Star Wars: Tales from the Empire

Star Wars: Tales #4

by Peter Schweighofer (Editor/Introduction), Michael A. Stackpole (Contributor), Laurie Burns (Contributor)

Culled from the pages of the Star Wars Adventure Journal, one of the most popular Star Wars magazines in the field today, comes this exciting new short-story collection.  Here are stories from such award-winning and New York Times bestselling authors as Timothy Zahn, Michael A. Stackpole and Kathy Tyers as well as exciting newcomers, including Erin Endom, Laurie Burns, and Patricia A. Jackson.  From the desperate flight of a civilian mail courier carrying vital Rebel intelligence through an Imperial blockade, to a suicidal commando raid on an impregnable Imperial prison, to a Corellian smuggler mysteriously hired by an actor turned Jedi Knight turned Imperial assassin for one final transformation, these tales capture all the high adventure, imaginative genius, and nonstop action that are the hallmarks of the Star Wars saga.

What's more, the centerpiece of this magnificent collection is the short novel Side Trip, the first-ever collaboration between Timothy Zahn and Michael A. Stackpole, in which a freighter smuggling arms for the Rebels is commandeered by an Imperial Star Destroyer led by a mysterious helmeted figure who claims to be the notorious bounty hunter Jodo Kast.  It is all part of a devious plan that includes Hal and Corran Horn, who are working undercover to nail the infamous Corellian warlord Zekka Thyne. But one slip-up can get them all killed.

Collected for the first time, Star Wars(r): Tales from the Empire is one book no fan will want to be without.

(r), TM and (c) 1997 Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved. Used under authorization.

Genres: Star Wars, Science Fiction, Fiction, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fantasy, Space Opera

320 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 3, 1997

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

AND THUS MY STAR WARS JOURNEY BEGINS. (I feel like the rest of my year is going to be reading non-stop Star Wars EU and Animorphs rereads, sorrynotsorry. And I deeply apologise to everyone whose feed got spammed by my adding everything to my to-read a few days ago...) The delightful story behind my obtaining this book is that I randomly found it at a used bookstore on vacation in North Carolina, picked it up for like 25 cents, and then came home to discover that it was, specifically, this exact book that made my roommate start writing when she was a wee one -- specifically "Tinian on Trial", because the that story's blank spots and tantalising setup basically leave you shaking the book, shrieking "BUT WHAT HAPPENS NEXT???". That was my prevailing reaction to it, too, so I could definitely see how it could launch an entire interest in fanfiction.

Anyway! This anthology is a collection of stories from the Star Wars Adventure Journal, and they're a delight: side-tales and one-offs and origin stories, examining the corners of the Star Wars universe, far away from the main action of the movies. This is the sort of thing that's my jam, considering my usual love for minor characters, the randoms and bit players filling out the rich tapestry of a world like this. The writing is maybe a little dated, the dialogue a little ridiculous -- but isn't that to be expected from a series that was basically born in pulp? I'm here for the universe, y'all, because I'm interested in the extended universe and I want every-freakin'-thing about cool bounty hunters and intrepid rebels and noble Jedi and nefarious Imperials and AHHH.

It's also appropriate that my own personal introduction to these tie-ins would be Tales from the Empire, considering my thematic love of well-intentioned people who end up on the wrong side & trapped in the gears of a corrupt system (I JUST WANT TO READ ABOUT THE LIFE OF A STORMTROOPER, WHERE CAN I SCRATCH THIS ITCH?); there's quite a bit of that in here, with tales that circle around Imperial characters and ones who play along with the Empire's system, because that's what they've been raised into.

Also, 6/10 of the stories here were written by women! Which is fantastic, especially since they overall wrote my favourites in the book, too.

- "First Contact" by Timothy Zahn
- "Tinian on Trial" by Kathy Tyers
- "The Final Exit" by Patricia A. Jackson
- "Missed Chance" by Michael A. Stackpole
- "Retreat from Coruscant" by Laurie Burns
- "A Certain Point of View" by Charlene Newcomb
- "Blaze of Glory" by Tony Russo
- "Slaying Dragons" by Angela Philips
- "Do No Harm" by Erin Endom
- Side Trip by Timothy Zahn and Michael A. Stackpole

Discussing the ones that really stood out to me below:

"Tinian on Trial" (Kathy Tyers): Aforementioned awesomeness. The characters are really well-painted for the short time you spend with them, and the way it ends leaves you hankering for more.

"Retreat from Coruscant" (Laurie Burns): Dude, this one was so cool and stirring and it absolutely unfolded in my mind's eye like a movie. Absolutely loved it.

"A Certain Point of View" (Charlene Newcomb): I didn't like the writing style so much here (it was honestly a little cringe-inducing), but I liked the content and themes a lot -- the main character has a brother in the Imperial army and who is killed by rebels, and she eventually has to come to terms with the fact that the system she believes in isn't exactly what it seems from a distance.

"Blaze of Glory" (Tony Russo): Sassy mercenary team! Collaboration and teamwork and chemistry and banter!! SACRIFICE AND FEELS.

"Slaying Dragons" (Angela Philips): Adored this one right off the bat with its awesome cross-media introduction. And tiny precocious hacker-protagonist!

"Do No Harm" (Erin Endom): LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE. THIS ONE WAS THE BEST. Endom's prose was probably the most stylish and flat-out lovely in the entire anthology, which bums me out because it seems like it's the only one she's ever written. :(

The novella/short novel Side Trip was okay. (It turns out I preferred Zahn's sections over Stackpole's, too, for what it's worth.) My favourite thing about it was Corran's conversation about law enforcement, crime, and evil -- and what do you do when you've finally eradicated evil, and all that's left is the Empire? The writing/events themselves were really engaging and exciting, but I couldn't quite follow the convoluted plot and didn't really get it, plus it turned into exposition-city in the final chapter (like Poirot gathering everyone in the parlour to explain what you've just read) and tied into things that I had no idea what they were talking about. Guess it's time for me to read the Thrawn trilogy!

In short, a great lil' introduction, and now I'm definitely gonna read more. Goodreads also tells me that there are 346 books in the Extended Universe (now Legends) series, a ha ha ha ha. 1 down, 345 to go!

Some favourite quotes below:

"Millions of people, like pawns," Kaileel said, pointing at the characters on their gameboard, "for the Emperor to do with what he will."

"But, Chief--"

"I fear the game is up," Kaileel said softly.

***

A stormtrooper, flattened against the curving wall, was just edging around the corner, blaster up and pointed directly at me.

