Rating: 
Summary: Return of the Jedi' master
Review: Game on...After suffering greatly from the parsimonious (and at times even scandalous!) inanity churned by the likes of Hambly and Anderson, Zahn returns to liberate the Star Wars universe with this towering masterpiece. I have to admit that I felt a little cheated when I started reading this novel. Over the years since the Empire trilogy, I have come to realise what a unique and incredible villain Zahn had created in Thrawn. I usually despise the concept of past characters being resurrected as it cheapens the original story. But in this case I was willing to overlook it as I so desperately wanted to see the return of Thrawn. So you can imagine my vast disappointment when I discovered the legendary villain is in fact an impostor. As I continued reading however, I began to realise two things. Firstly, the intricate plot/sub-plot development revolving around the Camaas incident and the issue of clones aboard pirate ships, was judiciously handled by the author in a manner and style that is easy to read and understand. Secondly, had the real Grand Admiral Thrawn been introduced then the New Republic (even with their Jedi knights) wouldn't have a hope in hell of surviving simply because Zahn created a flawless genius. Unlike Vader, Thrawn does not fight one-to-one, he is a leader who is a strategic mastermind. One, who could beat you at a game of chess starting with only half the pieces! The one key area where several SW authors have failed is with the handling of Skywalker (what a name!). Other authors tend to either give Luke ridiculous omnipotent powers or find some means of preventing him using his abilities; both of which are unrealistic in terms of character development. Zahn however stays true to the farm boy hero created by Lucas and more importantly, finds the right balance between his force ability and his human characteristics; that is, we can see he is now a Jedi master but also that he is still the same old Luke. As for Mara Jade, although I liked the Emperor's hand idea and her personal history, I didn't particularly like the character in the first series, simply because her aggressive hatred and emotional turmoil overshadowed any endearing qualities. This was my one complaint of the original series. However in this novel, which takes place ten years later, we see a very different Mara Jade. She is much more relaxed and is at peace with herself. Her "association" with Skywalker is intriguing and I for one cannot wait to see how this pans out in "Vision of the Future". Incidentally, if you are a Mara fan, I recommend that you read Stackpole's "I, Jedi" prior to this one; I can't really explain why without spoiling the story, so I won't even try! Finally, I cannot emphasise my delight at seeing Leia wield her lightsaber once more. It's all well and good making her head of the Republic but Zahn for one has not forgotten that she is a Jedi twin and part of the "new hope" emphasised by a certain revered 900 year old Jedi master.
Rating:
Summary: Zahn delivers yet again with another episode in Star Wars...
Review: Get another taste of Timothy Zahn's excellent contributions to the Star Wars universe with Specter of the Past. Be sure to also pick up Vision of the Future, the second book in this 2-part series, so you can read back-to-back without skipping a beat. Thoroughly enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Tim does it again!
Review: I admit right up front I am a firm believer that Timothy Zahn is THE Best Star Wars author out there -- bar none. Simply put, he has NO equal -- PERIOD. At least not that I have read. Anyway, after reading Zahn's original trilogy (which are the standard by which ALL Star Wars novels ought to be judged, by the way), I rekindled my interest and love in that Galaxy Far, Far Away and anxiously started to read as many other novels that came after as I could find -- only to be disappointed each and every time (with 2 or 3 possible exceptions...). Suddenly I see 'Specter of the Past' with Zahn's name on it, and my interest goes back UP again. The challenge facing him this time around wasn't so much to write a story of his choosing, but now he must incorporate into his novels events that have happened following his Trilogy by authors who have all but ruined the Star Wars name. In this effort, Zahn proves he us up to the task yet again. Many feel deprived that he chose not to explore several avenues established by other authors (such as what is going on at the Jedi Academy) but I for one am glad that he ignored these and instead developed an original story that built upon his original 3 novels and continued to expand his characterization of some of the greatest Star Wars creations to date, namely Mara Jade, Talon Karrde and Captain Pellaeon. I was one of