From the Bookshelf of The Expanded Universe…

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

Timothy Zahn

Start date: June 1, 2013

Finish date: June 30, 2013

Why we're reading this: Since its release in 1991, this has been an EU classic for almost every one of us. Zahn started lifting t…more
[close] Since its release in 1991, this has been an EU classic for almost every one of us. Zahn started lifting the curtain on the Galaxy far, far away, and we've been loving the stories ever since.

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Nov 26, 2012 D rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

This was recommended to me as the first book to read as I embarked on my journey into the Star Wars expanded universe. After a few lead in novels to fully flesh out some of the major players (Outbound Flight, Allegiance, and Choices of One), I was ready to take the plunge.

And plunge I did!

Twenty years hence, I now know why Heir to the Empire has attracted so much attention. It is fantastically written with very strong character development and a plot that reeks of intrigue and twists. The return ...more

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Dec 05, 2012 Alli rated it it was amazing

Shelves: star-wars, own

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Alrighty, where do I start? I guess I’ll start with why this took me so damn long to read.

I’ll explain, to be honest I’m very picky about my books and what I read. With Star Wars, I’ve discovered I can’t be like that unless I want to take forever and a day to read a book. If I do that, then well it gets drawn out and it’s harder and harder to come back to the book. Heir to the Empire, or Heir as I will call it, is one of the books (for me) that I tried to read multiple times and got stuck at on Alrighty, where do I start? I guess I’ll start with why this took me so damn long to read.

I’ll explain, to be honest I’m very picky about my books and what I read. With Star Wars, I’ve discovered I can’t be like that unless I want to take forever and a day to read a book. If I do that, then well it gets drawn out and it’s harder and harder to come back to the book. Heir to the Empire, or Heir as I will call it, is one of the books (for me) that I tried to read multiple times and got stuck at one singular point. I get distracted or wonder ‘where is this going???’ and then I drop the book for several months. I pick it up again and try to read and get stuck at that one spot. It happened three times before I finally managed to get over that hump (about chapter 8 or so).

So to get over this, I listened to the audiobook. Not the original audiobook, but the newest version of the audiobook by Marc Thompson. It’s almost as good as a full cast audiobook, because oh my Lord you guys. He does very good impressions, and even though he’s a male, his Leia and Mara aren’t that bad.

So I listened to maybe 90% of this book, and I am completely SHOCKED at how much I enjoyed this book. Because once I got over that hump of chapter like 8 or 9, it actually got very interesting and sped up.

The Bad

The beginning 150 pages or so are really hard to get into, in my opinion. After that hump of trying to get into the book, it gets exciting and it gets fun. It’s no wonder this was so damn popular.
The — er how do I say this — overuse of things like: “Touché” and “Point”, as well as kind of overdoing the movie lines. However it’s really not something that is incredibly bothering.
The fact that they end up together. What do I mean by this? The part that really got to me is when Han/Leia and Luke end up at Lando. THEY WERE ON DIFFERENT MISSIONS. HOW DO THEY END UP GOING TO THE SAME PLACE????? That REALLLY bothered me.

The Good

The characterization. I personally liked how Zahn writes the characters. Seeing as this is not my first Zahn novel, this is not something new to me.
Mara and Luke. The scenes between the two of them are very good. Maybe it’s my inner shipper, but they work well together. Even if she’s trying to kill him.
Thrawn. I like that the villain of the novel is actually someone that I can like, and look forward to reading. It reminds me of Vector Prime, because I like the Vong thus far.
Wookiees????? I really enjoyed Leia’s trip to Kashyyyk…
So in conclusion, I was surprised with how much I liked this. And I’m kind of disappointed that I hadn’t read it sooner. However I’m about 90 or so pages in the sequel and school starts soon so woooo~ ...more

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