I thought this improved on Specter of the Past slightly, which makes it my favorite Thrawn novel of the now eight I've read so far (Heir to the Empire trilogy, Zahn's 2017 Thrawn trilogy, and this duology). 

Really wish I could listen to a single Star Wars audiobook that doesn't prominently feature an alien species that is painful to listen to. The cave bird creatures in this book were awful and made Luke's storyline a drag on the book as a whole. I tried to factor that out a bit in rating since it wouldn't bother me in a physical copy obviously.