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Heir to the Empire begins five years after Return of the Jedi. The Rebel Alliance has destroyed the Death Star, defeated Darth Vader and the Emperor, and driven the remnants of the old Imperial Starfleet back into a quarter of the territory it once controlled. But thousands of light-years away, the last of the Emperor's warlords have taken command of the remains of the Imperial fleet - and have made two vital discoveries that could destroy the fragile new Republic.
The dying Empire's most cunning and ruthless warlord, Grand Admiral Thrawn, has taken command of the remnants of the Imperial fleet and launched a massive campaign aimed at the New Republic's destruction. With the aid of unimaginable weapons long hidden away by the Emperor on a backwater planet, Thrawn plans to turn the tide of battle, overwhelm the New Republic, and impose his iron rule throughout the galaxy.
The embattled New Republic reels from the attacks of Grand Admiral Thrawn, who has marshaled the remnants of the Imperial forces and driven the Rebels back with an abominable technology recovered from the Emperor's secret fortress: clone soldiers.
The Empire stands at the brink of total collapse. But they have saved their most heinous plan for last. First a plot is hatched that could destroy the New Republic in a bloodbath of genocide and civil war. Then comes the shocking news that Grand Admiral Thrawn--the most cunning and ruthless warlord in history--has apparently returned from the dead to lead the Empire to a long-prophesied victory.
There is a great disturbance in the Force. From the sleek ships of the glimmering Coruscant skyscape to the lush gardens of pastoral Naboo, dissent is roiling. The Republic is failing, even under the leadership of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, elected 10 years earlier to save the crumbling government. Separatists threaten war, and the Senate is hopelessly divided, unable to determine whether to raise an army for battle or keep the fragile peace.
Three decades have passed since Wraith Squadron carried out its last mission. Taking on the most dangerous and daring operations, the rogues and misfits of the elite X-Wing unit became legends of the Rebellion and the Second Galactic Civil War, before breaking up and going their separate ways. Now their singular skills are back in vital demand - for a tailor-made Wraith Squadron mission. A powerful general in the Galactic Alliance Army, once renowned for his valor, is suspected of participating in the infamous Lecersen Conspiracy, which nearly toppled the Alliance back into the merciless hands of the Empire.
Heir to the Empire begins five years after Return of the Jedi. The Rebel Alliance has destroyed the Death Star, defeated Darth Vader and the Emperor, and driven the remnants of the old Imperial Starfleet back into a quarter of the territory it once controlled. But thousands of light-years away, the last of the Emperor's warlords have taken command of the remains of the Imperial fleet - and have made two vital discoveries that could destroy the fragile new Republic.
The dying Empire's most cunning and ruthless warlord, Grand Admiral Thrawn, has taken command of the remnants of the Imperial fleet and launched a massive campaign aimed at the New Republic's destruction. With the aid of unimaginable weapons long hidden away by the Emperor on a backwater planet, Thrawn plans to turn the tide of battle, overwhelm the New Republic, and impose his iron rule throughout the galaxy.
The embattled New Republic reels from the attacks of Grand Admiral Thrawn, who has marshaled the remnants of the Imperial forces and driven the Rebels back with an abominable technology recovered from the Emperor's secret fortress: clone soldiers.
The Empire stands at the brink of total collapse. But they have saved their most heinous plan for last. First a plot is hatched that could destroy the New Republic in a bloodbath of genocide and civil war. Then comes the shocking news that Grand Admiral Thrawn--the most cunning and ruthless warlord in history--has apparently returned from the dead to lead the Empire to a long-prophesied victory.
There is a great disturbance in the Force. From the sleek ships of the glimmering Coruscant skyscape to the lush gardens of pastoral Naboo, dissent is roiling. The Republic is failing, even under the leadership of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, elected 10 years earlier to save the crumbling government. Separatists threaten war, and the Senate is hopelessly divided, unable to determine whether to raise an army for battle or keep the fragile peace.
Three decades have passed since Wraith Squadron carried out its last mission. Taking on the most dangerous and daring operations, the rogues and misfits of the elite X-Wing unit became legends of the Rebellion and the Second Galactic Civil War, before breaking up and going their separate ways. Now their singular skills are back in vital demand - for a tailor-made Wraith Squadron mission. A powerful general in the Galactic Alliance Army, once renowned for his valor, is suspected of participating in the infamous Lecersen Conspiracy, which nearly toppled the Alliance back into the merciless hands of the Empire.
Corran Horn has distinguished himself as one of the best and brightest of Rogue Squadron's elite fighting force. Then his wife, Mirax, vanishes on a covert mission for the New Republic, and Corran vows to find her. To do so, he knows he must develop the latent Force powers inherited from his grandfather, a legendary Jedi hero. He joins Luke Skywalker's famed Jedi academy to begin training, only to quit in frustration at Skywalker's methods. Now Corran is on his own.