the many who was genuinely upset when Thrawn bit the dust in Zahn's 'The Last Command'. He was in every way a better bad guy than the Emperor or Vader combined. Sure, they were more evil, but Thrawn was a far superior military strategist. Where Vader & the Emperor ruled through fear, Thrawn ruled through brilliance and gained the respect and allegiance of his army by treating them fair and providing them with results, sometimes against impossible odds. So, when Zahn hints of Thrawns return in 'Specter' I was absolutely thrilled. But is it in fact the REAL Thrawn, or a clever impersonator? In many of the previous and following SW novels, the conflicts have been larger than life and having the tiny remnants of the Empire developing Super Weapon after Super Weapon is lame and totally boring. With Zahn's careful writing, Star Wars begins to delve into what I feel to be a much more realistic setting for this series: internal conflict within the New Republic, and continuing threats from those within the Empire who wish to derail the upcoming possible treaty with the New Republic. I think that because the plot is more character driven it becomes instantly more interesting and overall more entertaining. While not as overall satisfying as his original Thrawn Trilogy, I give VERY high marks to Zahn for being able to thread together this story, and meshing it with the plot-lines established by other authors in this series. If you count yourself a fan of the Star Wars Universe, it ought to be required reading to pick up anything written by Timothy Zahn, but you should decide for yourself. In my personal opinion, he is the best author in the Star Wars Universe.
Rating:
Summary: 5 Star effort from the best author in the Star Wars Universe
Review: I admit right up front I am a firm believer that Timothy Zahn is THE Best Star Wars author out there -- bar none. Simply put, he has NO equal -- PERIOD. At least not that I have read. Anyway, after reading Zahn's original trilogy (which are the standard by which ALL Star Wars novels ought to be judged, by the way), I rekindled my interest and love in that Galaxy Far, Far Away and anxiously started to read as many other novels that came after as I could find -- only to be disappointed each and every time (with 2 or 3 possible exceptions...). Suddenly I see 'Specter of the Past' with Zahn's name on it, and my interest goes back UP again. The challenge facing him this time around wasn't so much to write a story of his choosing, but now he must incorporate into his novels events that have happened following his Trilogy by authors who have all but ruined the Star Wars name. In this effort, Zahn proves he us up to the task yet again. Many feel deprived that he chose not to explore several avenues established by other authors (such as what is going on at the Jedi Academy) but I for one am glad that he ignored these and instead developed an original story that built upon his original 3 novels and continued to expand his characterization of some of the greatest Star Wars creations to date, namely Mara Jade, Talon Karrde and Captain Pellaeon. I was one of the many who was genuinely upset when Thrawn bit the dust in Zahn's 'The Last Command'. He was in every way a better bad guy than the Emperor or Vader combined. Sure, they were more evil, but Thrawn was a far superior military strategist. Where Vader & the Emperor ruled through fear, Thrawn ruled through brilliance and gained the respect and allegiance of his army by treating them fair and providing them with results, sometimes against impossible odds. So, when Zahn hints of Thrawns return in 'Specter' I was absolutely thrilled. But is it in fact the REAL Thrawn, or a clever impersonator? In many of the previous and following SW novels, the conflicts have been larger than life and having the tiny remnants of the Empire developing Super Weapon after Super Weapon is lame and totally boring. With Zahn's careful writing, Star Wars begins to delve into what I feel to be a much more realistic setting for this series: internal conflict within the New Republic, and continuing threats from those within the Empire who wish to derail the upcoming possible treaty with the New Republic. I think that because the plot is more character driven it becomes instantly more interesting and overall more entertaining. While not as overall satisfying as his original Thrawn Trilogy, I give VERY high marks to Zahn for being able to thread together this story, and meshing it with the plot-lines established by other authors in this series. If you count yourself a fan of the Star Wars Universe, it ought to be required reading to pick up anything written by Timothy Zahn, but you should decide for yourself. In my personal opinion, he is the best author in the Star Wars Universe.
Rating:
Summary: Great Read!!!
