• 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
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (26,040 ratings)

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Star Wars: Heir to the Empire  By  cover art

Star Wars: Heir to the Empire

By: Timothy Zahn
Narrated by: Marc Thompson
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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

Featured Article: Star Wars—Canon vs. Legends


Star Wars fans have more options than ever when it comes to media in the universe. There’s a slew of shows, both animated and live action, a growing roster of films, endless comics and books, an array of video and arcade games, and, of course, a score of innovative audiobooks—all set in that familiar galaxy far, far away. Our guide breaks down the basics of both the canonical universe and the Legends timeline so you can explore every corner of the Star Wars galaxy with confidence.

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What listeners say about Star Wars: Heir to the Empire

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  • Overall
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    5 out of 5 stars

the only crtique is the narrator but overall great

As with any audiobook you need to take the narrator with a grain of salt. In this case if you're a huge star wars fan you may need that and some lemon pepper.... I would say he does a great job on the male characters and a pretty good job on the aliens and an admirable job on the wookies in particular. I cant say anyone would have been much better. the women however are the weak point and that makes sense. As a man its tough to do, but with lea he does pretty good given he has an example to imitate. Mara Jade however.... Half the time I feel like i want to cringe and half the time I can't help but giggling at the way he gives her a almost insulting and stereotypical bitchy woman voice, not to far removed from a valley girl voice. It's rough and diminishes a little from getting into the character and taking her seriously. Once you get over that and start fixing it in your mind (I Picture her more like a real actress, icy, almost monotone, and cold, very short with her words and shorter with her temper) it gets easier to deal with. That said, If you are the type to enjoy audiobooks this is a no brainer purchase especially if you are a star wars fan of any level. It's a fantastic story and the only thing that sucks is that they didn't jump on this ad make these into movies while the actors could still reasonably pull off the characters. His imitation of Han Solo is probably his strongest voice, with Luke being a decent runner up. His Lando does walk the border between accurate and a bit racist and exaggerated but given that Billy dee Williams has to be one of the most smooth and unique voices ever born I don't fault his attempt and its actually pretty good. I will say that a; my personal critiques aside, I am being as critical as i can possibly be and that shows how good a job he does. I would be disappointed in any star wars fan who has the chance to get this, especially with your free tokens, and who passes on it for something different. This is amazing, and though I am late to the show, I could only imagine how amazing it would be to read when it first came out back when this was all anyone had for any sequels to go off. Its truly one hell of a book and I gotta hand it to Timothy Zahn. It channels the original in feel, spirit, and personality all the way. and Thrawn is one hell of a character and I gotta say rebels did him perfectly and I know Dave Filoni will continue that in the newer stuff. Buy this now, what are you waiting for!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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The Most Like a OT Film You Could Ask For

Zahn knows how to capture the feel of the original films with knowing how to write an original story with those. The dialogue using a lot of member berries really makes the dynamics with the characters feel like the films. Thrawn is a very threatening villain and totally proves why he’s the next big bad after the emperor in the Legends continuity. Unfortunately there is some padding that could’ve been trimmed down like most of the Lando segments, I love the character but he did not have to be here. Zahn also masterfully writes the mystery of Mara Jade very well, it keeps you wanting to know more until the big reveal. I absolutely loved this book even though it was a bit too long at times, but I’d highly recommend to anyone wanting to get into SW books

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So glad I finally listened to it!!

It took me forever to finally listen to this audiobook, but man I finally have!! I’m a big Star Wars fan and Timothy Zahn does all of the characters justice!
The characters are amazing because they’re just like in the original trilogy and they are INTELLIGENT! They think their ways out of problems and I just love what feels like a continuation of everyone’s story.
Can’t wait to finish the trilogy!

(P.S. Marc Thompson’s Han Solo impression is so good I thought they brought in someone else just to do his voice)

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    4 out of 5 stars
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The Star Wars sequel film we should have gotten

Unlike the disjointed film sequel trilogy (which does have its moments in the first 2, don't get me wrong) this novel meaningfully expands on the story that Return of the Jedi left off and expands on the themes of the original trilogy as well. It introduces a great new villainy and cast of characters that are an absolute treat to follow. It has many call backs to the original trilogy and characterizes the classic characters perfectly and it is great to see them interact with each other.

The performance of the narrator is incredible and the usage of star wars music and sound effects elevates the experience.

My only gripe is that the pacing isn't perfect and the end is a tad bit anticlimactic.

If you are a Star Wars fan this is an essential read.

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Perfect

Marc Thompson is the best SW narrator. The sound effects enhance the experience. Only issue I ever had was sometimes engine whining, while realistic, got annoying and slightly loud in some scenes.

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Entertaining and fun

This is my first Star Wars book, and I enjoyed it. I thought it was a good continuation of the Skywalker saga. Marc Thompson did a great job with character voices and really brought the story to life. The sound effects were a little distracting at times, but added to the experience at times as well. I’ll definitely be finishing the series.

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Pros & Cons

Fantastic story that should be made into a movie. It’s wonderfully written. My only gripe is the reading of one of the Wookiee characters and Jade. The Wookie’s English dialogue is a mess and takes away from the story. Jade is similarly bad. Her initial distain for Skywalker is so distracting that it comes off as an immature petulant child. The dialogue approach is a complete miss.

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Always loved this book!

Always loved this book. Well done on the production of it as well! Totally worth picking up!!

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Perfection

Can’t say any more that hasn’t already been said by other reviewers except that even if your not a Star Wars fan… you should still listen to this masterpiece!

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great story if you never heard Thrawns origins

When I first read this trilogy, I never heard of Thrawn and he was an impressive enemy. Now after reading all the Thrawn origins and watching rebels, this Thrawn in Heir to the Empire doesn't make any sense. He cared about many people's and even let a rebellion actor go. After the collapse of the Empire what reasons would he have for not being part of the New Republic or back to the Chiss Acendancy? He would have not been this ruthless unless some family of his was killed or a lot of Chiss by the rebels

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