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Star Wars Legends: Novels
Star Wars: Survivor's Quest
After fifty years, the remains of Outbound Flight—a pioneering Jedi expedition viciously destroyed by the alien warlord Grand Admiral Thrawn—have been found on the planet Nirauan. The beings who reside there wish to turn over to the New Republic the remnants of the doomed mission. Accepting the gesture will mean a long voyage into the treacherous cluster of stars where the thousands of souls aboard the Outbound Flight vessel met their grim fate.
Embarking on the strange and solemn journey, Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker are unaware that the gravest danger lies within the derelict walls of Outbound Flight itself. As the marooned hulk yields up stunning revelations and unexpected terrors, Luke and Mara find all they stand for—and their very existence—brutally challenged. The ultimate test will be surviving the deathtrap carefully laid by foes who are legendary for their ruthlessness…and determined to complete the job Thrawn began: exterminating the Jedi.
Embarking on the strange and solemn journey, Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker are unaware that the gravest danger lies within the derelict walls of Outbound Flight itself. As the marooned hulk yields up stunning revelations and unexpected terrors, Luke and Mara find all they stand for—and their very existence—brutally challenged. The ultimate test will be surviving the deathtrap carefully laid by foes who are legendary for their ruthlessness…and determined to complete the job Thrawn began: exterminating the Jedi.
480 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
395 people are currently reading
5928 people want to read
About the author
Timothy Zahn
485 books8,583 followersTimothy Zahn attended Michigan State University, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in physics in 1973. He then moved to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and achieved an M.S. degree in physics in 1975. While he was pursuing a doctorate in physics, his adviser became ill and died. Zahn never completed the doctorate. In 1975 he had begun writing science fiction as a hobby, and he became a professional writer. He and his wife Anna live in Bandon, Oregon. They have a son, Corwin Zahn.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 279 reviews
January 31, 2015
This was the New Jedi Order, and he and Mara were walking together in as perfect a harmony with each other and with the Force as he could ever expect. "The Force will be with you always, Mara," Luke murmured into her ear. "And so will I."
"Yes," she murmured back. "Whatever the future brings."
They were still holding on to each other as they fell asleep.
I am basically the biggest, hugest sucker for romance in the Star Wars universe. I know, I know, the fighting and the politics and the world-saving is incredible and awesome too, there's just something about the relationships in Star Wars that just get to me. That is a big part of why I absolutely adore this book!
Now don't let me confuse you, this isn't necessarily a romantic book. It's an action story, a subterfuge story, a story about various people learning to work together and pull together for the common good of all. But it was also a story about a husband and wife Jedi knight couple who were on a mission together and that just about tickled me pink! :)
"Yes," she murmured back. "Whatever the future brings."
They were still holding on to each other as they fell asleep.
I am basically the biggest, hugest sucker for romance in the Star Wars universe. I know, I know, the fighting and the politics and the world-saving is incredible and awesome too, there's just something about the relationships in Star Wars that just get to me. That is a big part of why I absolutely adore this book!
Now don't let me confuse you, this isn't necessarily a romantic book. It's an action story, a subterfuge story, a story about various people learning to work together and pull together for the common good of all. But it was also a story about a husband and wife Jedi knight couple who were on a mission together and that just about tickled me pink! :)
July 2, 2014
Timothy Zahn is one of the two or three best authors of Star Wars books. You know when you are reading a Zahn novel that you are in for an enjoyable ride. "Star Wars" Survivor's Quest" deals with two of my favorite Star Wars characters; Luke Skywalker and his wife Mara Jade. It is an odd combination to say the least as Luke is a former Rebel leader and Mara was once the "Emperors Hand," a kind of assassin enforcer for Palpatine (actually tasked at one time to kill Luke Skywalker). Both are Force using Jedi, a most incredible weapon for an enemy to face. Luke and Mara, in this book, are travelling on a Chiss ship with a group of Imperials to investigate "Outbound Flight," a ship full of Jedi and colonists travelling to the outer reaches of the galaxy on a journey of exploration which was intercepted and destroyed by the Chiss 50 years before the time of the book. What Luke and Mara did not know was that the whole expedition was organized by Palpatine to eliminate a number of Jedi from the galaxy. I suggest reading "Outbound Flight" before reading "Survivor's Quest." The time of this book is from a simpler happier time before Star Wars characters began to get knocked off with reckless abandoned, a time when everyone came back. It was a fun read and I liked it a lot.
September 27, 2023
A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, during the height of the Republic, an exploratory mission of six Dreadnaughts connected by a central core, carrying several thousand men, women, and children, was launched as an attempt to, ostensibly, explore and potentially colonize new and unexplored star systems at the outer edges of the known galaxy. It was called Outbound Flight, and, with the exception of only a handful of people within the government, nobody else in the galaxy knew about it. Sadly, Outbound Flight disappeared without a trace, the ship and its crew of families and a handful of accompanying Jedi Knights considered missing and presumed dead.
Fast forward roughly 60 years, after the Rise and Fall of the Empire and the foundation of the New Republic: Outbound Flight has been rediscovered. Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker have been invited to be representatives of the New Republic for a retrieval mission. The flight’s remains are on the planet Nirauan. Joining the Skywalkers are representatives of the Chiss Ascendancy (the alien race that spawned Thrawn), the Imperial Remnant, the 501st (a stormtrooper platoon once known as Darth Vader’s hand-picked creme de la creme), and a relatively unknown human ambassador named Dean Jinzler.
When they arrive at the crash site, the Skywalkers immediately realize that everyone has a secret agenda. On top of that, readings indicate that Outbound Flight possesses something nobody expected: living survivors.
Timothy Zahn’s “Survivor’s Quest” is the phenomenal sequel to “Outbound Flight”. (Technically, “Survivor’s Quest” was published first, and “Outbound Flight”was published as a prequel, but it simply makes more sense to read them in chronological order.)
As expected, there is a lot of action, suspense, and plot twists that make this one of the better “old canon/legends” novels.
Fast forward roughly 60 years, after the Rise and Fall of the Empire and the foundation of the New Republic: Outbound Flight has been rediscovered. Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker have been invited to be representatives of the New Republic for a retrieval mission. The flight’s remains are on the planet Nirauan. Joining the Skywalkers are representatives of the Chiss Ascendancy (the alien race that spawned Thrawn), the Imperial Remnant, the 501st (a stormtrooper platoon once known as Darth Vader’s hand-picked creme de la creme), and a relatively unknown human ambassador named Dean Jinzler.
When they arrive at the crash site, the Skywalkers immediately realize that everyone has a secret agenda. On top of that, readings indicate that Outbound Flight possesses something nobody expected: living survivors.
Timothy Zahn’s “Survivor’s Quest” is the phenomenal sequel to “Outbound Flight”. (Technically, “Survivor’s Quest” was published first, and “Outbound Flight”was published as a prequel, but it simply makes more sense to read them in chronological order.)
As expected, there is a lot of action, suspense, and plot twists that make this one of the better “old canon/legends” novels.
March 7, 2016
Survivor's Quest is another rather enjoyable Star Wars book by Timothy Zahn. It doesn't quite reach the level of the Thrawn trilogy, but I found it to be significantly better than the Hand of Thrawn duology. It comes with a lot of major changes from what Zahn is used to, and it has one big disadvantage and one big advantage. The former is that all the epic maneuvering and fast-paced action of the full-scale wars that Zahn normally writes about is gone. The latter is that Zahn apparently decided he didn't need to include every single one of the great heroes from the movies; thus, this is a novel about Luke and Mara alone.
What I liked most about this book was that it felt like an Agatha Christie novel in the Star Wars universe. A lot of different people are gathered aboard a ship bound for a fifty-year-old crash site. Mysteries surround every one of them, and they all keep secrets from the others. Then things start happening: the ship gets sabotaged, a passenger is shot and everything gets a little more exciting than anyone had anticipated. And thus begins a quest for Luke and Mara of uncovering the mysteries of the past and the present both.
What I liked most about this book was that it felt like an Agatha Christie novel in the Star Wars universe. A lot of different people are gathered aboard a ship bound for a fifty-year-old crash site. Mysteries surround every one of them, and they all keep secrets from the others. Then things start happening: the ship gets sabotaged, a passenger is shot and everything gets a little more exciting than anyone had anticipated. And thus begins a quest for Luke and Mara of uncovering the mysteries of the past and the present both.