Ambush, I thought, very coldly and clearly, as time slowed to a halt around me. I couldn't seem to get in a breath--the nauseated stunned emptiness was almost exactly what I'd felt at age six, after falling off a balcony flat onto my stomach. But my mind, trained to function logically in a crisis, kept clicking right along: There isn't time to warn Haslam. You're blocking the others--they can't shoot around you. If you fall, Vibrion's next in line.

You've got a blaster.

My right hand pulled the little hold-out blaster from its holster under my left sleeve, leveled it at the trooper, and fired. The shot angled upward just enough to pass between the breastplate and the bottom of the helmet; it took him square in the throat, and he let out a choked gurgle and dropped to his knees. His helmet flew off as he went down, allowing me a brief glimpse of a very young man, light brown hair damp with sweat and clinging to his skull, clear gray eyes wide in amazement, before he toppled flat onto his face.

***

Maybe the pretty rules of medicine don't hold up as well in war. Either way, there was nothing I could do about it now... except to wish that gray-eyed boy oneness with the Force that binds us all, and to go on with my life and my job as best I could. I sighed, got up--aching like the aftermath of a stun blast--and went in search of that hot drink.


They gave me a medal when we got back--the Field Achievement Award, the one they give all the field operatives who make it back from their first mission. I still have it. I threw it in a drawer and haven't looked at it since. But like a half-healed wound, I always know it's there.

***

It's amazing how something that could have been so beautiful can so easily be made so... vulgar. It seemed as if Thyne's definition of art was intimately wrapped up with the concepts of nudity, excess and a color scheme that relied heavily on pinks, purples and an irritatingly vibrant shade of green. Some of the statuary--what little of it actually could have found a home in the Museum of Fine Arts--had been garishly corrected by application of this color scheme, with excess paint having spilled down the walls. The paintings showed Corran a view of models he thought more appropriate for xenobiological textbooks and the holographs seemed the visual equivalent of a high-pitched scream.

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three and a half, mostly on the weight of Zahn and Stackpole's contributions.

A pleasant, if spotty, collection of stories--mostly occurring between Episodes Five and Six. The opening story is notably from after Episode Six. Corran Horn's appearances are inverted within this sequence.

It's always a pleasure to make the acquaintance of Mara Jade, Admiral Thran and Corran Horn, with the later two working together in a short Timothy Zahn-Micheal Stackpole novel.

Then there was Schweighofer's pointless twenty-six page introduction, which added nothing but page count. That, of course, may have been it's intended function.

Cover Art quibble: if the left-handed Boba Fett-look-alike is not to be confused for Boba, why position Slave One unmistakably in the picture? Since this collection was supposed to be about the Empire, why not feature a star destroyer or some stormtroopers?

[Jonathan Koan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short story collection is very different from the Kevin J. Anderson Tales of Collections, as it is not constrained to one location or timeframe. It also has a little more variety, as KJA's collections are either Short Stories OR Novellas, and this collection has both!

A few thoughts before I get to the individual stories themselves. First: this could have been retitled "Tales of the Smugglers" for how many Smuggler stories were here. It also was confusing havin the stories set at different times. I would sometimes go an entire story before I could finally figure out where in the timeline it was from.

Also, the explanation in the introduction (written by the editor) about Star Wars publishing and the Adventure Journal was really fascinating. I really enjoyed learning about the publishing process. Unfortunately, this introduction did not need to be 18 pages. It should have been cut down and edited significantly.


My breakdown for this collection is:

5 Good/Great short stories
4 Ok/Bad short stories
1 Fine Novella

Here are my (brief) thoughts on each story:

1. First Contact: By Timothy Zahn: This story follows Talon Karrde as he infiltrated a smuggling group on a planet and meets Mara Jade. An ok story
2. Tinian on Trial by Kathy Tyers: This story follows Tinian I’att, whose family business is upended by the empire and a group of rebels whisks her to safety. An ok story.
3. The Final Exit by Patricia A Jackson: This story follows a smuggler/pilot; Ross, who takes on a job ferrying a dangerous force user to a mysterious planet. This was an amazing, top tier Star Wars story, it felt like a mini novel!
4. Missed Chance by Michael A. Stackpole: This story follows an Imperial who is interrogating a Rebel, the Rebel who is trying to get her team home, and Corran Horn, who doesn’t know what to do with his life against the empire. All three converge in a fantastic way. This was a superb story!
5. Retreat from Coruscant by Laurie Burns: This story follows Taryn Clancy, Mail-Freighter Captain whose ship is assigned by the New Republic to deliver a message to a NR fleet. But the ship is intercepted by Imperials. Another great story here!
6. A Certain Point of View by Charlene Newcomb: This story follows Celia, an Imperial who has her loyalty tested and her worldview changed. A good story here.
7. Blaze of Glory by Tony Russo: This story follows Brixie Ergo who is part of a mercenary team. Not a particularly good story
8. Slaying Dragons by Angela Phillips: a story about Shannon Vorsoon, a little girl who dreams of joining the alliance and does so at a younger age than expected. A good story.
9. Do No Harm by Erin Edom: this story follows Dr Leith in the empire who takes care of a prisoner being transported. An ok story.
10. Novella: Side Trip by Timothy Zahn and Michael A Stackpole: This story follows a group of smugglers who are hired by an Imperial to ferry a bounty hunter Jodo Kast, to the middle of an underworld dispute. However, what these smugglers (and some familiar CorSec agents) don’t know is that they are part of an elaborate ploy to bring down these underworld leaders and increase imperial power in the area. This story had some really cool twists and reveals, and some really cool action moments. Unfortunately, the sum of its parts isn’t that impressive, and feels just fine.

Overall, this has a pretty good batting average, but isn't necessarily great. I'll give it a 7 out of 10. A good/fine collection.

[Iset · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Tales series in the Expanded Universe is rather several collections of short stories, grouped together by general setting or theme. In theory, at least, the stories contained here feature life within the Empire, or encounters with Imperials, though in practise some of them do not. The stories were originally published in the Star Wars Adventure Journal, supplementary material to role playing games, and thus perhaps in some ways might be said to be less canonical than the other Expanded Universe books. The established and previously published authors are obviously the big draw here, with both Timothy Zahn and Michael Stackpole topping the list of best EU authors and their fan favourite characters of Mara Jade, Corran Horn, and Grand Admiral Thrawn providing a lot of the impetus to pick this book up. Kathy Tyers is here too, although Truce at Bakura is less well regarded, and the other authors relative unknowns with no books to their names.

