The Expanded Universe discussion

Am starting the first fully chronological read since about 1997 or so. Beginning with Star Wars: Lost Tribe of the Sith: The Collected Stories. Anyone up to joining me?

For those who are interested, I have a timeline whose latest revision is near completion; I will provide a link when it is uploaded.

Wow. There are books before the bane series

Eh, yeah, why not? I'll probably skip any books that I've already read (unless I'm looking for an excuse to read them again), but I've always wanted a more complete knowledge of the series.

Very cool. :)

Published date that would be tough to look up.

In order hmm, I could do most of the books. I do not have any of the Revan Series or KOTOR series.

I think that Nathan Butler's Star Wars Timeline Gold has an appendix with the books in published order. I can understand the desire to read them in the most powerful dramatic order, but I've always wanted to just go through the entire series, and it's been almost fifteen years since I've done so. Obviously it will be a bit more "epic" this time around.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_...

here is a list.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Timeli...

A better one.

If you are interested in a preview of my revised timeline, let me know, and I will email you a copy.

That's an interesting idea. Sounds like a ton of work, but kudos on going for it! I agree with Derrick, though. If my boy wants to watch ROTJ before ESB, that's a big no-no. Not saying you'd make that big a mistake, but to me, it would be as much fun to find out how the stories started growing and meshing together. Chronologically it would read more like a broad, sweeping history of awesomeness.

I'm torn as well.

I like to read them in order, but for viewing order, I recommend 4,5,1-3,6. There is a whole article on the web about the dramatic advantages of this order, but I don't have the time to hunt it down.

I heard that on the Force Cast, podcast on the viewing order. I can't remember who recommended it but it was a good idea.

Hey, has anyone else started yet? I'm currently on Star Wars: Deceived after reading the first six stories of Lost Tribe of the Sith: Star Wars: The Collected Stories and Star Wars: Revan. Where are the rest of you guys at?

Lol... that's not a bad idea. I actually got put on hold due to some review/editing projects I promised to do, but I'll be back on track within a few weeks. :) I'm actually in the middle of The Old Republic: Revan right now. Nice job, Jacer 3000 for getting ahead of the project originator....lol

Derrick, I would be happy to send you a preview copy if you are interested.

I'm held up on Deceived right now... Unlike Revan, which I enjoyed because I played the Knights of the Old Republic games, this book hasn't really drawn me in yet, and I'm more than halfway through. They've introduced the characters and their motivations, but the author has yet to get me invested.

I'm curious if you got hooked yet. I've begun playing TOR in anticipation of it going Free-To-Play in late November and am interested in reading good back story on the characters.


Also, Darth Baras is awesome. That is all.

Okay, yup, I finished Deceived, and I have to say that Darth Baras is prety cool. The ending was also pretty good, albeit predictable. The last third of the book was definitely better than the rest. (Not the rest was BAD, just not amazing.)

By the way, TOR is going Free To Play, really? Wow, that's kind of surprising considering how expensive it was in the beginning. Is there any benefit to start playing it now BEFORE it goes FTP?

Here's a breakdown of what you can get when it goes F2P depending on what you've put in. From what I understand, the cartel coins mentioned can be used for cosmetic gear, like the "helm" of Darth Nihilus or various pets.

You can pick up the game from Origin for $15 or the Digital Deluxe version with some useful items for free on all future characters for $20. I got it at Target for $15 and paid $5 on Origin to upgrade to Digital Deluxe. The retail copy came with a month of gameplay, so you may want to check if the Origin version does.

Is this chronological read also including the comics? Because I really want an excuse to read the comics as well as the novels.

Well, now, that's up to you. :) I won't be, because my budget for comics is dead, and I'm doing well to keep up with the novels. I have had to take a sabbatical from this in order to do the final edits on my own novel, but should be able to resume shortly after the new year. I do, however, look forward to providing the link to my timeline when it is up.

I've read some of the comics. I like the X-wings since that is my favorite series so far in Star Wars. Like Robert I don't have the budget to spend $25+ at the comic store or get them cheaper on amazon.

As a poor eighteen year old college student with no job, I completely understand not having the money to pay 15-20 dollars for less than 200 pages and I'm an avid comic reader. I have my methods of getting them digitally however (when I need to) and always make a note that if I truly enjoy them I'll go out and buy them. However for Christmas I'm getting something along the lines of 68 (mainly) post ROTJ novels so that'll be my starting point for now. I can't wait, I thanked my parents for two weeks straight afterwards.

Ahem. I'll be completely willing to try and read the books chronologically, but I may stray and read the comics as well.

Just don't get scared off in the middle of New Jedi Order. It gets slow, but it's worth it!

I'm actually looking forward to NJO. I've more or less begged my grandmother to get me the YJK books as well. Even if I'm ~probably~ too old for them. I need the character set up because I know they're in NJO dang it.

I never did the step-up thing. I more or less jumped right in on them, and you can get a feel for the characters in the stories themselves. But enjoy them! Kevin J. Anderson is a great author, and makes the characters interesting. It's like a piece of art: the later books paint a picture of the character, but he and Rebecca Moesta put out the canvas and prepare all the paints that are used later.

