Star Wars: Dark Force Rising: The Thrawn Trilogy, Book 2

Having listened to the First volume of the Thrawn Series done by Thompson, I knew I had to wait until he completed his versions of the second two volumes. I am glad I waited. The story is excellent, as most people already know. However, Thompson gives an excellent performance enhanced by a great and not overbearing soundtrack, deliver an amazing entertainment experience. Get this audio-book, you will not be disappointed.

Finally the unabridged version. What more could you want? Marc Thompson did a great job with the reading and the production quality seems to be on pair with all the other Star Wars books. I would say this is a must have.

Following in the footsteps of last year's 20th anniversary release of Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire, Marc Thompson delivers another perfect performance with this second installment of The Thrawn Trilogy. For the uninitiated, this series' popularity helped launch the expanded universerse we all take for granted now. For example, the 'Imperial Planet' was first named Coruscant in this trilogy. If you enjoyed it as much as I did, this audiobook will make you want to listen to the third and final book, The Last Command, thankfully also available unabridged and narrated by Marc Thompson. The Force is strong with this one!

One of the best

Marc Thompson's reading

Great voice acting. Mark and Jim Dale are the best.

No

Another great book by Tim Zahn. Hope they re-do the "Hand of Thrawn" series. Un-Abridged and with Marc Thompson doing the reading.

Great extension of the Star Wars universe. Didn't care much for how Luke continues to be a bit whiny, but still a great read/listen. Mark Thompson does an amazing job of the voices for Luke, Leia, Han, and Lando.

If you like the Star Wars universe, you'll definitely enjoy these books.

Near the top

Everything about Admiral Thrawn

PLEASE redue all other Star Wars book in unabridged form!!!

So many plot twist, when you think the New Republic is gonna catch a break... then you are left mouth open. I am not gonna spoil anything but the new spieces in this book is fantastic

Probally Luke in this book

Yes listened to the whole thrawn series and loved every book

its like a glass of fine wine, you wanna take it in slowly till your hammered wanting more wine at the end of the bottle( the book)

Marc Thompson' performance of this brilliant story is second to none. He created voices for previously unknown characters and did a fantastic job on mimicing the characters we all know from the first three films. His portrayal of Grand Admiral Thrawn really made the character come to life. He was menacing and always in control. Really great series.

First off - I have found it very difficult to listen to other audio books after hearing the performance by Marc. He is about as good as it gets. You truly find yourself 'hearing and seeing' the characters. His inflections are damn near perfect. Truly amazed. Add a powerful story (the whole trilogy!) to his skill - and you are in for a great ride!

Solid story!

All of them! Lando and Han - were spot on! All characters were unique!

Watch this - NOW!

Download this - you won't be sorry.

Fair warning: I am a huge Star Wars nerd and love the print versions of these books. This set the bar EXTREMELY high, but the audiobooks are arguably better than the print version. (Yeah, really.)Between the narration and the touches of the original soundtrack that the editors wove in at key points, it really felt as through the book was part of the Star Wars universe. Better yet, the music made otherwise unlikeable characters more understandable. I didn't think it would be so compelling, but small details such as throwing in the sad music from Darth Vader's funeral as the narrator spoke of Captain Pellaeon's memory of watching the Executor crash into the Death Star made his mental anguish seem substantially more sympathetic. (Considering that he's one of the "bad guys" and not entirely likeable, getting any sympathy is tough.) Star Wars wouldn't be the same without Williams's soundtrack, so it was a good play to incorporate that.

I really enjoyed his take on the characters' voices. I was terrified that he would mess up Thrawn, but Thompson made Thrawn seem cool, calculating, and impeccably cultured to the point of being utterly alien. (Convenient, that.) His version of Captain Pellaeon is also very well done. Thompson aced the loyal, highly military, bright-but-not-bright-enough, Empire's man who is totally aware of his lack of genius. He injected the right tough of awkwardness into interactions with Thrawn, making it heartily apparent how utterly out of his depth the Captain knows he is and how totally flatfooted most of Thrawn's decisions make the Captain feel.I also really, really, really appreciated that Thompson managed to convey "this is a woman speaking" without falling into the trap of affecting a high pitched, squeaky voice. (Ahem, Jim Dale.) Leia actually sounded Leia-ish in inflection.

My only real criticism of the book is that Thompson's read on Mara made me really dislike her. He took the "bitter" thing and blew it up to mammoth proportions. Yeah, she's a bitter character, but ai! Enough!