First Contact by Timothy Zahn – It makes sense to kick things off with one of the big names, although First Contact definitely falls on the short and sweet side of things. This brief interlude reveals how Talon Karrde met and came to employ Mara Jade. I liked it mostly because the piece showcases the old Timothy Zahn at his writing best. Let’s just put it this way – I think that Zahn’s writing quality in Star Wars has declined over time. The new Disney Thrawn seems to be much more of a smug space Sherlock with a huge dollop of Mary Sue than the intriguing but definitely fallible polymath of the trilogy. To be fair, this didn’t start with the Disney handover. Outbound Flight, which is now part of the Legends umbrella, was hampered by the same problems, split between boring sections with Obi-Wan and Anakin which it really felt like Zahn had been forced to tack on because it was a prequel era story and didn’t enjoy writing at all, and sections with a young Thrawn who can do no wrong and is gushed over by a feisty young woman who immediately becomes loyally devoted to this incredibly handsome alien and isn’t at all scared or disconcerted by said alienness. My reaction to that book can be summed up with “ugh”, and I say that as someone who rates Thrawn among the best Expanded Universe characters produced. Anyway, to get back to the point, I think Zahn used to write characters that were deeper and more real, with clever but not implausible plotting, genuine risks, and vivid descriptions, and somewhere along the way the writing got a bit lazy and the author became too enamoured of his own creation. Fortunately, First Contact dates from a time when Zahn’s writing still seems to have been sharp. He manages to squeeze a mini adventure into just 25 pages, including one very serious revelation and one shocking death, with detailed description bringing to life an alien jungle and pretty snappy dialogue to boot. I liked the characterisations too, they felt on point and didn’t resort to stereotyping. The time frame for this story is clearly after Return of the Jedi, but before Heir to the Empire, making me think that the book’s official placement just after Hutt Gambit is poor positioning, as several stories in this collection including First Contact spoil certain events. I’ll give this one 8 out of 10. Pretty good, well-written, and entertaining, but not too much to work with because of how short it is.

Tinian on Trial by Kathy Tyers – This one didn’t really grab me, I’m afraid. It might have been the starting premise. Tinian and her kindly elderly grandparents are shocked, just shocked, when their local Moff proves to be unscrupulous and corrupt, because as a family run business inventing and producing revolutionary military tech they’ve never had a problem with the Empire before. Look, I don’t mind some Imperials being in it out of a true if misguided sense of order – it lends depth and authenticity to what is otherwise a monolithic regime populated entirely by caricatured villains and the genuinely scary evil bastards at the top. But it’s hard to believe that Tinian’s family is totally unaware of the Empire’s reputation for ruthlessness and brutality, especially if they’re in the military tech sector. It also felt that it was far too easy for Tinian to escape; she finds aid the first place she looks, and somehow isn’t recognised by repeated search sweeps and tightened port controls. The Wookiee with the life debt to her seemed obviously cribbed from Chewbacca, and a bit lazy. I can’t give this one more than 4 out of 10.

The Final Exit by Patricia Jackson – This was the story I most enjoyed from the non-established writers in this collection. Jackson throws us right into the middle of a plot and explains everything we need to know about the backstory as we go. I particularly relished the vivid descriptions of alien worlds: “A planet of interminable extremes, Najiba existed in a state of perpetual spring, delineating seasons in terms of electrical disruptions and torrential rainstorms. Ross stared into the maturing squall, intrigued by the erratic veins of lightning which arced across the obscure night skies.” The ‘Children of Najiba’, the planet ring, and the grounded spacecraft provided distinct and interesting flavour. Of course the female ship persona is a trope as old as donkey’s years, so that rather fell flat. But Jackson’s idea of exploring dark Jedi was intriguing. Adalric Brandl is unequivocally shown doing reprehensible things, and yet clearly hungers for redemption and chooses to treat certain people with kindness. This is a man who seeks the advice of a former mentor and cares for his son. The short story is something of a redemption quest but bittersweet, and I was entertained enough to look up the eventual fate of Brandl and his son... only to be disappointed, I guess you can't win them all. Shame, as I thought these characters had potential. Nevertheless, that doesn’t diminish this story. 7 out of 10.

Missed Chance by Michael Stackpole – Despite how much I like Corran Horn, this story was pretty much a miss for me. Fair enough, it tells the story of a Corran in transition between CorSec and the Rebellion, but he seemed to be lacking his moral compass present in both roles. I find it hard to believe that he seriously considered abandoning his erstwhile helpers, even if it was unasked for. But the tale did earn points back for the identity twist. I just wish it revealed how Corran managed to get himself into that crucial role in the first place. 6 out of 10.

Retreat from Coruscant by Laurie Burns – This short story makes it all too tempting for me to rant about the Dark Empire and its place in the Expanded Universe, but I’ll be brief. For those that don’t know, the Expanded Universe novels formed a (mostly) coherent storyline, and while the comics were often fun and supplemented the characters and events of the books, they were usually nonessential to understanding the EU. Dark Empire was the glaring exception. Huge plot points go down, the Empire is resurgent, Luke flirts with the dark side, there’s a cloned Emperor Palpatine (yes, this happened way before the sequels). Needless to say people had thoughts regarding the believability of the cloned Emperor and Luke’s fall... but on top of that, it all took place in a graphic novel series, leaving pure book readers like me enormously confused between the Heir to the Empire trilogy and the Jedi Academy trilogy. Plus it was absurdly difficult to source the Dark Empire comics. Anyway... rant over, this short story is set in the same time period. There are some cameos from more well-known characters like Garm Bel Iblis and Mara Jade, but the focus is on a commercial courier vessel that gets co-opted into the New Republic’s war effort. I actually found this one rather forgettable, if I’m honest, and the strategy wasn’t too well explained. All in all I think it could’ve been far better. 5 out of 10.

A Certain Point of View by Charlene Newcomb – This is another one where I felt rather disconnected from the protagonists – the story is so short, and as totally original characters I felt like I just didn’t know them well enough to really be rooting for them overmuch. But I have to give points for effort. Newcomb runs a dark strand through this story which I picked up on and found interesting. Namely, a prior association and continuing attraction between our main character and her antagonist. First, it gives an Imperial character more depth than just the maniacal villain stock which some authors trot out for the Imperials far too often. Second, it gives resistance to our main character turning on the Empire, and a bit of a dark chill to their eventual enmity. I appreciated that. 6 out of 10.

Blaze of Glory by Tony Russo – Just not into this one at all. I just didn’t like the mercenaries all that well. There was a lot of meanness going on dismissed as banter, but I saw it as a bunch of misfits deliberately and spitefully lashing out at each other because they couldn’t handle the trauma in their past. Seemed immature to me. And sure they all love each other really, but it’s a bit late to show it when someone’s dead, no? Save the tears and the sentimental feeling for when they’re still with the living, instead of being idiotic hardasses. There was a definite one way ticket suicide mission vibe from this story, with a mix of tragic screw-ups and tough jungle terrain that seems reminiscent of modern guerrilla warfare stories. 4 out of 10.

