Scan barcode
sejames's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
maximusvitale66's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
dmcke013's review against another edition
5.0
This is pretty much the book that re-ignited the whole Star Wars craze. (Re)reading it, it's not hard to see why.
Set after the events of the original trilogy, "Heir to the Empire" also introduces a host of new characters and soon-to-be-official aliens and planet names (it is here that Coruscant is first named, for example).
Reading the trilogy as a whole, though, you also have to wonder how much inside-info Zahn had on the whole Star Wars mythos: clones are (re)introduced here, the Clone Wars are given a larger role than their original throw-away reference and the role of the Jedi are expanded upon.
I know there's a lot of hostility towards spin-off books, but do yourself a favour and read this one! After all, the original material had to be good for their to BE a spin-off in the first place, and the quality of the first spin-off can often be determined by the quantity of books that followed it ...
Set after the events of the original trilogy, "Heir to the Empire" also introduces a host of new characters and soon-to-be-official aliens and planet names (it is here that Coruscant is first named, for example).
Reading the trilogy as a whole, though, you also have to wonder how much inside-info Zahn had on the whole Star Wars mythos: clones are (re)introduced here, the Clone Wars are given a larger role than their original throw-away reference and the role of the Jedi are expanded upon.
I know there's a lot of hostility towards spin-off books, but do yourself a favour and read this one! After all, the original material had to be good for their to BE a spin-off in the first place, and the quality of the first spin-off can often be determined by the quantity of books that followed it ...
pruo95's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
shawn_annets's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I read this book when first released in May 1991 after enduring the long drought of new Star Wars content through the last half of the 80’s. My eagerness and anticipation were at a peak, I remember feeling blown away at seeing this book in stores, having spent years browsing shelves hoping for something new from these movies I loved! In those pre-internet days I didn’t know new fiction was being written to continue the story, and seeing the cover with those iconic characters, flipping the pages to see an ‘opening crawl’ like before the movies, my mind was fully blown! Reading through those first chapters while sitting outside in the early summer weather, feeling the authenticity of the main characters and their relationships, seeing so clearly how well the author knew and respected the themes and story arcs from the films, it was all a gift, like finding out what happened to friends you’d missed and not been in touch with for years!
Timothy Zahn perfectly distilled everything great about Star Wars into his trilogy of books and getting to read them was like water for the thirsty!
Timothy Zahn perfectly distilled everything great about Star Wars into his trilogy of books and getting to read them was like water for the thirsty!
rmoore15's review against another edition
adventurous
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.5
Pretty good once it gets going
branomir's review against another edition
5.0
Now this is what a Star Wars sequel should be! Zahn isn't the most prosaic writer I've ever read and the editing was a tad sloppy at times. However I've always maintained that I'd much rather read a good story that is badly written than a well written story that is bad. And this certainly wasn't badly written, just nothing all that impressive. And thus concludes anything negative I have to say about the book, save perhaps that Leia could have done with a bit more page time but I'm hopeful for the next two instalments.
This novel either matches or kicks new SW movies butt in pretty much every category save for racial diversity which is because they centre around the cast of the original movies for the most part. I'm happy to say that Lando is very much in this one though.
The story is great, original and follows a natural progression providing those of us that wondered what happened after the fall of the Empire at The Battle of Endor with a lot of good answers. THIS is how you continue a story, by actually continuing it, rather than just resetting the whole thing making the original trilogy feeling useless as Abrams/Johnson did.
New elements are introduced that actually limit some of the powers of the Force and the villains are absolutely great. Give me Thrawn over Snoke any day of the week. I also liked that they introduced a neutral character with faction who is very fascinating to follow. That did a whole lot more to move away from the more black and white moral character of the SW universe than that ridiculous scene with the arms dealer in TLJ. We see Luke and the other characters change in a way that makes sense and is exciting to follow and there wasn't a new character that I didn't like. It very much captures the feel of SW, making something completely new whilst still including plenty of nostalgic moments, proving definitively that it can be done.
The space battle at Sluis Van I enjoyed reading immensely. I was wondering if you could recreate the excitement of the films on the page in regard to space combat and I'm quite happy to report that yes, you can. This one ranks among the best battles in the SW universe that I've encountered so far. The ending was equally well done, creating a nice rounded story whilst still leaving enough tension for you to immediately want to go read the next book, which I intend to do as soon as I can get my hands on it.
As far as I'm concerned, this is SW canon and Abrams and Johnson can go take a hike. I realise the new movies have some great new characters but so does this book and it adds a great story to it, so it's no competition in my mind. Heir To The Empire beats both TFA and TLJ, no contest.
This novel either matches or kicks new SW movies butt in pretty much every category save for racial diversity which is because they centre around the cast of the original movies for the most part. I'm happy to say that Lando is very much in this one though.
The story is great, original and follows a natural progression providing those of us that wondered what happened after the fall of the Empire at The Battle of Endor with a lot of good answers. THIS is how you continue a story, by actually continuing it, rather than just resetting the whole thing making the original trilogy feeling useless as Abrams/Johnson did.
New elements are introduced that actually limit some of the powers of the Force and the villains are absolutely great. Give me Thrawn over Snoke any day of the week. I also liked that they introduced a neutral character with faction who is very fascinating to follow. That did a whole lot more to move away from the more black and white moral character of the SW universe than that ridiculous scene with the arms dealer in TLJ. We see Luke and the other characters change in a way that makes sense and is exciting to follow and there wasn't a new character that I didn't like. It very much captures the feel of SW, making something completely new whilst still including plenty of nostalgic moments, proving definitively that it can be done.
The space battle at Sluis Van I enjoyed reading immensely. I was wondering if you could recreate the excitement of the films on the page in regard to space combat and I'm quite happy to report that yes, you can. This one ranks among the best battles in the SW universe that I've encountered so far. The ending was equally well done, creating a nice rounded story whilst still leaving enough tension for you to immediately want to go read the next book, which I intend to do as soon as I can get my hands on it.
As far as I'm concerned, this is SW canon and Abrams and Johnson can go take a hike. I realise the new movies have some great new characters but so does this book and it adds a great story to it, so it's no competition in my mind. Heir To The Empire beats both TFA and TLJ, no contest.