Heir to the Empire (Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy, #1) in Building a SciFi/Fantasy Library

Aug 27, 2008 Stephen rated it liked it

Shelves: 1990-1999, science-fiction, audiobook, sf-star-trek-star-wars-and-tv

~~A long time~~ 20 years ago, in a ~~galaxy~~ publishing house ~~far, far away~~ looking to suck the monetary marrow out of a popular franchise and develop the next big income stream............
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~~Episode IV~~ Expanded Universe Novel I

A NEW ~~HOPE~~ CASH COW

It is a period of ~~civil war~~ declining profits and brand recognition. A revitalized Star Trek franchise ~~Rebel spaceships~~, striking from a
hidden base rival studio Paramount, have won their first victory against the ~~evil Galactic~~ Luc ...more

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Apr 06, 2008 Keith rated it it was amazing

Shelves: star-wars, best-covers

Stars: 5
Re-read: For sure
Recommend to: This is the best jumping off point for anyone interested in the EU. If this trilogy doesn't do it for you, then the EU probably won't be to your liking. Do not read the 20th anniversary edition if you haven't read pretty much the entire EU.

It's been 15 years since I've read this trilogy, and it was nice to find that it lived up to my memory. This trilogy is peak Star Wars EU in pretty much every way. Zahn does a wonderful job capturing the essence of each o Stars: 5
Re-read: For sure
Recommend to: This is the best jumping off point for anyone interested in the EU. If this trilogy doesn't do it for you, then the EU probably won't be to your liking. Do not read the 20th anniversary edition if you haven't read pretty much the entire EU.

It's been 15 years since I've read this trilogy, and it was nice to find that it lived up to my memory. This trilogy is peak Star Wars EU in pretty much every way. Zahn does a wonderful job capturing the essence of each of the main characters, which is something that many other authors have failed to do. I often subconsciously fixate on all the of the poor decisions authors make and spend much of my reviews criticizing these mistakes (at least as I see them). It was very pleasant to spend almost the entire book satisfied and impressed with what Zahn was able to accomplish.

I read the 20th anniversary edition and I would caution most readers against this for two reasons. 1. I think I would find all of the notes on the side with insights from the author and the editor to be distracting if I were reading it for the first time. It kind of ruins the pace. 2. There are spoilers for the trilogy and more importantly there are stories for the books much further down the line. Zahn causally mentions something that happens at the end of the Legacy of the Force series, which is over 45 books further in the EU. I was surprised when Zahn was having spoilers for his own work, but I was floored when he spoiled things in the distant future. That spoiler is here: (view spoiler)

If you have already read most of the EU (you should at least read through the Legacy of the Force to avoid spoilers), then the 20th anniversary edition was really cool. My appreciation of what Zahn created increased the more he explained his reasoning for making different decisions. There would often be little things that most of us would probably not consciously recognize where Zahn would explain in a note what he was trying to accomplish. One example that stood out in the beginning was Pellaeon would make a comment to an officer that his response did not need to be shouted. I would probably normally think nothing further on that, but Zahn would include a note saying, "I wanted to set up the Fleet as having suffered during the chaos and retreat of the years since Endor, slipping back from the generally efficient war machine shown in the movies to something less polished. Lieutenant Tschel was an example of the eager but inexperienced crewers that the Empire now had to whip into fighting shape, contrasting with the old-school competence and tradition of Captain Pellaeon." That probably isn't the best example, but Zahn would often point out the little things like that that make his writing so believable and seem to fit Star Wars so well. My usual gripe is that the authors for Star Wars novels seemingly have no grasp of who these characters are or how things work in universe. It's really fun to see Zahn illustrate exactly why he is justifiably considered the master of the EU. Here is another example of a note that illustrates Zahn's brilliance: "Early on, I decided that I was going to use only humans as point-of-view characters. Not because I have a problem with aliens or droids, but because I was afraid of giving those POV segments a truly alien flavor might distract from the flow of the story. That meant I would never get into Thrawn's skin and see how exactly he thought. Thus Pellaeon's role was expanded from simply Thrawn's second in command to the man through whom Thrawn was to be seen. To be, in effect, the Dr. Watson to Thrawn's Sherlock Holmes."

My only complaint isn't really a complaint because it didn't really bother me, it is just kind of silly. (view spoiler)

Zahn also proved that excellent writing can overcome a somewhat slow plot. I was interested even on parts I think I would normally find kind of dull because Zahn captured the characters so well.

Other things:
- I found it humorous how often Zahn brings up the complaints he received for a variety of things from fans. It was nice that he didn't need to go into therapy like modern SW creators do, but he also defended his decisions. I didn't always agree with them, but they were always logical. Most of his complaints were about things that screamed EARTH too much for the SW universe. I laughed because the note where he griped a bit about this was one that I had already rolled my eyes at. He mentioned Luke having hot chocolate. This is one of those things that could seem inconsequential and not out of place to some, but to me it's just one of those things that doesn't fit. It's like how you wouldn't think twice about Luke eating a steak, but it would be jarring if he ate a corndog or some smores. Zahn details how he thought this would be a drink that would interested Luke because people on a desert planet probably don't ever have an interest in drinking hot drinks. He even thought about how some deserts are cold, but Tatooine probably wasn't because it had two suns. So even though I rolled my eyes at that line, I still left impressed that Zahn put that much thought into what Luke would drink in a throw-away line. Zahn is the best for a reason.
- There is a line where Luke recognizes that fives floors was too far for even a Jedi to safely leap. I wish Lucas would've shown some of Zahn's restraint.
- It is wild how many key features of the EU were invented by Zahn in this book. To name a few, he introduced: the name of Coruscant for the capitol city. The Katana Fleet. The Chiss. the Noghri. Leia having twins. The characters Thrawn, Pellaeon, Winter, Talon Karrde, Mara Jade, Borsk Fey'lya, Lieutenant Page.
- If only Disney wouldn't have been too proud to make some form of adaptation of this trilogy. It was too late to use the OT characters, but they could've used the basic storyline as a template and use their children or new characters in the OT characters place. This trilogy is lightyears beyond anything Disney created.
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