Slaying Dragons by Angela Phillips – Okay, I’m just going to come out and say it: I’ve never been a fan of the child hacker prodigy character in anything. It feels like ‘90s material did this a lot and thought they could get away with it because hey, the kids must be all up with these computers and newfangled interwebs, right, whereas their parents scratched their heads and worried about downloading a virus. But we all know that hacking as portrayed in movies and books is often total nonsense. So no, I’m not a fan of the wunderkind. But, on the other hand, it does make sense that the Rebellion might attempt a heist like this for ship parts. And I got to see an actual character whose name was Boo, so, there’s that. 3 out of 10.

Do No Harm by Erin Endom – It shows that the writer of this piece is in the medical field themselves. The story is very concerned with first upholding real world medical principles and then with exploring the ethical dilemmas that might arise from possibly having to bend them due to the pressures of a sci fi setting. It was interesting that the story took the time to think about these things, even forcing its protagonist to concede to something she was initially deeply morally opposed to. I think the big negative here is that there’s no follow through. The main character hopes she won’t have to do the ethically dubious thing she’s reluctantly agreed to do if it comes down to it... and of course, it doesn’t come down to it, so we’re all fine and dandy. The rescue and escape was deeply reminiscent of A New Hope, make of that what you will. 5 out of 10.

Side Trip by Timothy Zahn and Michael Stackpole – Okay, there’s no doubting that this novella is the star of the show here. In four parts it’s far longer than any of the other short stories, and as a collaboration between Timothy Zahn and Michael Stackpole at the height of their Star Wars writing prowess, this is really why I’m here. I’ve got to admit, as a self-confessed Thrawn fan above who this that particular life strand was cut far too short, I do enjoy extra opportunities to witness the character’s clever plotting. Before the drop in writing quality that added a dollop too much of Mary Sue in the last few years of the Expanded Universe, that is. But Zahn – and thus, Thrawn – is still sharp and on point here, and I enjoyed all the angles. It all makes perfect sense when you know what the Imperials were going for, and impenetrable when you’re in the midst of it and not in the know, and I think part of the appeal of a character like Thrawn is the pleasure of the mystery reveal; we like challenging ourselves to see if we can figure it out and we like to feel smug if we prove to be as smart as the main character. I was going to describe Thrawn as an antagonist – which he is in Heir to the Empire – but let’s face it, outside of his debut trilogy he tends not to be an antagonist but rather an anti-hero. That’s another part of the character’s appeal. It’s hard to dislike an intelligent, reasonable character, and more importantly, having at least some competent people on the Empire’s side stops it from being a joke, a laughing stock that I just can’t take seriously, and actually gives it the air of menace that is needed to take the threat seriously. We also get a precious glimpse into Corran Horn’s CorSec years and his father-son relationship, with some definite wistfulness evoked, especially when Hal Horn schools his hotheaded son. I caught the subtle uses of the Force too, as well as how clever Hal was at covering it up. There’s even a reference to Rostek Horn, Corran’s (as yet unbeknown) step-grandfather, being active in CorSec during the early days of the Empire – yet more evidence that in the Expanded Universe the Empire’s rise was roughly placed sometime around 30 years before A New Hope (where we’re told A Phantom Menace slots in) and not a mere 20 years. Interesting story, plenty of sudden reversals and surprises, and definitely the best of the bunch. 8 out of 10.

5.6 out of 10 (calculated as a mean from all the stories)

I feel like most of the stories here are missable, but the ones that are good are a genuine pleasure to read.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought I would be getting a short story collection like the previous Lucasverse collections. Stories constructed around particular characters. I was looking forward to tales about Col. Veers, Moff Tarkin, Admiral Ozzel...plus interesting secondary characters, such as the mysterious husks who attended the Emperor as courtiers. Instead this book is more about the Imperial remnant/New Republic, and less interesting B-team characters operating in the shadows. When there IS a story set during the Empire's time period, the Empire is barely present. Most of this reads like bland fan fiction...ironic, as one of the more palatable stories is actually BASED on the character's fan fiction. Timothy Zahn's writing is what saves this collection from being one star; I'm very disappointed. This isn't what I was after...

[Paulo "paper books only" · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well... This was disappointing.
I thought that this was tales from the Empire (on the side of the Empire) but alas, they could have titled ; "Star Wars: Tales from the Rebellion" or "Star Wars: Random Tales of Universe" or something like that.

These tales, the vast majority if you switch a couple of words, names they could have be set anywhere you'd like. Some of them, I even had to see the cover to see if the book hadn't changed when I wasn't looking.

In their defense, let me just say that this guys only had the first three movies plus other novels being written afterwards. So, they may not even had that much material to try to explain events that were happening around the 6th movie (yes, 6th).

But there are couple good stories that link to other tales from some of the authors, in this case Timothy Zahn ones. Apart from that, I would bother with it. 3/10 stars

[Jordan Anderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

For some Tales From the Empire is quintessential Star Wars far, using short stories to fill in all the gaps that the films never did.

For others (like myself), Tales From the Empire is a slow trek through some pretty mediocre tales and leaves the reader bored and/or disappointed.

Not all of this anthology is bad. Stackpoles’s “Missed Chance”, Charlene Newcomb’s “A Certain Point of View”, “Blaze of Glory” by Tony Russo, and, the best story in the whole collection, “Do No Harm” by Erin Endom, are highlights and proof that you don’t need a full length novel to tell an enjoyable Star Wars story.

And then there’s good old Timothy Zahn, coming along to make Star Wars an absolute chore to get through. I know the guy revitalized this franchise with his Heir to the Empire trilogy, and I know both Scoundrels and Outbound Flight were mostly fun novels, but good God, Zahn tends to be far more boring than anything else, and that’s especially true in both of his stories on this collection. Neither “First Contact” or his 4 part serial short story with Stackpole were the least bit entertaining. Just as he does in his novels (especially the god awful Thrawn trilogy of 2017-2019), Zahn overwrites and makes stories that should be fun and exciting into long winded dialogues and pointless exposition. I got so bored with his 2 stories that I lost interest, finding myself reading but not comprehending or even realizing I was reading a Star Wars story. Add in the fact that Tales From the Empire was bookended by Zahn’s work, and it makes for a collection that’s incredibly hard to get into and even harder to finish, despite a strong middle section.

Also, am I the only one getting increasingly more and more annoyed with Thrawn?

