This series was a bit of a letdown, and is the reason I haven't really picked up another Star Wars book. I will try again in the future, though. ( )

When I was 11, I had just finished watching Return of the Jedi. I had a Star Wars fix. I went to a bookstore with my family and picked out a book. I wanted something that would continue the star wars story. Instead I picked up Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy. This books series, Thrawn Trilogy, was the book I was supposed to pick up. Isaac Asimov led me to my lifelong science fiction obsession. 20 years later, I finally read the book I was looking for. This book picks up five years after the Battle of Endor (Return of the Jedi) Zahn keeps true to the characters. It is difficult to interact in a star wars universe when the characters have been fleshed out by actors in a movie. Some of the bad star wars books fail to capture the spirit. This one captures it absolutely. The same adventure is there. I would recommend it for anyone just getting into the star wars books. ( )

Pre09:

Same review for all 3 in the trilogy. The only 'Sanctioned Fan-Fic' worth reading.

Characters: Yes, they are all there. That's why it is good. The Jade chick makes a good compliment for Luke so he isn't snogging his sister. The bad guy is actually bad enough to make up for Vader's absence.
Plot: It's very solid. Star Wars wasn't really about the plot.
Style: Yea, it feels like the movies. A romp through space with fighting and bad odds. It's jolly good. ( )

I was disappointed by this book. I remembered it as one of the best Star Wars Extended Universe novels, and while it was good enough for fanfiction, it reminded me that I don't actually want to read fanfiction in book form. I think I would have done much better with it if I had had it on a screen - I'm much more forgiving of bad writing on a screen. As it was, I just sort of got bored. ( )

I was disappointed by this book. I remembered it as one of the best Star Wars Extended Universe novels, and while it was good enough for fanfiction, it reminded me that I don't actually want to read fanfiction in book form. I think I would have done much better with it if I had had it on a screen - I'm much more forgiving of bad writing on a screen. As it was, I just sort of got bored. ( )

Heir to the Empire is the first book in the Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy. This entire series is a must read for the avid (or even slightly interested) Star Wars book reader. The ever present struggle of good vs. evil is mixed with a lot of emotional self-discovery in our beloved Luke Skywalker. ( )

It is such a shame that Lucas determined that all novels based on his Star Wars franchise were to be non-canonical, as Zahn's trilogy - one of the first Expanded Universe works of fiction - is a well-accomplished sequel to the original film trilogy.

Zahn manages to create believable relationships, in a believable settings, following on from what we already knew from the films. And he also filled a lot of backstory about the Clone Wars, and the rise of the Empire (which Lucas mostly ignored when it came to the scripts of his second trilogy).

Unfortunately, if you have read any of the other books written in the Expanded Universe, you have either read one where the characters are facing an even bigger, more destructive, superweapon than ever before, or one where the characters are extremely one-dimensional, until the fall into the dark side, where they just become rather pitiful.

However, if Zahn is your first Expanded Universe author, then you're in luck. No superweapons, and some good characterisations - such as Luke worrying if he can ever be as good a teacher as Yoda, and Han and Leia's marriage.

Interestingly, the leader of the evil Empire isn't a monstrous dark Jedi, or really outright evil, although he is quite ruthless. He is a person who, having sworn service to an Empire in its strength, is seeking to restore that strength - although he doesn't want to be Emperor himself. That said, he is hard to empathise with, as Zahn does lay on the "ruthless antagonist" a bit.

I would recommend this trilogy to anyone who enjoyed the original movies - and also to anyone interested in space-opera type science fiction. ( )

This is the best Star Wars book I have ever read. The story grabs you from the very start and never lets go, Zhan captures every character perfectly from Luke to Chewbacca. If you only read one Star Wars book make it this one. ( )

http://home.comcast.net/~ktoonen/summ... ( )

Excellent series. These books are so well written that they should be a legal followup to the Star Wars Trilogy. ( )

