Zahn is simply the best.

Where does Star Wars: Specter of the Past: The Hand of Thrawn, Book 1 rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Timothy Zahn is the unparalleled master of the literary EU of Star Wars. Carrying on from the fantastic Trawn trilogy, which introduced the majority of the major EU players including Han and Leia's Children, the Noghri, Captain/Now Admiral Pellaeon, Winter, Talon Karde, Mara Jade, and most importantly Grand Admiral Thrawn. Thrawn is and was the Empire lover's pinnacle character, neither good nor bad, uncompromisingly loyal to the Empire but not without mercy. A true Sherlock Holmes Sociopath. Zahn introduced a world where Star Wars was not so black and white but filled with grays. Of course the end story comes down good versus evil but he relegates those matters down to the force, not the political world of Empire vs. Republic. Zahn carefully crafts a story that shows good and evil on both sides, blanching from the flawless white knight rebellion his peers often write. The Republic in Zahn's world is one full of good intentions being poorly implemented, a government torn by politics and bad decisions and bureaucracy. The Empire is shown in much the same light with heroic figures butting heads with villainous partners vying for control and the future direction of the remnants of the Empire. The major flaw of this book, if it could be called one, is the lack of the legend himself, Thrawn, who was killed in the final book of the trilogy by his traitorous body guard. Though hardly a flaw of the writing, the book just doesn't have the same special feel to it. Even at its best it can't really compare to watching Thrawn and Pellaeon play they Sherlock and Watson routine as they slowly ground the vastly more numerous Rebel forces into dust through pure genius tactical planning. Pellaeon does his best in the Hand of Thrawn to use the tactics of his mentor, but he does't get enough page time and the harsh reality that the authors who took control of the EU between the Thrawn trilogy and duology had ground the Empire into an irrecoverable mess, placing it in the hands of poorly written one dimensional psychopaths and madmen, takes it's toll. The plot device of the Caamas documents is an interesting one, one showing the fragility of the New Republic, how one event could lead to a devastating civil war between it's loosely allied member states plays well into the Zahn theory of the good guys not always having the most efficient form of governance. I won't say too much more in effort to not spoil this masterfully written novel. I'm just glad the unabridged version has finally made its debut and am looking forward to the second part being released soon. Zahn, to me, will always be to the Star Wars literary world what George RR Martin is to ASOIF. There really is no substitute for the master.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Major Tierce is a fascinating new character, full of mystery and hidden goals. Excellently well written and fun to follow. Pellaeon will always be a favorite though. The big three, Han, Luke, and Leia are excellently well written as well. No other author truly captures that quintessential Star Wars feel with them. Even while you root for the heroes you find yourself admiring the villains and how simply cool they are. It helps in the case of the Zahn novels, that the villains are less one dimensional and villainous and instead simply other people on the other side of the war.

What does Marc Thompson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Marc Thompson is hand's down the best reader for the Star Wars stories. His mastery of the voices of each of the characters is as unparalleled as Zahns commanding storytelling.

Any additional comments?

Please record the rest of Zahn's books!!!

30 people found this helpful

The Rerelease surpasses the Original

What made the experience of listening to Star Wars: Specter of the Past: The Hand of Thrawn, Book 1 the most enjoyable?

Marc Thompson delivers another amazing performance in "Specter of the Past", book 1 of the Hand of Thrawn duology. His voices for Han Solo and Lando Calrissian are uncannily accurate, and make it very easy to picture Harrison Ford and Billy Dee Williams as they might've portrayed the story in a film.

Not only do his voices for classic characters deliver, but he also adds greater depth to the Expanded Universe characters like Talon Karrde, Grand Admiral 'Thrawn', Moff Disra, Borsk Fey'lya, President Gavrisom, and Admiral Gilad Pellaeon, as well as many others.Thompson's performances in the Star Wars audiobooks make them truly a pleasure for my wife and me to listen to, and we always look forward to his performances when we're journeying through the Expanded Universe in chronological order.

Also, this re-release of "Specter of the Past" far surpasses the original, and not only because it's unabridged. I'm not saying Anthony Heald did a bad job on the original release. For its time, it was very good, but the simple fact is that Timothy Zahn's Star Wars novels are so rich and full of detail and intricate plot that having them abridged into little three-hour segments is like literary butchery."Specter of the Past" and its sequel "Vision of the Future" particularly suffered from the cutting block when produced by Bantam audio books, and I am absolutely delighted that these two are being rereleased, unabridged, on the heels of the Thrawn Trilogy's 20th anniversary rerelease!

