Scott's Rating:   3 out of 4

Hoole, Tash, and Zak arrive on the distant planet Sk'rrr. The planet is inhabited by an insectoid race and one of the highlights of their planet is the Sikadian Garden. In the garden are ravenous beetles that help the garden ecosystem. The quickly reproducing beetles are kept in check by birdlike Skreevs. After Zak accidentally kills one and upsets the balance, the garden quickly becomes infested with the beetles who begin to attack the people there. Unfortunately, the gang is stuck because Zak accidentally fried their ship, the Shroud. When an Imperial dies, Captain Thrawn (before he became a Grand Admiral) investigates the death and ends up being involved in their fight for survival.

Scott:

    This was a fairly good original story. It involved a somewhat interesting race and planet, and it stayed interesting. However, the biggest treat was seeing an early adventure of Thrawn. That is the thing that makes this most interesting to pick up. I'm not sure that Whitman got the character right or used him to his full potential, but I'll take what I can get. There's also a very nice cover by Chorney though he is oddly not credited. The depiction of Thrawn was very well done.

Scott:

    While Thrawn looks great on the cover, he's wearing a Grand Admiral's uniform. In the book, he's a Captain. A bit of an oversight, but forgivable since he looks so darn cool. Other than that, I thought the villain Vroon was dispatched a little early and as I said above, Thrawn wasn't used to his full potential. But overall, a pretty good adventure.

Scott:

    Bugs eating an Imperial officer from the inside out and crawling out of his mouth. Ugh.