Yes, this is a book review, but I need to lay a little groundwork first.

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

When online strife over what “Star Wars” as a franchise has become gets to be too much, I always return to watching the original trilogy. Nothing seems to capture what “Star Wars” is to me like those films.

I haven’t watched the prequels in some time. I’d probably enjoy them. I did when I first watched them. At the same time, the thrill wasn’t the same. For one thing, Anakin’s eventual fall to the dark side didn’t have the same horrific tone as did Luke’s final battle with Vader in Return of the Jedi (1983). After all we expect Anakin to become Darth Vader. No one knew for sure what would happen to Luke until it did.

As far as the sequel trilogy, I won’t even get into it. It was too flawed from the beginning to be able to carry the legacy of Lucas’ vision. The fact that Disney in general and Kathleen Kennedy in specific were in charge didn’t help.

I haven’t watched any of the Disney+ shows although I have heard all the angst about them on social media.

Then came the announcement of a new “Rey” movie to be directed by filmmaker/activist Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. In short order, the internet became alive with information about her and generally, it wasn’t positive for many Star Wars fans. In spite of Kennedy’s heavy-handed involvement in the prequels and the “Force being female” laced throughout three films and who knows how many TV shows, Obaid-Chinoy boldly declared that ‘It’s About Time We Had a Female Filmmaker ‘Come Forward to Shape the Galaxy Far, Far Away’.

I was surprised when I looked her up again and saw there were rumors she had already been sacked. Sources for this rumor (and I guess it’s just a rumor) come from Sportskeeda, FandomWire, and Inside the Magic among others.

I supposed that to get a fix of “real” (as I define it for myself) “Star Wars”, I would have to watch the original trilogy over and over, but that seems so limiting. Then again, George Lucas did canonize quite a number of novels, TV shows, and even comic books.

Hugo award winning author Timothy Zahn’s 1991 novel Heir to the Empire (volume 1 in The Thrawn Trilogy) may or may not be considered canon anymore relative to Disney, but it was back in the day, so I started there. I’m not disappointed.

I read Splinter of the Mind’s Eye back in the 1970s but remember nothing about it. I tend to avoid novel versions of film or TV franchises. Especially in terms of “Star Trek”, they tend to be inconsistent in terms of the established “universe” as well as proper characterization of the characters.

However, having been (metaphorically speaking) pushed up against the wall, I dived into “Heir.”

It takes place five years after the events in the “Jedi” movie. The New Republic is still in the process of being established, there’s a lot of infighting as to whose vision should be followed, plus strong elements of the Empire are continuing to harass systems at the edge of New Republic territory.

The book wasn’t as “action-packed” as the movies, leaning on politics and intrigue much of the time. Early on, there are surges of action to keep the reader interested, and of course watching the bad guys, principally Grand Admiral Thrawn, delve into their evil plans.

Zahn managed to capture the essence of Luke, Han, Leia, and the rest of the original characters. He tended to reference events and quotes from the movie trilogy a bit obviously, which I could have done without. Ben Kenobi announced that the force ghosts had to take their final journey and would not be available to help Luke any longer.

There was no specific idea that Luke was going to establish a new Jedi order, but he had begun to train Leia. She’s married to Han and three months pregnant with twins. If anyone deserves to canonically establish the Jedi, it’s Luke.

Admiral Thrawn has plans to use a hidden Jedi Master (actually a clone of one) in his efforts to bring down “the rebellion,” which puts Luke and Leia (and her unborn twins) in danger.

Eventually, Luke is captured by the galaxy’s leading smuggler’s consortium (now that Jabba is dead), but although they could turn him over to Thrawn, the mysterious Mara Jade (no, not the popular YouTuber) has other plans for the Jedi, including his murder. What is her lethal grudge against Luke, one that he doesn’t remember?

The plot is somewhat involved but everything does come to a traditional big space battle climax including Wedge and his Rouge Squadron against five Imperial battle cruisers, a bunch of TIE fighters, and something else.

Since this is a trilogy, a lot was left hanging, which is fine. The loose ends offered where either neatly tied up or intentionally extended into the next novel.

I’ve enjoyed Zahn’s writing ever since his 1985 novel Cobra. He handled “Heir” well, though it dragged in some spots, and offered some surprises.

For instance, Leia’s “status” as the daughter of Darth Vader gains her “Messiah-like” worship from a species both serving Thrawn, but who are devoted to Vader.

There is some species of bug living in the jungles of a world that can “push back” the Force. Any Jedi in or near them (within several kilometers in some cases) are totally unable to use the Force. There’s a large part of the book where we see Luke’s struggle to escape his captors while unable to use his Jedi powers.

On the one hand, it was frustrating to read, since I wanted to see a Luke Skywalker as a fully trained Jedi Knight. On the other hand, it was the opportunity to show that a Jedi is more than just using the Force. It’s a philosophy and lifestyle based on peace and internal serenity, even in the most dire of circumstances.

When I end a book having sequels, I rarely take up with the next novel in the series immediately, but in this case, I think I will (I do have a partially read novel in another series already in my queue).

I don’t have to depend on Kennedy, the Panderverse, or the House of the Mouse for a Star Wars fix any longer. I feel quite liberated.