Star Wars: Specter of the Past (The Hand of Thrawn Duology, #1) in The Expanded Universe

Apr 06, 2008 Keith rated it really liked it

Shelves: star-wars

Stars: 4
Re-read: Yes
Recommend to: So far it has pretty wild appeal, but definitely read the Thrawn trilogy first. There are some spoilers from earlier books in the EU, but they are mostly inferior books and the spoilers probably wouldn't even be noticeable to a casual reader.

It's always refreshing to pick up a book by Zahn because he is very competent at writing engaging stories and characters, something that can't be said for many EU authors. My main problem with the book is that the central pr Stars: 4
Re-read: Yes
Recommend to: So far it has pretty wild appeal, but definitely read the Thrawn trilogy first. There are some spoilers from earlier books in the EU, but they are mostly inferior books and the spoilers probably wouldn't even be noticeable to a casual reader.

It's always refreshing to pick up a book by Zahn because he is very competent at writing engaging stories and characters, something that can't be said for many EU authors. My main problem with the book is that the central premise is too far-fetched. (view spoiler)

Zahn exhibits better judgement in the other half of the central premise of the plot. (view spoiler)

Other things:
- The power dynamics in the EU have been all over the place. We've previously seen Admiral Daala be a legitimate threat to the New Republic (laughably) with three Star Destroyers. The Imperials in this book have thousands of Star Destroyers and Zahn describes their power as laughable. Zahn's version is far superior. It's absurd when you read an EU story and the most powerful government in the galaxy repeatedly can only send a handful of old ships against massive threats.
- Luke has to disguise himself in this book, and thank God he does it with conventional methods instead of ridiculous Force powers. Zahn also understands something that most EU authors apparently don't: Luke Skywalker is one of the most famous people in the galaxy. Almost everyone would know him on sight.
- There is a scene that got way too close to The Last Jedi for comfort. It wasn't near as bad, but anything that reminds you of that abomination isn't good. (view spoiler)
- Zahn does a really good job referencing earlier EU books. One of the main characters is from Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina book. I was less impressed by this one when I realized that Zahn himself wrote that short story. (view spoiler) He does a better job referencing things like Droch in off-hand comments. People who haven't read Planet of Twilight will just ignore it, but these are nice little lines that tie this story into the greater universe.

First Reads: 4-Stars (2002/2005) ...more

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Nov 24, 2010 Linda rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, star-wars

Just like most other works by Timothy Zahn in both inside Star Wars universe and others, Specter of the Past is well written both language- and plotwise, enticing and cooperates with the universe it is set in.

I especially loved the little nuances that tied it into the rest of Expanded Universe - mentions of events and character relationships and interactions. One of the moments that will stay in my memory for quite a while is young Jacen announcing smugly that he doesn't need any training, beca ...more

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