Saber Forum

Hi so i been watching the SW movies since 1977
And at 50 my need to know more has grown

Where should i start what order should i read the novels

Any titles


Thank you

Raider

I say pick a series and go from there. I am biased toward the Original EU, but........

I highly recommend the Darth Bane trilogy. It was just awesome.

I agree that the Darth Bane trilogy is really good. I also enjoyed the books by Timothy Zahn that focus on Thrawn.

I've read the newer books like Ahsoka by  E.K. Johnston and really enjoyed Rebel Rising by Beth Revis which tells about what happens after Jyn Erso is rescued by Saw Gerrera and about her life leading up to where we see her in Rogue One

 The original Expanded Universe was canceled after Disney acquired Lucasfilm.  In a nutshell any books or comics published AFTER April 2014 are part of the Disney Canon and tie in to the films.  The Animated Shows The Clone Wars and Rebels are also canon.  Any of the books published before the Disney acquisition are no longer canon.  So they will not have characters such as Rey or Kylo Ren.  So, there is your first decision.  Do you want to delve into decades of novels that no longer connect to the films or begin with the ones that do connect to the films

I'm a little over halfway through the Del Rey timeline of books and they have all been pretty fantastic, timeline here: http://www.randomhousebooks.com/campaign/star-wars-timeline/

Thrawn is probably my favorite of the bunch. Nobody can capture the spirit of the blue skinned and red eyed Grand Admiral quite like Timothy Zahn. There's Dark Disciple if you're a fan of the Clone Wars series, Lords of the Sith if you like Vader, Tarkin if you're a fan of the Grand Moff... they're all really good.

I've been told that Tarkin was an exceptional read. I plan on reading the Ahsoka and Jyn Erso novels myself.

Anything with Mara Jade is awesome in my book. Shame it's no longer canon.

Yeah Tarkin is pretty good, at around 275 pages it's a quick read compared to the other novels. Totally redefined the character for me personally. From what little I know of Mara Jade she definitely is a character I plan to get to know better myself.

I would like to echo that Timothy Zahn's "Heir to the Empire" trilogy as well as the "Hand of Thrawn" duology are enjoyable reads.

Also: the "Darth Bane" trilogy is another set worthy of a read  :)

Ditto.  I greatly enjoyed the Thrawn series.  It was written by Zhan and as I recall was intended to be the continuation of the official storyline for the original trilogy.

I enjoyed the first two X-Wing books. It's a shame I never got my hands on the others...

eBay

Thrown Trilogy is awesome ... And Bane ... And Revan ... and Rogue Squadron ... and ... ;)

I actually recently bought most of the canon books. I actually love mostly everything about all of the new canon, but I also enjoy non-story related books like the Imperial Handbook, Bounty Hunter Code, Jedi Path, and Book of Sith. These are fun because they are guidebooks and you have the characters of the movies and TV shows that write their own notes in the book.

HOW COULD I FORGET?..............


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These would probably look amazing on a bookshelf! I was in Target thumbing through it, and I don't think I'd be able to actually read it in Shakespearean. Maybe my mind is too simple.

Kenobi, John Jackson Miller---- Han Solo Brian Daley

  Yep all the x Wings are good.

Great to see you back Rathayatra !  Last evening you popped into my mind regarding where did she go.  :)

Unfortunately I have a stack of books to get through including SW related.  Have a hard copy of the Ahsoka one that I likely will read next.  I shouldn't take a peek at the Amazon selection.

Kenobi was very good.

