HEIR TO THE EMPIRE

Timothy Zahn

Review by Jonathan Hicks

'They're back! An all-new space swashbuckler that's chock full of all the good stuff you've come to expect from a battle of good against evil'

New York Daily News

1991 this book was published. Eager, sweaty-palmed Star Wars fans waited patiently and then bought it in its thousands. New York Times bestseller. The Star Wars craze had been re-born, and millions of people all over the world, craving the further adventures of the Star Wars favourites, had their hunger satisfied. Timothy Zahn had set the standard that all other Star Wars novelists would have to follow.

I first began to read this book about a year after it came out. I had always been more of a doer in the Star Wars universe with my work on the Setnin Sector and the games - it was going to be weird to read someone else's take on the genre since nothing really big had been released since Return of the Jedi.

I don't count the Ewok movies for obvious reasons.

At first I was pulled in - this Grand Admiral Thrawn character seemed interesting, as did Joruus C'Boath, and the details of the fledgling New Republic was intriguing. It was all a very good read. The idea that the Imperials fought worse after the Emperor's death because he was the focal point of the Empire was a nice notion.

It wasn't the style of writing or the characters that put me off at first. I think many people have pretty much got the gist of the main Star Wars personalities and Zahn was no exception. You can't fault him for writing style. He has a very explanatory narrative that expresses both action and thought and this combined makes a nice way to tell a story.

At the end of the day, it wasn't his style that ultimately put me off the book.

First off, I didn't get the feel that I was in the Star Wars universe. Everything was too simple, too bland. The technology and surroundings of the characters didn't seem very sci-fi - the book could have been based in any setting to work. The conversation of the characters was well done but when the talking was over you didn't actually feel as though all that chatting had actually accomplished anything. It was well written but finally quite pointless in many respects. The action was obviously paced out to keep the reader hooked. Land on planet, attacked, land on planet, attacked, interspersed with plot threads that don't really mesh together, as if you're reading different stories intermingled. Fair enough, Zahn had the luxury of knowing he was writing the three books, but managing to engage the reader in the first book would have been a bonus.

Then there was the first of the few things that really turned me off.

The Force is the ultimate power in the universe. Darth Vader himself said something about 'The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.' It appears, however, that if you drape a lizard about your shoulders then you're rendered immune to the effects of the Force. The ysalamir are a species that 'naturally push back' the Force. So, in effect, what Zahn has done is lower the importance of the power of the Jedi's. It's like having a headache.  Now, with a short trip to a planet to find the fabled species 'paracetomol' you can cure that problem. A totally unnecessary addition to the book, which also debases the Force, which, at the end of the day, saved the galaxy.

Then there was the lack of use as far as the 'droids, R2-D2 and C-3PO are concerned. Pivotal characters in the movies now reduced to mere servitude. In the films they had started the whole thing over Tatooine, been important in The Empire Strikes Back and even helped save Han Solo in Return of the Jedi. All they do now is beep, whistle and say 'Master Luke'. A waste of two very good characters.

And then there were the continuous references to the Star Wars movies. Little snippets, little remembrances of dialogue and conversation. The characters Zahn's book would be thinking of themselves or their friends and these thoughts would always lead into a quote from one of the movies. A nice little nod of the head, or a simple way of getting the fans all misty-eyed and nostalgic? One of the worst moments is when there is a reference to a committee, and Leia says to Han, with a wry smile as if this is a continuing joke in their lives based on a throwaway line from The Empire Strikes Back, 'I am not a committee'. What was the point? I thought we were reading about the further adventures, not the continuous flashbacks.

This seems to be the norm in the Star Wars books, now. Timothy Zahn really did set the standard.

I just wish that something a little more urgent had happened. I just wish that the characters had been utilised better. I wish that the story and the adventure had unfolded in the way I had come to expect from Star Wars. I wish that it hadn't taken me nine years to finally get around to finishing this book.

I wish I'd liked Heir to the Empire, and I wish I could bring myself to read the other two.