June 6, 2022
3.5 stars
For 2022, I decided to go back in time and reread all the Prequels Era novels published between 1999 and 2005, plus a smidgen of other novels (like Survivor's Quest and the Dark Nest trilogy) released during that time frame. This shakes out to 21 novels, four eBook novellas, and at least thirteen short stories.
This week’s focus: a Luke/Mara story set prior to Vector Prime, about the discovery of the remains of Outbound Flight: Survivor's Quest by Timothy Zahn
SOME HISTORY:
Before this novel, “Outbound Flight” was something referenced in Zahn’s Star Wars books, but never hashed out in much detail. We knew that a group of Jedi, led by Jorus C’Baoth, tried to find a way out of the galaxy; we also knew that Thrawn, at the prompting of Palpatine, destroyed the Outbound Flight Project. Lucasfilm and Del Rey had originally intended Survivor’s Quest to just be a Luke/Mara parallel to Tatooine Ghost, Troy Denning’s Han/Leia story from 2003. However, Zahn came up with the idea of having Survivor’s Quest provide the closure for its prequel, Outbound Flight, which was originally scheduled to be published before Attack of the Clones in 2002 but was instead delayed until January 2006. Survivor’s Quest by Timothy Zahn made it to number nine on the New York Times bestseller list for the week of February 22, 2004, and was on the NYT list for two weeks.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
Like Tatooine Ghost, I own Survivor’s Quest in hardcover and have read it multiple times—although according to Goodreads, the last time I reread it was 2011. I remembered the mystery plot on the Chaf Envoy, but not much of the scenes on Outbound Flight.
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
After fifty years, the remains of Outbound Flight—a pioneering Jedi expedition destroyed by Grand Admiral Thrawn—have been found in the Unknown Regions. The Chiss wish to turn the remnants of the mission over to the New Republic’s representatives, Luke Skywalker and his wife Mara Jade. But the Skywalkers will not make this journey alone. Joining them are an officer of the Thrawn’s post-Palpatine Empire, escorted by a detachment of stormtroopers; a gentle alien species that reveres the Jedi for saving them from bloodthirsty conquerors; the Chiss, of course; and a New Republic ambassador who harbors his own mysterious agenda. Soon suspicion and an unknown saboteur run rampant aboard the ship. But it is within the derelict walls of Outbound Flight itself where the gravest danger lies…
THE PLOT:
As with Tatooine Ghost, Survivor's Quest is not a sweeping space opera like a lot of the Star Wars novels. It's much more tightly focused on a smaller cast of characters, which I appreciate— I like the epic galaxy-wide dramas, but I also like when stories are much smaller scale.
We open with Mara Jade on an unnamed planet in the Outer Rim. Which I found a little odd…This is Star Wars; most people like to peruse the galaxy map, yet Zahn doesn’t even give us its name? She's been married to Luke for three years, yet she's still trying to disentangle herself from Karrde’s organization. She's here to let some smugglers know that Karrde no longer needs their services, and she has to face off against an antiquated droideka. (Put a pin in that, for giant foreshadowing.) Luke shows up because apparently he is also accompanying her on this business trip, when they receive an urgent message from Karrde. They find out that Admiral Parck from Nirauan sent them a message, but one of Karrde’s employees named Dean Jinzler has absconded with it. They head to Nirauan and learn from Parck that the Chiss have discovered the remains of Outbound Flight and have requested the presence of Jedi.
They make it to the Chiss ship in time to meet Aristocra Formbi, a member of one of the Chiss Nine Ruling Families. He’s got a very small staff on board as well as a number of military officers; and then we've got the representatives from the Empire of the Hand; Dean Jinzler, Karrde’s wayward employee masquerading as the New Republic Ambassador; and the Geroons, a group of peaceful nomadic (rather silly) aliens who want to pay tribute to the Jedi for saving them from the evil Vagaari. They set out, and the mystery plot unfolds: someone is doing things on the ship ( a fire, theft, one of the Geroons is shot, line creepers end up in the hyperdrive, someone plants a tracker onboard).
They finally make it to Outbound Flight, and as the title would suggest there are survivors. But they hate the Jedi, and everyone is broken up into little groups. Some of them are talking with the survivors, some of them wander around and uncover things, and then the big twist occurs: the Geroons are actually the Vagaari in disguise, and they want to kill everyone and steal one of the Dreadnaughts. They fight the Vagaari, Luke and Mara chase down the Vagaari in the stolen Dreadnaught, they fight so more—there is a fully functioning droideka, so check off that foreshadowing from the beginning—they defeat the Vagaari and there is a very hasty resolution.
THE CHARACTERS:
Luke goes on this trip, because he very much hopes that Outbound Flight will contain more information about the old Jedi Order. He feels inadequate at times, being the Jedi Master of this new Jedi Order when he’s missing so much information about the old Order, and this is where some of the new prequel information fits in place. In the 90s era Star Wars books, no one had any idea about this Jedi code against attachments. But now Luke is married, yet knows that the old Jedi wouldn’t have approved of it. He’s a little unsure whether that was the right decision—he's not gonna change his mind, but he’s struggling to figure out whether it’s OK that his order is different from the old one. Other than that, his character arc takes a backseat to Mara here, and he spends more time supporting her.
If Tatooine Ghost was mainly about Leia coming to terms with her family’s past, Survivor’s Quest is about Mara working through her history with the Empire. Three years after Vision of the Future, Mara’s still disengaging/handing things over in Karrde’s organization, and as her involvement there ends, she starts to question what role she wants to play in the New Republic. Meeting Chak Fel and the Empire of the Hand stormtroopers leads to her questioning aspects of her past, because she has a lot of nostalgia for the Empire as it was.
I’m not so keen on Zahn’s retconning of her past here, similar to what he did in the Hand of Thrawn duology. When we met her in the Thrawn trilogy, she was a bitter, sarcastic, troubled woman, and we learned that she was the Emperor's Hand—basically his personal operative. But then we learned in Vision of the Future that she was very naive and idealistic, she thought she was doing good but she was used by the Emperor, and that she didn't fall to the Dark Side because she was serving her Master. But she's still serving evil! She might have thought she was doing the good thing, but what she was doing was bad, and I think it removes some of the responsibility for her actions from Mara when you frame it like that.
When Mara gets to the end, she decides that she is fine with being a part of the New Republic. There are things she would very much like to fix, but her feelings for the Empire were more nostalgia for the things she missed and not the reality for everyone who lived under it.
SIDE TANGENT - THE EMPIRE OF THE HAND (AGAIN):
I have problems with the Empire of the Hand being the Good Empire, which I talked about in my review of Fool's Bargain. Supposedly it's the Empire without any of Palpatine's bad bits. I think my issue here comes down to the name and the iconography. Fel says that they still use stormtroopers because people recognize and fear stormtroopers. I guess they use the name because they’re The Empire Version Two?
But they don't have an emperor, and seem to be ruled by the military. I believe that is a stratocracy, or a government ruled by military chiefs. They don't seem particularly imperialistic, in that they're not forcibly taking over worlds but instead want people to join them freely. So I have to wonder why call yourself The Empire if you're not an empire? If you want to be all these good things, maybe choose a new name for yourself? (I know it’s not as easy as that, but it would be a start!) Why not come up with your own elite fighters, not something that has all that history and weight of the atrocities that were done by the people wearing that armor behind it?
BACK TO THE CHARACTERS:
We also see Luke and Mara working together as a couple. If the Hand of Thrawn duology was all about L&M realizing what a great team they made—mostly professionally, only very briefly romantically—then Survivor’s Quest is the next step of their relationship. They both have duties and responsibilities to perform, and a few years into their marriage, they're still trying to figure out how to balance those. Their interactions together are fun, and it's nice to see them doing a little low-key investigating before the Yuuzhan Vong war.
I like how Zahn portrays the partnership between Luke and Mara: Luke values life above everything else--he couldn't kill his father but tried to redeem him. He sees the potential good in everything, and instead of being weakened by his compassion, he's strengthened by it. And it's endearing in a way, that Mara recognizes she's not compassionate at all and yet still can respect Luke's value and appreciation for life.
I do wish that we had gotten a little bit about how these long periods of separation are affecting them. In the beginning, we get a little bit about how they spend so much time apart, and that’s why Luke tagged along for this Karrde business. But Zahn doesn’t really delve into this any further, and I think there would be some degree of tension here—that even three years into their marriage, they’re separated more often than together.