So, I've shared this before. I've not read any of the newer books, so all the below fall under the Legends banner:

Darth Bane Trilogy: Path of Destruction - Rule of Two - Dynasty of Evil
Properly introducing the, ah, much loved character of Darth Bane to the EU (he appeared in an earlier comic, but the book supersedes that) it gives a rich, detailed look into the philosophy of the old Sith Order, and the Rule of Two of which Bane is the first master. The first two books, in particular, are among my favourite SW books; They're really well written, and the author seems to take a certain amount of glee in mercilessly killing off named characters, innocent characters, Jedi, Sith... There's a lot of killing in these books :D

Darth Plagueis
A fantastic read, detailing the rise of Sidious under his master from rage-filled schoolboy to Supreme Chancellor... Lots of wonderfully gruesome scenes, lots of sly shots at the Jedi, but also doesn't stint from portraying the Sith as evil; You understand them, but you don't sympathise with them...

Episode I
Episode II

Republic Commando series: Hard Contact - Triple Zero - True Colors - Order 66 (There's a 5th book, Imperial Commando: 501st, but it was intended to set up a new series which has now been cancelled.)
This looks at the lives of a squad of four ARC clone troopers. All four are the survivors of squads who otherwise died on Geonosis, and the series looks at how they start to bond, how they work with the Jedi, how they work with other squads and how they relate to their training officers - some better than others. The series is divisive among those who've read it; The author clearly has little regard for the Jedi overall, and the way they acted during the Clone Wars and their treatment of the clones under their command in particular. That said, the action is good, the characters are diverse and the stories are well written.

Episode III

Star Wars: Revenge Of The Sith - I admit that I've not read it, but the novellisation of the film is reputed to be excellent, expanding on character motivations in the right places.

Kenobi
Deals with Obi-Wan's arrival on Tatooine, and how he sets about acclimatising himself to life there. Obi-Wan is realistically scarred and beaten by his experiences in EpIII, and the mystery that forms the core of the book is a good one.

Dark Lord - Rise of Darth Vader
Set immediately after ROTS, this tells how Vader adapts to life as a Sith apprentice and how some of the surviving Jedi cope with the change in their lives

Coruscant Nights trilogy: Jedi Twilight - Street of Shadows - Patterns of Force
The last Jedi on Coruscant begins to adapt to life without the Order, and form the connections that will help the Rebel Alliance on the Imperial homeworld. This feeds into a 4th novel, The Last Jedi, which is also worth a read, but thematically and in story terms is separate from the trilogy.

Han Solo Trilogy: Paradise Snare - Hutt Gambit - Rebel Dawn
Some of Han's backstory (A lot of it remains a mystery, deliberately so) as Han matures over the decade leading up to his meeting with Luke and Obi-Wan in the Mos Eisley cantina. It's not too much of a spoiler to say that the central romance is deeply affecting - even if, of course, it can't end happily.

Episode IV

Scoundrels
Best described as Solo's Eleven

Episode V

Tales Of The Bounty Hunters
Anthology book set during/around Empire Strikes Back and follows the bounty hunters hired by Vader to track down the Millennium Falcon. A really enjoyable read, as unlike the other two books in the series (Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina and Tales from Jabba's Palace) the stories range far and wide with their characters without too much overlap. Not to be confused with the Bounty Hunter Wars trilogy, which open with sub-par covers and go downhill from there)

Episode VI

X-Wing - Rogue Squadron - Wedge's Gamble - Krytos Trap - Bacta War
These first four books of the series detail how the New Republic takes Coruscant and holds it, seen from the view of the Republic's premier starfighter squadron. Michael Stackpole, the author of the books, is one of the best writers of action around, and that lends itself very well to the fantastic dogfight and other action scenes that come up frequently in the books.

Thrawn Trilogy: Heir to the Empire - Dark Force Rising - The Last Command
The first books published, post-ROTJ, in 1991 I believe. That's something to bear in mind as the books have been written over the course of 20+ years, and while Lucasfilm gave editorial oversight, the books introduced superweapons, darksiders and other wild concepts that just didn't end up mattering in the long run. It must have been difficult to write the books knowing that people would want something recognisably Star Wars, while at the same time being something new as well. Still, for me at least, a lot of the 'early' books released in the 1990s just don't stack up to the later releases.

