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  • Star Wars: Heir to the Empire

  • (20th Anniversary Edition), The Thrawn Trilogy, Book 1
  • By: Timothy Zahn
  • Narrated by: Marc Thompson
  • Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (324 ratings)
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Star Wars: Heir to the Empire cover art

Star Wars: Heir to the Empire

By: Timothy Zahn
Narrated by: Marc Thompson
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Summary

Here is a special edition 20th anniversary release of the number-one New York Times best-selling novel that reignited the entire Star Wars publishing phenomenon - unabridged for the first time. The biggest event in the history of Star Wars books, Heir to the Empire follows the adventures of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia after they led the Rebel Alliance to victory in Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi.

Five years after the Death Star was destroyed and Darth Vader and the Emperor were defeated, the galaxy is struggling to heal the wounds of war, Princess Leia and Han Solo are married and expecting twins, and Luke Skywalker has become the first in a long-awaited line of new Jedi Knights.

But thousands of light-years away, the last of the Emperor’s warlords - the brilliant and deadly Grand Admiral Thrawn - 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 create.

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.

More in the Thrawn Trilogy we have. And listen to all of our Star Wars titles you can!
©1991 Timothy Zahn (P)2011 Random House Audio

What listeners say about Star Wars: Heir to the Empire

Average customer ratings
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Sound effects made this audiobook my favorite

Random House Audio is from now on my first choice. Sound effects plus multiple voices created unique experience

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5 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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A classic

I am more of a fan of canon star wars due to the more cleaner lore presented and even this book from legends seemed to struggle to match the prequals lore but if you ignore all that and see this as the 90s continuation of the orginal films it works very well.

with the audiobook the modern sounds and up to date reading from mark Thomas breathes new life and makes the book timeless.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic from start to finish

This is the first time I've listened to any audio book. Highly recommended to any Star Wars fan.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

really good

Good voice acting by Mark Thompson!

I liked Thrawn's character. He's excellent. and interested in Mara Jade too!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Nice to be back

It was great to have a follow up on the original trilogy. Having the books on my bookshelf for decades and never managed to read them, I feel the guilt of losing so much time not knowing what happened after the battle of Endor. I'm happy to catch up now with a wonderful performance.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Awesome! 99% of it...

Story and performance were both just perfect. The real Star Wars canon story, how it should have been.

There is just 1 but... same one 3 times. In the performance there was X-Wing engine sound 3 times for an extended time. It was WAAAY too loud, drilling right into one's brain. Hated those moments, especially because they lasted so long (~10 minutes the first time). If you can last through it, you will enjoy every minute of the rest of the book.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Classic!

Great story and amazing performance! Should have been the base for the actual sequel trilogy

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Hollow story, and small universe syndrome.

TLDR: while this story may have worked for people in the 90s it doesn’t hold up to modern standards I would expect from Star Wars novels.

I decided to read this considering Dave Filoni is supposed to be directing an heir to the empire type of story to culminate the mandoverse. I’ve heard nothing but great praise for Timothy zahns thrawn trilogy every since getting back into Star Wars in 2014. I loved thrawns portrayal in rebels and I liked Zahns Thrawn Novel.

Heir to the Empire however, is extremely disappointing and hasn’t aged well. I can understand why this book have meaning to some people as it was the first real piece of EU media post ROTJ. However the over realiance on references to the OT was something I didn’t expect and it made the universe feel so small. Anytime the character feels something Zahn feels inclined to reference a moment in the OT and that really took me out of the story and made it feel fan fiction like.

This version of thrawn is also not very smart. He has one impressive naval victory at the start of the novel and then for the rest of it he is kind of just bumbling around. Also his appreciation for art felt shoe horned in and under used, whereas in rebels it is integral for how he defeats and tracks the rebels.

The performance is good as mark Thompson usually is however the wookie voice is insufferable. I considered skipping over those chapters however I powered through.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

before Disney, before the woke and dark time's.

This is what we should have gotten instead of the abysmal disney's trilogy. this book and the ones that follow play out perfectly like a real star wars film. staying true to the source material and characters involved.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A very good addition

Beautifully written addition to the Star Wars universe. Great narration, really sounds like it’s been made my people with passion. Thought the story had a bit of a fall on Myrkr, but still very excited about the sequel!

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