Scan barcode
bradland's review against another edition
5.0
My 'Interpretive Study' for Year 11 English in 1998 for Heir to the Empire (warts and all):
My interpretive study comparative essay is going to be comparing three Star Wars novels which different authors have written. Most of the authors who created their own story of the Star Wars universe, set the scene with old character favourites like Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, C-3PO, R2-D2, etc, continuing the story after its three successful movies. I find every author who wrote a Star Wars story has his or her own way of how the characters should act, or how their story should go.
The first book I am going to talk about is called ‘Star Wars’ Heir to the Empire’ by Timothy Zahn. This was the first official novel which continued the adventures of the characters from the film trilogy.
The novel was released in 1991 and set five years after the third film Return of the Jedi. The novel was to be book one of a trilogy which became an instant best seller.
The story is about the Rebellion’s struggle to become a functional political government for the entire galaxy. They rename themselves ‘The New Republic because before the ‘Empire’ ruled the Galaxy with an iron fist, there was a government called ‘The Republic’ or ‘The Old Republic’. This government didn’t control things with force like the Empire.
The Old Republic used diplomatic strategies and negotiated for other planets to join their government. The New Republic used Old Republic ways to form their government at the central government world called ‘Coruscant', which in the Galaxy is considered the center of the government. Anyone who runs Coruscant pretty much runs most of the Galaxy.
In the five yeas since the Empire’s defeat in Return of the Jedi, and the death of the Emperor and Darth Vader, the Empire has lost more than three quarters of the Galaxy it once ruled to the New Republic The Empire is now in command of a humanoid called Grand Admiral Thrawn who got his rank because of his brilliant strategies and tactics in battle situations. He was one of twelve Grand Admirals who could control all of the Imperial Forces. He is the last of the Grand Admirals after fie years because the others have either been captured or killed. Thrawn’s goal was to bring the Empire back to its glory days.
Thrawn’s plan for the defeat of the Rebels had several parts. On a planet called Myrkr, he gained control of a species of creatures known as ysalamiri. These thing rodents had the ability to push away the Force, making Jedi and any minor Force users powerless. Then, on the forgotten planet of Wayland, inside the Emperor’s secret storehouse Mount Tantiss, where he kept his secret technology Thrawn gained three more elements of his plan: a cloaking device (which makes a spaceship invisible in space, the spaarti cloning cylinders (which can clone human beings to create a big army) and the services of a Dark Jedi Joruus C’Baoth. Jorus is a clone of a great Jedi of the past called Jorus C’Baoth (notice the absence of a u). Joruus guarded the storehouse but over many years slowly lost his mind, becoming irrevocably insane. Thrawn thought he could use him to direct his troops and lure Luke Skywalker, and Princess Leia with her unborn children for capture. To lure them, Thrawn placed C’Baoth on the planet of Jormark and spread rumours of C’Baoth’s presence there
Luke Skywalker had heard of these rumours and decided to investigate. With his idea of teaching a new generation of Jedi the ways of the Force, he needs al the help he could get.
Han Solo and Leia had been married a year before and Leia was pregnant with Force strong twins, a girl and a boy. Leia was now a politician for the New Republic and an in-training Jedi with her mentor twin brother Luke.
The story goes on with the excitement of the films with Luke as a full fledged Jedi and Han and Leia having their first children.
Thrawn and C’Baoth are in my opinion the best villains created out the movies and out of all the other Star Wars novels I have read. There are even other characters like the smuggler Mara Jade in the story who become permanent fixtures in the other SW novels written by other authors.
Heir to the Empire follow by its two sequels ‘Dark Force Rising’ and ‘The Last Command’ were so popular that they were done in comic form and characters like Thrawn and Mara Jade had appears in their own video games called ‘Tie Fighter’ and ‘Mysteries of the Sith’ (which I own both).
Timothy Zahn in my opinion is the best SW noel writer because he brings a lot of fast pace action in his story which SW is famous for. He is also the closet author to get the lead characters’ personalities right who were in the film trilogy, that other authors can’t seem to do. His trilogy would be the best to read and I would recommend it to anyone interest in what happened after the SW movies.
Compared to other SW novels like the ‘Black Fleet Crisis’ Trilogy that was mostly about politics and hardly any actions, and ‘Children of the Jedi’ (which tool me a while to read because I could hardly understand it), these didn’t have the spark Zahn’s SW trilogy had. Heir to the Empire, if you were to start reading SW novels, should be the first to read because it explains a lot more about what has happened in five years and its just like the movie trilogy.
My interpretive study comparative essay is going to be comparing three Star Wars novels which different authors have written. Most of the authors who created their own story of the Star Wars universe, set the scene with old character favourites like Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, C-3PO, R2-D2, etc, continuing the story after its three successful movies. I find every author who wrote a Star Wars story has his or her own way of how the characters should act, or how their story should go.
The first book I am going to talk about is called ‘Star Wars’ Heir to the Empire’ by Timothy Zahn. This was the first official novel which continued the adventures of the characters from the film trilogy.
The novel was released in 1991 and set five years after the third film Return of the Jedi. The novel was to be book one of a trilogy which became an instant best seller.
The story is about the Rebellion’s struggle to become a functional political government for the entire galaxy. They rename themselves ‘The New Republic because before the ‘Empire’ ruled the Galaxy with an iron fist, there was a government called ‘The Republic’ or ‘The Old Republic’. This government didn’t control things with force like the Empire.