While Luke Skywalker takes the first step toward setting up an academy to train a new order of Jedi Knights, Han Solo and Chewbacca are taken prisoner on the planet Kessel and forced to work in the fathomless depths of a spice mine. But when Han and Chewie break away, they flee to a secret Imperial research laboratory surrounded by a cluster of black holes - going from one danger to a far greater one.
He's both feared and admired, respected and despised. Boba Fett is the galaxy's most successful bounty hunter. Now he finds himself the hunted in the oldest game of all: survival of the fittest. Hoping to fuel rumors of his death, Boba Fett abandons his ship, Slave I, and sets out to claim a prize. Yet his every move leads him closer to a trap set by the cunning Prince Xizor.
The sequel to New York Times best seller Thrawn, Thrawn: Alliances will continue to follow the rise of Grand Admiral Thrawn to the heights of Imperial power - and accompany him into the past, witnessing his first encounter with the man who will one day become Darth Vader.
It is a time of tranquility for the New Republic. But the peace is short-lived. Luke must journey to his mother's homeworld in a desperate and dangerous quest to find her people. An adventurous Lando must seize a mysterious spacecraft that has weapons of enormous destructive power. And Leia, a living symbol of the New Republic's triumph, must face down a ruthless leader of the Duskhan League, an arrogant Yevetha who seems bent on a genocidal war.
Suspended helplessly between life and death, Luke Skywalker lies in state at the Jedi academy. But on the spirit plane, Luke fights desperately for survival, reaching out physically to the Jedi twins. At the same time, Leia is on a life-and-death mission of her own, a race against Imperial agents hoping to destroy a third Jedi child, Leia and Han's baby Anakin, hidden on the planet Anoth.
On the planet Tython, the ancient Je’daii order was founded. And at the feet of its wise Masters, Lanoree Brock learned the mysteries and methods of the Force - and found her calling as one of its most powerful disciples. But as strongly as the Force flowed within Lanoree and her parents, it remained absent in her brother, who grew to despise and shun the Je’daii, and whose training in its ancient ways ended in tragedy. Now, from her solitary life as a Ranger keeping order across the galaxy, Lanoree has been summoned by the Je’daii Council on a matter of utmost urgency.
While the New Republic struggles to decide what to do with the deadly Sun Crusher, a new doomsday weapon stolen from the Empire by Han Solo, the renegade Imperial Admiral Daala uses her fleet of Star Destroyers to conduct guerrilla warfare on peaceful planets. And now she threatens the watery homeworld of Admiral Ackbar. But as the battle for a planet rages, an even greater danger emerges at Luke Skywalker's Jedi academy.
Tassaa Bareesh, a matriarch in the Hutt crime cartel, is holding an auction that’s drawing attention from across the galaxy. Representatives of both the Republic and the Sith Empire are present, along with a Jedi Padawan sent to investigate, a disenfranchised trooper drummed out of the Republic’s elite Blackstar Squad, and a mysterious Mandalorian with a private agenda.
Luke Skywalker, Jedi Master, has unified the Jedi order into a cohesive group of powerful knights. But as the new era begins, honor and duty will collide with friendship and blood ties. The Skywalker and Solo clans find themselves on opposing sides of an explosive conflict, with potentially devastating repercussions for both families, for the Jedi order, and for the entire galaxy.
He is Boba Fett, the most feared and successful bounty hunter in the galaxy, and even the most hardened criminals tremble at his name. Now he faces the deadliest challenge of his infamous career: an all-out war against his most dangerous enemies.
He was a child without a past, a Corellian street urchin, abandoned, foraging for scraps of food, when the cruel Garris Shrike whisked him away to join a nomadic band of space-faring criminals. Now, years later, chafing under Shrike's sadistic tyranny, driven by dreams of adventure and glory, Han fights his way free. His goal: to become an Imperial Navy pilot. But first he needs hands-on experience flying spacecraft, and for that he takes a job on the planet Ylesia.
They are the X-wing fighters: sleek, swift, and deadly. And as the struggle rages across the vastness of space, the fearless men and women who pilot them risk both their lives and their machines. Their mission: to defend the Rebel Alliance against a still powerful and battle-hardened Imperial foe in a last ditch effort to control the stars!
Its very name strikes fear in enemy hearts. So when Rebel hero Wedge Antilles rebuilds the legendary Rogue Squadron, he seeks out only the best, the most skilled, the most daring X-wing pilots. Through arduous training and dangerous missions, he weeds out the weak from the strong, assembling a group of hard-bitten warriors willing to fight and ready to die.
