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

Publisher's 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

Good story but the voice change.

The story is good but not having Thrawn original voice was disappointing and I’m hoping the other books explain where he was at for the Death Star battles and explain his shift to a more darker attitude.

Loved it

This was amazing - both story, narration and sound effects. I am really sad, that this was not picked as a story for new Star Wars trilogy, with good director and modern technology, this would be a master piece of a movie. Thanks for this one!

Fantastic!

Awesome rendition of a classic Star Wars novel. A must listen to epic novel, of the highest rate.

great

excellent narrator/music. entertaining story that creates new characters and build on old ones from the Star wars universe.

My preferred Sequel Trilogy

I read Heir to the Empire when first released back in high school. As a teen fan of Star Wars, I dug it much, but then I got wrapped up in The Wheel of Time, and never got around to finishing. Recently, after the lousy prequel trilogy and the ho-hum sequel trilogy, I decided to dig back into what is now a "what might have been" footnote to "canon" and let Audible read it to me during my commute and on road trips. I'm glad I did. Zahn provides solid, not overwritten prose and tells a solid story. I enjoyed the book again, some 30 years on, recalling that one of my favorite aspects of the novel was Zahn using Thrawn as a critique of Vader's military and strategic prowess (or lack thereof).

With this re-read, what I found that I enjoyed most was the performance of Marc Thompson. Bringing side characters to life with thinly veiled impressions of the classic actors of my youth was a joy..... Karde read as Ricardo Montalban - brilliant, another smuggler in Karde's crew performed with a Jack Nicholson-like (or maybe Christian Slater-like - it's hard to tell at times) drawl, and another given the nebbishy voice of Woody Allen (though this character was more prominent in books 2 and 3). The primary cast of the heroes we know and love was solidly performed as well, though I found the voice Thompson used for Luke to be as annoying as Hammil's light, slightly whining performance in the first film. Thompson did a fine job of it, don't get me wrong; just saying Luke was never my favorite Star Wars character and that hasn't changed here. The whole unabridged trilogy is worth checking out for any Star Wars fan.

Incredible

Read this book and enjoy the magic of Star Wars. You wont regret it! This is what the last three movies should have been.

Great Expanded Universe Story, horrible voices

This is one of the most iconic Star Wars Expanded Universe titles; simply amazing. Zahn did an amazing job on this, and created one of the most amazing characters; Admiral Thrawn.


The narrator does an admirable job through MOST of the book...except when he's doing Wookiee voices....they are so grating, annoying, and downright corny that I am forced to fast forward through those parts....my goodness...they actually ruin parts of the story.

Otherwise, this is a worthy buy and any true Star Wars fan should have this in their library.

It was perfect!

Loved everything about this book. I especially loved the sound effects. It helps one get lost in the story, EarPods in, full volume, relaxing.
I didn’t want to stop listening in order to go to bed for work the next day etc., each time I listened lol.

The Actual Sequels

This book and the following two are the actual sequel trilogy. They are so good and so well planned. Thrawn is one of the greatest additions to SW by the EU. Please continue to release legends audiobooks!

More please

Marc Thompson is the chosen one! Please continue recording expanded Universe content—especially the Rogue Squadron series. We love them!