Despite my quibbles about a Good Empire, I liked getting to meet Chak Fel, even if he did muck up the Fel family continuity a bit. (By the end of the NJO series, we have names for all five Fel kids, and Chak is not one of them…) I liked how he was able to acknowledge his limitations—that he’s a starfighter commander, and not particularly useful during ground battles—and hand over command of the stormtroopers to General Drask because it’s the best option for that situation. We met the stormtroopers in Fool's Bargain and they’re decidedly minor characters here, but I liked how well they all work together.
Dean Jinzler is also going through loads of emotional turmoil. His parents gave his older sister to the Jedi, and like we saw in Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, they lost their jobs as a result. Dean has a lot of jealousy and envy and regret wrapped up in his feelings about his family, especially as he did not part with Lorana on good terms. He views visiting Outbound Flight as a way of laying Lorana’s memory to rest. (And for a fake Ambassador, he’s pretty good at the job.)
I find the Chiss interesting—they do not condone pre-emptive strikes, and basically sit back and let their enemies attack first before they respond. That’s how Thrawn got in trouble with his people, and you can understand why! So Formbi undertakes a very Thrawn-esque plan, in that he makes sure the Vagaari here that they’ve found Outbound Flight, and manipulates them into this situation where they would attack the Chiss and make the first move. The Chiss clear out the Vagaari in the end, because bad things are out there (like the Yuuzhan Vong) and the Chiss want to get some cleanup done first.
I felt like the Vagaari’s Geroon disguise was a bit overdone, but that was no doubt intentional so that the reader can pick up on the weird bits in their roleplaying. They’re so silly and naive that the revelation that they’ve been Vagaari all along works very well.
Of the survivors on Outbound Flight, we mainly meet one family who has a Force sensitive little girl. The survivors hate Jedi but we never really learn why beyond “they think the Jedi abandoned them,” so it's dangerous for little Evlyn to use her abilities. I expected that more would happen with Evlyn, but as far as I'm aware she never appears in any other stories.
ISSUES:
My biggest issue with Survivor’s Quest is that so many things are left open-ended or outright unanswered. You have to read Outbound Flight to get answers to most of those questions, so much so that I recommend you read SQ before OF, not the other way around. There’s little resolution here without its prequel. And once you start to think about it, it's sad that Luke and Mara never find out what really happened to Outbound Flight. While the reader gets all the missing pieces in Outbound Flight, Luke and Mara essentially end the novel saying "huh, guess we'll never find out what really happened there." I wish that Luke had gotten the Outbound Flight data cards from Fel, at the very least!
I like the mystery element running through the first third of SQ, although I feel like it also negatively affects the pace here. It's a small one, with almost a "village mystery" air: someone on the ship keeps trying to sabotage the trip, and Luke and Mara must figure out who and why. But Luke and Mara question and re-evaluate everything, and I think it contributes to that slower pace. When Fel’s data cards go missing, they wonder if Fel ever had the cards to begin with? Or if Jinzler stole them so that they couldn’t verify if his sister was onboard? Or if the Geroons took them, or the Chiss? They interrogate situations from all angles, over and over, and it gets a bit repetitive.
As with Tatooine Ghost, it seems like part of this novel's reason for existence is just to incorporate prequel stuff into the post-Return of the Jedi era. So we have Luke now aware that the Jedi did not form attachments and did not marry; we have people talking about the Trade Federation, as though they knew about them all along. But then you're left questioning the use of these prequel references—if they truly knew about the Trade Federation, wouldn’t they have referenced droidekas before now? The references only go up through Attack of the Clones, because this came out over a year before Revenge of the Sith, but it is nice to see a little bit of prequel integration into Luke and Leia's timespan.
I also felt like the ending of Luke and Mara’s adventure was a bit lacking here. They have to jet off to try to overtake the Dreadnaught before it reaches the Chiss command center, so they don't get to talk to Formbi and Feesa; Fel, the stormtroopers, and General Drask are likewise off somewhere, so they only talk to Jinzler and Evlyn’s family before leaving. There's that whole fight on the Dreadnaught, and they defeat Estosh and his forces…Then we hear in passing that the Chiss wiped out all the Vagaari at their rendezvous point, and we don't even see that. In the last chapter, Luke and Mara speak with Jinzler, who tells them that the survivors will be settled somewhere in the Unknown Regions, and he’s staying with them. But we never see Fel and the stormtroopers again (is his arm OK? He got bit by a wolvkill!) or hear anymore from Formbi, and I would have liked to have a more meaty ending.
IN CONCLUSION:
Survivor's Quest ends with almost as many questions as answers: what actually happened to Outbound Flight? Why do the survivors hate Jedi? Why was there a lightsaber and a charric on the flight deck of D-1? How is Jorj Car'das involved? Who were the "Visitors" Feesa referred to? You must read Outbound Flight to find out all those answers, and I wish that SQ had contained a little more resolution of its own. Still, I appreciate the lower stakes compared to the sturm und drang of the NJO era, and it’s nice to spend time with Luke and Mara after their marriage.
Next up: the second adult novel in the Clone Wars multimedia project, The Cestus Deception by Steven Barnes
My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/r4vpynpbfKc
Timothy Zahn: Survivor’s Questions and Answers (February 2004): https://web.archive.org/web/200502050...
For 2022, I decided to go back in time and reread all the Prequels Era novels published between 1999 and 2005, plus a smidgen of other novels (like Survivor's Quest and the Dark Nest trilogy) released during that time frame. This shakes out to 21 novels, four eBook novellas, and at least thirteen short stories.
This week’s focus: a Luke/Mara story set prior to Vector Prime, about the discovery of the remains of Outbound Flight: Survivor's Quest by Timothy Zahn
SOME HISTORY:
Before this novel, “Outbound Flight” was something referenced in Zahn’s Star Wars books, but never hashed out in much detail. We knew that a group of Jedi, led by Jorus C’Baoth, tried to find a way out of the galaxy; we also knew that Thrawn, at the prompting of Palpatine, destroyed the Outbound Flight Project. Lucasfilm and Del Rey had originally intended Survivor’s Quest to just be a Luke/Mara parallel to Tatooine Ghost, Troy Denning’s Han/Leia story from 2003. However, Zahn came up with the idea of having Survivor’s Quest provide the closure for its prequel, Outbound Flight, which was originally scheduled to be published before Attack of the Clones in 2002 but was instead delayed until January 2006. Survivor’s Quest by Timothy Zahn made it to number nine on the New York Times bestseller list for the week of February 22, 2004, and was on the NYT list for two weeks.
MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:
Like Tatooine Ghost, I own Survivor’s Quest in hardcover and have read it multiple times—although according to Goodreads, the last time I reread it was 2011. I remembered the mystery plot on the Chaf Envoy, but not much of the scenes on Outbound Flight.
A BRIEF SUMMARY:
After fifty years, the remains of Outbound Flight—a pioneering Jedi expedition destroyed by Grand Admiral Thrawn—have been found in the Unknown Regions. The Chiss wish to turn the remnants of the mission over to the New Republic’s representatives, Luke Skywalker and his wife Mara Jade. But the Skywalkers will not make this journey alone. Joining them are an officer of the Thrawn’s post-Palpatine Empire, escorted by a detachment of stormtroopers; a gentle alien species that reveres the Jedi for saving them from bloodthirsty conquerors; the Chiss, of course; and a New Republic ambassador who harbors his own mysterious agenda. Soon suspicion and an unknown saboteur run rampant aboard the ship. But it is within the derelict walls of Outbound Flight itself where the gravest danger lies…
THE PLOT:
As with Tatooine Ghost, Survivor's Quest is not a sweeping space opera like a lot of the Star Wars novels. It's much more tightly focused on a smaller cast of characters, which I appreciate— I like the epic galaxy-wide dramas, but I also like when stories are much smaller scale.
We open with Mara Jade on an unnamed planet in the Outer Rim. Which I found a little odd…This is Star Wars; most people like to peruse the galaxy map, yet Zahn doesn’t even give us its name? She's been married to Luke for three years, yet she's still trying to disentangle herself from Karrde’s organization. She's here to let some smugglers know that Karrde no longer needs their services, and she has to face off against an antiquated droideka. (Put a pin in that, for giant foreshadowing.) Luke shows up because apparently he is also accompanying her on this business trip, when they receive an urgent message from Karrde. They find out that Admiral Parck from Nirauan sent them a message, but one of Karrde’s employees named Dean Jinzler has absconded with it. They head to Nirauan and learn from Parck that the Chiss have discovered the remains of Outbound Flight and have requested the presence of Jedi.
