The books strike back!
Book 2 of Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy leaves the Empire in dire
need of ships, Leia facing hard decisions in order to keep her unborn
jedi twins safe, and Talon Karrde and Mara Jade with a deadly, but
very profitable, secret!
Keeping pace with Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising is
structured very similarly to the original trilogy, both in its plot,
style, and tone. Luke and Mara infiltrate a Star Destroyer, garbed in
TIE fighter pilot gear instead of Stormtrooper armor, to rescue Talon
Karrde instead of Leia via the garbage pit. There is an explosion that
very much rival's the Death Star's. Die hard fans will soon notice
that in the second book, Zahn often recycles past plot points of the
original movies, most likely to try to capture the tone of them, which
is a real shame, because of how unnecessary it is. Zahn nails every
character. His narrative style effectively captures the mood of the
original series, despite the fact that the Rebel Alliance-- now the
New Republic-- has a lot more resources to work with.
Yet the Thrawn Trilogy so far deviates from the original source
material, albeit little. The New Rebublic isn't fighting, backs
against the wall, for existance anymore; its fighting to hastily duck
tape together its shaky new government before Grand Admiral Thrawn,
who inherited the Empire in the first book. Grand Admiral Thrawn is
very capable of breaking up the New Rebublic, if only he had enough
ships...
Ba-Bam! Enter Talon Karrde and Captain Hoffner, who back in the
day, where part of an ill-fated smuggling mission that ended in their
discovery if the Dark Force; a fleet of two hundred Dreadnaught-class
ships lost before the Clone Wars due to poor design and a virus that
wiped out their crew before forcing them to go mad.
With the fate of the New Republic hanging in the balance, both
sides will race to find the Katana or "Dark Force" fleet.
Meanwhile, back home in Coruscant, infighting has began with the
politicians. Councilor Borsk Fey'lya, a powerful politician with ties
to the Empire, has done all he can to impede the New Republic. In the
first book, he framed Admiral Ackbar. Now, he's attempting to ingrain
himself in the military, as Ackbar's successor. To make matters worse,
an Imperial spy, nicknamed "Delta Source" resides within the old
Imperial Palace in which the New Republic operates, giving Thrawn a
fighting chance to reach the Katana fleet first.
Too Leia wasn't available for most of the book. To prevent the
Empire's Noghri commandos from stealing her twins, she has traveled to
their home planet if Honoghr, in hopes of convincing them to join the
New Republic. While she's on this journey, her husband, Lando, and
Luke investigate Fey'lya's betrayal, in the process meeting an old
friend presumed dead, while Mara Jade and Talon Karrde tangle with the
Empire.
As noted earlier, the book is very similar to its predeccesor. In
fact, it's nearly a carbon copy quality-wise. The only real difference
from the previous book is that I think that the plot is more
compelling due to the fact that there is so much desperation in the
race to find the Dark Force. I reccommend this book to anyone who's a
Star Wars enthusiast or Sci-Fi fan. Without a basic love for Star Wars
or the genre in general, the entry level for this book may be pretty
high.
need of ships, Leia facing hard decisions in order to keep her unborn
jedi twins safe, and Talon Karrde and Mara Jade with a deadly, but
very profitable, secret!
Keeping pace with Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising is
structured very similarly to the original trilogy, both in its plot,
style, and tone. Luke and Mara infiltrate a Star Destroyer, garbed in
TIE fighter pilot gear instead of Stormtrooper armor, to rescue Talon
Karrde instead of Leia via the garbage pit. There is an explosion that
very much rival's the Death Star's. Die hard fans will soon notice
that in the second book, Zahn often recycles past plot points of the
original movies, most likely to try to capture the tone of them, which
is a real shame, because of how unnecessary it is. Zahn nails every
character. His narrative style effectively captures the mood of the
original series, despite the fact that the Rebel Alliance-- now the
New Republic-- has a lot more resources to work with.
Yet the Thrawn Trilogy so far deviates from the original source
material, albeit little. The New Rebublic isn't fighting, backs
against the wall, for existance anymore; its fighting to hastily duck
tape together its shaky new government before Grand Admiral Thrawn,
who inherited the Empire in the first book. Grand Admiral Thrawn is
very capable of breaking up the New Rebublic, if only he had enough
ships...
Ba-Bam! Enter Talon Karrde and Captain Hoffner, who back in the
day, where part of an ill-fated smuggling mission that ended in their
discovery if the Dark Force; a fleet of two hundred Dreadnaught-class
ships lost before the Clone Wars due to poor design and a virus that
wiped out their crew before forcing them to go mad.
With the fate of the New Republic hanging in the balance, both
sides will race to find the Katana or "Dark Force" fleet.
Meanwhile, back home in Coruscant, infighting has began with the
politicians. Councilor Borsk Fey'lya, a powerful politician with ties
to the Empire, has done all he can to impede the New Republic. In the
first book, he framed Admiral Ackbar. Now, he's attempting to ingrain
himself in the military, as Ackbar's successor. To make matters worse,
an Imperial spy, nicknamed "Delta Source" resides within the old
Imperial Palace in which the New Republic operates, giving Thrawn a
fighting chance to reach the Katana fleet first.
Too Leia wasn't available for most of the book. To prevent the
Empire's Noghri commandos from stealing her twins, she has traveled to
their home planet if Honoghr, in hopes of convincing them to join the
New Republic. While she's on this journey, her husband, Lando, and
Luke investigate Fey'lya's betrayal, in the process meeting an old
friend presumed dead, while Mara Jade and Talon Karrde tangle with the
Empire.
As noted earlier, the book is very similar to its predeccesor. In
fact, it's nearly a carbon copy quality-wise. The only real difference
from the previous book is that I think that the plot is more
compelling due to the fact that there is so much desperation in the
race to find the Dark Force. I reccommend this book to anyone who's a
Star Wars enthusiast or Sci-Fi fan. Without a basic love for Star Wars
or the genre in general, the entry level for this book may be pretty
high.
Star Wars: Dark Force Rising gets 5 Dreadnaughts out of 6
I noticed something. You forgot to include my "Heir to the Empire" review in my post list (the first book in this series)
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