Rating: 
Summary: It wasn't so bad after all.
Review: Part I of the two part Hand of Thrawn series (really three parts in two books, since Part II is 694 pages). This book was pretty boring for the first 250 pages or so (out of 386). I was beginning to wonder why in the heck I was still reading Star Wars novels since they were so bad, but the story finally came around in the last third and I found myself actually wanting to read and find out what happens. I guess Zahn was just practicing for a while after his long Star Wars drought (he's the one who wrote the first trilogy of follow-ons.) Anyway, by the last page I was eager to read the second part, so I guess it wasn't so bad after all.
Rating:
Summary: A much needed shot in the arm
Review: While many Star Wars diehards would never say it aloud, the sad fact is that the majority of the Star Wars novels have been pretty poor in terms of plot and character development. Many of the sci-fi writers employed are talented in their own right, but they have failed to balance the seriousness and grandness of the SW universe with the saturday-morning-serial feeling that George Lucas wanted. Now, finally, Timmothy Zahn has returned to write the final two books in bantam/spectra's line of novels. Almost immediately there is a sense of reuniting with old friends, be they friend or foe. In Chapter One we meet up again with Admiral Pealleon, now the supreme fleet commander of the remanants of the Imperial navy. Most authors have trouble keeping readers interest with their own new characters, simply because the characters are either undeveloped or have complex names that tend to be turn-offs. By the end of the chapter, not only have we been treated to a major and startling plot point (the Empire is going to surrender) but we respect Pealleon's decision and reasons for doing so, not because we are simply rooting for the good guys. In fact, much of the plot of this book resolves around the fact that the good guys are not so clear-cut anymore. Evidence is discovered that links the Bothan people to a case of mass genocide decades earlier, and alien races start turning against each other. Zahn captures the scale of the situation rather well, with riots and senate hearings. The latter is particularly intriguing, now that we have seen the original senate from Episode One. Also mixed into the story is the supposed reappearance of Grand Admiral Thrawn. Zahn explains early on that all of it is a deception, but I'm sure he is holding a few plot twists for the next book. In writing Specter of the Past, Zahn had nearly ten years worth of Star Wars history to draw on, but he wisely chooses to stick with his characters (and a cameo of Stackpole's Booster, Mirax, and Corran Horn). With the exception of a few references to The New Rebellion and other novels, most references are of Zahn's original trilogy. This feels odd at times, because the characters refer to the events as if they had happened a year ago, when it has been ten years and a lot of stuff has happened since then. My only real complaint is that when all is said and done, this book is really pure exposition that is necessary for readers to follow the second book. The book lacks an ending of any sort, in fact everything feels deliberately left as a cliffhanger. However, this does not mean Specter of the Past is a boring book. Far from it, the story is a page-turner to the end, and will set you up with the tension and mood for Vision of the Future.
Rating:
Summary: read it
Review: What makes Timothy Zahn the best is that he keeps Star Wars what it should be: a conflict between good and evil portrayed by the alliance and the empire. The other authors just go off on science fiction tangents that are fun, but Zahn keeps true to Star Wars. He develops Pellaeon's character extremely well. It's fun, intelligent, and involving.
Rating: 
Summary: Timothy Zahn Strikes Back
Review: A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away (1991, actally) one Timothy Zahn rejuivenated the Star Wars universe with 'Heir to the Empire'. Upon finishing his epic Thrawn Trilogy, he got to sit back and watch the other writers have their shot at it. Some hit their targets, others had their shots go wide. And in some cases, very, very wide. In any case, Zahn returns to finish what he started (in more ways than one) in his Hand of Thrawn duology. And he has done well. Its quite different from the Thrawn Trilogy, but that's okay. It just shows off Zahn's talents more. Now the Imps are but a remnant, still clinging onto the old ways. At the same time, the Republic is now somewhat of a squawbling bunch. It appear's Sate Pestage's prediction in 'Mandatory Retirement' rings true:
"Your republic will become and Empire soon enough. It's all about power and how it changes people. Your leaders will see to that and fall prey to it."
In this case, though, I've found its done better than in, say, the New Jedi Order books. Like most of the NJO series, in my opinion, they try to hard there to make the Republic's leaders a bunch of rambling idiots. Here Zahn makes it a lot more realistic. Gavrisom is not a 'good' character, nor is he an 'evil' or 'bad' character. He's a mix, and that's better and far more realistic than either perfectly good or perfectly bad. Still, the wrath of politics burns strong here, showing just how fragile the Republic can be. It's also far ore realistic that something that could destroy such a powerful government would begin with a whimper, not a bang. The overall storyline is good, and I must say it really does say something about Grand Admiral Thrawn when he can still effect the course of glactic history after he's been dead for 10 years. His mythical status, though, just shows how perspectives change in time. It also opens the door for scams like Disra's. The Imps are overall done quite well, I think, and Pellaeon's is excellent. The Hand of Thrawn duology has helped make him become one of the best all-time Imperial characters, in my opinion. And, of course, you get classic characters like Leia, Luke, Han, Mara, and Karrde. It's nice to see them going along, growing, changing, as so forth. Obviously 'Specter of the Past' is meant to be taken as one with 'Vison of the Future', so I've reviewed it as such. Highly reccomended.
Rating:
Summary: Could have been one book
Review: This story contains Zahn's perpetual mastery, which is why it gets 4 stars, but it's very incomplete. The feel of The Hand of Thrawn Duology (Specter, and Vision of the Future) is that Zahn wrote the entire story, and then just found a good place to split it up so it could be two separate books. The ending isn't an ending at all, just the end of another chapter that happens to be the last in the book. However, this does not detract from the fact that it is still Timothy Zahn, and it's still great.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but not Zahn's best...
