful. I felt like it kept droning on and I can barely turn the pages. Finally finished it and felt like I just wasted time reading it. And yes, I only read it when I was on the toilette and it was still that boring.

Having not read anything outside of the Clone Wars era, I picked this up on a whim as a try to expand my SW library. I wasn't disappointed. The standout for me was, of course, Mara Jade. I was familiar with her beforehand but had never read anything with her. I just always assumed she was little more than a lap dog for Sidious who somehow switched allegiances later on. This book proved me dead wrong. She's not just a tool (at least in the grand view of things), she's a person. She has feelings and thoughts of her own that may be clouded behind her sense of loyalty to Sidious (for whatever reason), but are still very much present. She asks questions, not just going in killing people mindlessly. I greatly enjoyed reading her parts the most.

The scenes with the disgraced troopers were also well done. I really felt the camaraderie between them without feeling like it was being shoved in my face. And Luke. Oh, Luke. His inexperience with both politics and combat shine in this book, but not in a bad way. After all, it's only been a few months after Yavin, so he's not supposed to suddenly be this wise and powerful soldier or Jedi. He's still just a kid. Kudos to Zahn for keeping that in mind. And also for writing the banter between Han and Leia as wonderfully as he did. I wanted to shake them both and just tell them to kiss already!

I'm very happy to have made this my first read outside the Republic Era. It got me much more interested in both Mara and Thrawn (honestly, I thought it was going to be revealed that he was Odo before the truth came out). I'm looking forward to picking up the Thrawn trilogy next to expand on this one.

I've ready everything that Zahn's ever written for the Stars universe and he never wrote something for Star Wars that wasn't amazing, and he didn't disappoint with this book!

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS***

The characters of Mara Jade, Pallaeon, Thrawn, and the Hand of Justice are his and no one can write them as good as he does!

So we follow the Hand of Justice and find out they have stayed true to their oaths to the Empire. They are going around the galaxy and righting the wrongs and fighting the injustices that the Empire is too busy to deal with. Like small warlords that are stealing from and killing small farmers, ousting corrupt officials sometimes violently if need be and many other small things.

Mara Jade is sent on a mission by the Emperor to kill an official that is offering his home planet on the fringes of the Empire as a military base for the Rebellion. She needs some back up but will only take Storm Troopers that she trusts, so she gets ahold of the Hand of Justice and they head off to complete their mission.

Now something that Zahn does that I WISH other authors and even Lucas himself would do. He gives much credit and respect to the Storm Troopers. He recognizes that these aren't just Red Shirts, they are highly skilled and well trained and very intelligent and resourceful commandos that each have their own personality and don't always just do as their told. Zahn re-establishes to the readers that even though these men are technically deserters, they still take the oath they made to defend and protect the citizens of the Empire very seriously.

The Rebels are at the planet checking the place out to see if they want to have the base there and if the guy's offer is legit and to make sure this isn't an elaborate trap. Of course our main rebels are there, Han, Leia, Chewie, Luke, and my personal favorite, Wedge Antilles!

During the course of the book we find out that this is where the rebels found their snow speeders that they use on Hoth and this is also when the Emperor decided to use Endor as the staging grounds to build the second Death Star. But the crazy thing is that never once is Endor, or the shield generator mentioned. Zahn does such an amazing job of storytelling that he doesn't have to mention them, just the way that the characters are talking, you know that is what they are discussing.

So it turns out an imperial agent has committed horrible crimes and has really kidnapped the traitor's family and if he doesn't make this deal to the Rebels, they will be killed. Mara Jade figures this out, rescues the hostages, and delivers justice to the TRUE traitor in the way that only she can!

Also during this whole book the Hand of Justice finds themselves fighting side by side the rebels because they both want the same thing. To save the family of this poor manipulated man, bring the criminals behind it to justice and stop this mysterious warlord from the Unknown Regions who is pulling the strings of everything that wants to enslave entire races of aliens.

The ending, oh my god the ending!?! Let's just say that not only does the true military might of the Empire come to bear on this alien warlord, Thrawn does it with such style and ease that he makes it look easy and you realize that he had a strategy for this the entire time and it's delivered to the reader on a silver platter in the way that only Zahn can write it!

***END SPOILERS*** ***END SPOILERS*** ***END SPOILERS***

So in closing, this book was amazing and had me hooked from the first chapter! If you're a fan of Star Wars or Zhan, you HAVE to check this out!

This was an interesting Star Wars novel. Mainly because I spent about 80% of it convinced it was really a story about Thrawn (and the other 20% wondering if I was being played by Thrawn and Zahn and that it really was still all about Thrawn), despite most of the point of views being from Mara, the Hand of Judgement, Han, Luke, and Leia.

In fact, I'm still not 100% sold that the almost trite conclusion is actually true, and there are still lingering suspicions I have that Thrawn is almost breaking the 4th wall to have a little fun with us, the reader, and it's the rare Star Wars novel that attempts more than some popcorn reading entertainment. If so, fantastic job by Zahn. Triply so, if only because scouring the internet did not bring up many (or any) easily found instances of others writing about this potential layer to the story. Everyone seems to have taken things at face value, which is never traditionally smart in the face of Thrawn, though at the same time, this could be a case of me having such high expectations for Thrawn's multi-layered tactical mind that I'm jumping at shadows. Though if true, it puts the small novella Crisis of Faith in entirely different light (yes, I have committed the cardinal sin of reading these in reverse chronological order).

Any more ruminations on this subject would drift into spoiler territory, so let me finish this by saying it was nice to see a lot of tie-ins to the era of Heir to the Empire, and there were so many that I'm wondering if this is a sign that this is it for the "prequel" novels involving our Stormtrooper "deserters", Mara Jade, etc. Granted, Mara is a little (ok, a lot) too competent, and makes Jack Bauer seem like he belongs in preschool, but it'd still be potentially interesting to see more of her "genesis" years so to speak, without the distraction of Luke, Han, and Leia (surely not every mission she had was in the same sector as those three).