Fifteen years after its publication, I've finally begun reading this trilogy. I had unavoidably high expectations; after all, what kid my age didn't imagine possible sequels to Return of the Jedi? I can't say this fully lived up to my hopes, but the disappointments are minor. Luke seems overly powerful with his lightsabre, and I'm uncomfortable with believing the Emperor was influencing the effectiveness of the Empire's fleets. There's an unlikely number of quotes from the classic trilogy, but not annoyingly so. The Thrawn character is refreshingly different from Darth Vader, but I find he's significantly less menacing. Among the positives, there's strong continuity with other things I've read and understood. I like the respect for traditions such as a Star Destroyer opening scene and the obligatory "I've got a bad feeling about this". Most importantly, I agree with other reviewers that the key characters do indeed behave and sound 'in character'. I'm looking forward to reading the two sequels, and I may even delve further into other Star Wars novels. ( )

I’ve always been impressed with Zahn’s ability to keep the characters real. So many of the other writers in the expanded universe tend to reduce them all to caricatures, but in Zahn’s hands they feel more like real people. He’s also created some of my favorite characters, Grand Admiral Thrawn, Talon Karrde, and, of course, Mara Jade.

I first read Heir to the Empire when I was 12 and I’m glad to say that I still enjoy it and the other installments in the trilogy as much as I did back then. That probably says more about me than it does about the books, but I’d like to think that it is a strong argument for the quality of Zahn’s work....
http://yodamarie.blogspot.com/2008/01... ( )

If there was ever a candidate for Episodes VII, VIII, and IX in the Star Wars movie franchise, I would vote that they be based on this trilogy. Timothy Zahn really does justice to the original cast we all know and love and introduces a few memorable new faces. The series has a fair balance of intrigue and action, and you'll come to love to hate the cold, calculating ruthlessness of the main bad guy, Grand Admiral Thrawn. If you love Star Wars, I really recommend this series. ( )

This book spawned a seemingly unending avalanche of other post-"Return of the Jedi" stories, which have been pretty uneven, and at times just plain bad. But, don't hold that against Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy. It is surprisingly good and does a great job of blending in the familiar characters with a host of new heroes, villains, and races. Well worth your time if you have even a passing interest in the Star Wars saga. ( )

hmmm... wanted to like it a lot more than I actually did. It got me interested enough to see my way through the trilogy, but it continues the trend of disappointment outside Episodes 4-6. I had high hopes with the line-up of characters, but it was predictable, full of coincidence, and lacked any reverence toward the Force. ( )

As was said earlier, Zahn's trilogy is pretty much the only series in the EU (Expanded Universe) that is really worth reading. If you do venture further, make sure to read his duology--it'll clean up all the mess the other authors make.

A fun and exciting page-turner, with a decent plot and two excellent new characters: Admiral Thrawn and Mara Jade. I'll always have some issues with Zahn's prose (what's wrong with the word "said"?) and some of his scene development and dialogue, but he understands the original movie characters better than most of the other EU authors out there. ( )

Picks up where Episode 6 left off - well kind of.

The empire isn't dead, it's alive and kicking and appears to have found a new leader who is making some inroads into new republic space.

A good follow onto the Star Wars movies we know and love - a good clean baddie, good clean goodies. ( )

fun page turner ( )

Still the best! ( )

Some years after the events in the Star Wars movie, the New Republic is
beginning to encounter political problems, and having to deal with
governing and routing out rebels.

Along comes something nastier. A grand admiral of the Empire, with
a very potent battle fleet at his command, and a very impressive
ability to utilise it.

The beginning of the publishing of 100 billion books of what I suppose you could call '21st century pulp'.

This series is pretty decent, however.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2006/12... ( )

It's five years after Return of the Jedi: the Rebel Alliance has destroyed the Death Star, defeated Darth Vader and the Emperor, and driven out the remnants of the old Imperial Starfleet to a distant corner of the galaxy. Princess Leia and Han Solo are married and expecting Jedi Twins. And Luke Skywalker has become the first in a long-awaited line of Jedi Knights. But thousand of light-years away, the last of the emperor's warlords has taken command of the shattered Imperial Fleet, readied it for war, and pointed it at the fragile heart of the new Republic.

It took me a while to get to liking this book. I didn't care for it when it first came out. I'm not really into "hard" science fiction, as my collection shows, and the parts of this book that read like a technical manual tended to bore me. But Thrawn -- now there's a character. I need to buy the one about young Thrawn destroying the Outbound Flight project mentioned in passing in this book. ( )

If you plan to read Star Wars, you can forget all the others crappy Star Wars novel and read this trilogy. In my opinion, this and the other two books tha make up the trilogy is the best of all Star Wars novels. ( )