'Vision of the Future' by Timothy Zahn  

Bantam Press 1998  

Set 15 years after RotJ 

 book cover
Story -- Luke and Artoo are off to rescue Mara (you can get she's not gonna like that one bit!). Wedge and Corran are on a mission. Karrde, Shada Dukal and Threepio are trying to track down Jorj Car'das (maybe he has a copy of the Caamas document). And Han and Leia are getting away from it all - or so they think. As the war-ships gather over Bothawui, there's a mad scramble to get hold of a copy of the Caamas document before all hell breaks loose and entire New Republic Crumbles.

Original characters from the movies -- still great. Luke, Leia and Han are all on missions, Lando's in this one a lot, Wedge is planet-side for a change, even the droids are pulling their weight. Only Chewie is notable by his absence (he's off on Kashyyyk with the Solo kids).

New characters -- as in 'Specter', with the addition of Shada Dukal (Mistryl shadow guard from 'Thrawn trilogy') and Moranda Savich. There's not much of the Solo kids (but after the outing they got during the Corellian trilogy, this didn't bother me too much).
 
Cover art -- scary eyes! And the first decent cover illustration of Mara Jade. Still no signs of aging.

Chicks -- Leia doing her diplomatic stuff. Mara is excellent (the 'issues' between her and Luke are finally resolved) - it's nice to see Mara get more than just the odd line. Shada Dukal is awesome - wouldn't like to meet her in dark alley! Moranda Savich, like everyone working for Karrde, is resourceful and damn good at her job.

Any good? -- Excellent. Brilliant. Wonderful. Do you get the impression I liked this book? A fast-paced story that keeps you on the edge of your seat - I couldn't put it down. Zahn manages to wrap up just about every loose thread in the Star Wars galaxy (what WAS Mara up to with Lando? Where did Thrawn come from? Whatever happened to Baron Fel?) while simultaneously creating a clean slate for future authors (you'll know what I mean when you get to the end of 'Vision').

Read it? -- YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! At least you can now buy both books - I had to wait months between 'Specter' and 'Vision' and it was absolute TORTURE! These are the last Star Wars novels published by Bantam Press, before Del Rey took over the franchise. It's nice that Zahn wrote the first and last books.

Rating -- 10 out of 10 (honest!)
 

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