Rating: 
Summary: A stirring story of the classic star wars saga
Review: This book is about the classic star wars films. some five years after the destruction of the empire, A warlord turns the tables of the war. Meanwhile, a new dark
Jedi has risen.
-Drew Price
Rating: 
Summary: Zahn's Force Rises in this second Thrawn novel
Review: Continuing the "further adventures" of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia Organa Solo, Han Solo, Chewbacca the Wookiee and the rest of the Star Wars heroes, Timothy Zahn followed up his best-selling 1991 Heir to the Empire with this second volume in the Thrawn Trilogy.It is a time of crisis for the New Republic. Even though Darth Vader and the Emperor are dead and the galaxy-spanning Empire reduced to a quarter of its original size, a new Imperial warlord has returned from the Unknown Territories and rallied the cream of the Imperial fleet to mount a savage attack on the still-struggling New Republic. Aided by the insane clone of a long-dead Jedi Master, the tactical genius Grand Admiral Thrawn has discovered the means to clone Imperial troopers, crewers, and pilots to replenish the once-depleted forces of the Empire. Now he searches for the Dark Force, the near-mythical Katana Fleet of ancient but still powerful dreadnaughts lost in a bizarre incident in the days before the Empire. Once in Imperial hands, this massive fleet will help Thrawn and his forces to regain control of the galaxy. But all hope is not lost to the former Rebel Alliance. Luke, Leia (who is pregnant with Jedi twins), Han, Chewie, and the droids are now being aided by the mysterious smuggler chief Talon Karrde and his protege Mara Jade. Facing the twin threats from Thrawn's stunning offensive and political discord from Bothan politician Borsk Fey'lya, the Heroes of the Rebellion are still the galaxy's brightest hope in the struggle between good and evil....
Rating:
Summary: the series that revived the Star Wars empire [no spoilers]
Review: "Dark Force Rising" is the second novel in The Thrawn Trilogy approximately five years following "Return of the Jedi". The originality and creativity in the series is deep, filled with strange creatures and compelling heroes and villains. Grand Admiral Thrawn is an ingenious, calculating and efficient villain, someone the New Republic should fear. The patient approach Grand Admiral Thrawn employs by building a formidable force with the Empire to challenge the New Republic is clever. While Star Wars hasn't been overly political, politics play a part in the developments and brings more depth to an otherwise action oriented plot. The author wisely invested sufficient time developing character and cultural histories to tie nicely with the existing history thereby enriching an already compelling genre. I highly recommend this series above all others to any fan of the Star Wars universe. Thank you.
Rating:
Summary: Solid Second Installment
Review: 41/2 really,The second book of this excellent trilogy is once again full of great characters, exotic locations, and white knuckle sequences. The book gives us more about the "Lady Vader," and the mystery of the Dark Force fleet. While I do find Thrawn's "artistic analysis" of races to be a bit annoying, I like the villain as a whole. All in all this is a wonderful series worthy of the Star Wars name.
Rating:
Summary: Lightyears better than the first
Review: I really disliked the first in this trilogy. But Zahn really picked up the pace and the writing quality in this book. Oh, sure, he still over-uses dumb phrases and is still stuck on getting people's lip twisted. But the plot is very well thought out, not at all predictable like the first one was, and the ending actually surprised me, whcih I was happy for. It's certainly made me pick up the third novel to find out how it all turns out.
The characters actually seem believable in this book. It's like Zahn woke up after the stupor he was in writing Heir to the Empire.
Rating:
Summary: Dark Force Rising makes me want to read it over and over
Review: This book is awesome. It was unnerving how calm Thrawn was. This book is so good that after I'm done with The Last Comand I'm going to read it again.
Rating:
Summary: Well worth reading
Review: "Dark Force Rising," the sequel to "Heir to the Empire," was actually, in my opinion, a tad more enjoyable than the latter. Both made excellent science fiction and even though neither were flawless they read like Dostoyevsky or Shakespeare next to Kevin J. Anderson and Steve Perry.
