All the May the Fourth and Revenge of the Fifth posts filling my social media feed this week have me reminiscing about the original Star Wars trilogy.
I was a kid when Episodes 4-6 were re-released in theatres, and going to see Star Wars for the first time on the big screen… it was a transcendental experience. There was something at once epic-scale and homey about the Star Wars universe. Something about the tropey characters that felt not-tropey-at-all but real and universal.
Then came Episodes 1-3 and and it all felt like a too-shiny, too-stiff replica. Even the Disney Era, with all the fun expansions it’s made to the Star Wars universe, has never really come close to that original vibe.
Luckily, there is one form of media that got it right–and that’s the Timothy Zahn Star Wars novels.
Waaaaay back in 1991, Zahn released Heir to the Empire, the first book in an iconic trilogy that follows the original cast on their post Episode Four adventures. I loved these books as a kid, and they’re still considered some of the best of the best by fans. Over the past few weeks I listened through Heir to the Empire in audio format to see if it would hold up to my memories. And I’m thrilled to report that this series is still the place to get your classic Star Wars vibes.
The Story
Five years after the rebellion’s victory in Return of the Jedi, Luke is still the last of his kind. As the ghosts of his former masters Yoda and Obi-wan fade into a realm where he can no longer contact them, he’s left alone and depressed. But there’s hope for the future of the Jedi, because Leia, happily married to Han, is pregnant with twins.
While Luke, Leia, Han and the rest are dealing with political drama in the fledgling government set up by the rebellion, a new mastermind–Grand Admiral Thrawn–is working behind the scenes in a plot to revive the Empire’s dwindling power. And that plan includes a bid to capture Leia’s twins to be trained under the hand of an unstable “dark Jedi.”
What I Liked
Heir to the Empire is classic Star Wars. All the characters feel like themselves, doing exactly what you’d imagine them doing five years after the movies. Luke isn’t a whiney kid anymore, but he’s feeling a more grown up version of “left behind.” Leia is handling shit like a badass. She and Han are bickering but totally in love. Han’s trying to make trade deals with his old smuggling contacts. Lando is working on a whole new intriguing business venture.
They’re by no means stagnant.–Everyone has grown and continues to grow throughout the book– but they feel like themselves and not like castoffs Disney sent on some less-believable, darker timeline so they could make a buck on another trilogy.
What I Loved
Heir to the Empire introduces two new bad guys who I love even more than Vader or Palpetine.
Grand Admiral Thrawn is an epic antagonist, a military genius who would have never built the Death Star twice. His calm and restraint make him so much more menacing than Vader or the Emperor. He’s not a cartoony bad guy at all. He’s an underdog with a brilliant mind, and the battle between the Empire and the Rebellion’s fledgeling government is a game of chess where he’s been thrown in already down a few pieces. But with him at the helm, the Empire has a real chance a t a comeback. It’s genuinely a thrill to watch him work.
Mara Jade, a whip-smart smuggler with a secret past and a mysterious personal vendetta against Luke, is such a badass. She’s so smart and slick that I almost feel like Luke doesn’t deserve her. But her bitterness brings her down a notch, making them a good match. I adore their whole enemies-to-lovers thing, which begins when they’re forced to work together to survive after crashing in a chase and that continues through the series.
In case you haven’t read it yet, I won’t give you any spoilers. But if you’re a sci-fi romance reader–you need to read Luke and Mara’s story.
A Couple of Caveats
As much as I love this series, I will say that Zahn’s vision of the Star Wars universe in Heir to the Empire doesn’t feel as expansive as the universe that I think lives in the mind of the average modern-day Star Wars fan. It isn’t Zahn’s fault. It’s just that the universe hadn’t been explored and expanded at the time he wrote these books. Episodes 1-4 hadn’t yet shown us just how large and organized the Jedi once were, or how involved they were in galactic governance. We hadn’t yet seen the epic scale of the senate, or the vastness of the armies of the clone wars. The word for “Sith” hadn’t even been introduced at the time this series was written–Zhan calls them “dark Jedi.”
A second important thing to understand is that this trilogy has been removed from the official Star Wars canon. When Disney took over and plotted out new movies, they removed some Star Wars content from the official canon. They still print these books in what’s called the “Legends” collection. It’s still considered iconic and still widely popular, but it’s no longer the “official” story of what happens to Luke, Leia, and the others after the events of the original movie trilogy. That being said, I feel the Thrawn Trilogy is in many ways more accurate to the characters and plot trajectory of the original movies than the newer official canon content.
Mara Jade’s relationship with Luke, Han and Leia’s happy marriage and all the rest of the content of the Thrawn Trilogy will always be the official story in my own personal Star Wars head canon.
Overall Thoughts
Heir to the Empire is an absolute must-read for Star Wars fans looking for a classic Star Wars fix. It may no longer be official Disney canon, but it’s still one of the most vibe-accurate pieces of Star Wars media outside of the original movie trilogy.
For an added layer of Star Wars nostalgia, treat yourself to the audiobook. The narrator does spot-on voices for all your favourite original cast characters. Plus the whole thing is full of classic Star Wars sound effects and music.
It truly feels like an extension of the movie trilogy.
