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Title: Star Wars: Heir to the Empire (Dark Horse Collection.) by Mike Baron, Timothy Zahn, Olivier Vatine, Fred Blanchard ISBN: 1-56971-202-6 Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Pub. Date: 01 December, 1996 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (320 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: first and best of the spin-offs
Comment: This was the first Star Wars novel I read (actually, the first written, I think) and it's still the best. I tried reading others, but they all seemed like shallow imitations and rip-offs. Zahn's style is unique, and while he ain't Ray Bradbury (I bet I'm the only fan of Star Wars who knows who that is) he gets in some really good descriptions and creative language. From what I've read of the other spin-off books (Stackpole, some of the recent ones), Star Wars writers are into some very dry, plain writing that gets boring after a while.
I love the characters in this book. He captures the originals - Luke, Leia, Han, Lando, the droids and Chewie, even Wedge - brilliantly. You can tell they've matured over the last five years. Plus it's early enough after the movies that they're not seriously over the hill yet. The new characters are great too. Thrawn is the coolest villain outside of the films, and Mara Jade and Talon Karrde are fabulous.
My one complaint is how this trilogy set up the rest of the spin-offs. He establishes a new type of female character, the Femme Fatale type (the previous ones were Royalty in Distress and Mothers/Aunts). Mara Jade is cool, but now the only other women in Star Wars are just like her (Aurra Sing, Zam Wesell). They lack depth. Also, when I read this it seemed like it was the first big adventure since the movies, but then more books are written that devalue the sense of myth there used to be. Every few months these characters have some new supervillain to defeat. Doesn't it ever get boring?
If you just want to read one spin-off of Star Wars, read Zahn's trilogy.
Rating: 5
Summary: Zahn's Original Masterpiece
Comment: Reading had always been an activity I enjoyed in my free time, and although I occasionally read a Star Wars book, I was never left with the feeling that the films had given me. Most that I read would have entertaining stories, but despite the plot I would find myself struggling to read them to the end; they simply couldn't hold my attention. That all changed when I read Heir to the Empire, the first book in a three part series written by Timothy Zahn. Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, The Last Command, and the two follow-ups that Zahn later wrote, stand apart from all other Star Wars books and most other books in general. Zahn's work is absolutely stunning; with Heir to the Empire he took Star Wars to an entirely new level. The story and characters are superb; the writing itself is magnificent. Timothy Zahn truly captured the epic scope and feeling of the Star Wars universe and then expanded it far beyond.
Unlike the film trilogy, Zahn put an emphasis on the strategy and politics of war rather than simply showing the battles as a series of flashy, but entertaining, random explosions. The tactics and stratagems he devised for use in the series are explained well enough to seem perfectly believable, while at the same time being just fantastic and crazy enough to fit excellently into the unique universe that George Lucas created.
The characters that Zahn devised for his stories are memorable and unique; they compliment the standard Star Wars cast wonderfully. Many of the more interesting characters are members of the Empire, still fighting a battle against the Rebel Alliance, now known as the New Republic, even though they are currently losing badly. The many Imperial characters that Zahn made, and the focus he put on the Empire, was something that hadn't been done before in Star Wars. During the films you only had glimpses of how the Empire worked, with only Vader and Palpatine as actual characters. For his books Zahn made many Imperial officers main characters to give the reader insight on how the enemies of the Rebellion viewed the universe, and the war they'd been in for so long.
The most notable of these villains is, of course, Grand Admiral Thrawn, who has assumed leadership over the remnants of the Empire. As the primary antagonist, Thrawn is a welcome change from the cryptic, detached villains from the films. There is rarely a single event in Heir to the Empire that was not carefully planned by Thrawn himself. Even the cast of heroes eventually take note that nothing they see can be accepted as truth with some one of Thrawn's manipulative and tactical genius plotting against them. Everything they witnessed could be part of his plan, causing them to question anything that happened; only then wandering if that's exactly what Thrawn wanted them to question while he did something completely different. Attempting to unravel the dozens of layers to Thrawn's plans along with the heroes was one of the many things that kept me reading no matter how many other things I needed to do at the time.
Then there were equally impressive new protagonists, my favorite being Mara Jade, who has since appeared in dozens of additional Star Wars novels. Similar to Han Solo, Jade is initially a hero by circumstance and not by choice. As a former servant of the Emperor, Jade is engaged in an internal battle. She doesn't want to work for the Empire, realizing that it is no longer what Emperor Palpatine had envisioned. On the other hand, she doesn't want to aide the New Republic as they are the cause of the Empires fall. In fact, she adamantly hates Luke Skywalker, the hero of the New Republic, and desires nothing more than to see him dead. Zahn constantly puts Mara Jade into positions where she must choose to side with Thrawn, or side with Luke Skywalker, which to her is like choosing between two evils.
The constant tension, unexpected turns, incredible new characters and classic faces that are now more mature, bring Heir to the Empire to life. Not once did I feel disappointed, and not once did I find anything that I disliked; the book was absolutely perfect. Timothy Zahn is truly an outstanding writer for being able to create books every bit as enchanting and spectacular as the film trilogy itself. Every Star Wars fan owes it to themselves to read Zahn's five books. Make sure to take time off from work first, though; it may be difficult to put the books down.
Rating: 5
Summary: great fro star wars fans
Comment: this book continues the story of the Star Wars characters 5 years after the destruction of the 2nd Death Star. It was interesting to see how far the New Republic has advanced in that time and it was also cool to see what our favorite characters were up to. A good book for all Star Wars fans
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Title: Vision of the Future (Star Wars: The Hand of Thrawn, Book Two) by Timothy Zahn ISBN: 0553578790 Publisher: Spectra Books Pub. Date: 31 August, 1999 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Specter of the Past (Star Wars: The Hand of Thrawn, Book One) by Timothy Zahn ISBN: 0553298046 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 September, 1998 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Courtship of Princess Leia (Star Wars) by Dave Wolverton ISBN: 0553569376 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 May, 1995 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Star Wars: The Truce at Bakura (Star Wars (Random House Paperback)) by Kathy Tyers ISBN: 0553568728 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 December, 1994 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire by Steve Perry ISBN: 0553574132 Publisher: Spectra Books Pub. Date: 01 November, 1998 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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