They make it to the Chiss ship in time to meet Aristocra Formbi, a member of one of the Chiss Nine Ruling Families. He’s got a very small staff on board as well as a number of military officers; and then we've got the representatives from the Empire of the Hand; Dean Jinzler, Karrde’s wayward employee masquerading as the New Republic Ambassador; and the Geroons, a group of peaceful nomadic (rather silly) aliens who want to pay tribute to the Jedi for saving them from the evil Vagaari. They set out, and the mystery plot unfolds: someone is doing things on the ship ( a fire, theft, one of the Geroons is shot, line creepers end up in the hyperdrive, someone plants a tracker onboard).
They finally make it to Outbound Flight, and as the title would suggest there are survivors. But they hate the Jedi, and everyone is broken up into little groups. Some of them are talking with the survivors, some of them wander around and uncover things, and then the big twist occurs: the Geroons are actually the Vagaari in disguise, and they want to kill everyone and steal one of the Dreadnaughts. They fight the Vagaari, Luke and Mara chase down the Vagaari in the stolen Dreadnaught, they fight so more—there is a fully functioning droideka, so check off that foreshadowing from the beginning—they defeat the Vagaari and there is a very hasty resolution.
THE CHARACTERS:
Luke goes on this trip, because he very much hopes that Outbound Flight will contain more information about the old Jedi Order. He feels inadequate at times, being the Jedi Master of this new Jedi Order when he’s missing so much information about the old Order, and this is where some of the new prequel information fits in place. In the 90s era Star Wars books, no one had any idea about this Jedi code against attachments. But now Luke is married, yet knows that the old Jedi wouldn’t have approved of it. He’s a little unsure whether that was the right decision—he's not gonna change his mind, but he’s struggling to figure out whether it’s OK that his order is different from the old one. Other than that, his character arc takes a backseat to Mara here, and he spends more time supporting her.
If Tatooine Ghost was mainly about Leia coming to terms with her family’s past, Survivor’s Quest is about Mara working through her history with the Empire. Three years after Vision of the Future, Mara’s still disengaging/handing things over in Karrde’s organization, and as her involvement there ends, she starts to question what role she wants to play in the New Republic. Meeting Chak Fel and the Empire of the Hand stormtroopers leads to her questioning aspects of her past, because she has a lot of nostalgia for the Empire as it was.
I’m not so keen on Zahn’s retconning of her past here, similar to what he did in the Hand of Thrawn duology. When we met her in the Thrawn trilogy, she was a bitter, sarcastic, troubled woman, and we learned that she was the Emperor's Hand—basically his personal operative. But then we learned in Vision of the Future that she was very naive and idealistic, she thought she was doing good but she was used by the Emperor, and that she didn't fall to the Dark Side because she was serving her Master. But she's still serving evil! She might have thought she was doing the good thing, but what she was doing was bad, and I think it removes some of the responsibility for her actions from Mara when you frame it like that.
When Mara gets to the end, she decides that she is fine with being a part of the New Republic. There are things she would very much like to fix, but her feelings for the Empire were more nostalgia for the things she missed and not the reality for everyone who lived under it.
SIDE TANGENT - THE EMPIRE OF THE HAND (AGAIN):
I have problems with the Empire of the Hand being the Good Empire, which I talked about in my review of Fool's Bargain. Supposedly it's the Empire without any of Palpatine's bad bits. I think my issue here comes down to the name and the iconography. Fel says that they still use stormtroopers because people recognize and fear stormtroopers. I guess they use the name because they’re The Empire Version Two?
But they don't have an emperor, and seem to be ruled by the military. I believe that is a stratocracy, or a government ruled by military chiefs. They don't seem particularly imperialistic, in that they're not forcibly taking over worlds but instead want people to join them freely. So I have to wonder why call yourself The Empire if you're not an empire? If you want to be all these good things, maybe choose a new name for yourself? (I know it’s not as easy as that, but it would be a start!) Why not come up with your own elite fighters, not something that has all that history and weight of the atrocities that were done by the people wearing that armor behind it?
BACK TO THE CHARACTERS:
We also see Luke and Mara working together as a couple. If the Hand of Thrawn duology was all about L&M realizing what a great team they made—mostly professionally, only very briefly romantically—then Survivor’s Quest is the next step of their relationship. They both have duties and responsibilities to perform, and a few years into their marriage, they're still trying to figure out how to balance those. Their interactions together are fun, and it's nice to see them doing a little low-key investigating before the Yuuzhan Vong war.
I like how Zahn portrays the partnership between Luke and Mara: Luke values life above everything else--he couldn't kill his father but tried to redeem him. He sees the potential good in everything, and instead of being weakened by his compassion, he's strengthened by it. And it's endearing in a way, that Mara recognizes she's not compassionate at all and yet still can respect Luke's value and appreciation for life.
I do wish that we had gotten a little bit about how these long periods of separation are affecting them. In the beginning, we get a little bit about how they spend so much time apart, and that’s why Luke tagged along for this Karrde business. But Zahn doesn’t really delve into this any further, and I think there would be some degree of tension here—that even three years into their marriage, they’re separated more often than together.
Despite my quibbles about a Good Empire, I liked getting to meet Chak Fel, even if he did muck up the Fel family continuity a bit. (By the end of the NJO series, we have names for all five Fel kids, and Chak is not one of them…) I liked how he was able to acknowledge his limitations—that he’s a starfighter commander, and not particularly useful during ground battles—and hand over command of the stormtroopers to General Drask because it’s the best option for that situation. We met the stormtroopers in Fool's Bargain and they’re decidedly minor characters here, but I liked how well they all work together.
Dean Jinzler is also going through loads of emotional turmoil. His parents gave his older sister to the Jedi, and like we saw in Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, they lost their jobs as a result. Dean has a lot of jealousy and envy and regret wrapped up in his feelings about his family, especially as he did not part with Lorana on good terms. He views visiting Outbound Flight as a way of laying Lorana’s memory to rest. (And for a fake Ambassador, he’s pretty good at the job.)
I find the Chiss interesting—they do not condone pre-emptive strikes, and basically sit back and let their enemies attack first before they respond. That’s how Thrawn got in trouble with his people, and you can understand why! So Formbi undertakes a very Thrawn-esque plan, in that he makes sure the Vagaari here that they’ve found Outbound Flight, and manipulates them into this situation where they would attack the Chiss and make the first move. The Chiss clear out the Vagaari in the end, because bad things are out there (like the Yuuzhan Vong) and the Chiss want to get some cleanup done first.
I felt like the Vagaari’s Geroon disguise was a bit overdone, but that was no doubt intentional so that the reader can pick up on the weird bits in their roleplaying. They’re so silly and naive that the revelation that they’ve been Vagaari all along works very well.
Of the survivors on Outbound Flight, we mainly meet one family who has a Force sensitive little girl. The survivors hate Jedi but we never really learn why beyond “they think the Jedi abandoned them,” so it's dangerous for little Evlyn to use her abilities. I expected that more would happen with Evlyn, but as far as I'm aware she never appears in any other stories.
ISSUES:
My biggest issue with Survivor’s Quest is that so many things are left open-ended or outright unanswered. You have to read Outbound Flight to get answers to most of those questions, so much so that I recommend you read SQ before OF, not the other way around. There’s little resolution here without its prequel. And once you start to think about it, it's sad that Luke and Mara never find out what really happened to Outbound Flight. While the reader gets all the missing pieces in Outbound Flight, Luke and Mara essentially end the novel saying "huh, guess we'll never find out what really happened there." I wish that Luke had gotten the Outbound Flight data cards from Fel, at the very least!
I like the mystery element running through the first third of SQ, although I feel like it also negatively affects the pace here. It's a small one, with almost a "village mystery" air: someone on the ship keeps trying to sabotage the trip, and Luke and Mara must figure out who and why. But Luke and Mara question and re-evaluate everything, and I think it contributes to that slower pace. When Fel’s data cards go missing, they wonder if Fel ever had the cards to begin with? Or if Jinzler stole them so that they couldn’t verify if his sister was onboard? Or if the Geroons took them, or the Chiss? They interrogate situations from all angles, over and over, and it gets a bit repetitive.
As with Tatooine Ghost, it seems like part of this novel's reason for existence is just to incorporate prequel stuff into the post-Return of the Jedi era. So we have Luke now aware that the Jedi did not form attachments and did not marry; we have people talking about the Trade Federation, as though they knew about them all along. But then you're left questioning the use of these prequel references—if they truly knew about the Trade Federation, wouldn’t they have referenced droidekas before now? The references only go up through Attack of the Clones, because this came out over a year before Revenge of the Sith, but it is nice to see a little bit of prequel integration into Luke and Leia's timespan.
