Book Review: Heir to the Empire

Despite being considered non-canon to the current established Star Wars timeline, there is still a wealth of quality to be found in the Legends selection of Star Wars stories.  As mentioned in prior reviews, Grand Admiral Thrawn made his debut within the Legends series as part of written trilogy of books by Timothy Zahn.  It’s interesting to consider despite never featuring in any of the mainline movies, it’s his presence within the Legends collection of stories that did enough to establish a core legacy that brought Thrawn into the central stage of Disney’s Star Wars universe.  I figured after spending so much time reading and experiencing the modern interpretation of Thrawn, it was about time I delved into his very first foray into a galaxy far, far away.

Heir to the Empire serves as the first entry in the Thrawn trilogy. Its narrative follows the perspectives of several key characters after the conclusion of the original trilogy (Episodes 4-6).  The release of Heir to the Empire came after a notable 4-year drought in new Star Wars content and marked the 10th anniversary of A New Hope’s original theatrical run.  Upon release, Heir to the Empire was received incredibly well both commercially and critically, reaching #1 in the New York Times Bestseller list. It’s important to recognize the weight and legacy established by this trilogy because it arguably revitalized a lot of love for Star Wars prior to the prequel trilogy. 

Set around 5 years after the climatic Battle of Endor, Heir to the Empire follows Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Leia Organa as they are working to establish the New Galactic Republic in the wake of the Empire’s defeat.  With the major war over, all three of our main heroes face new struggles in finding a new role in a time of peace amidst political turmoil. Adding more troubles to their burdens is Grand Admiral Thrawn, a well-respected admiral leading the last core remnants of the Empire’s fleet in an effort to destroy the New Republic and bring about the rise of the Empire to their original position of power.  Thrawn’s plan is vast and layered and at the heart of it is the uneasy alliance he forms with a jedi clone by the name of Joruus C'baoth.  With a promise to deliver Joruus a new jedi order in return for the Emperor’s war vault, Thrawn enacts a plan to kidnap Luke and Leia.  Meanwhile, elsewhere in the galaxy, notorious smuggler Talon Karrde and his new right-hand Mara Jade play both sides of the oncoming conflict in the hopes of picking the winning faction. Unbeknownst to Talon however, Mara Jade has her own motives and it involves the capture and death of her one true enemy; Luke Skywalker.

The structure of this story is segmented across a number of perspectives and sub plots.  While I can clearly see Zahn’s quality reflected in each of these sections, it does feel at odds with itself at times.  I think it requires the reader to keep a firm grasp of a lot of ongoing elements to truly get the benefit of the narratives core quality.  I don’t think that’s a bad thing, because it rewards the reader for investing their time and paying attention.  Zahn clearly gets the assignment here and pays great respect to the already established lore that George Lucas produced in the original trilogy.  Zahn also builds on top of it, making an incredible effort to establish new and interesting characters and playing with the lore in a way that feels refreshing and interesting.  A lot of the prior Thrawn books I’ve read focus centrally on his character, but in this books case he has to share the story with a lot of other characters.  I like this as it gives you a lot of insight into how his actions have ramifications across many different levels and why he is considered one of the best villains to grace the universe. Zahn knows how to construct a story and define characters within it to a near perfect level, you can’t fault him on that.

The only thing that kind of loses the book some praise is it’s pacing. Zahn clearly has a lot of plots and characters to juggle in this story and because of that I feel the book can lose steam and focus from time to time.  It’s not a major issue because it can pick right back up easy enough, it does however bare acknowledgment in any case.  I like how much Zahn get’s the tone of Star Wars down in the book too.  Theirs a lot of heart and humour in the story but it’s also grounded in tension and a tone that really shows the reader Zahn is respecting their intelligence. 

Overall, Heir to the Empire does a fantastic job in selling a new major threat and pushing forward the established Star Wars universe in new and interesting ways.  I’ve always considered Zahn a fantastic writer when it comes to doing Thrawn-centric stories, but it’s nice to see he’s also just as capable of working with other established characters.  If Heir to the Empire is only the setup to a grandiose trilogy of events, then I cannot wait to get stuck in the next book in the series.