Anyway, these books are set five years after the films, it details the ongoing conflict between the New Republic and Empire, and introduces the legendary Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn. The trilogy's not a bad place to start, as the writer (Timothy Zahn) is one of the finest writers in the EU.

X-Wing: Wraith Squadron - Iron Fist - Solo Command
A different squadron and a different writer for this trilogy, which deals with the campaign waged against a rogue Imperial warlord. This series, more than most in the books, is in turn both hilarious and emotional. The second book, Iron Fist, is one of the finest standalone books in the EU.

I, Jedi
A standalone counterpart to the Jedi Academy trilogy, which consensus varies on. This is one of the first books to take an in-depth look at the training of a Jedi. Beyond that, it's also a storming adventure in its own right. It's the only first person EU book, starring one of the pilots from the Rogue Squadron series of books.

X-Wing: Starfighters of Adumar
Same author as the Wraith Squadron books, this is a straight-up hilarious book.

Hand of Thrawn Duology: Specter of the Past - Visions of the Future
Winding down the New Republic/Empire war, this brings back Timothy Zahn to tie up the plot strands ahead of the next major series of books.

After this, the books shift into several long series which continue the general storyline of the main movie characters, series punctuated by standalone books and shorter series (such as the Coruscant Nights trilogy).

The continuation series are as follows:

New Jedi Order - 19 books - Way, way too many books; They didn't try this again. About half are worth reading, I'd say, and about as many advance the plot... they're not always the same books. Traitor is the standout book in the series.

Dark Nest - 3 books - Haven't read these.

Legacy of the Force - 9 books - Grim, grim, grim. I read these once and got rid of them. They do bring about a major change in the EU, but 9 books can pretty much be summed up effectively by the Wookiepedia plot review.

Fate of the Jedi - 9 books - Lighter than the previous series, while at the same time introducing a quasi-demonic entity who helps stir up a galactic vendetta against the Jedi... But where the previous series seemed bogged down under its own weight, this one pretty well moves along at a decent clip, and by introducing a lost tribe of Sith into the series, offers some nice counterpointing of the Jedi and Sith ways.

There are some good books out there I've not included in the list, either because I've not read them or they're not really necessary to follow the overall story. Where I've underlined books, they are especially recommended as being integral to the overall EU, or otherwise as being particularly good writing. However, it's all just a recommendation. Read what you want, and have fun doing it :)

^^^That is one heck of a list, time to get my bookmarks warmed up  8)

Outstanding synopsis, JC!

I think that this could be used as the comprehensive book(s) review for the entire EU (post Disney...bleh  ;)).

Another good one that I have read is Rogue Planet.

Post Disney (so far) unless it focuses on Vader or Thrawn...it isn't very interesting

I can only second (twenty-second, LOL) that the original Thrawn-trilogy is a shiny example of the now called legacy (personally as I see Disney's way of doing it, the Thrawn-series is "the 7-8-9" for me). Actually anything with the name Timothy Zahn on it I can recommend wholeheartedly.
The Darth Bane-series is also a classic I love and would highlight in the list of all the goodies already have been mentioned above :)

Ah, and the Shakespeare-paraphraze is hilarious :D

Oh no no no no. If you know the lines from the movie (verbatum, like me ;D) they are thoroughly enjoyable. They even make Jar Jar cool. Seriously. The writer is definitely a fan of both SW and Shakespeare, and it shows. Even I want the TFA book.

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JC, you forgot two of my favorite Prequel prequels: Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, and Cloak of Deception. I highly recommend both, but I thought CoD was just AWESOME! You didn't know which way was up until the very end. It was scheming on the level that would make any Sith Lord squee.

I found the Jedi asides to be quite hilarious. ;D

I picked up the first of the Aftermath books. Haven't gotten very far, due to being sucked into a different sci if book series.

Curious what you think of Aftermath after you read it. I thought it was kind of bland but then again it is the first book in the trilogy.