I also felt like the ending of Luke and Mara’s adventure was a bit lacking here. They have to jet off to try to overtake the Dreadnaught before it reaches the Chiss command center, so they don't get to talk to Formbi and Feesa; Fel, the stormtroopers, and General Drask are likewise off somewhere, so they only talk to Jinzler and Evlyn’s family before leaving. There's that whole fight on the Dreadnaught, and they defeat Estosh and his forces…Then we hear in passing that the Chiss wiped out all the Vagaari at their rendezvous point, and we don't even see that. In the last chapter, Luke and Mara speak with Jinzler, who tells them that the survivors will be settled somewhere in the Unknown Regions, and he’s staying with them. But we never see Fel and the stormtroopers again (is his arm OK? He got bit by a wolvkill!) or hear anymore from Formbi, and I would have liked to have a more meaty ending.
IN CONCLUSION:
Survivor's Quest ends with almost as many questions as answers: what actually happened to Outbound Flight? Why do the survivors hate Jedi? Why was there a lightsaber and a charric on the flight deck of D-1? How is Jorj Car'das involved? Who were the "Visitors" Feesa referred to? You must read Outbound Flight to find out all those answers, and I wish that SQ had contained a little more resolution of its own. Still, I appreciate the lower stakes compared to the sturm und drang of the NJO era, and it’s nice to spend time with Luke and Mara after their marriage.
Next up: the second adult novel in the Clone Wars multimedia project, The Cestus Deception by Steven Barnes
My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/r4vpynpbfKc
Timothy Zahn: Survivor’s Questions and Answers (February 2004): https://web.archive.org/web/200502050...
August 6, 2008
"Survivor's Quest" is a great book, though not for everyone. Anyone who dislikes sci-fi will not like this. Why? It's all sci-fi, all the time. This book doesn't even offer a hint of anything else. Luke and Mara are husband and wife, off to rid the galaxy of evil. They must find out who are the traitors, and who stole their datapad. And they must help the Chiss Ascendancy with Outbound Flight, which departed around the time of the Clone Wars. A wonderful book, and well-written!
August 10, 2025
This was another really good Zahn entry; it tells an interesting tale that served as a follow up to the Outbound Flight novel. There is plenty of action, twists, turns, and conclusions for many characters in this books (and others created by Zahn). Definitely a must read!
August 25, 2016
Perhaps not a four on an absolute scale, but certainly that compared to many other SW books. Zahn comfortably weaves together threads from many of his previous books with enough old SW lore to keep the (SW) universe together.
July 13, 2011
Zahn is amazing! And I love all his books that relate to Thrawn and Outbound Flight, especially. In this novel, they examine the wreck and find much they never expected...
February 25, 2011
Timothy Zahn knows the Star Wars universe as well as any one one Earth (except for maybe George Lucas).
First, he accurately characterizes Luke; a more mature but the same person from the movies, and Mara Jade who is Luke's perfect foil. His calmness alongside her fiery disposition makes them the perfect team.
Secondly, he gives us (finally) a book worth calling a novel without all of the little side stories that sometimes haunt other Star Wars literature. This one is all about Luke and Mara Jade, and that is fine. You won't find Lando Calrissian here on some wacky adventure while the main story line plays out. Yay!!
Finally, Zahn neatly ties up the Thrawn books with a burgeoning truce between the Chiss Ascendancy and the Republic.
A very good mystery and a must read for Star Wars fans.
First, he accurately characterizes Luke; a more mature but the same person from the movies, and Mara Jade who is Luke's perfect foil. His calmness alongside her fiery disposition makes them the perfect team.
Secondly, he gives us (finally) a book worth calling a novel without all of the little side stories that sometimes haunt other Star Wars literature. This one is all about Luke and Mara Jade, and that is fine. You won't find Lando Calrissian here on some wacky adventure while the main story line plays out. Yay!!
Finally, Zahn neatly ties up the Thrawn books with a burgeoning truce between the Chiss Ascendancy and the Republic.
A very good mystery and a must read for Star Wars fans.
September 29, 2010
Great story, loved limiting the story to just one Mara and Luke. Chiss, plus the following of Outbound flight. Great story all the way to the end.
August 6, 2016
I had to reread Survivor's Quest after reading Outbound Flight, and I'm very pleased at the consistencies in detail between the two. Reading the latter gave a lot more depth to the story behind the former. I've always enjoyed Zahn's work in the Star Wars universe (I'm partial because the Thrawn trilogy was my first EU experience), and this wouldn't be a work of Zahn if it didn't include the Chiss. It's also always nice to see elements of different time periods weaved into the story line (I particularly enjoyed Luke and Mara's struggle with the droideka, which certainly still lives/operates up to its name). Overall, I found Survivor's Quest a nice transition to the New Jedi Order series that benefits from the more recent Outbound Flight novel.
December 29, 2023
Survivor’s Quest is the first Zahn book I have read that’s a standalone and not part of a duo or trilogy, so going into it I wasn't quite sure what to expect. But it's safe to say I was pleasantly surprised. Well not really surprised, it's a Zahn book and everyone knows he is one of the most, if not THE most well regarded Star Wars author.
This is not your typical Star Wars book with big space battles and loads of combat, but more a kind of a bit of a mystery novel for the most part, with Luke and Mara playing the role as detectives. And I found it very enjoyable, a suspenseful page turner as I really wanted to know what was going on and was gonna happen next. What really happened to Outbound Flight all those years ago? Who is the current enemy?
Seeing as this is the final book of the New Republic timeline before heading into the New Jedi Order, and my plan was to read Vector Prime next, but thanks to this book I now have the urge to take a little timeline detour and go read Outbound Flight first instead. Thank you Zahn.
I give this book a strong 4.
Also I don't usually comment on book covers and such but the new essential legends version of this book is not good. Luke looks high as shit on spice and Mara looks a bit off, I prefer her looks from the original legends covers.
This is not your typical Star Wars book with big space battles and loads of combat, but more a kind of a bit of a mystery novel for the most part, with Luke and Mara playing the role as detectives. And I found it very enjoyable, a suspenseful page turner as I really wanted to know what was going on and was gonna happen next. What really happened to Outbound Flight all those years ago? Who is the current enemy?
Seeing as this is the final book of the New Republic timeline before heading into the New Jedi Order, and my plan was to read Vector Prime next, but thanks to this book I now have the urge to take a little timeline detour and go read Outbound Flight first instead. Thank you Zahn.
I give this book a strong 4.
Also I don't usually comment on book covers and such but the new essential legends version of this book is not good. Luke looks high as shit on spice and Mara looks a bit off, I prefer her looks from the original legends covers.
December 30, 2025
Only Timothy Zahn could manage to make a book about journeying into the unknown regions to discover the fate of a lost Jedi exploration expedition this long winded and dull. It started off promising and had a really good opening scene, but after an intriguing set up I could find very little to get into in this book. And this comes shortly after reading and enjoying most of the oft-maligned Calista trilogy. If this book had been edited down to about half the length that it is I might’ve been able to forgive a lot, but it reeaaaaaally drags on and on.
May 31, 2024
Good story, especially when you read outbound flight and the ascendancy trilogy with all the tie ins and lore expansion. The ending drags on far too long though.
July 26, 2016
3.5 Stars. An entertaining book that, while amazing in parts, just had too many dull parts that dragged on in places and in the end, didn't quite satisfy.
Firstly, this book took a LONG time to get started and I found myself being very frustrated for the first 140 or so pages at the dialogue between Luke and Mara. Every time something happens for one page, they then sit around and discuss it for three. Then another strange thing happens, then they sit around discussing it for 4. It's quite tiresome.
About 140 pages in, the story kicks into gear and this is where it becomes a 5 star book, the middle third. Once aboard Outbound Flight, things get really interesting. Mysterious characters, mysterious rooms, enemies reveal themselves. It's simply perfect. I love this part. It actually makes the slow start completely forgivable. It was lots of talking and setup for this amazing pay-off because it does get really good.
And then, very quickly, a little after the enemy is revealed, for the last 100 or so pages, it slows to a grinding halt again. The danger basically disappears as its made clear to the reader that the enemy is actually extremely weak and no match for Luke and Mara. So the last section of the book is Luke and Mara battling henchman, easily winning, and then spending pages talking about it again. Then battling another henchman, talking through a plan for another 5 pages, then easily beating them too. It was 100 pages of talking and easy fights right up until the last battle, which involved talking and a way too easy fight.
