dirtycheapcreative

Heir to the Empire - The last remaining Grand Admiral of the defeated Empire campaigning against the fragile New Republic? The premise is actually very intriguing, too bad Zahn was the first one to it. I have to give this book a one-star rating with an "I hate it" stamp. Here's why: The best of this book is in the plot which is complex (but not notably creative). The story winds through several characters, allowing for a fairly gripping read. There are some fun characters in the book that help to keep the reader interested. Beyond the mediocre plot and the characters you enjoy with a guilty literary concience, the book has some major issues. One of the major problems with the book is that because it was written in 1991, it is dated and doesn't mesh with Star Wars "cannon". Explanations of cloning processes contradict the prequel trilogy, and "Dark Jedi" are used instead of "Sith". That aside, the writing itself is in need of some serious editing. Star Wars novels aren't exactly famous for great character development or intelligent use of literary schema - but Heir to the Empire is especially embarrassing. Endless movie lines pepper the dialogue in what feels like a frantic attempt to convince the reader that this is, in fact, Star Wars. Zahn seems to think he's coined an especially profound and intelligent phrase in, "a handful heartbeats" and makes a point to use it as often as he can. Dialogue between characters is trite and arguments almost always end with one character surrendering to the other by saying, "Point." which I found incredibly annoying. Apparently, the author is only capable of giving his characters a very few ways to say something, namely "retorting", "countering", and "conceeding". For example: "Who's scruffy lookin'?" retorted Han. (movie line) "Your son and daughter probably will be. I'm pregnant with Jedi twins." retorted Leia. "I'm scared to teach Jedi lessons." retorted Luke. "Then we'll do it real quiet like." countered Han. (movie line) "The Grand Admiral will probably steal your twins." retorted Luke. "Hey everyone! Let's all remember that this is bonafide Star Wars material..ok...ok?" countered the author. "Point." conceeded Han. The plot is fun but the writing is just painful to read - even for a science fiction fan-boy novel.

2022-11-14 17:00