Star Wars: Dark Force Rising TPB Review

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(More customer reviews)For starters, I read the novel version of this Star Wars story prior to the graphic novel when I was still in college. Fortunately, it's safe to say that I wasn't disappointed in any way. SW: Dark Force Rising was one of my favorite books in the SW mythos and it still is up to now. It features the classic SW characters fans have loved throughout the years of their existence. The book also features some of the really cunning newcomers, which rival that of Darth Vader's infamous exploits. Although I'm sure right now there are better books out there (i.e., Shadows of the Empire, Episode I: Phantom Menace, etc.) Dark Force Rising is an exceptional read and serves as the best intermediary book in Timothy Zahn's Star Wars trilogy.
I admit the Dark Horse Comics adaptation have some faults in them that tends to 'lessen' the depth and impact of the characters as well as put to vagueness the tactical intelligence of the villains originally depicted in the novels, but we can't squarely put the blame on the creative team's shoulders. I know they did their best to cram 400-plus pages of written material into a 144-page graphic album format. In fact they did quite an impressive job despite certain art flaws and story sequence gaps. Dark Horse has managed to give itself some of the much needed credit by telling a very good story for readers (average and avid alike) to be permanently hooked to the Star Wars mythos.
A cool graphic novel to collect if you're the 'completist' type. Though the graphic novel is a real eye candy, I only give it four stars for the little details the creative team failed to put in. Otherwise the book is a good read and well worth your hard-earned cash. But, if you have a better alternative, look for other Star Wars graphic novels instead.

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Specter of the Past (Star Wars: The Hand of Thrawn #1) Review

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(More customer reviews)After reading Timothy Zahn's first Star Wars trilogy, and finding that it was good, I, being an avid SW fan, set my sights on the dozens of other books written afterward. They. . . weren't so good. In fact, some of them were downright bad, either using a tired device over and over again (superweapon anyone?) or destroying the characters. I began to lose faith in the franchise as literature-worthy.
Then Zahn wrote Specter of the Past, the first of The Hand of Thrawn Duology, and I believed again.
While his Thrawn Trilogy is usually considered best, this is perhaps his most daring work. With his first trilogy, he had no canon material he had to follow, allowing him an essentially clean slate with which to work. However, after five years and over a dozen novels, there was a lot of histroy that he just couldn't ignore. However, once again, Zahn proved to be more than equal to the task, using characters and events from the earlier and inferior novels to further his story or expand his characters. And, being Zahn, it worked.
The story of Specter of the Past is one of galactic conflict on a familiar Star Wars scale, but it also weaves threads intrigue and shadow plots into the play, giving the novel a fresh feel from the usual "The Imperials have a new superweapon!" arc, and it works well. One of the two main threads focuses on the supposed return of Grand Admiral Thrawn, who we saw die in The Last Command, in all his strategic genius and glory. The second thread involves the framing of the Bothans for the destruction of a pacifist planet. While Leia tries desperately to hold the New Rupiblic together in the face of a catastrophic backlash, Han and Lando struggle to acertain if Thrawn really has returned.
Meanwhile, on a covert mission, Luke and Mara run into an Imperial style ship manned by clones, which vanishes into deep space. As Mara gives chase, she discovers a strange planet with a mysterious link to Grand Admiral Thrawn. Luke, recieving a disturbing premonition of her possible death, races to join her.
Behind it all is a brilliant mind and a daring con, backed by a ruthless and greedy warlord bent on galactic domination. However, where others have failed, they may very well succeed.
All the characters that Zahn introduced us to are back, and better than ever. Captain Pelleon holds a nominal authoritative position in the Imperial Remnant, struggling to find a way to end the decades-long conflict that has toppled an empire, while also wondering at the possible return of his mentor. Talon Kardde, smuggler and business man, journeys to the edge of the galaxy to meet a man he betrayed to uncover the truth about the Bothans. And Mara Jade is, of course, just as we remember her; smart, sassy, strong, and a perfect foil for Luke. Damn, but they make a great team.
While there's plenty of swashbuckling and space battling in Specter of the Past, the stage is only being set for something much MUCH bigger. Zahn is creating something grand in this volume, something which has ties not only with the SW books by other authors, but also brings back seemingly unimportant details from the Thrawn Trilogy as all too important. It really makes you admire his genius in storytelling and planning, and wonder whether he had planned follow-ups to the Thrawn Trilogy from the very beginning.
Any way you slice it, The Hand of Thrawn Duology is a wonderful addition to the Star Wars franchise, and is a wonderful set-up for a grand finale.