Review: Zahn cooked up a great story and made it believable, something some authers of the Star Wars Universe have had trouble doing. And yet, having read several of Zahn's other works, I can't say it's one of his best. Despite its great plot, the cast were just hard to get in to. Worst off however was how the end, it just sort of, well, ended. Up to the end the plot has ammounted to very little. Had it not been for Zahn's amazing writing style my rating would have dropped below three. However, I encourage you to read the book because its sequal poses a definete match for his original series, the Heir to the Empire trilogy, but without the information presented in this book the reader can't enjoy it. Remember, the Force is with you!
Rating:
Summary: The most excellent Star Wars book to come around in a while!
Review: All I can say is, even if you have hated every single Star Wars book written before this one, I gaurentee you won't be able to put this one down! None of the other writers quite measure up to Zahn, and he has obviosly developed as a writer since the original Thrawn trilogy. Anyway, this book takes place about 15 years after Return of the Jedi, and ten years after Thrawn's campaign. New reports and rumers are surfacing that it was a group of bothans who were working for the Emperor who destroyed the planet of Camaas nearly half a century earlier, and the Camaasi (and about a thousand other peoples using Camaas as an excuse to revive and act on their own grudges) are out for blood, and the entire New Republic is ready to explode into civil war. The reports also mention that Thrawn could be back, which altogether spells disaster. Luke meanwhile, has a strange and disturbing vision of his long time friend Mara Jade in trouble on a certain mission, and he rushes off to rescue her, much to Mara's annoyance. Anyway, this is a really great book, and I guarentee you'll be screaming for the sequel once you finish it (I was lucky enough to be have bought Vision of the Future at the same time, hee hee). With all the millions of subplots it does get pretty confusing at some points, and to understand Leia's section of the plot you have to have a basic understanding of politics, but as long as you have a decent number of braincells I doubt anyone would have any problems with it. The Luke/Mara plot is fascinating as well; I can't wait to find out what the fortress is and what goes on there, and I also wonder what is going to happen between them in general, since this seems to be the first book since The Last Command that has added on to the theme of them possibly becoming "more" than friends. I have always felt that they belong together, and I can't wait to see what happens in Vision of the Future.
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: I'e gotta hand it to Zahn for this one!!!
Review: This is one of the best Star Wars books yet!! I just bought specter yesterday, and I've already finished it! The only problem for me is: living in Iceland is the worst thing ever for an all-time starwars fan. The only store that sells StarWars novels around here had 1 copy of Specter (that's mine now) and 0 COPIES OF VISION!!! Can you believe my luck? But, back to the book. My book rating system on amazon works like this: 2 stars for having Star Wars on the cover, one for plot, one for characters and one for writing style. I LOVED specter!!! For the ones of you who haven't read it yet, I wo't give any secrets away, but here is (probably) my favorite couple of lines: And abruptly his comlink twittered. He thumbed it on-"Artoo?" "Not quite" a familiar voice answered dryly. "Are you in trouble again, Skywalker?" Luke blinked with surprise, then smiled with the first genuine pleasure he'd felt since arriving at this place. "Of course I an," he told Mara Jade. "Have you ever known me when I wasn't?" This book includes all of my fav. characters, brings back the best villain ever and has a xtremely interesting plot. My only problem is that it says on the back cover...Meanwhile, Luke teams up with Mara Jade...But he doesn't actually team up with her in this book, just goes looking for her. Scuttle out to the bookstore, my faithful Star Wars bookworm fan, and May The Force be with You, alway....
Rating:
Summary: Excellent...but I have to read the second one!
Review: Timothy Zahn is definitely one of the best Star Wars sequel writers, if not the best. I got into the genre via his Heir to the Empire a few years ago and The Last Command remains my favourite, but I was put off by some of the later books by other authors. However, reading about Specter of the Past and its sequel Vision of the Future on the Net made me pick it up in the hopes of seeing my favourite bad guy, Grand Admiral Thrawn, again, and I was pretty impressed, not to mention glad to see the Republic vs Empire core plot of the entire SW universe being moved along. There are an awful lot of plot threads, very few of which get resolved. This book basically sets up the second, which I haven't got hold of yet. However, it was good to see all the old favourites again, acting in a sane manner for the situations they are now in (particularly Han and Leia, who for important New Republic leaders do an awful lot of just zooming off into space without backup in some other novels. In this, they don't.). Talon Karrde is back, as is the original Mara Jade. On the Imperial side, we once again meet the now-Admiral Pellaeon, currently boss of what's left of the Imperial Fleet. I always liked Pellaeon, who previously was in Thrawn's shadow but now (as seen in the final scene of this book) has taken his role as the commander who issues seemingly crazy orders to the consternation of his subordinates! Introduced is the scheming Moff Disra and his two co-conspirators (who I won't mention so as not to spoil any surprises). As well as the good characterisation, I enjoyed the action in this book, which was well written and exciting. Zahn is definitely the master of this. In addition, he makes a few sly allusions to certain things in past SW novels set between his previous trilogy and this one, like excessive use of the Force and the seemingly endless parade of superweapons. Good piece of dialogue here: "Maybe he's found a new superweapon the Emperor had stashed away somewhere," Lando suggested ominously. "Another Death Star - a completed one this time - or maybe another Sun Crusher. Or something even more dangerous." Karrde shook his head. "Farfetched. If there was something like that out there, we surely would have heard of it by now." I think Karrde speaks for many fans there! Many mysteries are left at the end. Is Thrawn really back? What's going on with the place Mara visited? What is the 'Hand of Thrawn'? Guess I'll have to read the second book! I would recommend this to any Star Wars fan who's read at least some of the post-Return of the Jedi novels, it is definitely in the front rank of them.
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