Review: I loved this book!! Zahn is the master of the Star Wars literary universe! The plotline in this book seemd entirely plausible based on Zahn's first three books. Masterful, great action, and, as always with Zahn, he takes you inside the minds of the characters, with great success. Label this as a must read!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: very cool and thrilling... but not my favorite
Review: I really liked this book a lot!! The story is good and interesting, and not like this normal SW novel stuff like building another superweapon or so. The reason why I didn't rate this book with five stars is that I am, unlike most SW fans out there, not such a huge fan of Timothy Zahn. I liked his first Thrawn Trilogy but those weren't the best SW novels I've read. And what I didn't like about this book (and also about its sequel, Vision of the Future) was that Zahn writes these books as though no other novels had been printed during the time between his first Thrawn trilogy and this duology. All the characters that he created play mostly big parts in these books, like Thrawn, Pellaeon, the Noghri, Mara Jade, Talon Karrde, and so on. I am sure that Zahn or Thrawn fans are happy about this but other people like me, who love most of the SW novels written by other authours, too, will be a little disappointed since it seems as though nothing really happened in between Zahn's two SW book series. But yet, this book is really a lot of fun to read and I couldn't put it away once I had started to read it. I recommend reading "Specter" and its sequel, too, but I personally think that there are also a lot of cool SW novels out there that were not written by Zahn and do not deal with Grand Admiral Thrawn.
Rating:
Summary: Such an abrupt ending!
Review: I think this book could have been much more. The ending left quite a bit to be desired for as the story stops quite abruptly. In terms of the action and pace, this book is typical Zahn. It can be described like a marathon, the pace is fast and it goes on for a while. Maybe Zahn is a better marketer than I thought since this book left me hunkering for more. This is a great series and the story is built up well.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty good, not Zahn's best.
Review: I thought this book was great, though not quite up to Zahn's usual. Though not exactly action-filled, it was a relieving change from those cheap-plotted "galaxy-destroying superweapons" novels that seem to be infecting the Star Wars Universe lately. This also reinstilled my hope in the potential Luke/Mara relationship(despite the name I'm using in this review), there were a lot of hints dropped there to just be nothing. "You getting off me Skywalker, or are you just getting comfortable?" Mmmm, hmm....too interesting to be nothing. After reading Jedi Academy and the other novels and seeing how Mara's character was portrayed, this was a relief! The book was very well written, but not that exciting, the storyline was still good and the characters were great, though it didn't seem right having them remember things that happened ten years ago as if they had just happened a few hours ago. I also don't think I would like the idea that Thrawn could still be! alive, too many things contradict it and to bring him back would leave a lot of inconsistencies and seem very cheesy. I believe this is a great lead-in for the last book in this timeline, one of the best books written since the Thrawn trilogy! Though I probably wouldn't pay the price in hardback for it(paperback maybe), I would still recommend it to any good Star Wars fan.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty good, not Zahn's best.
Review: I thought this book was great, though not quite up to Zahn's usual. Though not exactly action-filled, it was a relieving change from those cheap-plotted "galaxy-destroying superweapons" novels that seem to be infecting the Star Wars Universe lately. This also reinstilled my hope in the potential Luke/Mara relationship(despite the name I'm using in this review), there were a lot of hints dropped there to just be nothing. "You getting off me Skywalker, or are you just getting comfortable?" Mmmm, hmm....too interesting to be nothing. After reading Jedi Academy and the other novels and seeing how Mara's character was portrayed, this was a relief! The book was very well written, but not that exciting, the storyline was still good and the characters were great, though it didn't seem right having them remember things that happened ten years ago as if they had just happened a few hours ago. I also don't think I would like the idea that Thrawn could still be! alive, too many things contradict it and to bring him back would leave a lot of inconsistencies and seem very cheesy. I believe this is a great lead-in for the last book in this timeline, one of the best books written since the Thrawn trilogy! Though I probably wouldn't pay the price in hardback for it(paperback maybe), I would still recommend it to any good Star Wars fan.
Rating:
Summary: Zahn is still the king!!!
Review: If you think the Thrawn Trilogy was the best thing ever written in the expanded Star Wars Universe and if you think Andersen's Jedi Academy is the worst then you'll greatly appreciate the addition of the Hand Of Thrawn series. Zahn truelly makes the universe worth expanding again.
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