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Made to order for any true Star Wars geek (like me!!), this collection of short stories satisfies on many levels. The stories included in this anthology cover various aspects of the Rebellion. Although the stories included didn't feature much of the Hutt crime syndicate, they were still enjoyable. I always found the series of Tales books to be well worth the time spent reading them. A very good effort.

[Brayden Raymond · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anytime I go back to legends content now I notice that the feeling of the world is vastly different from how it feels in Canon. I'm not sure if that is just knowing it's legends or how the lore and world building has changed in Canon.

That said there were some good stories in here that I liked including some added Corran Horn content and a couple interesting stories like the Kuat heist orchestrated by a kid and a star liner crewmember learning who the bad guys really are.

[Adam Kiewel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable overall
A typical collection of short stories but with the huge benefit of having a combined story of about 100 pages from Timothy Zahn and Michael a stackpole. A good handful of the short stories were pretty forgettable, unknown characters with a menial plot, but the Zahn and stackpole stories were great

[Heather Layne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of neat stories from the Star Wars universe!

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some great short stories. I like the dark jedi actor and Thrawn is always a good read.

[Meggie · Rating 2 out of 5]

For 2020, I decided to reread (in publication order) all the Bantam-era Star Wars books that were released between 1991 and 1999; that shakes out to 38 adult novels and 5 anthologies of short stories & novellas.

This week’s focus: the fourth Tales collection, Tales from the Empire, edited by Peter Schweighofer.

SOME HISTORY:

If you are expecting stories about famous Imperial characters, turn away now. You have come to the wrong place. Tales from the Empire features ten stories that originally appeared in the Star Wars Adventure Journal, which was published by West End Games between 1994 and 1997. Most of the stories focus on original characters, and the authors run the gambit from established Star Wars regulars like Timothy Zahn, Michael A. Stackpole, and Kathy Tyers to a number of fan writers. (I was disappointed to find that Erin Endom doesn’t seem to have written anything else!)

MY RECOLLECTION OF THE BOOK:

I don’t believe I ever read this book! I’m not a big Boba Fett fan, so I probably saw Fett and Slave I on the cover and noped out. (And Fett doesn’t even appear in this collection! It’s complicated. If this is truly “Tales from the Empire,” why doesn’t the cover art depict stormtroopers or something?)

A BRIEF SUMMARY:

If you’ve never read an issue of the Star Wars Adventure Journal, this collection serves as a glimpse into what it was like: a combination of pro and fan writers, writing about aspects of the GFFA that are sometimes off the beaten path. And the endcap for the collection is a collaborative four-part story written by Zahn and Stackpole set before The Empire Strikes Back.

THE STORIES:

"First Contact" by Timothy Zahn
Oh no, Karrde’s puns are seriously dad-level bad. Hart and Seoul? Uwana Buyer? It was nice to see his first encounter with Mara Jade, and I was sad to see the last of Tapper, but it felt generally lacking in substance. It also felt weird that Karrde and Tapper never commented on Mara’s pseudonym; “Celina Marniss” is awfully similar to Melina Carniss, Karrde’s former employee who was spying for Isard in The Bacta War.

"Tinian on Trial" by Kathy Tyers
Apparently Tyers wrote “The Prize Pelt: The Tale of Bossk” first, but this story was both set earlier chronologically and released sooner: Issue 4 of Star Wars Adventure Journal was published in November 1994, while Tales of the Bounty Hunters wasn’t published until December 1996. I felt like this was an origin story but nothing more. It set the stage for future adventures with Tinian; I just wish that we had gotten some of those future adventures.

"The Final Exit" by Patricia A. Jackson
I rarely criticize writing style in Star Wars stories, because the writing is usually serviceable. But this story by Jackson was a difficult read. Her writing style is overwritten and overwrought, and there are way too many adjectives and additions. There were also multiple instances of POV jumping without a scene change delineated; since the story isn’t written in omniscient third person, it tended to get confusing whose viewpoint we were in. I also found the character of Brandl A LOT to process: he was an actor cum Jedi Knight cum Imperial Inquisitor?



"Missed Chance" by Michael A. Stackpole
The one features Corran right before he joins Rogue Squadron in the first X-Wing book, and contains the impetus behind him joining the New Republic. I loved how Whistler (his astromech) was formenting rebellion among college students on Garqi, but Corran seemed overly involved in the plot. How long has he been posing as the Moff’s aide? How long has he even been on Garqi? Fun, but the details were a little fuzzy.

"Retreat from Coruscant" by Laurie Burns
I really liked this one! We follow a mail courier stuck on Coruscant during the Imperial attack in Dark Empire. It featured short cameos from Zahn characters like General Bel Iblis, Colonel Bremen, and Mara Jade, and I enjoyed having a main character who wasn’t a military person, but just a civilian drawn into a perilous situation.

"A Certain Point of View" by Charlene Newcomb
Newcomb was asked to write a story based on the cover illustration for West End Games’ “Riders of the Maelstrom”, so we learn the redheaded woman on the cover is Celia, the navigator on the Kuari Princess. Set during A New Hope, the story ends with the death of her friend and her defection to the side of the Rebels. I wondered, though, whether this was part of a sequence or just a stand-alone, because while we got a sufficient amount of backstory for Celia, it ended somewhat abruptly.

"Blaze of Glory" by Tony Russo
Set post-Thrawn trilogy (I guess), this story was about a group of mercenaries set to free some children from slavers. The Imperial threat (the Pentastar Alignment) was completely foreign to me, though, which made me wonder if they were a recurring element from Russo’s other stories in the Adventure Journal. We follow the team medic, who wants to find out what happened to her parents; she never does! A lot of action scenes, but I never really connected with the characters.

"Slaying Dragons" by Angela Phillips
This was another story that didn’t work for me, primarily because the main character is a nine-year-old child. Like Anakin Solo in the Corellian trilogy, she had a level of technical prowess far beyond what I think someone of that age could attain. I also wasn’t crazy about the ending. She leaves her parents and joins the Rebels! I know her parents weren’t sympathetic to the Rebel cause, but she was nine! That won’t end well!

"Do No Harm" by Erin Endom
Maybe my favorite story of the bunch! Set sometime after the Battle of Yavin, it follows Aurin, a Rebel doctor, who’s been sent along on an extraction mission. She has to reconcile her medical training (specifically, the imperative to Do No Harm), with her role in the mission and the threat she’ll have to face. She’s been included on this mission because the Rebel operative they’re trying to extract has a serious health condition, but if they can’t successfully rescue him then they’ll have to kill him. She struggles with that, and also with figuring out whether it’s ever right to resort to violence. And she has trouble accepting the decisions she had to make on that mission! Aurin’s dilemma felt realistic, and it was a unique take.