Aftermath Trilogy is OK...its not brilliant...not bad...some strained crossovers with the Movie characters (Han/Leia), don't take it too seriously and you can enjoy it, if you're after something that discusses the srategic and political situation in the new canon...you won't get much.

Bloodlines another new on in the new cannon which focuses on Leia has some good moments but really doesn't work that well, notably Ben Solo is relegated to being off somewhere doing something as a 'major' revealtion (PSOILER Darth Vader is Leias Father!!!) is revealed...This was likely to free up the future movies to use Ben/Kylo as they saw fit but having no conversation between Leia and Ben was a massive let down and simply made no sense.

Honestly both Aftermath and Bloodlines, and i fear any future books set between the original and sequel trilogies suffer from something that the original EU did not, and that is everyone knows where the cannon is headed (ep VII) except the characters in these books, it is a hard trick to write a book in that context and i'm not sure anyone will really be able to pull if off. But just my opinion...a well done Snoke book or Ben's fall to Kylo could be awesome though.

But yeah original EU Traitor was the best!!! Poor Jacen what a waste to kill him off when he could've played an awesome Hannibal to Luke's Clarice....

During Bloodlines Ben was off training with Luke, which did give us a timeline on to how long he has been Kylo Ren...I thought the revelation to the universe that Vader was Leia's Father would have some kind of influence on Ben's fall.  Apparently it didn't as far as we've been shown.  As I stated before unless it is focused on Thrawn or Vader the new EU isn't very good.  A lot of superfluous characters that go nowhere and plot threads that seem to just dangle.  Like the Acolytes of the Beyond.

I have only read the new "Thrawn" book by Zahn of the new EU.  Admittedly I don't care for the post-Disney works with the exceptions of the above mentioned book and "Rogue 1."

But the Legends EU was FULL of poor showings e.g. "The Jedi Academy" trilogy.  Actually, just about any book by Kevin J. Anderson (SW, Dune, DC) is, in my opinion, a waste of time.

Thanks for the heads up. But I gotta ask if he does anything with Sith.

DAMMIT! I read Luke and Ben and was immediately hopeful you were referring to Ben SKYWALKER. :(

Yea, but without the Academy Trilogy we would have no Kyp Durron or Exar Kun

No.  I take that back: he briefly talks to Vader and the Emperor.  That's it.

DT, I'll give you Exar Kun but Kyp Durron...eh, he's the book's "Kylo Ren"  ;)

Actually, Tepes answered that. I figured if I'm going to write a book that brakes new ground, I need to know, to the best of my ability, what has already been done.

Also, Ren is a cheap shadow of Jacen Solo. Maybe they threw in other traits of other characters.

Yeah that was my problem with it, that revelation should've lead to at least a scene with Ben and Luke discussing it, but it didn't and that is really a big miss in my eyes. 

I think they still need more work on Ben to Kylo its not just Luke tries to kill me I change my name, there must be at least some evens in-between that really need to be brought to light.

I feel like thy are playing it safe so they don't contradict any future movies and the plots are suffering as a result.


We all wish...that would mean Mara Jade...

Luke marries fire hot redhead that used to try to kill him or Luke becomes grumpy old hermit. Hmmmm.........which makes a story.

Can't argue with that.  I was willing to quietly mourn Mara and see where they went with Luke...but what Johnson gave us...was...just....words fail.  Though, my wife disliked TLJ so much it lit the fire under her to read the old EU.  


Yea, the reason that Johnson gave for Ben's turn was so out there and unsatisfactory.  Really shows that the cohesion they said they were going for seems to have went right out the window.



If you mean Thrawn, just wait till the sequel.  Thrawn: Alliances.  It is all about a Mission Thrawn and Vader are sent on.  That is a dangerous duo.

Can not wait for that book. Can't believe I'm looking forward more to a novel than any more Episodic Star Wars films... but such is the state of the franchise.  :-\

The phrasing is making me want to Rebel. >:D

They're all on kindle now.