Star Wars Book Challenge 8: Heir to the Empire (Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy #1)

SO!!! Yeah…. When I started this Challenge I may have kinda read this trilogy out of order…. Yeah I know… So here I am reading the first in the Thraw Trilogy, Heir to the Empire! If you would like here is a link to the post I made about Star Wars: Dark Force Rising (Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy #2) I kinda made a OOPS there hahaha SORRY!

“But you must never relax your guard. The Emperor is gone, but the dark side is still powerful. Never forget that.”

It’s been a while since I read Heir to the Empire, and, to be honest, I was afraid it wouldn’t be as good as I remembered. Well, nothing to fear! Zahn truly captivate my mind all over again with this novel! If George Lucas could take advice from him, maybe the Star Wars prequels would have turned out better! Maybe… But I feel the prepuels are getting to much hate now a days. I’ve re-watched them and I do rather enjoy them, specially watching with my kids. To see their faces light up when the Wars comes on is great. BUT! Not Jar-Jar! F’in HATE that guy! The only time I enjoyed him was in Robot Chicken where the killed hi off and his ghost hunts Vader hahaha!!

Sorry got off topic there for bit.. Heir to the Empire!! Yes, Anywho. A reviewer, at the time of the book’s first appearance in 1991, wrote that Heir to the Empire “captures the spirit of the movie trilogy so well, you can almost hear John Williams’ soundtrack.” I would almost have to agree with him on this. Zahn does a superb job rendering the personalities from George Lucas’ films that one can almost hear Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Billy Dee “Hello, what have we here?” Williams when reading their characters’ dialogue. The pace of the book is brisk and the action sequences are so well done that one can swear they are cinematic. Although there are many Star Wars authors whose novels are spellbinding, Zahn stands head and shoulders above the crowd.

It is a time of renewal, five years after the destruction of the Death Star and the defeat of Darth Vader and the Empire.

But with the war seemingly won, strains are beginning to show in the Rebel Alliance. New challenges to galactic peace have arisen. And Luke Skywalker hears a voice from his past. A voice with a warning. Beware the dark side….

Here is the science fiction publishing event of the year: the exciting continuation of the legendary Star Wars saga. Picking up where the movie trilogy left off, Heir to the Empire reveals the tumultuous events that take place after the most popular series in motion-picture history—masterfully told by Hugo Award-winning author Timothy Zahn.

In spring 1977 a film called Star Wars was released—and a cultural phenomenon was born. Its epic story, about a young man named Luke Skywalker, whose destiny was to save the galaxy from conquest, caught the imaginations of millions and broke all box-office records. Today Star Wars and its sequels, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, are acknowledged as the most popular series in movie history, and rank among the top ten films of all time.

The three Star Wars films form a spectacular saga of bold imaginations and high adventure. But the stories of its characters did not end there. Now for the first time, Lucasfilm Ltd., producer of the Star Wars movies, has authorized the continuation of this beloved story. In an astounding three-book cycle, Timothy Zahn continues the tale of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, and the other characters made world famous by Star Wars, as he brilliantly expands upon George Lucas’s stunning vision, “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.”

Heir to the Empire begins five years after the end of Return of the Jedi: the Rebel Alliance has destroyed the Death Star, defeated Darth Vader and the Emperor, and driven the remnants of the old Imperial Starfleet back into barely a quarter of the territory that they once controlled. Leia and Han are married and have shouldered heavy burdens in the government of the new Republic. And Luke Skywalker is the first in a hoped-for new line of Jedi Knights.

But thousands of light years away, where a few skirmishes are still taking place, the last of the Emperor’s warlords has taken command of the remains of the Imperial fleet. He has made two vital discoveries that could destroy the fragile new Republic—built with such cost to the Rebel Alliance. The tale that emerges is a towering epic of action, invention, mystery, and spectacle on a galactic scale—in short, a story that is worthy of the name Star Wars.