But the most disappointing thing is that you never discover why the crew of Outbound Flight were so fearful of Jedi. And while I'm aware that this will be clearly explained for the reader when they read the sequel, (Outbound Flight, which is written as a prequel to fill in the missing pieces) it felt very unsatisfactory that the characters didn't get that explanation and that left the ending feeling a little hollow and I think that was a huge mistake. Readers know they'll find the answers, but we read to see the characters find them. It's a real shame this was brushed aside and forgotten. Overall, it left finishing this story, quite unsatisfying when looking at this book as a single work.
Survivors Quest overall is a good book. It's exciting and good fun with some nice mystery thrown into the mix, and the slow start is fine, as the middle becomes amazing! But it is really let down by the last hundred pages which sees the threat, danger and excitement instantly drop to zero and just drag and drag to the finish. Would have made a great movie but as a book, it's stretched out beyond its limit and doesn't resolve all the story threads satisfactorily. 3.5
Firstly, this book took a LONG time to get started and I found myself being very frustrated for the first 140 or so pages at the dialogue between Luke and Mara. Every time something happens for one page, they then sit around and discuss it for three. Then another strange thing happens, then they sit around discussing it for 4. It's quite tiresome.
About 140 pages in, the story kicks into gear and this is where it becomes a 5 star book, the middle third. Once aboard Outbound Flight, things get really interesting. Mysterious characters, mysterious rooms, enemies reveal themselves. It's simply perfect. I love this part. It actually makes the slow start completely forgivable. It was lots of talking and setup for this amazing pay-off because it does get really good.
And then, very quickly, a little after the enemy is revealed, for the last 100 or so pages, it slows to a grinding halt again. The danger basically disappears as its made clear to the reader that the enemy is actually extremely weak and no match for Luke and Mara. So the last section of the book is Luke and Mara battling henchman, easily winning, and then spending pages talking about it again. Then battling another henchman, talking through a plan for another 5 pages, then easily beating them too. It was 100 pages of talking and easy fights right up until the last battle, which involved talking and a way too easy fight.
But the most disappointing thing is that you never discover why the crew of Outbound Flight were so fearful of Jedi. And while I'm aware that this will be clearly explained for the reader when they read the sequel, (Outbound Flight, which is written as a prequel to fill in the missing pieces) it felt very unsatisfactory that the characters didn't get that explanation and that left the ending feeling a little hollow and I think that was a huge mistake. Readers know they'll find the answers, but we read to see the characters find them. It's a real shame this was brushed aside and forgotten. Overall, it left finishing this story, quite unsatisfying when looking at this book as a single work.
Survivors Quest overall is a good book. It's exciting and good fun with some nice mystery thrown into the mix, and the slow start is fine, as the middle becomes amazing! But it is really let down by the last hundred pages which sees the threat, danger and excitement instantly drop to zero and just drag and drag to the finish. Would have made a great movie but as a book, it's stretched out beyond its limit and doesn't resolve all the story threads satisfactorily. 3.5
February 19, 2015
Surivivor's Quest, by Timothy Zahn, is part of the former Expanded Universe of Star Wars stories, now rendered as the alternate continuity by the Lucasfilm/Disney story folks. Written by Zahn, it is, of course, high quality.
It is also a tad unique in that it is much more action-packed than the other books. Yes, there is the "realism" of other Zahn titles, combined with the aspect of trying to figure out a mystery, but the main action takes up about a third of the book in a series of battles.
The basic story is that Jedi Masters Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker (Luke's wife) are summoned by the Chiss, via the Empire of the Hand. The Chiss Ascendancy, the people of Grand Admiral Thrawn, have discovered the remains of the Outbound Flight (which readers know from earlier books that Thrawn destroyed), and wish to hand them over to the Republic and the Jedi.
On the way, they meet aliens who wish to thank the Jedi of Outbound Flight for what they did saving their people from the slavers the Vagaari. But all is not as it seems, and if Luke, Mara, and others, including a man posing as an ambassador for personal reasons and Baron Fel's son leading a squad of the 501st Stormtroopers from the Empire of the Hand, can not figure out the truth, many lives will be lost.
The favorite part for me was seeing both the Chiss, who are awesome, and Luke and Mara's marriage. The Chiss are fascinating, and to see ones that are not anti-villains, but more heroic, was really cool. I loved also the closeness that Luke and Mara had. Seeing their marriage was nice because you see they love each other. I so hope they have Mara adapted into the main universe in Episode 7. I'd love to see her as Luke's wife there too. :D
Another part of the book I liked I can't describe well, as I'd give away major spoilers. Let's just say that Zahn gives us an emotionally and intellectually satisfying tale and leave it there.
Only thing I disliked was wincing at how Thrawn was given an in-universe historical hero upgrade among the characters. He wasn't as evil as other villains, but was still a bad guy.
All in all though, a great book that I Highly Recommend.
It is also a tad unique in that it is much more action-packed than the other books. Yes, there is the "realism" of other Zahn titles, combined with the aspect of trying to figure out a mystery, but the main action takes up about a third of the book in a series of battles.
The basic story is that Jedi Masters Luke and Mara Jade Skywalker (Luke's wife) are summoned by the Chiss, via the Empire of the Hand. The Chiss Ascendancy, the people of Grand Admiral Thrawn, have discovered the remains of the Outbound Flight (which readers know from earlier books that Thrawn destroyed), and wish to hand them over to the Republic and the Jedi.
On the way, they meet aliens who wish to thank the Jedi of Outbound Flight for what they did saving their people from the slavers the Vagaari. But all is not as it seems, and if Luke, Mara, and others, including a man posing as an ambassador for personal reasons and Baron Fel's son leading a squad of the 501st Stormtroopers from the Empire of the Hand, can not figure out the truth, many lives will be lost.
The favorite part for me was seeing both the Chiss, who are awesome, and Luke and Mara's marriage. The Chiss are fascinating, and to see ones that are not anti-villains, but more heroic, was really cool. I loved also the closeness that Luke and Mara had. Seeing their marriage was nice because you see they love each other. I so hope they have Mara adapted into the main universe in Episode 7. I'd love to see her as Luke's wife there too. :D
Another part of the book I liked I can't describe well, as I'd give away major spoilers. Let's just say that Zahn gives us an emotionally and intellectually satisfying tale and leave it there.
Only thing I disliked was wincing at how Thrawn was given an in-universe historical hero upgrade among the characters. He wasn't as evil as other villains, but was still a bad guy.
All in all though, a great book that I Highly Recommend.
May 3, 2011
Zahn is always a great writer, but some of his characters and plots don't always live up to expectations. I have never found that to be the case when he is writing in the Star Wars universe. He takes characters old and new and breathes life into them. Here he focuses more on Mara Jade than in past stories, but nonetheless gives us the perspective of a number of characters including Luke and several members of the new imperial 501st (Empire of the Hand). The mystery and suspense is wonderful, even more so given the backdrop of Outbound Flight. If you've read Outbound Flight, you know what happened, but you still don't know what to expect. The connections between that story and this one are numerous, but they never feel forced. For instance, Luke and Mara never actually find out what exactly happened on outbound flight, nor why a Skysprite (which delivered Obi-wan and Anakin to the ship) was on board. So some beats are sort of left hanging for you to consider for yourself. The action is also quite enjoyable, with quick thinking and tactics from multiple perspectives and with various skills, from Jedi to Storm Troopers to Chiss soldiers, and on. I only hope that Zahn will continue returning to Star Wars, as he always seems to have something to add to its universe, characters, and to perspectives on the force and Jedi ways.
June 2, 2014
This book was a little different from Zahn's other Star Wars books I've read because it's a single novel and not part of a trilogy or duology. Don't get me wrong, it was a very good book but I feel like Zahn is better at writing books with more intricate plots which require either a very long book or more than one.
This is book written by Zahn that I've read that was written after the prequels came out. So it was little different because he brought in some things from that.
One thing I have to say is that I felt like Mara knew too much compared to Luke. I know she was the Emporor's Hand and all, but I felt like Luke knew practically nothing of technology from the Old Republic compared to her. I love Mara, but that was one thing I didn't particularly care for.
Overall though, it was a very good book.
This is book written by Zahn that I've read that was written after the prequels came out. So it was little different because he brought in some things from that.
