Dark Force Rising (Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy, Vol. 2) Mass Market Paperback – February 1, 1993

Brilliant read, so easy to imagine the characters, places and technology from the films. Good attention to detail, and balancing of a difficult war from both sides.

I’m reading all of the legend books in order and they are great in telling the canon story of Star Wars. Recommend if you want to learn more of the detailed stories around the movies and beyond.

Dark Force Rising is the second book of three in the "Thrawn Trilogy". Thrawn is this blue guy with glowing red eyes who takes primary leadership of the empire after the fall of Vader and the emperor. This book picks up well from the first of this trilogy, Heir to the Empire. It preserves the fast and epic feel of the star wars films. This trilogy is as close to what occurs directly after "Return of the Jedi" as a casual fan such as myself would require.As for this book in particular, a great deal of setting up for the third book, "The Last Command" is occurring. Several new characters such as Niles Ferrier are introduced, and a few other conflicts get resolved as others are being initiated. Luke finally encounters C'Baoth, who is the only Jedi master left in the galaxy. Luke also makes more run-ins with Mara Jade, ex hand of the emperor. She's supposed to be hot, and totally into trying to kill Luke, due to a "Jedi spell" Darth Sidious put on her just before dying. Plus she just doesn't like Luke very much for killing her boss, so more plot development occurs between those two. All the classic characters from the movies are very busy with galactic bureaucracy, trading and negotiations as the war between the New Republic and the Empire continues to rage in the background.Thrawn seems perfectly content avoiding most of the main warring going on, and enjoys his time wasting precious empire resources wandering the galaxy on random hunches and flashes of self-ordained brilliance. He's a bit of a jerk in other words, but also extremely cunning.The novels are worth reading if you're a star wars fan, though the writer definitely rushed his way through this book. He writes so poorly. I swear he used the word "sardonic" to describe every single person's facial expression at least 3 times each. No joke! Check it out yourself! He Zahn just seems to lack artistic variability in characterization in this book. You can really tell he was just trying to pump this one out to the shelves to milk a thirty year old cash cow. Aside from Zahn's sacrilegious negligence to the saga, the story itself is fun, impacting and significant to the star wars legacy. This book very much excited me for the third one, which I am beginning presently. I just hope Zahn put more effort into giving characters a bit more variety in expression other in the third book, other than always being sardonic, getting chills or sweat dripping between shoulder blades (eww... Mara, stop sweating so much). I think the events really drive the novel, despite the poor writing. That's why I'd still recommend it to those who want to know what happens after the movies!

I am new to reading the old Star Wars EU books. And thought I would start with the Thrawn series ( mainly cuz he's one of my favorites. The book was a fun read. Its crazy to think that Disney didn't use these for Episode 7 8 and 9. I understand that Disney basically has caked the SWEU, as non canon. I personally think that was a mistake. They wouldn't be as in much of a bind if they adapted some of the EU stuff. Very interesting stuff in the EU. Looking forward to getting to know it more.

Another fantastic installment.The second book in the Heir trilogy sets Luke and company against Thrawn’s endeavors to not only restore the might of the Empire, but to rule it.Luke is sidetracked by C’baoth, a Jedi master that insists on finishing his training. Luke discovers that he’s either a dark Jedi, or as he believes, insane.Mara Jade, who once only wanted to kill Luke is now turning to him for help, and Luke too begins to struggle with conflicted feeling about and for her.After a quick but epic battle, the New Republic gives Thrawn a black eye and bloody nose, and we’re now on to book three.This is what we should have gotten after TROTJ, not the lackluster sequels that we got.I highly recommend this read.

The new big bad working for the empire may have had a set backfrom the last book, but is constantly moving the gears to rule the galaxy. Just as good as the first novel and I plan to move to the next after the review.

This is the second book in the original Thrawn trilogy. Heir to the Empire was the introduction, this is the midsection, moving chess pieces around for the final battle in the next book. While a bit slow at times, this continues the Grand Admiral's campaign against the New Republic, gives smuggler Talon Karrde and crew a new view, challenges Mara Jade's world view and gives Leia a new purpose in addition to the political infighting regarding Admiral Ackbar's arrest. This book covers a great deal and does it well. It is thrilling during the battles and filled with close calls and narrow escapes. This series would've been fantastic on the big screen. Marc Thompson is simply superb on narration and character voices. I listened to this mostly and loved every minute. Can't wait for the thrilling conclusion.

Pretty good sequel that is a little better than its predecessor, "Heir to the Empire." Also, the end of this book packs a great twist that will leave the reader wanting more. However, this novel is a bit fast paced, has too many characters to keep up with, and, at times, is hard to follow. But if the reader can keep pace and maintain the story-line, he/she definitely can get a lot out of this novel. These Thrawn novels are certainly some of the better Star Wars books that really advance the Star Wars Saga (especially with the original characters). My biggest complaint about the majority of the Star Wars Novels out there is that they just do not advance the Star Wars Saga Universe all that much. And the New Canon Books are the worst at violating this fact. Disney should start novelizing Star Wars Books the way these Thrawn Novels did: Give the fans books about the main characters in the films, and start advancing their stories more and more.