Point of View

Dark Force Rising is told in the third person past tense omniscient. Considerable use is made of present-tense conversation and italicized silent thought processes. The novel draws heavily on the rich mythology of the three original Star Wars films and novelizations by George Lucas. Author Timothy Zahn offers not even bare-bones characterizations of the iconic hold-overs Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa Solo, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Artoo, and Lando Calrissian, but uses their various catch phrases, gestures, and poses to paint pictures before the readers' eyes. Zahn is also continuing the saga begun in Heir to the Empire, without providing much of a summary of what has occurred there. This can be disconcerting, as the reader realizes that words or phrases or events have significance not immediately discernible. Most are not resolved by the end of the third novel, The Last Command.

Thrawn is often contrasted with the...