Star Wars Novels

[Keithie]

Anyone read any of these? Which ones are the best? It seems like there is about 100 floating about..

[CupofDice]

I read some of them.

 

For the YA series, the ones following Obi Wan Kenobi are good, and there is not too much preaching unlike (from hearsay) the ones following the youth like the Solo children. Didn't finish the Kenobi series.

 

Thrawn Trilogy was boring, and Luke spends a good time of it locked up and doing nothing. Didn't finish it.

 

The New Jedi Order series (with that all important Death) was good, but I can't remember where I stopped, so I probably won't be picking it up again. I would consider it Star Wars version of epic fantasies like WoT and Malazan, so that may be where you want to start.

 

The Rogue Squadron by Stackpole series is good, but...once again I didn't finish it (or maybe I did, can't remember :P).

 

I, Jedi by Stackpole was good, but gets a bit weird because it follows Coran? as he is one of the first trainees. There was a previous series/trilogy? where we follow Luke building the Jedi Temple, and Coran? is not mentioned at all, so it is weird and funny when Coran? is playing a vital part in defense of the temple. Also really funny how he has such a personal relationship with Luke with deep philosophical conversations, yet in previous book Luke of course doesn't mention him at ALL. Still, pretty good, and Stackpole had to do what he had to do, not to mention we get to see Jedi training up close and personal.

[Kaznen]

I read some of them.

 

For the YA series, the ones following Obi Wan Kenobi are good, and there is not too much preaching unlike (from hearsay) the ones following the youth like the Solo children. Didn't finish the Kenobi series.

 

Thrawn Trilogy was boring, and Luke spends a good time of it locked up and doing nothing. Didn't finish it.

 

The New Jedi Order series (with that all important Death) was good, but I can't remember where I stopped, so I probably won't be picking it up again. I would consider it Star Wars version of epic fantasies like WoT and Malazan, so that may be where you want to start.

 

The Rogue Squadron by Stackpole series is good, but...once again I didn't finish it (or maybe I did, can't remember :P).

 

I, Jedi by Stackpole was good, but gets a bit weird because it follows Coran? as he is one of the first trainees. There was a previous series/trilogy? where we follow Luke building the Jedi Temple, and Coran? is not mentioned at all, so it is weird and funny when Coran? is playing a vital part in defense of the temple. Also really funny how he has such a personal relationship with Luke with deep philosophical conversations, yet in previous book Luke of course doesn't mention him at ALL. Still, pretty good, and Stackpole had to do what he had to do, not to mention we get to see Jedi training up close and personal.

The Trilogy with the founding of the Jedi Academy had 12-14 students starting out.  Only 4-6 of them were named.  Stackpole put Coran in the story in a way that didn't contradict the previous series.

 

Stackpole's books were the best.

[Sakaea]

I liked The Han Solo Trilogy by A.C. Crispin quite a lot. It shows where Solo came from, how he got the Falcon, how he met Chewbacca, what he did to piss Jabba off so badly...its quite good ;D

[Barmacral]

I rather enjoyed both the Thrawn trilogy and the Hand of Thrawn Dualogy.

[Keithie]

Thanks guys, now I've got somewhere to start from.. Even if the reviews aren't all fantastic. Cheers!

[Werthead]

There's a LOT of awful books in there. In particular, steer clear of Kevin J. Anderson's work. It's unreadable drivel. Check out the Wookiepedia summaries of his books for the storylines though, as some characters and events he sets up are important later on.

 

The Thrawn Trilogy is great, basically Episodes 7-9 of the movies. Very well-written and Thrawn is a great bad guy.

 

Stackpole and Allston's X-Wing novels are pretty solid as well. They colour in some important backstory and are fun to read. Roger Macbride Allen's Corellian Trilogy is also pretty good.

 

A lot of the other books are repetitive and derivative, not really worth the effort of reading. The New Jedi Order mega-series (fourteen books) is very decent, takes the story in a whole new direction and features Traitor by Matt Stover, the best single slice of Star Wars in any media since Empire Strikes Back. Some of the other books in the series are ropey, but it's generally decent stuff.

 

I haven't bothered with the later books. They tend to make the victory of the good guys in Return of the Jedi seem meaningless as there is just more war, more killing, more Dark Jedi turning up etc. Gets a bit repetitive and dull after a while.

[Verbal32]

A couple of comments to add to Werthead:

 

 

There's a LOT of awful books in there. In particular, steer clear of Kevin J. Anderson's work. It's unreadable drivel. Check out the Wookiepedia summaries of his books for the storylines though, as some characters and events he sets up are important later on.

 

The Thrawn Trilogy is great, basically Episodes 7-9 of the movies. Very well-written and Thrawn is a great bad guy.  Absolutely.  In my opinion, Timothy Zahn is the best Star Wars Extended Universe writer.

 

Stackpole and Allston's X-Wing novels are pretty solid as well. They colour in some important backstory and are fun to read. Roger Macbride Allen's Corellian Trilogy is also pretty good.

 

A lot of the other books are repetitive and derivative, not really worth the effort of reading. The New Jedi Order mega-series (fourteen books) is very decent, takes the story in a whole new direction and features Traitor by Matt Stover, the best single slice of Star Wars in any media since Empire Strikes Back. Hells yeah.  That was the best book of the series.  Some of the other books in the series are ropey, but it's generally decent stuff.