Side Trip by Timothy Zahn (Part One and Part Four) and Michael A. Stackpole (Part Two and Part Three)
Jodo Kast (but not really, it’s Grand Admiral Thrawn) uses a mixed group of traders and Rebels to take down Zekka Thyne and Black Sun on Corellia, and Hal and Corran Horn also get thrown into the mix. I liked Stackpole’s segments better than Zahn’s; not for any stylistic reasons, just because I preferred the developments in Parts 2 and 3 more than in the parts that bookended them. Corran and Hal were the most interesting characters to me; Corran is not very sympathetic to the Rebels at this point, and while he doesn’t like CorSec working with the Empire, he views it as the lesser of two evils.

Like in a lot of Thrawn’s later appearances, I found his schemes a bit over the top. He has a plan in place, and has to improvise on the fly, but it goes off really really well for him. It’s almost as though the more Zahn tries to flesh him out and make him sympathetic after The Last Command, the more unrealistic I find him. But I liked seeing how and why Thyne was sent to Kessel, and I enjoyed Corran’s interactions with his father.

ISSUES:

Tales from the Empire is all over the place timeline-wise. Some stories are set during the Original Trilogy; some are set post-Return of the Jedi. Stackpole and Zahn’s stories service as prequels to existing books—”First Contact” is set before Heir to the Empire, “Missed Chance” before Rogue Squadron, and Side Trip sets up Vader and Xizor’s feud in Shadows of the Empire--but the other stories featured more nebulous connections. There’s no theme, like with the previous three collections, so the beginning of each story could be disorienting as you’re trying to figure out what it’s about and when it’s set.

I also found that when you mix pro writers with fan writers, you can end up with variable quality. On the whole, I thought most of the stories were well-written; some of them didn’t work so well for me, and I’m not sure if that was due to their amateur nature or because I didn’t connect with the subject matter.

And actually, Tales from the Empire was probably the fan writer’s dream: the idea that there was an officially-sanctioned Star Wars magazine that accepted fan submissions, and those stories could in turn eventually be published in an actual mainstream book.

IN CONCLUSION:

Tales from the Empire offers a lot of glimpses into original characters by non-professional writers. Some of them were really good (I highly recommend “Do No Harm” by Erin Endom); some weren’t my favorites. But the nice thing about a short story collection is that if one story doesn’t work for you, just try another one.

I only wish that it was easier to access more of the stories from the Star Wars Adventure Journal, because some of them were clearly part one or a continuing story in a sequence (like Kathy Tyers’s Tinian story), and I would like to read some of those.


Next up: the first of Aaron Allston’s X-Wing books: Wraith Squadron.

My YouTube review: https://youtu.be/y_wuaBUSbdk

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of these stories are fairly middling so in fairness I would say this is more a 3.5. The saving grace for this one was the "short novel" at the end which was pretty awesome so it does end with a good taste in your mouth.

[Gretchen Fatouros · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book of short stories BEFORE "Tales from the New Republic"

To give you an idea of how much I enjoyed the first few stories, I had to go buy the book instead of staying with the library book! Definitely a good book for any Star Wars book collection!

1st story (First Contact, by Timothy Zahn): Thinking cute little story & then I recognize the name of the person at the end - woah! Not sure time period, but guessing probably before Return of the Jedi.
Looks like you might be able to continue on with 2nd story in Stories of the New Rebellion (not sure, as haven't read yet - soon)

2nd story (Tinian Trial, by Kathy Tyers): very action packed. Probably need to take note of the names - wondering if we will see them again... Pretty sure this is before Return of the Jedi.

3rd story (The Final Exit, by Patricia A. Jackson): didn't like this one at all. Wasn't much to it and the writing seemed a bit choppy. Time - before Return of the Jedi.

4th story (Missed Chance, by Michael A. Stackpole): looks like a may have messed up my order because I read the story in "Tales from the New Republic" 1st (oops). Time - after Return of the Jedi. Looks like I may be ready for the X-wing series now...

Wait - read Story 10 ("Side Trip" by Timothy Zahn & Michael A. Stackpole) before X-wing series which begins 2 1/2 years after Return of the Jedi. This story happens before Shadows of the Empire (the book between Empire Strikes Back & Return of the Jedi). Side Trip is set BEFORE the Empire Strikes Back.


5th story (Retreat from Coruscant, by Laurie Burns): after the x-wing series & Timothy Zahn's trilogy with Heir to the Empire...

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the title, I would have expected stories set inside the Empire and/or from an Imperial point of view, but that isn't really the case here. Only the last story touches on an Imperial point of view, and it is still largely told from the point of view of people in opposition to the Empire (or with the Empire in opposition to them). So it isn't what it says on the tin. It's more: Tales from the Galaxy.

The stories were rather mixed, and in several cases ("Final Exit" was the worst for this), we weren't really given enough of the characters to care about them. Mostly, though, the stories were all right reads, just... pretty forgettable. I think only the very first story, "First Contact" stayed with me at all - probably because there was just enough of a mystery to be gripping, and Talon Karrde is a character I'm already familiar with.

The final story, "Side Trip," should have been better than it was. It suffered both from being too complicated, and from having kind of a downer ending, if you think of it from the point of view of the characters you spent the most time with. (Also, was Corran Horn always this much of an idiot?)

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

an uneven collection of short stories, but fun. My favorite one is the novella cowritten by Zahn and Stackpole. It is wacky Thrawn shenanigans galore, humor, and poor Captain Niriz being a mother hen to the Grand Admiral. He even had the Admiral's favorite mineral water ready to go. Thrawn almost assassinating a drug lord because of terrible taste in art will always make me laugh.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stars: 3.5
Re-read? Yes but definitely not necessary.
Recommend to: People already invested in the EU.

This book is better and worse than the other Tales stories I've read (Jabba's Palace, Bounty Hunters, and Mos Eisley Cantina). It was better in that most of the stories were at least interesting and enjoyable to a degree, while the other books had at least some of the stories be pretty slow. I did miss how connected the stories were in those earlier books where the stories were all focused around a few scenes from the movies. This book was a collection of stories that were originally in the Star Wars Adventure Journals. It allowed the books to all be pretty interesting because nobody had to write about something dumb based off of something in a movie for 1/2 a second. It also made the book feel like completely random stories with no connection other than a general time period.

My thoughts on each story:

First Contact by Timothy Zahn - A pretty fun little story even if the general plot is kind of silly. Early Talon Karrde meeting up with Mara Jade.