One thing I have to say is that I felt like Mara knew too much compared to Luke. I know she was the Emporor's Hand and all, but I felt like Luke knew practically nothing of technology from the Old Republic compared to her. I love Mara, but that was one thing I didn't particularly care for.
Overall though, it was a very good book.
September 10, 2018
The good: Any Zahn book that I have read is categorized by a many-layered plot. A plot that includes numerous factions, each one with an intricate plan for power. It’s a satisfying experience to step into the minds of these characters. Luke and Mara share the task of deducing the power play in this book. Each has strengths that create a good balance in the relationship. Survivor’s Quest is very good read, especially if you enjoy Zahn’s work and you are pretty well versed in the ‘legend’ history.
Full review: https://paulspicks.blog/2018/09/09/su...
All my reviews: https://paulspicks.blog
Full review: https://paulspicks.blog/2018/09/09/su...
All my reviews: https://paulspicks.blog
June 12, 2008
This was a rarity, a mystery within the Star Wars genre. There were some really clever plot twists that made the book even more enjoyable. Of course, one needs to read Outbound Flight to appreciate the complexities of this book.
July 11, 2009
Kevin says he knows I have read this, but I don't remember much. I assume I really liked it, especially since Luke and Mara are finally married :). I need to reread it to give a more competent review, but know that I am always happy with Zahn's writing.
June 11, 2016
Another great one from Timothy Zahn, its interesting to see what life is like for luke and the rest of the characters of star wars after return of the jedi, will find more if i can to continue with this author
March 9, 2018
I didn’t like the first half but I really liked the 2nd half of this Star Wars story. This would make more sense to put in the new Star Wars stories. They want strong women in positions of power and Mars Jade Skywalker is exactly that.
February 26, 2008
wonderful.
March 5, 2009
This one-off tale from Zahn provides a fun journey that relates back to times before the Empire.
February 26, 2018
I would get it a 4.5 if could. Zahn is one of the best Star Wars writers and this follows up after his Thrawn trilogy. It deals with the "Outbound Flight" legend which has been found after 50 years. Luke and Mara Skywalker are the main characters. Here are spoilers about Mara; http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Mara_J....
This is not the book to start out with here. The website above is a fount of information. I ran into her in Heir to the Empire. Read the Thrawn trilogy first.
Here is a partial list of books she is in:
First Contact"—Star Wars Adventure Journal 1
Heir to the Empire (First appearance)
Dark Force Rising
The Last Command
SWAJsmall "Retreat from Coruscant"—Star Wars Adventure Journal 7
Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith
Jedi Search (Mentioned only)
Dark Apprentice
Champions of the Force
I, Jedi
Children of the Jedi
Darksaber
Planet of Twilight (Mentioned only)
Before the Storm (Mentioned only)
The New Rebellion
Jade Solitaire
Ambush at Corellia
Assault at Selonia
Showdown at Centerpoint
Specter of the Past
Vision of the Future
Star Wars: Union
Judge's Call
Survivor's Quest
SWGsmall "The Crystal"—Star Wars Gamer 5
The New Jedi Order: Vector Prime
Star Wars: Chewbacca (Mentioned only)
Invasion 0: Refugees, Prologue (Mentioned only)
Invasion: Refugees 4
The New Jedi Order: Dark Tide I: Onslaught
The New Jedi Order: Dark Tide II: Ruin
The New Jedi Order: Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial
The New Jedi Order: Balance Point
The New Jedi Order: Edge of Victory I: Conquest
The New Jedi Order: Recovery
The New Jedi Order: Edge of Victory II: Rebirth
The New Jedi Order: Star by Star
The New Jedi Order: Dark Journey
SWGsmall "The Apprentice"—Star Wars Gamer 8 (Mentioned only)
The New Jedi Order: Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream
The New Jedi Order: Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand
The New Jedi Order: Traitor (Mentioned only)
The New Jedi Order: Destiny's Way
The New Jedi Order: Force Heretic I: Remnant
"Equals & Opposites"—Star Wars Tales 21 (Mentioned only)
The New Jedi Order: Force Heretic II: Refugee
The New Jedi Order: Force Heretic III: Reunion
The New Jedi Order: The Final Prophecy
The New Jedi Order: The Unifying Force
Dark Nest I: The Joiner King
Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen
Dark Nest III: The Swarm War
Legacy of the Force: Betrayal
Legacy of the Force: Bloodlines
Legacy of the Force: Tempest
Legacy of the Force: Exile
Legacy of the Force: Sacrifice
Legacy of the Force: Inferno (Appears as a corpse)
Legacy of the Force: Fury (Mentioned only)
Legacy of the Force: Revelation (Appears as a ghost or a spirit)
Legacy of the Force: Invincible (Mentioned only)
Crosscurrent (Vision to Jaden Korr)
Riptide (Mentioned only)
Fate of the Jedi: Outcast (Mentioned only)
Fate of the Jedi: Omen (Mentioned only)
Fate of the Jedi: Abyss (Appears as a ghost or a spirit)
Fate of the Jedi: Backlash (Mentioned only)
Fate of the Jedi: Allies (Appears as a ghost or a spirit)
Fate of the Jedi: Vortex (Mentioned only)
Fate of the Jedi: Conviction (Mentioned only)
Fate of the Jedi: Ascension (Mentioned only)
Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse (Appears as a ghost or a spirit)
Legacy 11: Ghosts, Part 1 (Appears as a hallucination)
This is not the book to start out with here. The website above is a fount of information. I ran into her in Heir to the Empire. Read the Thrawn trilogy first.
Here is a partial list of books she is in:
First Contact"—Star Wars Adventure Journal 1
Heir to the Empire (First appearance)
Dark Force Rising
The Last Command
SWAJsmall "Retreat from Coruscant"—Star Wars Adventure Journal 7
Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith
Jedi Search (Mentioned only)
Dark Apprentice
Champions of the Force
I, Jedi
Children of the Jedi
Darksaber
Planet of Twilight (Mentioned only)
Before the Storm (Mentioned only)
The New Rebellion
Jade Solitaire
Ambush at Corellia
Assault at Selonia
Showdown at Centerpoint
Specter of the Past
Vision of the Future
Star Wars: Union
Judge's Call
Survivor's Quest
SWGsmall "The Crystal"—Star Wars Gamer 5
The New Jedi Order: Vector Prime
Star Wars: Chewbacca (Mentioned only)
Invasion 0: Refugees, Prologue (Mentioned only)
Invasion: Refugees 4
The New Jedi Order: Dark Tide I: Onslaught
The New Jedi Order: Dark Tide II: Ruin
The New Jedi Order: Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial
The New Jedi Order: Balance Point
The New Jedi Order: Edge of Victory I: Conquest
The New Jedi Order: Recovery
The New Jedi Order: Edge of Victory II: Rebirth
The New Jedi Order: Star by Star
The New Jedi Order: Dark Journey
SWGsmall "The Apprentice"—Star Wars Gamer 8 (Mentioned only)
The New Jedi Order: Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream
The New Jedi Order: Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand
The New Jedi Order: Traitor (Mentioned only)
The New Jedi Order: Destiny's Way
The New Jedi Order: Force Heretic I: Remnant
"Equals & Opposites"—Star Wars Tales 21 (Mentioned only)
The New Jedi Order: Force Heretic II: Refugee
The New Jedi Order: Force Heretic III: Reunion
The New Jedi Order: The Final Prophecy
The New Jedi Order: The Unifying Force
Dark Nest I: The Joiner King
Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen
Dark Nest III: The Swarm War
Legacy of the Force: Betrayal
Legacy of the Force: Bloodlines
Legacy of the Force: Tempest
Legacy of the Force: Exile
Legacy of the Force: Sacrifice
Legacy of the Force: Inferno (Appears as a corpse)
Legacy of the Force: Fury (Mentioned only)
Legacy of the Force: Revelation (Appears as a ghost or a spirit)
Legacy of the Force: Invincible (Mentioned only)
Crosscurrent (Vision to Jaden Korr)
Riptide (Mentioned only)
Fate of the Jedi: Outcast (Mentioned only)
Fate of the Jedi: Omen (Mentioned only)
Fate of the Jedi: Abyss (Appears as a ghost or a spirit)
Fate of the Jedi: Backlash (Mentioned only)
Fate of the Jedi: Allies (Appears as a ghost or a spirit)
Fate of the Jedi: Vortex (Mentioned only)
Fate of the Jedi: Conviction (Mentioned only)
Fate of the Jedi: Ascension (Mentioned only)
Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse (Appears as a ghost or a spirit)
Legacy 11: Ghosts, Part 1 (Appears as a hallucination)
December 21, 2025
Survivor's Quest by Timothy Zahn:
Survivor's Quest and Outbound Flight were a fun duology that greatly enhanced my love of the Star Wars Expanded Universe through Timothy Zahn's wonderful storytelling, plot twists, and world-building. There are so many bad Star Wars books out there, which I have done my absolute best to avoid like the plague because I simply don't have the time for subpar writing. That being said, I have still read my fair share of mediocre ones, despite most of them having an interesting and part of a continuous overall story.
