January 2022: Star Wars Legends: Heir to the Empire (Thrawn Trilogy #1)

[SailorScoutMandy | 782]

Nice short and easy read, which works great due to me being late with the poll. 

Meet your January book:

Heir to the Empire (Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy, #1)

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….

 

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, are expecting Jedi twins, 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.

[SailorScoutMandy | 782]

So no one has said much since book was chosen and very few people voted. Should we take a month off and come back in March, what are you guys thinking? 

[Aguy | 773]

I actually finished the book last week but kind of forgot to post anything. That being said, I liked it. This is the first Star Wars book I've ever read and it felt a lot like a Star Wars story, maybe more from the prequel trilogy, but a SW story none the less. It was hard not to hear voices like Anthony Daniels and Harrison Ford while reading dialogue. I thought the battle sequences were kind of weak and hard for me to follow/imagine, but I did like the Mara Jade character. It does kind of annoy me when characters like Thrawn are given such incredible powers of deductive reasoning that they become omniscient.

On the topic off skipping a month, I'd be down.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,545]

Same, I'm reading 4 books at once already ><

[SailorScoutMandy | 782]

5 hours ago, Aguy said:

I actually finished the book last week but kind of forgot to post anything. That being said, I liked it. This is the first Star Wars book I've ever read and it felt a lot like a Star Wars story, maybe more from the prequel trilogy, but a SW story none the less. It was hard not to hear voices like Anthony Daniels and Harrison Ford while reading dialogue. I thought the battle sequences were kind of weak and hard for me to follow/imagine, but I did like the Mara Jade character. It does kind of annoy me when characters like Thrawn are given such incredible powers of deductive reasoning that they become omniscient.

On the topic off skipping a month, I'd be down.

Awe man, thrawn is one of my fav bad guys. But I see where you're coming from. 

[Aguy | 773]

3 hours ago, SailorScoutMandy said:

Awe man, thrawn is one of my fav bad guys. But I see where you're coming from. 

Yeah, I wouldn't say I didn't like him, and I'm sure he gets more characterization over the series, but between hat plus the art appreciation, he feels like every villain from the Die Hard movies. I just felt like Mara Jade and Talon Karrde we're more compelling.

[JamesRobot | 5,805]

I'm 100 pages from the end.  I'll update here soon.

[RH | 4,912]

I managed to read a TON of Star Wars novels as a kid, but I never got into this one.  I started with The Correlian Trilogy and read and moved on from there.  It was really awesome how after these novels, the new authors did a pretty decent job trying to keep conytentinuity amongst the stories.

I mention all that just to chime in and say Mara Jade was my favorite.  I'm still a tad bitter that Legends was killed off and now she's a relic of the Star Wars universe.  I just really hope that in another 10 years or so Disney will get a bit bored, and maaaaaaybe consider digging into the Legends universe and make a movie or two from this universe.  I never got into the comics but Zahn really deserves a lot of credit for putting a huge shot of energy into the old universe of Star Wars.

Hmmm, maybe for old times I should try to make time to read this series, even though I've long abandoned reading Star Wars novels.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,545]

2 hours ago, RH said:

I managed to read a TON of Star Wars novels as a kid, but I never got into this one.  I started with The Correlian Trilogy and read and moved on from there.  It was really awesome how after these novels, the new authors did a pretty decent job trying to keep conytentinuity amongst the stories.

I mention all that just to chime in and say Mara Jade was my favorite.  I'm still a tad bitter that Legends was killed off and now she's a relic of the Star Wars universe.  I just really hope that in another 10 years or so Disney will get a bit bored, and maaaaaaybe consider digging into the Legends universe and make a movie or two from this universe.  I never got into the comics but Zahn really deserves a lot of credit for putting a huge shot of energy into the old universe of Star Wars.

Hmmm, maybe for old times I should try to make time to read this series, even though I've long abandoned reading Star Wars novels.

I started out by buying this trilogy and the novelizations of the OG trilogy.  And then I read lots of the early stuff like Truce, Courtship, the Jedi trilogy, Dark Empire, etc.  But I never ended up reading that Thrawn trilogy.  I know I started Heir, but it fizzled out for reasons I'm still not clear on. 

Perhaps it was a tougher read for a 10-11 year old.

In the last year I've worked to acquire the rest of the pre-Episode One novels, including the Correllian trilogy.  I feel like it's all unfinished business.

[PII | 1,886]

Sounds like a good plan.  I've been catching up on some back burners lately and one more month wouldn't hurt.

[JamesRobot | 5,805]

I def enjoyed and I'm about to start book 2.  However, Heir to the Empire is not without its flaws.  

First the good. 

The veteran characters are very true to their onscreen counterparts and easy to envision.  Their rapport and banter is spot on.  They feel very familiar with just a hint of nostalgia for the original trilogy. 

The new character personalities are also well written.  The interactions between Thrawn and Pellaeon are particularly well done with the latter's mixed emotions  of anxiety of old Empire protocol and cautious relief with the new way.  Thrawn is still just as ruthless as the old guard but has the mind to consider all angles and others' viewpoints.

Mara and Kaarde were also great introductions to the universe.  Maria's "mysterious" backstory and hatred for Luke was intriguing but maybe a little thin.  No serious development of her past but that's on par for Star Wars in general. 

The plot has some issues with contrivances.  A little too much coincidence with Thrawn and company just "showing up" wherever our heroes happened to land.  One can argue it away as "machinations of the force," but it taxed my suspension of disbelief a little more than I liked.

But the overall setup for the final battle had a decent air of mystery which culminated in a nice reveal of Thrawn's purpose.  C'Baoth wasn't used enough and also has some underdeveloped backstory but I expect him to see more action in the follow up books.

I really enjoyed Leia and Chewie's Kashyyk adventure with the relentless Noghiri in pursuit.  The Vader connection is pretty intriguing and seems like a good setup for the next book.

Heir does fall into the trap so many serial novels experience where it's not a complete story in and of itself.  I realize it's part of a trilogy but it leaves too many unanswered questions setting everything up for the next two acts.  I think that's part of the genius of the original trilogy even if A New Hope was written as its own story without the necessity of a sequel. 

Still, super enjoyable despite its flaws.  I wish I would have read this series years ago.  I'm sure much of my criticism wouldn't have been an issue.  Zahn did a great job overall.  High adventure, space battles, new characters that fit well within the universe, and expansion of locales and lore.  Still could have used a proper light saber fight though.

Edited January 29, 2022 by JamesRobot

[JamesRobot | 5,805]

Just finished Dark Force Rising.

 

It delivers on most everything I wanted in the first book and especially with the development of Mara, C'baoth and the Noghri.  Plenty of action too but still no lightsaber fights.  Luke had better get on it in book 3.