Tinian on Trial by Kathy Tyers - Pretty good but a bit too ridiculous. Tinian's family develops new Stormtrooper armor for the Empire and they are completely in shock that the Empire does bad things. The Empire is also completely incompetent and allow Tinian and her fiance to escape with her fiance destroying the entire facility.

The Final Exit by Patricia Jackson - This was difficult to judge. Some of the characters were interesting, but it didn't work as a short story. I didn't care for some of the writing, especially when characters would constantly be aggressively whispering or raging for no apparent reason.

Missed Chance by Michael A. Stackpole - This was a surprising miss from a writer I enjoy. The story sadly barely features Corran Horn. He is too all-powerful in his abilities of manipulating others, and we don't get to see hardly any of it.

Retreat from Coruscant by Laurie Burns - One of the more enjoyable stories. It's interesting and somewhat realistic.

A Certain Point of View by Charlene Newcomb - I swear I've read this story somewhere before, but I enjoyed it all the same. I wasn't blown away by a few of the decisions the author made, but it was entertaining. The rebel agent gun smuggler who is a security chief misses the Imperial agent at point black range and is killed because of it.

A Blaze of Glory by Tony Russo - Generally okay, but the plot is absurd. The mercenary squad you follow consists of four people that they purposefully send to take out a slaver camp consisting of dozens of entrenched soldiers. The entire plot happened because they sent almost nobody on this mission.

Slaying Dragons by Angela Phillips - This one was too silly. The main character is an extremely young girl living on the Kuat shipyards. She can hack into the Imperial databases with absolute ease and download all the information she wants and can even maneuver schedules around so they can steal a ship part worth 35 million credits. The argument is that the Empire is just lazy and don't try that hard to have adequate security.

Do No Harm by Erin Endom - Probably my least favorite story. It was still decent at times, but the protagonist was extremely annoying. She was a doctor who idiotically has to have the stupid debate about if shooting someone in self defense means she broke her vow to do no harm.



Side Trip by Timothy Zahn and Michael A. Stackpole - Pretty good, but the omnipotence of Thrawn was too much and undeserved.

Like others, the cover was somewhat preplexing. It is clearly Boba Fett, but he isn't in the book at all. It just seems like they were lazy and thought they already have some artwork for Mandalorian armor, so they just used it. I just don't understand why they would put Slave I there.

[Alana · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are a couple more standout stories in this collection, although most just provide a little background. All enjoyable to read, and expand the SW universe more, but some of them are rather forgettable.

Introduction Peter Schweighofer
3/5

WAY too detailed on the RPGs and other nerd-dom, but how the Expanded Universe came into existence and how he came to know the other writers is interesting.

First Contact Timothy Zahn
4/5

Simple story of the introduction of Mara Jade and Talon Karrde. Has a little action, some mystery, and a teensy bit more of Mara's beginnings.

Tinian on Trial Kathy Tyers
5/5

I'm not familiar with these characters if they've been introduced in other stories, but they certainly have a strong beginning in this story! Intrigue, escape, lost love... good stuff!

The Final Exit Patricia A. Jackson
2/5

Meh. Boring characters, nothing catching, a brief play at empathy near the end, but not enough to really engage.

Miss Chance Michael A. Stackpole
4/5

Corran Horn's introduction to just before Rogue Squadron. Several intrigues, rescuing a crew, loner-turned-rebel....all the stuff of Star Wars.

Retreat from Coruscant Laurie Burns
5/5

A fun little action story with some smaller side characters, but equally important mission, and a "what do I really want out of life" kind of story, and some grudgingly earned respect along the way.

A Certain Point of View Charlene Newcomb
5/5

Interesting perspective from an ordinary citizen, not involved in either the Rebellion or the Empire, just living, being innocuous. Then getting pulled in both directions, and ultimately facing losing all. Which way to go? How to choose between two sides who have both hurt you so much?

Blaze of Glory Tony Russo
4/5

Several characters that I'm not familiar with, either because this is their only story or because I just haven't been introduced to them elsewhere, but a group of friendships that would be interesting to explore in a longer setting of pages. Bittersweet ending, coming-of-age almost, and some military tactics. Just another day in the Star Wars universe.

Slaying Dragons Angela Phillips
3/5

Cute, childish story where the child fools the bad guys and helps out the Rebellion. Simple story, but pleasant.

Do No Harm Erin Endore
5/5

Very thought-provoking story about the dilemma of the doctor: is there ever a time when it's more appropriate to take a life than to save one? And what are the consequences afterwards?

Side Trip (Parts One-Four) Timothy Zahn & Michael A. Stackpole
4.5/5

Very interesting collaboration by Zhan and Stackpole, sharing some familiar characters, using Thrawn-ian tactis, and setting up some events in Empire Strikes Back and later in the Thrawn trilogy. Lots of intrigue and layers upon layers of playing one group against another, although a little confusing for quite awhile.

[Marshall A. Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tales from the empire

First Contact
Great story, but only a couple standout characters; for all the character names and races to keep track of, there wasn’t much differentiation between most of them.

Tinian on Trial
Felt like the first chapter of a novel rather than a short story. I was excited for a second before I realized none of the other stories would follow these characters.

The final exit
Maybe the best Star Wars story I’ve read yet. Great settings, great characters, great plot. Perfect little story.

Missed Chance
A decent story with a couple of twists and ultimately felt like a bit of a joke on rich kids. The pacing was wicked fast; it would probably fare better fleshed out as a novella.

Retreat from Corusant
My second favourite story in this collection. Fun concept, good story.

A certain point of view
Easily my least favourite. Riddled with cliches.

Blaze of glory
Felt the most like a proper role playing adventure. The characters were interesting, the story was a little underutilized, but it was decent nonetheless.

Slaying dragons
About as bad as “a certain point of view”. The writing was less interesting than any of the other stories and the story was weak and short.

Do no harm
One of the more interesting story concepts. I wish they’d had more time to flesh out the philosophy and politics of personal morality within the realm of war. Otherwise it was a decent story.

Side Trip
Standard writing, not much in the way of feeling like a creative take; they set up the characters, set the stakes, throw in some twists, and voila. I think there were a few too many named characters for a Star Wars short story/novella; probably one of the results of being written by novelists. I’d have to reread it to adequately follow all the threads which are woven into it, but the story itself wasn’t interesting enough to me to want to do that.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Before Timothy Zahn restarted the Expanded Universe with the Thrawn trilogy, West End Games did a lot of expanding themselves, not just with their Star Wars RPG. They published stories in their own magazine, with the intention of shedding more light on characters, settings, and races that were featured in the game materials. Tales from the Empire is the first of two collections Schweighofer put together using some of those stories.