I'm very excited to read everything I'm getting for Christmas. I'm also excited that I found this group. I can talk to people about them as I read, and that's always fun.

Just a thought on the comics if you want to read them. Check out your local library. A lot of the comics are collected into anthologies so you can get the entire series (or year of it) in one book. A lot of larger libraries carry quite a few of them. This is a free way to catch up on the stories covered in the comics such as the entire Legacy storyline.

Will have a link to my timeline, which includes books, comics, and other media, very soon. It is going to be hosted by theforce.net. Will welcome all feedback.

If you want to save money and still read the comics, wait until the series becomes an omnibus and try your library system. I am not a comic book reader but sometimes I want to read something that I really don't have to pay attention too. Also, if the comics coincide with a book I plan on reading I will see if my library has them. Granted, they don't have them all but it is better that spending $25+ at the comic book store.

My library doesn't carry Star Wars comics. It hardly carries the books. Believe me I've been looking.

http://www.theforce.net/timeline/time...

It's up, although I'm not sure if this is the final link. I will be doing a few minor adjustments, but this should give you an idea of what I do.

I'm reading the Books in chronological order. I finished Lost Tribe of the Sith, and Revan. I just started Deceived.

Can someone pls help me..i want to read the orginal star wars series by george lucas..but there are so many star wars book i dont know which comes 1st

There's only one book by Lucas, and that's Star Wars. Shouldn't be too hard to find. Beyond that, it depends on what you mean by "original." Browse around in some of the topics go familiarize yourself with some of them and try to figure out which ones your like to start with. There's also a thread called something like "Where should I start?" That's a good resource.

And even that wasn't by Lucas anymore than the others were; it was ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster. :)

Derrick wrote: "Treezzy- you're looking for this trilogy:
Star Wars Trilogy

Good luck!"

Even in that, the three stories are by Lucas, Glut and KAAAAAAHN!! respectively. But it's true that if you're looking for a jumping-in point for Star Wars lit, Trezzy, this is a good place to, well...jump in.

(Sorry. How could I resist the urge with his name being...KAAAAAAAAHN!!!)

I've tried to do a post-Return of the Jedi chronological read several times but always get stuck on the Barbara Hambley novels. Those are my most disliked star wars books. I wish I could find all the books as audiobooks but most of the older ones are only in abridged format which I don't care for. It would make it easier to do a chronological listen rather than read to get through them again.

Just remember that once you get past the Hambley books, you've got the New Jedi Order to contend with. I've never read hers, but I have a hard time believing that they can be harder to slog through than the middle books in NJO.

Amen. I actually hated Hambly's books the first time, but then when I re-read Children of the Jedi, I "got" it, and it became one of my favorite standalones. She is also the only one besides Timothy Zahn who writes the Droids as anything but caricatures.

That being said, Star Wars has traditionally been part of the Space Opera sub-genre, so caricatures are generally accepted as par for the course. I think it's more a case that Hambley and Zahn (and some authors in NJO) take the Wars beyond Space Opera and more into the realm of mainstream sci-fi, where questions like that are more apt to come up. But that's just my outlook on it from a literary standpoint.

I think you're right in that. But I think there's still a gulf between "archetype" and "caricature."

Robert wrote: "I think you're right in that. But I think there's still a gulf between "archetype" and "caricature.""

...And I think this is a good place to start a new discussion topic so this thread can stay on target...so to speak.

Fair enough. :)

hmmmm its still very confusing..why are so many authors writing just one book its freaking annoying..ok ok lets say i have never heard about star wars before which book do you guys think i shud read first? the phantom menace?

Treezzy wrote: "hmmmm its still very confusing..why are so many authors writing just one book its freaking annoying..ok ok lets say i have never heard about star wars before which book do you guys think i shud rea..."

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

You really are new here, aren't you? First things first. Make sure you've seen all the movies in the correct order. (4,5,6,1,2,3) If you've done that, then move on to the books, in the same order. That book, Star Wars Trilogy takes care of the original three films. Then move on to Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Then go to the EU For Beginners thread. That should get you off to a good start.

Take two pints of blue milk and call me in the morning.

After the movies and te books on the movies I would read dark lord Star Wars rise of darth vader

Yes this let's say trilogy consisting of Labyrinth of Evil, Revenge of the Sith and Rise of Darth Vader is brilliant and creates more thorough picture of the birth of Empire and Darth Vader.

Treezy, start with the original Star Wars trilogy (Star Wars/Empire Strikes Back/REturn of the Jedi). While Phantom Menace takes place earlier in the chronology, the entire foundation for the Star Wars Galaxy is based around the first three movies so I think the reading should start with them as well.

As for why so many authors wrote only one book, that was based on the publishers and their contracts with the writers.

As for the middle NJO books, I enjoyed virtually all of the NJO books. I didn't care for Planet of Twilight because I felt the only reason Hambly wrote it is so she could resolve Luke/Callista's relationship the way she wanted to rather than how Anderson did it in Darksaber.

Moderator's Note: Several comments have been deleted for rule bending and general irritation. Glad I could be here to catch it. Play nice, everybody. Think of puppies.

I prefer cats.