Does this book require reading other novels first?

This novel serves as the second installment in the canon Imperial trilogy, following the 2017 novel titled Thrawn. While it functions as a direct sequel, it also features a dual-timeline structure that explores a past encounter between characters, making familiarity with the preceding book helpful for understanding the established relationship between the leads.

Is there a visual version of this story available?

A four-issue comic book limited series exists that adapts the events of this novel.

How does this book relate to the author's other works featuring this character?

This title is part of the modern canon trilogy that reintroduces the character to the current continuity, which is distinct from the original trilogy of books written by the same author in the 1990s.

Thrawn: Alliances

Alliances

Fantasy Science Fiction

Pages: 342
Published: 2018
Language: English

Synopsis

Emperor Palpatine senses a disturbance in the Force coming from Batuu, a planet at the edge of the Unknown Regions. The threat is faint and its consequences unclear, but it is enough to send two of his most powerful servants to look into it: Darth Vader and Grand Admiral Thrawn.

The pair are rivals for the Emperor's favor and openly disagree on Imperial matters, the Death Star project among them. They are an unlikely team for a delicate mission. The Emperor knows something they may not want to recall: they have worked together before, and he has reasons for the order that neither man suspects.

The book runs on two timelines. In the earlier one, set during the days of the Galactic Republic, General Anakin Skywalker and Commander Mitth'raw'nuruodo of the Chiss Ascendancy meet for the first time. Anakin is on a desperate personal quest. The Chiss officer's motives are hidden. On a distant world full of danger, they form an uneasy alliance.

In the present, Vader and Thrawn return to that same planet, where they once fought side by side. Two problems wait for them there: a test of their loyalty to the Empire and an enemy that could be strong enough to beat both of them together. This is a Star Wars novel built around strategy, wary partnership and old history between two commanders.