good reads

[SILVERBACK]

i am ashamed to say that i have never read any books about the Star Wars stories.    can anyone tell me the first book i should start off with in the series or possibly a list of books?

[Kaiden Shardsbane]

Oh, where to begin...

Rogue Planet is a personal favorite of mine.
Outbound flight,
Thrawn trilogy
Fate of the Jedi series
Force Heretic series

All of those are good.  Oh, and outbound flight is connected with the Thrawn Trilogy.

[SILVERBACK]

thanks Kaiden Shardsbane, i'll be sure to go to barnes & noble to take a looky-loo. is there a specific book that starts the begining?

[ThreadJack]

If you want to start from the beginning Cross Current, as well as the Lost Tribe of the Sith novels take place in the Great Hyperspace War. These novels are set the earliest in the galactic timeline.

Other wise I'd just start with the movie novelizations.

[Mind Slice]

If you're looking at movie novelizations, Episode III by Matt Stover is really good. I'd also recommend any of the Clone Wars novels.  In addition to the Thrawn trilogy which is supposed to be pretty good, I know a lot of people recommend the Darth Bane trilogy as well.

[Manroon]

Okay, I got your definitive answer right here. You wanna know which book to read first?

SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE

It takes place between Episodes V and VI, and by all accounts would have been a movie if it had been written ten years earlier. lol It is amazing. You may of course, read it in sequence with the novelized original trilogy if you wish, as those books are all quite good reads in their own right. From there, I recommend reading the X-Wing Series. Break after either book nine or ten (I forget which) to read Courtship of Princess Leia, and then pick up the rest of the series. Courtship is right in that break chronologically, and is also a great read. You may follow that all up with the Thrawn Trilogy, as it is sort of essential and written remarkably well with good character development. Gotta love Mara Jade with the total hatred for Skywalker with his reaction of 'Uhh... what did I DO anyway?' XD

I can of course list a great many more good books for Star Wars, but really, these are the best I've found. Shadows, then the X-Wing series, with Courtship in it's appropriate chronological slot. Then Thrawn Trilogy because it's really just awesome and it has all the best guys in it.

[Jammo]

Thrawn and Thrawn. Read those first. Anything Zahn writes is solid.

[ThreadJack]

I'd also recommend The Jedi Academy Trilogy, by Kevin J. Anderson. It takes place after ROTJ, and follows Luke and his students at the Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4. In fact I may re-read that pretty soon myself.

[Manroon]

Good set. I have part of it in my collection. Another of my favorite reads.

[ThreadJack]

Good set. I have part of it in my collection. Another of my favorite reads.

Yeah, I have the first and second and I borrowed the third from the library. They're definitely one of my favorite post ROTJ reads.

[Master Nero Attoru]

I agree with Mind Slice, the Episode III novelization is an excellent read (one of my favorites, and probably even better than the movie itself).  I also really like the New Jedi Order series which takes place years after ROTJ.  It deals with Luke trying to reform the Jedi Order and establish a Jedi Council while dealing with threats all over the galaxy... but I won't spoil it for you, go check it out yourself lol

[Kaiden Shardsbane]

I liked the third movie novelization too.  I haven't yet had the chance to read the others, but I'm working on it.

[navajas]

I'd offer a dissenting opinion on the Zahn books: I hated them.

Honestly, I've never really liked any Star Wars fiction come to think of it. But I was hardened into a literature snob getting my Bachelor's. I do like lots of the old background materials, like the "Art of" books for each of the original movies, and the West End RPG Source books. Those books do have rules, but I never cared since I can't stand RPGs. However, they are composed primarily of really solid back story, tech info, little fictional vignettes, blue prints and such. Really, very, cool. "Where's the galley on the Falcon? Oh, right over there." I'm sure plenty of this stuff has been reconnected to fit what ever the new marketing paradigm is the order of the day, but I think they're worth a get regardless. I bet you can find any of these for pennies.

[Manroon]

I got like half a dozen of those source books I picked up at library sales. I don't think I paid more than 50 cents a piece for any of them, and those were the hardbound sourcebooks for the Solo Trilogy and the Zahn Trilogy. lol They ARE good reads, though not what is generally considered 'canon' nowadays. XP

[ThreadJack]

One book I plan on checking out is The Making of the Empire Strikes Back. It's non-fiction obviously but I've heard it's a very worthy read.