Like any anthology, Tales from the Empire is a mixed bag of quality, with some well-written stories (Patricia A. Jackson's "The Final Exit" and Michael A. Stackpole's "Missed Chance" stand out) and some other stories that are less interesting. In his foreword, Schweighofer discusses how he collected stories by well-known authors (Timothy Zahn and Stackpole, for example), but he also collected stories by lesser-known authors. I liked Erin Endom's "Do No Harm", since it was written by a medical doctor, and had a lot of medical detail, but the other newbie stories were just OK. I didn't actively dislike any of the stories (save for Side Trip, a novella co-written by Zahn and Stackpole; it just didn't live up to its potential), but there were only a few stories I expect to remember years from now.

One thing I did like about the anthology is how the stories focused on characters outside of the Skywalkers. There might have been a reference or two here and there, but for the most part, we had a chance to see other people who played an important role in the universe. By the same token, the stories weren't able to rely on character development from other sources, so it took longer to get a sense of them, in what were already shorter works. Still, I like that the authors recognized that there were other characters in the universe worthy of their own stories.

I can appreciate what West End and Schweighofer did for the Expanded Universe, especially in keeping the license alive, but I can't help but feel like these stories would be better for players of the RPG. They rely so much on material created by the company, other readers will miss some of the references. Plus, unlike the anthologies edited by Kevin J. Anderson, the stories aren't based on a famous event, making them more esoteric. As a result, it felt like the collection missed the mark with me.

[Eric Sullenberger · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a collection of short stories some of them are great and others not so much. A simple observation: Timothy Zahn and Michael Stackpole esch wrote a short story and they did one together that's long enough it should probably be called a novella. That means they make up easily a ¼ and probably ⅓ of the whole book. It's not a complaint since they're both good, but their standalone stories were both origin stories and the twist weren't as surprising as they try to make them out to be. Their join story was great and probably the best of the bunch. Of course, part of that is because they got so much more time to develop the story. A handful of the others felt like they were solely there to be retcons. I also have a problem with the title. The fifth book in the series is "Tales from the New Republic" and I really expected this one to be about the Empire itself. It was more about rebels against the Empire and from the perspective of rebels or smugglers. I think they're even a couple stories where the Empire didn't even show up. I'm fine with the story is being from elsewhere, but it definitely means the book isn't what I expected. This is one book that I owned and never did get around to reading. I've only read it now because the creator Decade Bird published it as an AI read audiobook. I'm glad to finally fill in this and a few other gaps in my EU Legends era readings.

[J.B. Mathias · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a mostly underwhelming collection of short stories. What made the other collections like tales from the bounty hunters or tales from jabbas palace good was they took interesting background characters and wrote interesting short stories to give them more of a backstory. All of these stories used original characters for the most part that seemed bland and one dimensional and mostly derivative because it's hard to develop interesting characters in just 30 pages. Everyone is a smuggler with a large alien counterpart...unless it's Han Solo and Chewbacca it gets old.

I like Zahns contributions to Star Wars but his short story here was so minor and focussed on the least interesting character from the Thrawn trilogy. The Stackpole contributions were flat because I just don't find Coran Horn to be a compelling protagonist. The other stories were varying degrees of interesting. None of them were bad but altogether they all round out to being just okay.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have found through a recent spree of reading these now non canonical star wars books that the shorter novellas and shorter stories work best for me.
There is less filler which I've found with many of the books that have seemed to stretch a fairly thin plot over two or more commonly three books.
This one was one that I found enjoyable and given its lack of main star wars characters (a couple do turn up here and there though) some of the story's feel as if they could co exist in the new Star Wars universe.
Nothing really earth shattering in regard the writing of premises in this book but a fun enough read and I have the companion piece which tells tales of the rebellion to read at some at yet undermined point.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I picked this up I was expecting stories from an imperial perspective, with a couple from different perspectives, whilst this is what I would have loved to have seen I still love some of these stories. In my opinion none of these stories are bad but some of them are more significant than others. My favourite part about this book is the references to the original Thrawn trilogy, if you love the trilogy as much as me then you will enjoy this book purely for those connections. I would have given this book five stars had one or two of the stories featured more iconic characters, however I still highly recommend this book to any Thrawn Trilogy fans or anyone who is enjoying this series as much as me.

[Alyce Caswell · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I spent my pocket money on this book, back in the 1990s, it was so I could get my hands - and eyeballs - on the Corran Horn stories inside it. I didn't find the other stories all that relevant or interesting. Now, much older and wiser in that I actually read the introduction this time (lol), I can understand my initial reaction. The majority of these tales were inspired by role-playing games and were intended to provide inspiration themselves. I think they might be successful in that way... although not all of them were successful in holding my attention even as an adult.

Come for the backstory stuff (i.e. stories including Mara Jade, Talon Karrde, Thrawn & Corran Horn). Grit your way through the other stuff.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

i swear to god i read this in 2006 but I remembered like. a half of a thing from it and that was it.

it's alright, way better than tales of the bounty hunters which I read immediately before this. despite being named "tales from the empire" it's primarily about people messing with and hating the empire

a woman drinks a glass of Elba Water in this. mara lays into karrde for his shitty puns.

please read if you want to hear people talk about "nudes" in a star wars book which, surprisingly, means exactly what you think it means

corran horn and thrawn almost make out in it????? i don't understand why this happened. this is not a joke.

[Gary Varga · Rating 4 out of 5]

CAVEAT: The review and rating is aimed at Star Wars fans who also enjoy the books.

Having bought this when first released, then took it on holiday to read, I discovered a bookmark in this little gem. Turns out that I must of forgotten that I had only got ⅔s of the way through. So this review is based on some fuzzy memories that I enjoyed the earlier stories and my experience ready the last five.

A great set of tales that, unsurprisingly, all take a different approach to the Star Wars universe. There are plenty of tie-ins with both the films and other books. A most pleasurable read.

[Colm Jennings · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some great stories around the original trilogy

Some welcome throwbacks to original characters. Loved the appearance of Colonel Veers. A nod to Shadows of the Empire, and some new characters I had never read before. It is the attention to detail with these secondary, seemingly minor, characters that built the star wars universe into a story verse that I can go back to time and again. I really enjoyed the multiple short stories here and would highly recommend.

[Anthony Emmel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yep, I'm giving this one five stars. A couple of the stories do drag, but the stories by Zahn and Stackpole shine enough to make up for it.

Also, two of the stories features medics as the protagonists, so as a former Army medic those are aces. Another story brings Shakespeare into the Star Wars while telling the story of a Force user.