The Sword and Laser discussion

Hi there,
I want to start reading Star Wars novels. But I'm kind of aimless which ones I should start with and are good. At first I wanted to start cronologically but a lot of the first books in The Old Republic got bad reviews.
I know of one trilogy I should read, The Thrawn Trilogy.
Do you have more recommendations for me?
Thanks in advance!

Anything by Zahn.

The x-wing series are a bit of fun. After that, I'd suggest I, Jedi.

Thanks Ala, your recommendations sound good. I'll give it a try. :)

Star Wars + Books + timeline = http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Books

;)

Thanks, I already found the timeline and wondered where to start. ;)

If you want a longer series, the New Jedi Order stuff is decent.

The Legacy series was pretty crap, in my opinion.

Haven't tried the Fate series yet, but may get to it eventually.

For a bit of history on Han Solo, you can try the AC Crispin series on him.

Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire is also...ok.

Thank you for the many suggestions. That's gotta get me started. :)

A major character dies in Salvatore's Vector Prime!

The Jedi Academy trilogy got me into Star Wars books originally, but not sure how well it holds up.

I did enjoy the New Jedi Order stuff, pretty dark.

I'm only really well-versed with the older Star Wars books set after the films and before the New Jedi Order series. I read nearly every book in that period though, and I highly recommend the Thrawn trilogy starting with Heir to the Empire as a kicking off point. You really can't go wrong with the X-Wing series either and I also highly recommend the Han Solo trilogy by A.C. Crispin.

The Jedi Academy series though... I'm unsure about. It's pretty important to the later plot and introduces some important characters and concepts (such as the Jedi Academy) which appear throughout the rest of the series and continue on into the New Jedi Order, but I really didn't like the books themselves that much. Honestly, I'll think you'll do better to skip them entirely and pick up I, Jedi instead. It takes place after the X-Wing series, but it covers the more key events from that trilogy and is a far, far better story.

Start with the Zahn books, then the xwing series, then Jedi Academy.

Also, anything by Karen Traviss is great. She does an amazing job with Boba Fett and the Mandalorian culture.

Thanks for your answers! :)

Personally, I'd avoid the Jedi academy trilogy. You'll get the gist of that story anyway if you read I, Jedi.

As for Karen Traviss stuff, her Commando books about the clones are pretty interesting. The ones she wrote later in the timeline not so much.

I just saw Heir to the Empire: 20th Anniversary Edition in the store. It's annotated. So in the margins Timothy Zahn has 'director's commentary'. There's also an extra novella.

Ala wrote: "Anything by Zahn.

The x-wing series are a bit of fun. After that, I'd suggest I, Jedi."

That.

Start with Heir to the Empire as the pretty much establishes the extended universe, then finish that trilogy, do the X-wing books and I, Jedi.

Yeah, Zahn and Stackpole are the best of the bunch. I haven't read the expanded universe in years though, so there may be good new work coming out.

i liked the jedi academy books, but i was 12 when i read them, and in 1993/94, they were like meth to a star wars addict so take that with a grain of salt.

the x-wing books are excellent -- stackpole's are better than allston's, but they are all fun. or at least the first six or seven -- i don't think i ever actually finished them all.

Like everybody else I started with the Thrawn trilogy and now I go on a binge about once a year and read like 10-20 of these books in a row. The New Jedi Order series is good but long and in depth. I would recommend the x-wing stuff highly though. Good pacing IMO.

I would also recommend finding the graphic novels Dark Empire. There are frequent allusions to the events in them in the early expanded universe.

I would start with the novelizations of the original trilogy. They actually read different than the movies in places. Courtship of Princess Leia is a good stand-alone, and of course the Thrawn trilogy and the Jedi Academy Trilogy.

There is no sensible way to start reading Star Wars EU that doesn't start with Heir to the Empire. The X-Wing and Republic Commando books are great because they don't require you know a lot about the rest of the EU -- some books can get bogged down with characters and plot points that depend on the rest of the EU to "get".

I enjoyed the first five Zahn and the one Stackpole book that I read. This was mostly back in the 1990s. I'd probably skip the others that I read from that era (the Kevin J. Anderson books, etc.). (I have no opinion on the other Stackpole books.)

agree with the Zahn stuff and I always add Star Wars: Splinter of the Mind's Eye because it was one of the first of the whole gigantic universe that now exists. I also liked the Darth Bane stuff and Brian Daley trilogy about Han Solo.

If you read Splinter, do so from the mindset that it was the very first Star Wars EU novel and that it came out before Empire Strikes Back.

So it's kind of... off... on certain things. And there's no Han or Chewie.

I hear Luke & Leia make out.

Fate of the Jedi series is where I started but I wouldn't recommend that. No matter where you start you will more than likely find references to previous stories that you won't know about. You should find that it is easy to piece things together as you read though.

I started with Legacy of the Force and I'm currently enjoying Fate. I'd actually go back The New Jedi Order and start from there for the full emotional impact.

Thanks guys!

Kris wrote: "agree with the Zahn stuff and I always add Star Wars: Splinter of the Mind's Eye because it was one of the first of the whole gigantic universe that now exists. I also liked the Darth ..."
I with Kris. Zahn is a must.
I found the Darth Bane books very interesting as well. They give the basis for how the Dark Lord and apprentice function in the main Star Wars that everyone knows.

I read some of the Legacy but stopped.

roosterSause wrote: I found the Darth Bane books very interesting as well. They give the basis for how the Dark Lord and apprentice function in the main Star Wars that everyone knows.

I also enjoyed the Bane books. Some of the other Old Republic era books I vaguely recall not being able to really get into, but the Darth Bane books weren't those.

I love Star Wars, and enjoy reading the EU - but it's over-saturated now and makes it really difficult for new readers to hop on. I love that everything is considered canon of one level or another and the editors try to keep it all cohesive. That makes for very rich lore.

The stories now take too long to tell. Nine-book arcs? The original movie trilogy told a great story in three installments.

And, IMO, there's absolutely nothing wrong with stand-alone novels (like the wonderful I, Jedi).

Sporadic Reviews wrote: "The stories now take too long to tell. Nine-book arcs? The original movie trilogy told a great story in three installments.
"

But it makes me feel SO good when I can read those 9 EU books in a the space of a week or so. Never mind that they are pretty thin page wise and think how much less money would be made if they compressed the stories down into 1 actual book? Just imagine the horror!