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Book Review: Heir to the Empire
Sep. 17th, 2016 09:42 amStar Wars: Heir to the Empire- by Timothy Zahn - I wanted to check out some of the Star Wars novels and I have heard that this was a good one. I remember HttE being a big deal when it was released in the early 90s. Star Wars, probably not surprisingly is a huge franchise with many novels, video games, Dark Horse comic books, Marvel comic books, animated tv shows,role playing games, movies (of course) and much more.
HttE was the kickoff to much of the expanded Star Wars empire. Now with over 100 novels, it's hard to imagine there was a start somewhere. I also can't help but think in the internet age, post - Harry Potter and post- the rise of fan fiction, HttE might have been a bigger event at the time if all that existed. Maybe not. In any case, Zahn helped kick off what turned out to be a really big deal.
It also probably explains why Zahn seems to spend so much time calling back to the "first" three films. It's hard to imagine that anyone who would be picking up these books would not already be familiar with these characters, but Zahn doesn't take that chance.
When I read reviews of this book, one common complaint is that Zahn doesn't quite capture all the characters' personalities, and specifically Han Solo.
For me, I did not see that as a particular weakness. I thought he captured the characters fine. Zahn usually gets good marks for the characters he introduced here, and I will concur that he sets up some interesting individuals.
As a friend reminds me, Star Wars tends more to being fantasy than science fiction, and this largely plays out as a fantasy adventure.
My review? Zahn can certainly tell a story. He was a good choice in making this franchise successful. Not that it probably wouldn't have ultimately succeeded, one tends to equate licensed properties with hack writing.
That said, although Zahn can spin a yard, for me, there's not much more to this book for me. It's a standard tale, well told, but it's not much more. There's a lot of promise in the character of Admiral Thrawn, but it just feels like Zahn wants to draw it out as much as possible. I wouldn't say I got "bored", but I didn't feel like there was much of a payoff for the time spent.
At 400-some pages, it probably would have served better at half the page length. Also as the first part of a trilogy, one understands that one is only a third of the way through; and the ending of this book ends up being rather anticlimatic.
I can't say I find it worth it to go on with this trilogy when there are other books to read and not enough hours in a day. I am sure it's a bit blasphemous as this trilogy is well loved, but I am going to concede that I don't love them. There are a few more books in the Star Wars universe I might try, but for now I am moving along.
HttE was the kickoff to much of the expanded Star Wars empire. Now with over 100 novels, it's hard to imagine there was a start somewhere. I also can't help but think in the internet age, post - Harry Potter and post- the rise of fan fiction, HttE might have been a bigger event at the time if all that existed. Maybe not. In any case, Zahn helped kick off what turned out to be a really big deal.
It also probably explains why Zahn seems to spend so much time calling back to the "first" three films. It's hard to imagine that anyone who would be picking up these books would not already be familiar with these characters, but Zahn doesn't take that chance.
When I read reviews of this book, one common complaint is that Zahn doesn't quite capture all the characters' personalities, and specifically Han Solo.
For me, I did not see that as a particular weakness. I thought he captured the characters fine. Zahn usually gets good marks for the characters he introduced here, and I will concur that he sets up some interesting individuals.
As a friend reminds me, Star Wars tends more to being fantasy than science fiction, and this largely plays out as a fantasy adventure.
My review? Zahn can certainly tell a story. He was a good choice in making this franchise successful. Not that it probably wouldn't have ultimately succeeded, one tends to equate licensed properties with hack writing.
That said, although Zahn can spin a yard, for me, there's not much more to this book for me. It's a standard tale, well told, but it's not much more. There's a lot of promise in the character of Admiral Thrawn, but it just feels like Zahn wants to draw it out as much as possible. I wouldn't say I got "bored", but I didn't feel like there was much of a payoff for the time spent.
At 400-some pages, it probably would have served better at half the page length. Also as the first part of a trilogy, one understands that one is only a third of the way through; and the ending of this book ends up being rather anticlimatic.
I can't say I find it worth it to go on with this trilogy when there are other books to read and not enough hours in a day. I am sure it's a bit blasphemous as this trilogy is well loved, but I am going to concede that I don't love them. There are a few more books in the Star Wars universe I might try, but for now I am moving along.