The Old Republic used diplomatic strategies and negotiated for other planets to join their government. The New Republic used Old Republic ways to form their government at the central government world called ‘Coruscant', which in the Galaxy is considered the center of the government. Anyone who runs Coruscant pretty much runs most of the Galaxy.
In the five yeas since the Empire’s defeat in Return of the Jedi, and the death of the Emperor and Darth Vader, the Empire has lost more than three quarters of the Galaxy it once ruled to the New Republic The Empire is now in command of a humanoid called Grand Admiral Thrawn who got his rank because of his brilliant strategies and tactics in battle situations. He was one of twelve Grand Admirals who could control all of the Imperial Forces. He is the last of the Grand Admirals after fie years because the others have either been captured or killed. Thrawn’s goal was to bring the Empire back to its glory days.
Thrawn’s plan for the defeat of the Rebels had several parts. On a planet called Myrkr, he gained control of a species of creatures known as ysalamiri. These thing rodents had the ability to push away the Force, making Jedi and any minor Force users powerless. Then, on the forgotten planet of Wayland, inside the Emperor’s secret storehouse Mount Tantiss, where he kept his secret technology Thrawn gained three more elements of his plan: a cloaking device (which makes a spaceship invisible in space, the spaarti cloning cylinders (which can clone human beings to create a big army) and the services of a Dark Jedi Joruus C’Baoth. Jorus is a clone of a great Jedi of the past called Jorus C’Baoth (notice the absence of a u). Joruus guarded the storehouse but over many years slowly lost his mind, becoming irrevocably insane. Thrawn thought he could use him to direct his troops and lure Luke Skywalker, and Princess Leia with her unborn children for capture. To lure them, Thrawn placed C’Baoth on the planet of Jormark and spread rumours of C’Baoth’s presence there
Luke Skywalker had heard of these rumours and decided to investigate. With his idea of teaching a new generation of Jedi the ways of the Force, he needs al the help he could get.
Han Solo and Leia had been married a year before and Leia was pregnant with Force strong twins, a girl and a boy. Leia was now a politician for the New Republic and an in-training Jedi with her mentor twin brother Luke.
The story goes on with the excitement of the films with Luke as a full fledged Jedi and Han and Leia having their first children.
Thrawn and C’Baoth are in my opinion the best villains created out the movies and out of all the other Star Wars novels I have read. There are even other characters like the smuggler Mara Jade in the story who become permanent fixtures in the other SW novels written by other authors.
Heir to the Empire follow by its two sequels ‘Dark Force Rising’ and ‘The Last Command’ were so popular that they were done in comic form and characters like Thrawn and Mara Jade had appears in their own video games called ‘Tie Fighter’ and ‘Mysteries of the Sith’ (which I own both).
Timothy Zahn in my opinion is the best SW noel writer because he brings a lot of fast pace action in his story which SW is famous for. He is also the closet author to get the lead characters’ personalities right who were in the film trilogy, that other authors can’t seem to do. His trilogy would be the best to read and I would recommend it to anyone interest in what happened after the SW movies.
Compared to other SW novels like the ‘Black Fleet Crisis’ Trilogy that was mostly about politics and hardly any actions, and ‘Children of the Jedi’ (which tool me a while to read because I could hardly understand it), these didn’t have the spark Zahn’s SW trilogy had. Heir to the Empire, if you were to start reading SW novels, should be the first to read because it explains a lot more about what has happened in five years and its just like the movie trilogy.
marcusleese's review against another edition
3.0
This review goes for all the books in the trilogy.
I can't say, with any integrity, that these are "good" books. The prose is repetitive (there's several instances of unusual vocabulary that stands out - characters cocking eyebrows sardonically for a heartbeat, etc.), the characters are largely paper-thin copies of their movie counterparts, and the fanservice is off-the-charts. With that said, I do genuinely love Star Wars, and these books are perfectly fine for anyone looking for more of that. The entire Expanded Universe is a neat alternative to the current canon.
I can't say, with any integrity, that these are "good" books. The prose is repetitive (there's several instances of unusual vocabulary that stands out - characters cocking eyebrows sardonically for a heartbeat, etc.), the characters are largely paper-thin copies of their movie counterparts, and the fanservice is off-the-charts. With that said, I do genuinely love Star Wars, and these books are perfectly fine for anyone looking for more of that. The entire Expanded Universe is a neat alternative to the current canon.
auth's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
lizziesmoon's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
jedipwner's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
ingo_lembcke's review against another edition
4.0
Reading the Thrawn books, some out of order. Also I tend to read other books (SF, crime) in between, so this took me longer.
Chapters are too long, so this added to me taking rather long to read it.
Reading the Thrawn books as background to the Star Wars: Ahsoka TV-Series on Disney+.
Thrawn is for me the most interesting character in the Star Wars Universe.
This book has a lot of story with Han Solo, Leia and Luke etc., that could have been shorter.
So recommended reading for Star Wars fans, 4 stars it is.
Chapters are too long, so this added to me taking rather long to read it.
Reading the Thrawn books as background to the Star Wars: Ahsoka TV-Series on Disney+.
Thrawn is for me the most interesting character in the Star Wars Universe.
This book has a lot of story with Han Solo, Leia and Luke etc., that could have been shorter.
So recommended reading for Star Wars fans, 4 stars it is.
connoks's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0