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Summary: The Start of a Tradition of Excelence.
Review: Heir to the Empire is a work of Art! With it's drama and suspence it begins a NEW trilogy in one of the greatest Worlds ever to be created by the human mind. He brings George Lucas's dream to new Heights. Zahn opnes the door to countless authors and sets a precident for them. This is a must read by ALL Star Wars fans!
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Summary: best not by george lucas star wars book!
Review: this book is the best! Its got the best villan the grand admiral thrawn and the story is so full of climaxes it will blow you away!
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Summary: You can really hear the music
Review: I first read Heir of the Empire in 1993, and although I was a Star Wars fan by then, it made me even a bigger fan. Since then I've again read it a couple of times and everytime I am excited by the way Zahn continues the movies. The characters and especially the ones he introduces are just awesome. Grand Admiral Thrawn, who takes over the falling Empire, is the best villain of all the books, Mara Jade is a great character to play opposite Luke Skywalker. The intriguing subplots that join smoothly together to one great story are packed with all the good stuff that you loved about the movies. and sometimes I really heard the soundtrack in my ears. This Heir to the Empire trilogy is the best that was ever written for the Star wars universe and it is a must-read not only for the fans.
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Summary: Is Timothy Zahn an alias of George Lucas?
Review: If they were to make more Star Wars movies than this should be movie 7. The story fits the Star Wars theme so good that to me it could have been written by our dear George.
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Summary: Zahn is my favorite author
Review: Even though I read this book long ago, I have since bought the audicassetes and listen to routinely, along with my collection of other Star Wars tapes. This series have everything. I really liked the Star Wars movies when I first saw them, but you can't truly cal yourself a Star Wars fan if you haven't read them. This is part of the continuing Star Wars story that is made possible through the books. The story of a Grand Admiral coming to take over the Empire, Leia going to Kashyke etc. is thrilling.
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Summary: Does nothing for the saga....
Review: "Heir" picks up the SW saga 5 years after the Rebellion's triumph at Endor. By "now" the dread imperial star fleet has been reduced to shreds commanded by a loose array of brooding admirals and imperial generals who, for the reverence they exact from their troops, are little more than potentates of discord. The rebellion, now forming a new republic, contends not only with the remnants of the empire but the anarchy left by its collapse. (Remember, the Empire didn't rely on unity to enhance its rule - preferring to split the galaxy into military districts and using firepower to subdue everybody else.) While the new republic tries to get to brass tacks of government, Luke leaves on an expedition for a lost jedi knight. Han and Leia are separated as Leia finds herself pursued by mysterious bounty hunters. Lando Calrissian finds the maneuverings of the imperial fleet getting in the way of one his latest schemes. Meanwhile, Admiral Thrawn, late of the Imperial fleet, maneuvers his ragtag collection of worn-out star destroyers in harassing raids against the fringes of the republic. Though he's fighting a losing battle, he has other plans, all centered around a lost jedi. Is this the beginning of a new saga? As if. In every way, this over-sized potboiler saps the saga everything that made it fun. While the original scripts relied on techno-babble as a necessary evil - Zahn uses it as main dialog. Worse, unlike each of the films, which were necessarily connected but also complete by themselves, "Heir" is obviously the incomplete episode of a larger series. That Zahn couldn't write a singular plot (whether to be connected to sequels or nbot) says less about the complexity of the plot than Zahn's derivative, meandering plot. Thrawn (who appears in the PC game "Tie Fighter") plans some moves, but keeps strategy to himself; Luke searches for some last Jedi, but the implications are pretty vague; A mysterious and sinister Jedi may be a clone of another mysterious and dark jedi; Lando has his business pursuits; and so on. Instead of bringing these threads together, Zahn adds more, and never seems to know where he's going. Instead of climaxes that tie the disparate threads together (as in the movies) we have orbiting story arcs that merge together. Zahn also takes the machinations of each side as a givemn, rather than develop new ones from scratch (which Lucase had in 1977). It's almost as if Zahn were working not so much on a book than some elaborate playset. Narrative aside, Zahn's plot doesn't quite stand the test of time, and its unoriginal plot ideas (clones, dark jedis, interplanetary gangsters who play both sides and the ever-present threat that the empire will resurrect itself) wasn't quite the epic when it first appeared. Nothing here communicates the drama, irony or velocity of the movies, and some ideas like plants that feed on force power, seem more like contrived ideas created for a video game than substantive plot elements (Lucas took a big hit for suggesting "Midi Chloridians", yet the idea of "force-sucking" ferns seems about as palatable). Without the kinetic style of the movies, "Heir" is like "Phantom Menace" without the special effects.
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Summary: Simply the Best in Star Wars
Review: If you like Star Wars, you CAN NOT live without this trilogy. That's all there is to be said. If Lucas was halfway intelligent, he'd hire Zahn to write his precious prequels. Zahn is a master. He knows his characters, he knows his tech, he knows how to write drama, he knows suspense, he knows action. He is simply the best Star Wars novel author.
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Summary: The Greatest Book EVER!!!!!
Review: Heir to the Empire is a wonderful book that continues the great adventures of Luke Skywalker. I loved all of the great detail about the battles in the book.
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Summary: The best Star Wars book ever!
Review: In my opinion this is the best Star Wars book ever made, the star wars atmosphere struck me hard the moment i started reading it, could hear the star wars music in the background... To the story, i have never read any better Star Wars books that have a better story, and in surprised my several times. The Thrawn trilogy is the best out there, and i hardly think they can do it better than this! Timothy Zahn is simply the best!
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Summary: One of the best pieces of Star Wars fiction ever written
Review: Timothy Zahn's continuation of the Star Wars trilogy will delight you with a wonderfully elaborate storyline, new, engaging characters, and much deeper insights into the existing ones. Seeing Luke use the force in the movies was one thing, but being inside his head while he does it, quite another. This novel adds whole layers of complexity to the characters we know and love, making their movie versions look more like cartoon heroes than people. When you are done with this book, your only feeling of disappointment will be that Lucas had to make those prequels instead of making this into a movie.
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