Allegiance

I really enjoyed this book. I found it well written and very interesting. I am a Star Wars EU fan and have read a large portion of the books available. I have grown a bit board of the usual Han, Luke, and Leia adventures- yet this was quite refreshing. The stormtroopers were interesting new characters and the usual trio (Han, Luke, and Leia) come alive once again just like they did in the original trilogy. Han is once again his smuggler/scoundrel self, always arguing with Leia, "Princess, worshipfulness". Luke is a naive farmboy. I have always been a big fan of the character Mara Jade as well, so learning more about her is enjoyable. A few Cons: Mara Jade seems to be way to sure of herself and experienced for a young 18 year old- she seems more what you would expect from a highly experienced and older veteran. Ben Kenobi's voice in Luke's head is way over done, in my opinion. Rather then being a quick bit of guidance or instruction as from the movies (and other EU works that I recall), Luke literally is asking questions, hesitant to adhere, and even arguing back in forth with him. It is more like Luke has his dead mentor on comlink and I found it over done. All things considered, the con's were minor and did little to detract from what I found to be an excellent read. One of the better ones in my opinion. I really liked how the book follows the stormtroopers, the rebels, and Mara Jade and then ties it all in together. Often times when authors do this, I find myself being very interested in one group, but totally disinterested in the others- not the case this time. I would put it right up there with the best of Timothy Zahn.

This was a mixed bag. I am an adult and to my mind jedi are silly. An 18 year old sith assassin girl is really dumb. Girls don't want to have a fist fight, swing a sword, threaten people, kill people, or be in danger, or climb walls, or fly airplanes. The whole Mara Jade thing is extremely silly. If you like Darth Vader as a ruthless violent ill tempered bad guy, this book seems to take that away from you. It gives an explanation for why Adm. Ozil needed to die. It sort of justifies Vader's methods. This book civilized him. But it also provides some solid links to the ESB, if that is the type of thing you go for. And why are jedi powers unavailable until called for by the plot? It is annoying. Jedi are always annoying. But it is a good book. You feel part of the story and you can empathize with the characters. The books reads well. My favorite characters are all there and the book is true to their character. It plays a nice balance, not too romanticized. Not especially pro empire or anti empire. And lots of fun. Plenty of explosions and blasterfire.

This was another great book by Timothy Zahn. Set earlier in the timeline than the fabulous original Thrawn trilogy, we join Luke, Leia, Han and Chewie shortly after the events of a New Hope. Besides them, we also meet a younger Mara Jade in her guise as the Emperor 's Hand. I also love the stormtrooper squad known as the Hand of Judgement. Vader makes appearances as well. This one took a bit before it found its stride, chasing pirates wasn't as fun to me. I loved Talon Karrde and his smuggling crew. I read this book using immersion reading while listening to the audiobook, brilliantly narrated by the wonderful Marc Thompson. It's a shame that the follow up, Choices of One isn't on audio. On to that one now.

Gift recipient enjoyed it.

I really liked this book. It has just enough WTH happenstance that makes you marvel at how it happens. Also gives you encounters with the major characters of the Star wars saga that leave you wanting more. I have always felt that Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine were best taken in small doses. This book does not disappoint. You get a couple of encounters with each and it is enough to highlight the evil, but not enough so you get bored with it.

Timothy Zahn is the best Star Wars writer I have read ! He tells great stories and knows the characters well! This is my fourth book and eventually I will get them all!

I didn't know too much about Mara Jade or what Emperor's Hand exactly entailed. This book helped give me some insight into that, as well as a young Mara Highly recommend if you enjoy reading about the lore of SW.

Timothy Zahn delivers a better read here than he has in his last few Star Wars novels, with an interesting, twisting, plot line that delivers a few quality surprises. It also introduces the Hand of Judgement, a small group of entertaining characters with their own unique niche in the Star Wars landscape. Zahn's descriptions are occasionally spartan, leaving the reader to fill in character descriptions and appearances on their own, but that is a minor gripe when talking about light reading such as a Star Wars novel.