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My friend Dave recommended this Star Wars trilogy to me, an "authorized continuation of the legendary Star Wars saga" by acclaimed science fiction author Timothy Zahn. The series is almost 15 years old, which still puts it as pretty new when compared with the original film trilogy.
Heir to the Empire, the first book in the trilogy, takes place five years after the Rebellion's victory over the Emperor at Endor. The New Republic is still in its infancy and is struggling to gain stability. Meanwhile, scattered ships loyal to the old Empire still harass the outlying systems. The Imperial remnants seem destined to eventual elimination until a new leader emerges. Thrawn, the last and perhaps greatest of the Emperor's Grand Admirals, has returned to gather the Fleet and focus their energies on returning the Empire to its previous power.
Luke Skywalker is the only remaining Jedi in the known worlds, but his sister Leia has begun her training, and Leia's in-utero twins have already exposed themselves as being very strong in the force. (There was no mention of midichloreans in the book, so I suppose they never did the proper amniocentesis.)
The story is an interesting (and, of course, unfinished) one. Grand Admiral Thrawn is a solid villain, but he simply doesn't have the presence of Darth Vader or the Emperor. Military genius is a powerful skill to have, but it just doesn't intimidate the way "The Force" does.
One tiny thing that I loved about the book - in a throwaway line, it explained something about the physics of the Millennium Falcon that has always bugged me. In Episode 4, when Luke and Han are battling Tie fighters from the Falcon, they each move into one of the cannon bays, one climbing up a ladder, the other climbing down a ladder on the other side of the corridor. Then they both get into seats that are facing away from each other. That just doesn't work with the gravity that I have grown to know and (sometimes) love. But Zahn explains it away with a comment about a 90 degree gravity shift technology that just made me smile. I suppose that had always bugged him, too.
September 14 2005, 14:54:16 UTC 6 years ago
I've heard some interesting theories that Thrawn is Zahn's fictional alter-ego. Many authors write a version of themselves into the story, and there's a literary term for this, but it escapes me at the moment. Apparently military history is one of Zahn's big hobbies. I also get the impression from what others have told me that Zahn would have liked to hang out with Karrde in "real life," and date Mara Jade himself. I'm sure he's a smart guy and nice and all, but is there a literary term for "imaginary friend?" ;)
I'm sure most of the Star Wars fiction writers are smart people and nice, and I don't want to bash them. I'm just critical of most of the creative decisions they made.