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Star Wars: Specter of the Past: The Hand of Thrawn, Book 1
- Narrated by: Marc Thompson
- Length: 14 hrs and 31 mins
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Publisher's Summary
Hugo Award-winning author Timothy Zahn makes his triumphant return to the Star Wars(r) universe in this first of an epic new two-volume series in which the New Republic must face its most dangerous enemy yet--a dead Imperial warlord.
The Empire stands at the brink of total collapse. But they have saved their most heinous plan for last. First a plot is hatched that could destroy the New Republic in a bloodbath of genocide and civil war. Then comes the shocking news that Grand Admiral Thrawn--the most cunning and ruthless warlord in history--has apparently returned from the dead to lead the Empire to a long-prophesied victory. Facing incredible odds, Han and Leia begin a desperate race against time to prevent the New Republic from unraveling in the face of two inexplicable threats--one from within and one from without. Meanwhile, Luke teams up with Mara Jade, using the Force to track down a mysterious pirate ship with a crew of clones. Yet, perhaps most dangerous of all, are those who lurk in the shadows, orchestrating a dark plan that will turn the New Republic and the Empire into their playthings.
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What listeners say about Star Wars: Specter of the Past: The Hand of Thrawn, Book 1
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- EJW
- 10-03-13
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
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- John
- 10-12-13
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
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- Cam T.
- 09-19-13
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
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- bonita
- 09-18-13
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
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- Marcelo Pedott
- 07-18-17
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
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- Teddy
- 07-16-17
excellent series
great books by Timothy zahn... I really hope that Benicio Del Toro is Talon Card.
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- FredVL
- 03-02-17
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
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- Amazon Customer
- 03-04-15
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
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- James E. Wyszynski
- 01-06-14
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.
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- Anonymous User
- 04-08-22
I wish this would have been made into a movie
Honestly I love Star Wars, one might say that I’m a fan. Of course they would be right to assume that I don’t care for Disney’s Sequel Trilogy. But I do love the old books because I believe they are what should have happen in after Return Of The Jedi movie. Any who great work to the author and the studio for making a masterpiece come to live.
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- Zenoslaf
- 03-14-21
Too bad it's not canon. :(
I have read this book several times when it came out and it was so good to have high quality expanded universe content.
Too bad it's not canon, because this would've been an epic 2 part movie, maybe even a series.
Marc is brilkiant as always and it's getting harder for me to listen to other narragors since Marc throws in so many different characters with his amazing voice acting that his books are more of a radio drama then just a narrator reading a book.
Off to Visions of the Future now.
Everything Zahn writes is highly recommended because he's truly amazing writer. And having Marc Thompson on board is just adding to the whole awesomeness of it.
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- Adam T Boddy
- 01-04-21
Good quality, just misses greatness.
Good, but not quite the equal of the original Thrawn trilogy. (Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising & The Last Command)
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- Clint Ryan
- 10-21-19
great story, plot was excellent , really enjoyed
the narrator was excellent and story was fantastic, listened to on way to work
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- Paul Ford
- 08-01-19
One of the better star wars audio books
One of the better star wars audio book
Great story and classic characters. Recommend .
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- Dan Rouge Wolf
- 10-01-18
great wow done well you will find it entertaining
great wow done well you will find it entertaining you will enjoy it the best in star wars
1 person found this helpful
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- Mel Willott
- 06-30-22
Hand of Thrawn book 1
loved the story,
give me more.
liked how it changed to keep everyone interested in the story
would recommend.
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- Vader
- 11-12-21
Great story
this is yet another excellent story from Zahn I can't wait to hear part 2
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- Phil Barker
- 04-11-21
Lost the plot
I’ve enjoyed the other dozen or so Star Wars audiobook I’ve listened to, however, this one I didn’t. The main issues is with each chapter loads of new characters are introduced with bizarre hard to remember names. The storyline is all over the place. I got three quarters the way through and abandoned the audiobook. It’s a shame as the others have been great, easy listening.
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- Wibble
- 09-23-20
Poorly encoded, micro gaps everywhere.
Whoever encoded this book really didn't know what they were doing or just couldn't be bothered to do it properly. Everywhere there would have been an index point on the original CD, there is now a micro-gap of silence. These are very short, just 2 tenths of a second long, but because of the music and sound effects, they are frequently painfully obvious and are detrimental to the listening experience. I paid for this so why does it sound like something from a dodgy torrent site?
It's been available here since 2013 & I can't be the only person who has drawn their attention to all the glitches. They've had seven years to fix this, but they haven't. It's so poorly put together it makes me wonder if they care at all about quality.
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- Jel
- 06-27-20
Lifelong Star Wars fan - disappointed
Struggling to finish. I'm not sure if I ever will. I recently listened to Darth Plagueis after finding the hard copy book hard going and found Darth Plagueis excellent so I had high hopes for this based on the reviews.
Its tough to follow, there is a lot going on seemingly and while I thought I'd be enthused to hear Han, Luke and Leia again it was actually an anti climax.
Sorry, it's a thumbs down from me. It won't stop me purchasing other Star Wars audiobooks (I've got my eye on Darth Bane) I just think I'm more suited to novels which fill gaps around the 9 episodes and its characters (Vader, Maul, Dooku, Palpatine) and this does not.
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- Anonymous User
- 12-03-17
It's a shame these stories are no longer Canon
Shame they're no longer canon as there are some fantastic support characters like Mara Jade and Talon Karde etc
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- Thomas
- 12-05-15
A good continuation of the Thrawn story.
They should have made Zahn's trilogys into the new Starwars movie, very enjoyable. looking forward to getting into the next one.
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- Anonymous User
- 05-11-22
I miss Thrawn
enjoyable book, straight off the back of the new ascendancy books and original thrawn trilogy. Story goes well but misses a key element I selfishly desired. haha
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- Damian
- 12-11-21
Very good.
Great story, narration and feels like star wars should. Marc Thompson is brilliant and brings it to life.
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- Amazon Customer
- 07-09-21
great book
loved it cant wait for the next book. I really hope Luke and Mara finally get together
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- Anonymous User
- 06-10-20
Meh.
Lots of dialogue, hardly any action. The Thrawn aspect was very uncreative. I can't think of a single substantial moment. Get plagueis instead and thank me never.
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- Anonymous User
- 05-18-20
The book won't work
This book sadly won't work and so I cannot listen to it Its really sad how they can't seem to have their look working here
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- Amazon Customer
- 05-16-19
Loved a further adventure into the world of Thrawn
Really well produced, same fantastic characters, more movie like action, looking forward to finishing it in the next installment!
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- Tim Lehmann
- 02-11-19
A good start to another great yarn.
A good setup for another great chapter in the greatest "should have been" story ever.
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- Josh Morgan
- 09-14-18
it is good
this was a fantastic book and the performance was great, I thoroughly enjoyed this and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys the star wars universe