Star Wars: Outbound Flight

By: Timothy Zahn

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

Length: 6 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

It began as the ultimate voyage of discovery - only to become the stuff of lost Republic legend...and a dark chapter in Jedi history. Now, at last, acclaimed author Timothy Zahn returns to tell the whole extraordinary story of the remarkable - and doomed - Outbound Flight Project.

The Clone Wars have yet to erupt when Jedi Master Jorus C'baoth petitions the Senate for support of a singularly ambitious undertaking. Six Jedi Masters, 12 Jedi Knights, and 50,000 men, women, and children, will embark - aboard a gargantuan vessel, equipped for years of travel - on a mission to contact intelligent life and colonize undiscovered worlds beyond the known galaxy. The government bureaucracy threatens to scuttle the expedition before it can even start - until Master C’baoth foils a murderous conspiracy plot, winning him the political capital he needs to set in motion the dream of Outbound Flight.

Or so it would seem. For unknown to the famed Jedi Master, successful launch of the mission is secretly being orchestrated by an unlikely ally: the evil Sith Lord Darth Sidious, who has his own reasons for wanting Outbound Flight to move forward...and, ultimately, to fail.

Yet Darth Sidious is not the mission's most dangerous challenge. Once underway, the starship crosses paths at the edge of Unknown Space with the forces of the alien Chiss Ascendancy and the brilliant mastermind best known as “Thrawn”. Even Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi, aboard Outbound Flight with his young Padawan student, Anakin Skywalker, cannot help avert disaster. Thus what begins as a peaceful Jedi mission is violently transformed into an all-out war for survival against staggering odds and the most diabolical of adversaries.

Timothy Zahn's unique mix of espionage, political gamesmanship, and deadly interstellar combat breathes electrifying life into a Star Wars legend.

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©2005 Lucasfilm Ltd. and TM. Random House Audio, a division of Random House Inc. (P)2005 Lucasfilm Ltd. and TM. Random House Audio, a division of Random House Inc.

Critic reviews

"An enthralling page-turner." (Publishers Weekly)

"Davis' range is astounding. He captures numerous well-known voices...with perfection." (AudioFile)

Too many missing parts....

Three stars is generous for this one. Far too many details are left out of this abridged version. I am a definite fan of Zahn's previous SW titles and this one just felt incomplete. Buy the paperback!

Great read

I loved it!!! Only wished it was the unabridged addition bc I feel like there was so much more that was said. Not that I noticed much but as soon as I read other reviews saying that I kept wondering :) going to buy the book and read it now :)

Really Well Done

Great story ... Love Mr. Zahn's writing, but Jonathan Davises narration is really captivating. Great fun!

Mispronunciation of Character Names

In addition to the narrator mispronouncing one of the main characters names, this story isn't as well thought-out as other works by this author. Plus the appearances of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker are totally unnecessary and slow down the story. The ending felt forced.

Good book, great reading

Really fun listen if you’re super into Star Wars lore. Some of it is kind of cheesy, but it goes into Thrawn’s story a lot. Some of the seemingly major characters just disappear halfway through the book and are never mentioned again, and the “twist” had some plot holes. Still, worth a listen. The performance by Jonathan Davis was excellent, and all of his accents and pronunciations were great and really draws you into the story (although he never did decide on a consistent way to say Thrawn’s full chiss name) I highly recommend this story if you’re a big fan of Star Wars lore, though it may be less interesting if you don’t know who Thrawn is.

Hard to stop.

Intriguing backstory of a keystone character. a must read/listen to any fans of the "Legends" universe.

Out bound

I found this story interesting.
But in my opinion it was to short.
I would like a follow up that would tell what happened to that jedi. And what she learned in her isolation.
I listen to this story do to the reference in the Thrawn trilogy with Luke, Leia, and Han.

Abridged versions suck

Abridged versions suck, there's so much missing here. Hoping they get a full version soon.

A good taste of better things to come

loved this audiobook. I almost couldn't stop listening to it. Timothy Zahn does great storytelling, and Jonathan Davis' performance is fantastic. listening to this book after the Thrawn trilogy just makes me appreciate the character that much more.

Abridgment takes too much away.

I was really enjoying the story until the ending chapters, where things fell apart. It is clear too much was cut from the original unabridged story. The ending left me wondering what the story was about.