Antilles knows the grim truth: that even with the best X-wing jockeys in the galaxy, many will not survive their near suicidal missions. But when Rogue Squadron is ordered to assist in the assault of the heavily-fortified Imperial stronghold of Black Moon, even the bravest must wonder if any at all will survive.
I am a life long Star Wars fan, however never ventured into the expanded universe as much. Yes, condemn me haha. I remember seeing the original trilogy at the cinema when they first came out. Anyhow everyone says this series is great to read. I am going to buy the written version as I have been totally put off by the narrator. As someone said, he sounds bored throughout and really does little to engage a listener.
I'm really gutted that this story was so bad.
The narrator sounded bored through the whole story and I struggled through it.
I'll only get the next book in the series if it's a different narrator but I'll even struggle at that.
I love the X-Wing series - games, comics and books - Stackpole and Holland really do make the EU come alive for the Rogues and other pilots!
This is a beautifully written book and abridged really well. The emperor may have fallen but the Empire still goes on. We join wedge(Luke Skywalkers friend) and the new Rouge squadron in the first of nine action packed books. The empire has shattered into a giant power play but a struggling rebel alliance cannot take advantage. A lack of space fleet and indifference from alliance allies proves frustrating for our rouge Hero's.We meet many complex new characters and also see into the early life of many soon to be Jedi.
Henry Thomas's performance is good, but some of the charters sound too similar. It lacks the details that make it a really good book, as the abridged story just leaves out too much of what make the book so much more enjoyable and complete.
13 of 13 people found this review helpful
What disappointed you about Star Wars?
It was horrible. Too much sound effects drown out reader. Story was too much abridged.
Has Star Wars turned you off from other books in this genre?
Yes if they are like this one.
How could the performance have been better?
Soften the sound effects. Do an unabridged version
If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Star Wars?
Unabridged version is a must. Sounds effects should be very soft in the background not over powering drowning out the reader.
11 of 11 people found this review helpful
Would you try another book from Michael A. Stackpole and/or Henry Thomas?
Yes, if presented unabridged.
What could Michael A. Stackpole have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?
I do not believe the issues here were Stackpole's as I enjoyed the original book itself. Rather, the story presented for the audiobook was so hacked up that much of the good detail and character development was lost.
Have you listened to any of Henry Thomas’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
I am not familiar with Thomas' other work. The reading here was rather well done. If there were moments where some characters sounded too similar, it can be forgiven with there being so many characters to deal with. Overall, I liked his delivery, and consider it the high point of this rendition.
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
Disappointment. I had not realized this was an abridged version when I bought the audiobook. Even beyond that, there was a particularly poor job done of reducing the work. I thoroughly enjoyed the original paperback, yet this script lacks the character development and suspense from the novel. Had I not already been up on the novel itself, this would have been a dull story careening from one barely connected fight to another. Frankly, I expected much better, and will refrain from buying any further abridged versions of this series.
Any additional comments?
The background noises and effects were entertaining, and could have added a lot to an unabridged version of the book, but they are not enough to save this chopped up script. This is the most disappointing audiobook I have purchased to date, and makes me leery of buying any more Star Wars audiobooks.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful
the abridged version is so bad.
this is to good of a story to even present this chopped up P o s.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
the original is great. this shortened version is easy too short. I wish they would make an unadvertised version of the series. if gladly purchase that again
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?
unabridged maybe.
What do you think your next listen will be?
an unabridged star wars book... old republic or something.
How did the narrator detract from the book?
he was fine. not Mark Thompson, but a good second.
You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?
nope.
Any additional comments?
I am so confused. I don't think they did a good job of abridging this book... I have heard good things about the actual book, but this was really lame. I think they cut out all of the jokes and banter and dialog and anything else that would have made this a story and left only the facts. reader was good. too bad the abridging sucked donkeys.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Is there anything you would change about this book?
An unabridged read.
What did you like best about this story?
Ambiant sounds during scenes.
How did the narrator detract from the book?
Pronunciation accuracy of specific 'Star Wars' names, ships, planets, etc. Obviously the reader hasn't been a fan for long, if at all.
Could you see Star Wars being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?
I've read this series a few times and think there is plenty of substance for TV or movies. Hopefully not by the sci-fi channel... They can't match the CG or the casting to keep up with the original movies.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Abridged books lose someone key nuances in the retelling. So it is with this one.
the reading is barely hearable because the kids effects are too loud.
the story is nice but a but flat
What disappointed you about Star Wars: The X-Wing Series, Volume 1: Rogue Squadron?
The entire x-wing series is a great set of stories. But these abridged versions make little sense.