Thrawn Ascendancy: Greater Good is the second book in Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn Ascendary trilogy, and the sequel to the 2020 Thrawn Ascendancy: Chaos Rising. And to build up hype for it, it seems we get an excerpt as a teaser, along with some other extras.

Thrawn Ascendancy: Greater Good B&N Exclusive cover.
Thrawn vs. alien snakes? I’m sold.

This excerpt from Thrawn Ascendancy: Greater Good comes to us courtesy of Star Wars.com. It’s also pretty long as far as excerpts go. Not only that, but while Thrawn is a major character in this excerpt, he’s not the main character. No, that role goes to Admiral Ar’alani, captain of the Vigilant and high military leader in the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet. Although, that’s possibly the most contradictory name I’ve ever heard.

Admiral Ar'alani herself.
Admiral on deck!

As a female Chiss character with demonstrated tactical brilliance, Ar’alani does bear a resemblance to a certain another female admiral in science fiction. Not in terms of appearance, but in personality and overall traits. Personally, I think Timothy Zahn has been reading a bit of Honor Harrington in his spare time. At the very least, Harrington makes for good research for Thrawn Ascendancy: Greater Good.

Ar’alani Ascendancy: Greater Honor?

Thrawn Ascendancy: Greater Good poster of Chiss leadership by Jeremy Wilson.
Oh, Thrawn. You’re always stealing the spotlight, aren’t you? Art by Jeremy Wilson.

Will this Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy be the next Honor Harrington series? Personally, I don’t think that’s likely. Timothy Zahn plans for the series to be a trilogy, with Thrawn Ascendancy: Greater Good already being the second book. The Honor Harrington series already has 14 books in the main series, with countless spin-off novels. There’s just no way Timothy Zahn can keep up, no matter how popular Thrawn is.

Timothy Zahn himself.
Sorry Zahn, but you’re no David Weber.

Conclusion

Timothy Zahn can try to have an Honor Harrington-esque character in Thrawn Ascendancy: Greater Good, but he’s unlikely to actually dethrone the series itself. It seems at the moment, the Royal Manticoran Navy will be more popular than the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet. While also being a lot less contradictory to boot.

You may have also noticed the cool cover for Thrawn Ascendancy: Greater Good, as well as the poster of the Chiss leadership by Jeremy Wilson. Those are only available from the Barnes & Noble exclusive edition of the book. You can buy it online on Barnes & Noble website for $23.99.

Source: Star Wars.com