What was one of the most memorable moments of Star Wars: Specter of the Past: The Hand of Thrawn, Book 1?

Hmm . . . how to pick just one memorable moment? I really like the inclusion of Shada D'Ukal more heavily in this story, because I really enjoyed her story in "Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina", as read by Laura Esterman (which, by the way, Audible doesn't have for some reason! ?), and seeing it more fully integrated into the larger tapestry of the Expanded Universe.

The reappearance of Grand Admiral Thrawn is also a fun moment, again made more so by Marc Thompson's brilliant performance! I can't wait to hear "Vision of the Future", which comes out next month!

The scenes with Admiral Pellaeon are also brilliant, as one of the most dedicated Imperials of the Expanded Universe seeks to end the war between the Empire and the New Republic once and for all. Marc Thompson's Pellaeon voice truly portrays the character's long career and old age. Excellent!

What about Marc Thompson’s performance did you like?

I've answered this in previous sections of this review, but I'll say it again - he's brilliant at portraying classic characters as well as Expanded Universe characters, and it's easy to picture other people with that voice, as opposed to some audio books where it sounds more like someone just reading aloud, instead of giving a performance.Marc Thompson is quite simply one of the best I've ever seen.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Ten Years Later, Grand Admiral Thrawn is back!

Any additional comments?

I'm very glad to see Random House giving some of the classic EU novels' audios a much needed overhaul, and I'd really hope to see more of these in the future!

23 people found this helpful

Ok Rh, so where's the second volume?!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, because it's Star Wars!

What did you like best about this story?

I liked the pacing. And I like the fact that I finally get to listen to it complete and unabridged.

What does Marc Thompson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Mark nails the voices of course. He sounds very passionate about these stories and he keeps me wanting to listen until the last page. Well I suppose you could use the word page in this case.

Any additional comments?

I've been waiting for this duology to be released unabridged for such a long time and I'm glad it's here. Well, the first book anyway. My only complaint is that RH Audio didn't give us Vision of The Future on the same day as Specter. Here's hoping RH decides to give us unabridged recordings of the New Jedi Order series next as well as the Young Jedi Knights series. I'm unable to go out and purchase paperbacks due to blindness and it's a joy to be able to read these novels from cover to cover for the first time. I can't wait to see what I missed out on when and if RH decides to tackle the unabridged NJO books. I read this one and compared it with my old Bantom audio cassette abridgement of Specter from 97 and was amazed as to how much was cut out. Trust me, you want this one rather than the 3 hr version. Anthony Heald is and will always be one of my fav narrators in the SW EU but c'mon folks, this one's the whole thing.

Keep showing RH your support by purchasing these unabridged titles, gals and guys of audible. It really means the world to those of us who aren't able to enjoy these older titles the way they were meant to be the first time around. Thanks in advance and may the Force be with all of us.

13 people found this helpful

Great Story and Marc Thompson

As most folks have already stated, this is a great followup to the Thrawn trilogy. Marc Thompson has yet another great read under his belt.

The story is pretty solid for it's time and just like other EU books it tends to jump around a bunch.

The thing I disliked was Luke, and in some of the past books and a quite and few after this one. He is a self nominated Jedi Master but most of the books put him in these situations that a Jedi Padawan could get out ease and a real Jedi Master wouldn't have even broke a sweat, but yet here Luke is straining to do things like fight off 6 guys.


Some new readers and listeners think this book is new, it is not. It's over 16 years old. Random House Audio is just going back and redoing most of the EU books to current audio formats and editorials.

5 people found this helpful

Best Narrator in the Galaxy!!!!!!!

Awesome writer and best narration of all time! Mark Thompson is amazing! Can't wait to listen to the last one!

3 people found this helpful

The best narrator ever!

The way they made it was awesome! The sound effects, music and voices! like listening to a star wars movie!

2 people found this helpful

excellent series

great books by Timothy zahn... I really hope that Benicio Del Toro is Talon Card.

2 people found this helpful

Another good series

Timothy Zahn and Marc T are so good. Just tip top. I like the story and the various threads running thru it. Bravo

2 people found this helpful

It's starwRs

Like listening to a movie enjoyed very much and hope more adventures keep coming in the same format and voice e actors

2 people found this helpful

Couldn't wait for more!!

Which character – as performed by Marc Thompson – was your favorite?

I love the talon Kardde voice. Also I like the Han, Luke, and leia have the same voice across his books.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes it was.

Any additional comments?

I liked it so much that I nearly downloaded the abridged version while waiting for audible to add the unabridged version.

2 people found this helpful