In "Dark Force Rising" Skywalker finally meets C'baoth after a number of clashes with the Imperials, although the time spent with him is short and only covers less than two chapters throughout the book. C'baoth is pretty much what is expected, attempting to lure Skywalker over to the darkside of the Force. Leia makes what I considered a very foolish trip to the Noghri planet in an attempt to gain their allegiance in the New Republic, while Han and Lando are involved in adventures of their own in the dank underground of smugglers and renegade politicians in an effort to absolve the illustrious Admiral Ackbar from the accusations of treason leveled against him by Fey'lya. Grand Admiral Thrawn and Pellaeon? Well, they don't do much more than what they did in the first book. Thrawn continues to be absorbed in studying other culture's art as if he was Reich Marshal Goering while continually being thwarted by our favorite heroes and Pellaeon continues to question Thrawn's seemingly rash decisions and then acting surprised at Thrawn's unmatched brilliance when Thrawn's hunches or inductions prove to be correct. Thrawn and Pellaeon, I admit, have easily become two of my favorite Imperial characters, however, although the book abounds with allusions to Grand Admiral Thrawn's tactical brilliancy and cleverness, I have yet to actually experience it. Time after time Luke, Leia, Han and Lando continually escape his carefully planned attacks, even once while Luke and Jade happened to sneak inside of his vessel to emancipate an imprisoned Karrde. Also, all actual direct attacks launched by him on the New Republic seem to be more hit and run than actual battles meant to create actual mass destruction. His putative "tactical brillancy" resembles more that of a small dog annoyingly yapping at the heels of a large man.
In any case, I hope to see Thrawn in all of his power in the last book of the trilogy.
All in all, the "Thrawn" trilogy certainly deserves 4 stars, however, even with Zahn's excellent ability to give the characters in depth personalities that are identical to how they were presented in the movies it is still far outdone by the movies and I feel that that has more to do with the plot and some of the (what I thought were) farfetched events therein.
Rating:
Summary: the series that revived the Star Wars empire [no spoilers]
Review: "Dark Force Rising" is the second novel in The Thrawn Trilogy approximately five years following "Return of the Jedi". The originality and creativity in the series is deep, filled with strange creatures and compelling heroes and villains. Grand Admiral Thrawn is an ingenious, calculating and efficient villain, someone the New Republic should fear. The patient approach Grand Admiral Thrawn employs by building a formidable force with the Empire to challenge the New Republic is clever. While Star Wars hasn't been overly political, politics play a part in the developments and brings more depth to an otherwise action oriented plot. The author wisely invested sufficient time developing character and cultural histories to tie nicely with the existing history thereby enriching an already compelling genre. I highly recommend this series above all others to any fan of the Star Wars universe. Thank you.
Rating:
Summary: The Trilogy just gets better and better
Review: Dark Force Rising is the second book in Tim Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy. OUr heroes, on the run from assasins after Leia's unborn twins, as well as Luke and Leia themselves, run through the book at a frantic pace. Leia decides that the best place to hide is amongst the enemy, so along with Chewbacca she embarks on a quest to the world of Honogar, the homeworld of the Empire's best assasins. Luke after spending time with the insane Dark Jedi C'Boath is off on a mission to rescue smuggler chief Talon Karrde from Grand Admiral Thrawn's personal Star Destroyer with the help of Mara Jade, who wants to kill him once the rescue is complete. Han Solo finds himself swept off to a secret meeting with a soldier who may or may not help the fragile New Republic against the victorious Empire and Thrawn. Added to this is a frantic race to discover the location of the Katana Fleet or Dark Force. A mysterious fleet of warships designed after the Clone Wars that could tip the victory in the laps of those who find it first. Add in political intrigue, an Alliance commander accused of treason and clones and you have one heck of a good novel.
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