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Outbound Flight (Star Wars) Review

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(More customer reviews)Back in the early 1990's, Tim Zahn wrote a series that opened up the floodgates for the expanded Star Wars universe. He introduced perhaps the most complex and interesting character ever created for science fiction: Grand Admiral Thrawn. Over the last 15 years, readers have been treated with small glimpses of the destruction of Outbound Flight and the personality of Thrawn but with the exception of a short story, the Grand Admiral has not shown up again. Now he does with a vengeance. The history of Outbound Flight, the totalitarianistic ideals of Jorus C'Boath, the Chiss, Obi-wan and Anakin, Palpatine and most importantly Thrawn all appear in this book set approximately 5 years after Episode I. The characters come to life with startling clarity and at the head is Thrawn himself and his genius for combat. What Zahn does not do is give too much about Thrawn away. Even though the reader learns much about this fantastic character, Zahn still keeps him shrouded in mystery. He never commits the cardinal sin of letting us inside Thrawn's head in the way that so many other bad guys have been ruined (Boba Fett & Darth Maul to name a couple). Overall this is a great read, a fantastic addition to the Star Wars universe and a fine book.

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The Last Command (Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy, Vol. 3) Review

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(More customer reviews)Timothy Zahn gave it his best when he wrote The Last Command. Out of the entire trilogy, this is by far the best. The book is the longest of the three, but it is by far the fastest read. The storylines are so intense that it would be hard to even consider putting the book down until the last page. In the book, Grand Admiral Thrawn must anticipate the movement of the old republic while confronted with conflict on how to deal with the insane jedi master C'baoth, who has become as tyrannical as the Emperor himself. As this storyline progresses, Luke and Mara also must decide their fate, which could destroy or save the republic.
Fear blankets the New Republic under Thrawn's new special weapon. While under this fear, Leia's future jedi children are born, and Mara must attempt to resolve the Emperor's Last Command. All the storylines come together with such perfect emotion, action, and spectacular epic space battles. The Thrawn Trilogy is a good example of what defines the authentic good quality of the Star Wars universe - love, mythology, action, and fantasy. I honestly believe that these three novels are Episodes 7, 8, and 9. If you haven't read the Thrawn trilogy, you are missing out on one of the best science fiction gems of our time.

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Heir to the Empire (Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy, Vol. 1) Review

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(More customer reviews)In 1991, Bantam Books and Lucasfilm Ltd. reinvigorated interest in the Star Wars universe (well, galaxy) by gathering a diverse group of noted science fiction writers and starting a regular series of novels set in the time period which follows Return of the Jedi.
Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire, the first volume of a three-book cycle, was almost an instant phenomenon when it was published in hardcover. With its depiction of the continuing battle between what is left of the Galactic Empire and the fledgling New Republic, this novel cleverly mixes the characters from the Classic Trilogy with a cast of newly created heroes and villains, some of whom will make appearances in other authors' Star Wars works.
As Heir to the Empire begins, the New Republic has been engaged in a long campaign to mop up the remnants of the once-mighty Empire. The once dreaded Imperial Fleet is in disarray, political and military control of the late Emperor Palpatine's New Order has changed hands several times, yet the former Rebels have reduced Imperial dominion to one quarter of its former size. Yet even as Mon Mothma and the New Republic government establish democratic rule from Coruscant (former capital of both the Old Republic and the Galactic Empire), a new dark force has arisen in the form of one of the Empire's most cunning warriors.
His name is Thrawn, and his tactical and intellectual gifts are so great that the racist and sexist Palpatine had promoted him to be the only non-human to wear the white uniform of Grand Admiral. For several years after the Battle of Endor (where the Rebels destroyed the second Death Star and both the Emperor and Darth Vader died), Thrawn was pacifying the Unknown Regions until his return to Imperial territory. Now, with a small but powerful Imperial fleet at his command, the mysterious Grand Admiral believes he holds the key to the undoing of the New Republic and the restoration of the Empire.
Zahn not only introduced a set of new characters that would become essential to what fans know as the Expanded Universe series (the charming smuggler-chief Talon Karrde, the beautiful but mysterious Mara Jade, the devoted Imperial fleet captain Pelleaon, and the mad clone Joruus C'baoth), but he brought fans of the movie heroes up to date on the lives of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia Organa Solo, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Lando Calrissian, and the droids.
A professional reviewer, at the time of the book's first appearance in 1991, wrote that Heir to the Empire "captures the spirit of the movie trilogy so well, you can almost hear John Williams' soundtrack." Indeed, Zahn does a superb job rendering the personalities from George Lucas' films that one can almost hear Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Billy Dee Williams, and Anthony Daniels when reading their characters' dialogue. The pace of the book is brisk and the action sequences are so well done that one can swear they are cinematic. Although there are many Star Wars authors whose novels are spellbinding, Zahn stands head and shoulders above the crowd.

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It's five years after Return of the Jedi: the Rebel Alliance has destroyed the Death Star, defeated Darth Vader and the Emperor, and driven out the remnants of the old Imperial Starfleet to a distant corner of the galaxy. Princess Leia and Han Solo are married and expecting Jedi Twins. And Luke Skywalker has become the first in a long-awaited line of Jedi Knights. But thousand of light-years away, the last of the emperor's warlords has taken command of the shattered Imperial Fleet, readied it for war, and pointed it at the fragile heart of the new Republic. For this dark warrior has made two vital discoveries that could destroy everything the courageous men and women of the Rebel Alliance fought so hard to build. The explosive confrontation that results is a towering epic of action, invention, mystery, and spectacle on a galactic scale--in short, a story worthy of the name Star Wars.

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