Choices of One

Star Wars: Choices of One
© 2011 Timothy Zahn
366 pages

The choices of one shape the futures of all. (Jedi saying)

Timothy Zahn's Allegiance (2006) introduced us to the Hand of Judgment, a band of "rogue stormtroopers" -- deserters turned do-good vigilantes. In Choices of One, these four hook up with Emperor Palpatine's favored agent, Mara Jade, to 'correct' a governor in the hinterlands who is rumored to be meeting with the leaders of the rebellion. Though the Death Star has been destroyed, the Empire is far from finished, and the rebels badly need a new base of operations.  Luke and Han -- the latter struggling with his place in a military organization -- are dispatched to investigate the governor's offer, and at the edges of known space they, Jade, the Hand of Judgment, Senior Captain Thrawn, and Commander Palleon are drawn into a web of intrigue, spun by an unknown individual with a concealed agenda.

Although the plot proper doesn't add much to the Star Wars canon, other than setting up The Empire Strikes Back, it offers first a mystery and then an action thriller that sees the character growth we missed between A New Hope and its sequel;  Luke is still "the kid", still growing in confidence and ability. Han's connection to the rebellion, formerly tenuous, grows here -- and he and Leia bounce off each other nicely. It is Zahn's characters who steal the show, though: despite the fact they're all villains in that they serve the Empire in one form or another, their motivations are wholly respectable -- or in Jade's case, at least understandable -- and I couldn't help but root for them, especially for the "Hand of Judgment" and the Thrawn-Palleon duo which has its beginnings here. Like the films, the action steadily increases, and at its height all of the characters are involved in desperate fights of their own, all of which are part of a greater conflict between the characters and whoever is responsible for drawing both the Empire and the Rebellion to this previously-forgotten world on the fringes of the empire.

Fun thriller with great characters; recommended.