Mid-book review of Outbound Flight. I thought I'd mention a few quick, spoiler-free(ish) thoughts since I had planned to skip this novel. Because this story takes place during the prequel era, I had decided it wasn't for me. As is well documented, I have zero interest in any of that.
However, I was browbeat by a couple of members who shall remain nameless ;-) and decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did. I was not digging it at first because it is very Prequel early on. Not so much story, but character mentions. Because of that, I nearly put it down. I stayed with it, but slowly. It's taken me a while to get into it again, but now that it's moved past those characters it's been hard to put down.
The Lorana, Car'das, Thrass, and Thrawn story is Absolutely fantastic. Lorana, in particular, is up there with any of the strong Zahn characters from past novels. The second half of the novel reads like a film. Great stuff. Full review soon.
*Edit*
Full review with spoilers;
Parts of it I loved, parts of it I struggled through. As I mentioned before, I struggled with the Prequel characters of the early portions. The struggle for me wasn't with the story or how the Prequel characters were written. It was more of a struggle for me not to just put the book down and forget about it.
I stayed with it (reluctantly) because I'd been told it was worth it and because I was very interested in Lorana and Car'das. He's an interesting character in some earlier novels so I wanted to see how he was in his early years. Lorana was interesting in her own right and ended up being what saved the story for me. Particularly after she partners with Thrawn's brother as they head to The Redoubt. The last few chapters are very well done. The attack and the subsequent crash are textbook Zahn.
To me, the Prequel characters seemed forced. Kenobi and Annikin felt out of place in a Zahn story and particularly so in this one. Annikin reads like an after-thought. Zahn's work is much deeper than Lucas Prequel, so they felt like filler and I'm sorry they were there taking pages away from Jorus and Lorana. The Kenobi and Annikin roles could have very easily been one of the other pairs of Jedis on that trip and in the context of the story would have made more sense. Their reason for being added to the crew of Outbound Flight was thin.
Kenobi and Annikin also took pages away from the story of the ship itself, which I wanted to know more about. I dig the idea of several ships married to a large inner core for a years-long exploration of unknown space. In the story they plan on being gone at least ten years.
The other Prequel characters were fairly limited. I've seen pictures of Sidious, Windu, and others so I knew who they were referencing. A few Prequel droids and events are referenced also.
I'll end up reading it again, but it will be because of the Zahn characters, not the Lucas characters. Lorana, Car'das, Thrass, and Thrawn were all interesting and well handled. I will say, the whole thing makes me want to go back and reread Survivors Quest. I'll probably start tonight.
I guess if I had to sum it up I'd say Outbound Flight has something for all Star Wars fans. If you dig Zahn EU, his characters in here are strong. If you dig Lucas Characters, there are plenty for you and as a bonus you end up getting introduced to some iconic Zahn characters. It's a great way to see how much better a grasp Zahn has of the Star Wars universe compared to Lucas.