 

I haven't bothered with the later books. They tend to make the victory of the good guys in Return of the Jedi seem meaningless as there is just more war, more killing, more Dark Jedi turning up etc. Gets a bit repetitive and dull after a while. This is very true, and part of the reason I've slowed down in my reading of the new ones.  Up until the last series, I own and have read every EU (Extended Universe) Star Wars book out there.

[Rogaine 4 Ewoks]

I stopped once the Vong showed up. It's sad when they don't realize that the real reason fans are slipping away is not because we are sick of New Republic vs. Empire it's because we are sick of Han, Luke, Leia, and the four side kicks. Sure they gave us Mara but they just keep cramming more and more adventures into the lives of the main characters all of them by different authors who have different takes on the characters. Then the coolness of the rugged band of heroes taking down the huge odds becomes kind of a car chase scene that just keeps going and going and going.

 

So some of their best work has been the X-Wing series which has little at all to do with the Main Seven and thus has fresh and amazing life to it. Corran Horn is introduced in them and he is awesome. He's truly a new hero in an old universe and stands out.

 

Also who stood out was Kyp Durron, to me at least, as somebody seduced to the darkside and then reclaimed from that deep shadow. He was such a real character to me especially with the short story of him in Tales of the New Republic. Careful of every step that might lead to the place he almost was swallowed up by. The all of a sudden he is a A-hole in NJO (New Jedi Order) with no explanation, at least none up to the point I stopped.

 

With NJO (Vong series) they brought the main characters back into play thinking that a new enemy was what the series needed. No, it's to retire the main characters to the background and explore the places and people that never got touched. Not every Star Wars novel had to be defeating a Grand Admiral or a Imperial Warlord, not every novel needs Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, Lando, R2, and 3P0.

 

They did the same thing to the Dragonlance Universe and I'm sure if more authors let their Universes/Worlds be Branded they would be mined for all the tibanna gas they held. Partly it's my fault for picking up everything they put out but I think there has to be some sort of control. I won't get started into the fact that George Lucas demanded every novel be cannon and then crapped on all the good work authors had set up, Jango Fett.

[Werthead]

Have you checked out the LEGACY graphic novels and comics? They jump forward 100 years from the time of Luke, Leia and co, who are all dead of old age by that point.

[Rogaine 4 Ewoks]

They actually killed them? I thought for sure they'd end up giving them some kind of Force powers that would make them all live forever and ever. So no matter how far ahead an author wanted to go they could still use the Main7.

 

Seriously though I have a friend who is looking to get ride of a bunch of his SW comics and I've got my bid in for them. I'm pretty sure the Legacy series is a part of it. I don't even mind the idea of the kids as long as they aren't clones of their parents, metaphorically or genetically.

[Hybrid]

The Thrawn Trilogy is great, basically Episodes 7-9 of the movies. Very well-written and Thrawn is a great bad guy.  Absolutely.  In my opinion, Timothy Zahn is the best Star Wars Extended Universe writer.

QFT (both parts).  As far as Timothy Zahn is concerned, he's not as "hard" a sci-fi writer as I generally like, but his books are very readable and he's a good story teller.  He added a lot of awesome characters, too: Mara Jade, Karrde, Thrawn, Pellaeon, Bel Iblis, the Noghri; but he still captured the feel of the original movies.  So yeah, episodes 7-9 remixed, so to speak.

 

NJO: There was a lot of great stuff in this series and a lot of bad stuff.  I don't remember the actual books all that well, but people are recommending Traitor by Matthew Stover.  IIRC, Stover also wrote the novelization of RotS and Shatterpoint, so I would have to agree based on my experiences with those books. 

 

The Vong were a new take as far as SW villains are concerned, so that's refreshing.  However, I feel like NJO took a lot more liberties towards the SW galaxy.  Characters, races, and entire planets are decimated from the get-go.  After a lot of the other series dealt with the same group of good guys surviving over insurmountable odds, NJO came off as really gritty.  And I felt that the ending was a bit of a cop-out.  Then again, the books alternated from making me happy to angry, unlike many of the other series which made me just apathetic and bored. 

 

I used to be a Star Wars fanatic, but my interest in the EU has slowly faded.  Partly because it's hard to find a really engaging EU novel and partly because it gets either really repetitive or too great of a departure from what made SW great.

[wite wo1f]

One warning however, Stay away from anything written by Barbra something (I am not sure that is how you spell her first name either). She wrote Children of the Jedi and something else, they were two of the worst books I have ever started, I don't even think that I finished the second one.

 

I really enjoyed I, Jedi and the X-wing series. I was not a big fan of the Legacy of the Force series, mostly because I did not like the direction they took Jacen Solo (my favorite character) past the third book I think. Then the newest series with only two books out is ok so far. I have only read the first and it was as I said ok not the best but not bad. ]]

 

Also I would recommend the stand alone book Hand of Judgment I think by Timothy Zahn very good book. Also as was mentioned Traitor was absolutely the best of the NJO series, though the last one was very good as well. Also I found the Dark Nest trilogy, set after the NJO series was also very entertaining.