Dark Force Rising: Star Wars Legends (The Thrawn Trilogy) (Star Wars: the Hand of Thrawn, 2)

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Here is the #1 New York Times bestselling novel that reignited the entire Star Wars publishing phenomenon. 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 .

Timothy Zahn: Outbound Flight Arrival". StarWars.com. January 31, 2006. Archived from the original on February 4, 2006 . Retrieved July 21, 2016.

Mara probably is the standout character outside of the OG trilogy in this book, because she starts to have her own storyline, and I really felt bad for her when her decisions had consequences and she didn't really know what to do. (I think she has even better books later on, but this book was excellent for her character development). But most dangerous of all is a new Dark Jedi, risen from the ashes of a shrouded past, consumed by bitterness…and thoroughly, utterly insane. Now he schemes to use his awesome mastery of the Force to summon young Skywalker, allay his misgivings, cunningly enthrall him, and ultimately corrupt him to the Dark Side. I also enjoyed Han's story in this book, trying to find the Katana fleet while also learning about the mysterious new characters that enter the series. Lando provides some great balance to the story. THE CONClUSION: Dark Force Rising could have been a lot better, but I still found it to be a good book. Even though I rated it a 3 stars, it's more like a 3.5 and It was mostly because I was a bit disappointed after how great Heir to the Empire was. Most importantly, I still am excited to read The Last Command. How Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire Turned Star Wars into Science Fiction". tor.com. 28 February 2013 . Retrieved 24 July 2022.

I am quite looking forward to all the, hopefully coming, fandom inspired works, because there will certainly come pearls and masterpieces that are not just better than the movie, or even series in general, but also own the standard grew with introducing or expanding already existing, amazing antiheroes. Golly, I almost wish I could copy and paste my review from Heir to the Empire! But, to be original, I'll try to come up with different things I like. Zahn also did a great job with the cliffhanger at the last chapter of this book. It made up for the underwhelming climactic space battle and gave us something dark and ominous. Probably one of the best uses of the line "I have a bad feeling about this" I have seen in Star Wars.

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So after two canonical trilogies — The Ascendancy Trilogy and The Imperial Trilogy— some might be wondering: is Zahn facing potential creative burnout with writing his favorite alien art aficionado? It doesn’t sound like it, as he says that he’s interested in exploring the gap in the timeline between where we last saw him at the end of Rebels (spoiler alert: captured by the Jedi Padawan Ezra Bridger and the Purrgil who launched his ship into hyperspace) to his reintroduction in Ahsoka (where he’s not seen with Ezra and appears to be far away from any space whales): Luke and Leia have their own troubles. Luke follows the trail set for him by Joruus C'baoth and Thrawn, and ends up in the clutches of C'baoth. Luke's interactions with him are a little frustrating, as he's clearly insane, but Luke is in such a vulnerable place as a Jedi that he's willing to admit he may be wrong about what he knows, and concedes to C'baoth. At least, until he betrays himself and turns violent, and Luke ends having to be rescued by Mara Jade, so that they in turn can rescue Talon Karrde from the clutches of the Empire. It's really interesting to once again watch Mara Jade admit to herself that she needs Luke, and Zahn begins the process with her of starting to essentially deprogram her from her time as the Emperor's Hand. Her impressions of Luke in the present do not mix well with her ingrained hatred of him, making for some really interesting interactions. I especially love Luke in these moments, because he treats her with such respect and kindness, even as he knows she wants to kill him. The action continues to be high, with his characters spread in five different dimensions. You would think it would be overwhelming, but Zahn handles it nicely, reminding the reader where Leia is, what Han is doing, what happened to Luke and so on so you don't ever go, "Wait a minute, it's been forever since we heard from Mara...where is she?" I've read other authors who drop viewpoints randomly and make me wonder that exact thing. The trilogy allowed Lucasfilm to expand its non-film media into the mainstream, as opposed to the more niche comic book and role-playing game markets it was previously focusing on. [25] The success of the series prompted Lucasfilm to immediately commission more books to continue the Star Wars story. [12] Legacy [ edit ]