Star Wars: Specter of the Past: The Hand of Thrawn, Book 1 cover art

Star Wars: Specter of the Past: The Hand of Thrawn, Book 1

Book I

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Star Wars: Specter of the Past: The Hand of Thrawn, Book 1

By: Timothy Zahn
Narrated by: Marc Thompson
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Only £0.99 a month for the first 3 months. Pay £0.99 for the first 3 months, and £8.99/month thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Start my membership

About this listen

 Hugo Award-winning author Timothy Zahn makes his triumphant return to the Star Wars(r) universe in this first of an epic new two-volume series in which the New Republic must face its most dangerous enemy yet--a dead Imperial warlord.

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. Facing incredible odds, Han and Leia begin a desperate race against time to prevent the New Republic from unraveling in the face of two inexplicable threats--one from within and one from without. Meanwhile, Luke teams up with Mara Jade, using the Force to track down a mysterious pirate ship with a crew of clones. Yet, perhaps most dangerous of all, are those who lurk in the shadows, orchestrating a dark plan that will turn the New Republic and the Empire into their playthings. Adventure Fantasy Science Fiction Space Opera Fiction Star Wars Bounty Hunter Interstellar

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Into the Void cover art
Star Wars: Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader cover art
Rogue Squadron: Star Wars Legends (Rogue Squadron) cover art
Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Betrayal cover art
Shadow Hunter cover art
Star Wars: Outbound Flight cover art
Vector Prime: Star Wars (The New Jedi Order) cover art
Star Wars: Ahsoka cover art
Shatterpoint: Star Wars Legends cover art
Jedi Search: Star Wars (The Jedi Academy) cover art
From a Certain Point of View (Star Wars) cover art
Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire cover art
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed cover art
Star Wars: The Black Fleet Crisis: Before the Storm cover art
Redshirts cover art
The Teeth of the Tiger cover art

Critic reviews

"Zahn turns in his usual high-caliber performance."--Library Journal

"Longtime fans should get considerable pleasure from this addition to the saga."--Publishers Weekly
All stars
Most relevant

If you could sum up Star Wars: Specter of the Past: The Hand of Thrawn, Book 1 in three words, what would they be?

Great Book, looking forward to conclusion

What did you like best about this story?

Marc Thompson's narrating

What about Marc Thompson’s performance did you like?

Everything, he really nailed this one

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

an emotional roller coaster

Marc Thompson -- awesome narrating

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
this is yet another excellent story from Zahn I can't wait to hear part 2

Great story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I really enjoyed the story and the voices are good, but this takes place 5 years before the force awakens and according to Disney, the empire died 1 year after the battle of Endor, not 25. I can see this kind of stuff makes a good story, but it wouldn’t make a good movie. I’m happy with what Disney did with Star Wars, but just having a hard time separating the canon stuff from the legends. But that’s not the stories fault. Very good book by the way, you should defiantly get it. I just didn’t get the big pay off I was hoping to get at the end. Also, read the Thrawn trilogy first, because if you don’t, you wouldn’t know what the occasional odd reference means and it would just be confusing to you. Five stars though. Another great Timothy Zhan book.

Good book, though I can see why it’s not canon.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I have read this book several times when it came out and it was so good to have high quality expanded universe content.

Too bad it's not canon, because this would've been an epic 2 part movie, maybe even a series.

Marc is brilkiant as always and it's getting harder for me to listen to other narragors since Marc throws in so many different characters with his amazing voice acting that his books are more of a radio drama then just a narrator reading a book.

Off to Visions of the Future now.

Everything Zahn writes is highly recommended because he's truly amazing writer. And having Marc Thompson on board is just adding to the whole awesomeness of it.

Too bad it's not canon. :(

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
If you loved Thrawn before you'll love this! It's a great follow on from Zahn's original excellent trilogy

If you loved Thrawn before you'll love this!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews