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A review by branomir
Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn
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.