Heir To The Empire

I picked this up some time ago - it's a book I own in print (autographed!), ebook and audio. The Force Awakens, which I thought excellent(!), made me want to revisit this *other* sequel to Star Wars. It holds up very well - though clearly a story that could never have been filmed, both for it's scope and the fact all the principal actors had moved on by the time it was written.

Marc Thompson is - as always - amazing with his tour de force of character voices. Paired with John Williams music and just enough sound effects - it's a cinematic experience. On to the next volume! ( )

3 1/2 stars: Good

Part 1 of a 3 part trilogy, that are all really one large, seamless story. Part of the Star Wars "Legends" series (ie. no longer canon).

"It's five years after the Rebel Alliance destroyed the Death Star, defeated DArth Vader and the Emperor, and drove the remnants of the old Imperial Star Fleet 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 thousands of light years away, the last of the Emperor's warlords, Grand Admiral Thrawn, has taken command of the shattered Imperial fleet, readied it for war, and pointed it at the fragile heart of the New Republic. For this dark warrior has made two vital discoveries that could destroy everything the courageous men and women of the Rebel Alliance fought so hard to build.

------------

The above doesn't tell much of the plot... this series introduces Mara Jade (the future Mrs. Skywalker), ysalmari (animals who block the Force, rendering Jedi powerless), Leia and Luke having creatures under Thrawn's control intent on murdering them, Luke being drawn by a Dark Jedi, and much more. I found the story fun enough to follow, but not amazing. Particularly as I was drawn to it from Zahn's recent "Thrawn" which is exemplary. I can tell this is a much older series, he's a much better author now. Thrawn is a side character in these books, and you don't really get to know him at all, though his basic traits of understanding his enemies; through their art and his master tactician skills, are still present. ( )

Unlike early Star Trek novels, the characters "felt" right, and the coincidences and solutions were well put together. ( )

Real shame that this is no longer canon. Darn good trilogy ( )

I had long thought about trying to read one of the books from the Star Wars Universe as I had loved the movies as a kid/teen. After seeing that this book was the one that followed the Return of the Jedi movie (it begins five years after the end of the movie), I thought it would be a great place to start.

First let me say that if this story was a stand alone story with characters that we did not already know, it would not be very good. That is probably an unfair evaluation, but the story itself would not hold interest without the previously built universe.

With that criticism out of the way, I really enjoyed this book. I enjoyed it most because it brought me back to some favorite characters. All the trademark expressions of the characters were included, and there were many references to events from the movie series. I knew going in that this was the first book of a trilogy, but I thought the ending was a bit too quick. I am looking forward to the rest of the series.

One other criticism is that with our heroes traveling light years from one planet to the next in an infinite universe, there were two too many times when the characters just happened to be in the same place at the same time by coincidence. It makes it easier to write the story, but was a bit too convenient. ( )