Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy, Book 1: Heir to the Empire Audiobook By Timothy Zahn cover art

Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy, Book 1: Heir to the Empire

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy, Book 1: Heir to the Empire

By: Timothy Zahn
Narrated by: Denis Lawson
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $8.99

Buy for $8.99

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

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. Princess Leia and Han Solo are married and have shouldered heavy burdens in the government of the new Republic, and Luke Skywalker is the first in a hoped-for new line of Jedi Knights.

But thousands of light-years away, where a few skirmishes are still taking place, 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 tale that emerges is a towering epic of action, invention, mystery, and spectacle on a galactic scale: in short, a story that is worthy of the name Star Wars.

More in the Thrawn Trilogy series we have. And download all of our Star Wars titles you can!©1992 Timothy Zahn (P)2007 Random House Adventure Fiction Genre Fiction Military Movie, TV & Video Game Tie-Ins Science Fiction Space Opera Star Wars Fantasy Interstellar Bounty Hunter

Critic reviews

"Well written." (School Library Journal)
Excellent Storyline • Compelling Characters • Cinematic Reading • Great Antagonist • Expanded Universe • Iconic Heroes
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  
I would suggest to skip ahead and get the 20th anniversary version of the book. It feels like he was just reading the book. No real change in voice between male and female voices. Also at times I felt like it was hard to hear what was being said.

skip ahead

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The abridged version leaves out too many of the fun details. And Denis Lawson does a good job but the pronunciation of Chimaera as "kih-moor-ah" and Nkllon as "New Kylon" drives me batty every time. Maybe the abridgment authors changed the spellings.

Abridged leaves out the good parts

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A much needed continuance between the canon original trilogy timeline and the new movies. Thanks!

fantastic!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
the "New Thrawn Seriestthat just came out in 2020. I like it a lot better because because it fits into the Canon storyline of the movies all the way from Return of the Jedi to "Last Jedi".... it was much better with the voices in the new series that came out this year but the music and sound effects are better in the old series here....

it was good. But I like the "New Thrawn Series

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It was a great continuation story starting after return of the jedi. Thrawn is a great antagonist.

Great star wars story!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Loves many other EU Star Wars books but this one didn't quite do it for me. Didn't care for the voice actors performance at all.

Might've been too hyped for me

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This trilogy by Zahn is what brought Star Wars back into our collective conscience. Why then are his audio books abridged? I love the story, and I love being able to listen to it on my iPod at the gym, but slightly disappointed in not being able to listen to the entire work as Zahn originally penned it. It's still a good listen, even though it leaves out half the book. It would be awesome though, if there were radio drama style, unabridged, versions of his books.

Love the book, dislike the abridged part

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Someone with a British accent narrating something is ok I guess, however, when you have someone that is compelled through social association to add letters and/or syllables into words where they are not supposed to be you get something that is less than contiguous. I had to go through all three books twice just to comprehend what was being said, since very little was comprehensible throughout all three books since very little was pronounced correctly and it took time to associate what was said, with what was known the world over. Just a warning to others of the annoyance factor of trying to associate what is known with what is spoken in narration that is not in continuity with what is already known about the genre.

Needs another Narrator.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I have read the book series a few years ago and decided to experience the audio book. The story is excellent, but the narrator is horrible. He mispronounces names of characters and locations. Also, he is very monotone and dull.

Excellent Book, but Horrible Narrator

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Chew ba ca
Core scant
The story was absolutely terrific. The narrator was so bad it continually snapped me out of the immersion.

Great Story Terrible Narrator

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