I made a minor mistake in reading Outbound Flight first, not knowing until halfway through that the reading order for these two books is done in publication and not chronological order. That being said, I still massively enjoyed these two novels and I found this one in particular to be an excellent cap on this segment of the Star Wars Universe. Survivor's Quest is the last book before the New Jedi Order series, which I don't know if I will ever get around to.
In Survivor's Quest, told some years after Return of the Jedi and fifty years after Outbound Flight, Luke Skywalker and his wife Mara Jade, travel to Chiss Space to survey the remains of the Outbound Flight itself. Not only are they paired with the Chiss themselves, the race that Grand Admiral Thrawn was a part of, they meet representatives from the Empire of the Hand (a newish version of the Empire created by Thrawn), an old ambassador named Jinzler, and representatives of the Geroon race- a group that the Outbound Flight people supposedly freed.
This entire book is suspenseful and shrouded in mystery. You truly have to read both to gain a full understanding of the story. Even though I read them in the wrong order, there were several main plot twists that were fantastic. Zahn also captured Luke and Mara's characters incredibly well. I walked away from these two books with a greater appreciation of Thrawn and the Chiss, the former not being wholly evil and the latter probably becoming an ally of the Republic in the New Jedi Order series. I also love how Baron Fel's son and his stormtroopers now work with the New Republic. It's quite an amazing thing to see.
The only main complaint I have is that the book went on too long at the end. It was far too detailed with the climax.
So this concludes a particular era of Star Wars for me. The whole point in the end was to show that there is an existential threat to the galaxy that is hurtling along to destroy them all. Thrawn knew of it, and that was his entire purpose. Even Palpatine knew about it and was preparing his Empire for it. With that, I'm left with a much broader understanding and appreciation of the EU as a whole. If I ever get to the New Jedi Order series, I will definitely appreciate the build up that got me there.
Survivor's Quest and Outbound Flight were a fun duology that greatly enhanced my love of the Star Wars Expanded Universe through Timothy Zahn's wonderful storytelling, plot twists, and world-building. There are so many bad Star Wars books out there, which I have done my absolute best to avoid like the plague because I simply don't have the time for subpar writing. That being said, I have still read my fair share of mediocre ones, despite most of them having an interesting and part of a continuous overall story.
I made a minor mistake in reading Outbound Flight first, not knowing until halfway through that the reading order for these two books is done in publication and not chronological order. That being said, I still massively enjoyed these two novels and I found this one in particular to be an excellent cap on this segment of the Star Wars Universe. Survivor's Quest is the last book before the New Jedi Order series, which I don't know if I will ever get around to.
In Survivor's Quest, told some years after Return of the Jedi and fifty years after Outbound Flight, Luke Skywalker and his wife Mara Jade, travel to Chiss Space to survey the remains of the Outbound Flight itself. Not only are they paired with the Chiss themselves, the race that Grand Admiral Thrawn was a part of, they meet representatives from the Empire of the Hand (a newish version of the Empire created by Thrawn), an old ambassador named Jinzler, and representatives of the Geroon race- a group that the Outbound Flight people supposedly freed.
This entire book is suspenseful and shrouded in mystery. You truly have to read both to gain a full understanding of the story. Even though I read them in the wrong order, there were several main plot twists that were fantastic. Zahn also captured Luke and Mara's characters incredibly well. I walked away from these two books with a greater appreciation of Thrawn and the Chiss, the former not being wholly evil and the latter probably becoming an ally of the Republic in the New Jedi Order series. I also love how Baron Fel's son and his stormtroopers now work with the New Republic. It's quite an amazing thing to see.
The only main complaint I have is that the book went on too long at the end. It was far too detailed with the climax.
So this concludes a particular era of Star Wars for me. The whole point in the end was to show that there is an existential threat to the galaxy that is hurtling along to destroy them all. Thrawn knew of it, and that was his entire purpose. Even Palpatine knew about it and was preparing his Empire for it. With that, I'm left with a much broader understanding and appreciation of the EU as a whole. If I ever get to the New Jedi Order series, I will definitely appreciate the build up that got me there.
October 9, 2025
A solid 3.5 star read
Always a good time returning to the writing of Timothy Zahn and while this is no Thrawn Ascendancy but a definite improvement over Outbound flight. This one while being connected and a sequel to Outbound flight, i do feel though me being yet to read the hand of thrawn trilogy had me left out of some story details and going on's in the EU galaxy in this time period.
The highlight of this book is easily the characterization of Luke and Mara Skywalker and still their ever evolving relationship as husband and wife but also Jedi grand master and jedi knight. mara also is still dealing with her experience but also trauma of being the emperors hand from the days of the empire, Early in the book we get a cool chapter on Mara & luke talking about how Sidious hid mara from horrors of the empire and so Mara see's the galaxy more in chaos since the fall of the empire.
The investigation and discovery of the final location of outbound flight was a fun read and definitely went in a few directions i wasn't expecting , Having such a big chiss presence in this book was a cool surprise and you can really see where Timothy explored the ideas of the ascendancy family structure and what he brought into the canon trilogy.
Interested to hear more chiss talking and discussion their POV around their beliefs of never attacking enemies first.
If you've read any Thrawn books previously you should know what structure to expect with this
-Slow building plot with twist
-Star wars politics built in the main plot
-fantastic battles with loads of explosions
Always a good time returning to the writing of Timothy Zahn and while this is no Thrawn Ascendancy but a definite improvement over Outbound flight. This one while being connected and a sequel to Outbound flight, i do feel though me being yet to read the hand of thrawn trilogy had me left out of some story details and going on's in the EU galaxy in this time period.
The highlight of this book is easily the characterization of Luke and Mara Skywalker and still their ever evolving relationship as husband and wife but also Jedi grand master and jedi knight. mara also is still dealing with her experience but also trauma of being the emperors hand from the days of the empire, Early in the book we get a cool chapter on Mara & luke talking about how Sidious hid mara from horrors of the empire and so Mara see's the galaxy more in chaos since the fall of the empire.
The investigation and discovery of the final location of outbound flight was a fun read and definitely went in a few directions i wasn't expecting , Having such a big chiss presence in this book was a cool surprise and you can really see where Timothy explored the ideas of the ascendancy family structure and what he brought into the canon trilogy.
Interested to hear more chiss talking and discussion their POV around their beliefs of never attacking enemies first.
If you've read any Thrawn books previously you should know what structure to expect with this
-Slow building plot with twist
-Star wars politics built in the main plot
-fantastic battles with loads of explosions
November 2, 2022
It wasn't bad, but it wasn't exactly great either. It was just kinda mid.
For a lot of it it sort of felt like Among Us but on a Chiss ship and no one actually died and I didn't find it all that interesting. I mean ultimately, I suppose the story itself was an elaborate Among us as .
It sort of felt like a side quest, which is fine, but while it was kinda fun and all that but it wasn't exactly the best.
And while I'm still very neutral on Mara, and very neutral on the Luke/Mara relationship I do like how well they do work together and bounce off each other.
Now I might have gotten this wrong but one thing that I did notice was how Luke contradicted himself within a single page. He says that he has never heard of the Delta-12 Skysprite then on the very next page he states that he doesn't remember Delta's had that long of a range on them. So does he know about them or not?
I don't have much to say about it. It was just mid at best.
For a lot of it it sort of felt like Among Us but on a Chiss ship and no one actually died and I didn't find it all that interesting. I mean ultimately, I suppose the story itself was an elaborate Among us as .
It sort of felt like a side quest, which is fine, but while it was kinda fun and all that but it wasn't exactly the best.
And while I'm still very neutral on Mara, and very neutral on the Luke/Mara relationship I do like how well they do work together and bounce off each other.
Now I might have gotten this wrong but one thing that I did notice was how Luke contradicted himself within a single page. He says that he has never heard of the Delta-12 Skysprite then on the very next page he states that he doesn't remember Delta's had that long of a range on them. So does he know about them or not?
I don't have much to say about it. It was just mid at best.
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