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.

I purchased a copy of this book for my own reading.

I’ve been a Star Wars fan for as long as I can remember, and that does include the prequel and sequel series, and most of the TV series too. And yet, I realised I’ve not dipped into the Star Wars expanded universe of books. Having liked the character of Grand Admiral Thrawn in the Ahsoka TV series, this book seemed a good jumping in point for me.

As I listened to the audiobook version, my review will be based on this, and is as such, coloured by elements from it. Firstly, the narration from Marc Thompson is fantastic. He does a brilliant job of portraying a wide range of characters with distinct voices. Add in the use of music so reminiscent of John Williams it really set the scene along with sound effects. And the story itself was fantastic. It takes place after the events of Return of the Jedi. It introduces Grand Admiral Thrawn as a senior member in the Imperial Navy, attempting to rebuild the shattered empire.

It also shows what happened with major characters including Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Han Solo and Chewbacca. It’s a fantastic insight into Star Wars events following the original trilogy while introducing new characters. I’ll be looking out for the other books in the series.

My rating: