"Heir to the Empire" reached #1 on the "New York Times" Best Seller list, and the trilogy sold a combined total of 15 million copies. The "Thrawn" trilogy is widely credited with revitalizing the "Star Wars" franchise. In "The Secret History of Star Wars", Michael Kaminski suggests that this renewed interest was a factor in George Lucas' decision to create the prequel trilogy. It has been called "influential, much-loved, and ground breaking". In August 2011, the series was voted into NPR's top 100 science-fiction and fantasy books (coming in at place 88), as voted on by over 60,000 participants.