The Worst EU book(s).....

[RogueLeader]

Hello all:
Jedi Master Carr gave me permission to start this thread. In your opinion, what EU novel is the worst? Why do you believe that way? Here we can debate about what EU book is worthy of the title "Worst Star Wars book ever". Please note:


This thread is made for discussions about what the worst EU book is. It should not provoke nor have in member's posts:

1.) Rudeness
2.) Heated debated and/or arguments


So let's get started! I think the worst EU book ever was Tales from Jabba's Palace. I think this is the worst book because:

A.) It is way too long
B.) The book is poorely written (Even I could've written it better!)
C.) Who gives a hoot about the Tales that come from that Hutt's palace?o_O

[Jedi Master Carr]

I haven't read all the stories from it yet, so I can't make a fair judgment on it. I did like Tales from the Bounty Hunters and Tales from Mos Eisley, maybe they just did one two many of those Tale books. I think the worst novel is Crystal Star. The book doesn't even feel like a Star Wars novel, it feels like some sci-fi/fantasy story with Star Wars characters in it.

[Sene Unty]

No, the worst by far is Truce at Bakura....IMO

[Jedi Master Carr]

Truce of Bakura was okay, I didn't find it bad or anything it was just average.

[Sene Unty]

I take that back.....planet of Twilight and Children of the Jedi...worst ever!

[Jedi Master Carr]

I haven't read Planet of Twilight but I agree about Children of the Jedi it is one of the worst of the SW novels.

[MasterPewter]

I think the worst recently was Balance Point to much of Jacens whining about the force

[JMK]

I agree with Sene's original point. Truce @ Bakura was IMO, the worst EU novel ever made. It was the first one I read, and to say the least, it really didn't leave me wanting more EU. I found it extremely boring and far too long.:)

[Jedi Master Carr]

Truce at Bakura was weak because of the plot it just didn't work. I still think Crystal Star is the worst it is badly written and the plot doesn't make any sense.

[Darth \/ader]

for me it's vector prime

i have tried many times but i just can't get into in it.
probably alot of you disagree, but for me it's so bad i have to cry.
it has put me right off the NJO series. although people tell me that the rest of them are good.

[Marcus Telcontar]

I cant stand the NJO.

But what destroyed the EU for me was Children of the Jedi and that other utterly awful book Darksabre. Kevin J Anderson's books should be burnt. and that woeful thing that had Centerpoint in it.

[Jedieb]

Crystal Star and Truce at Bakura weren't very entertaining. Parts of the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy were rather weak IMO. Luke's whole "I'm searching for Mommy" storyline should never have been approached by the EU. Especially without EP3 being finished. Then there's whatever novel that introduced Calista. What was it, Darksaber? Something about a replica of the Death Star's superlaser, and a Hutt... I can't remember, I've been trying to bury it in my deep subconscious....

[Jedieb]

Marcus beat me to Darrksaber. I enjoyed KJA's Young Jedi Knights series and the Anthologies he edited were great. That's one aspect of the EU I wish would come back. Some of those stories were fun. Yeah, they made background characters way more important than they should have, but they were quick reads and often very enjoyable.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Children of the Jedi introduced Calista, Darksaber wasn't as bad it was better written than the Hambly novels.

[JediBoricua]

With the risk of ReaperFett finding where I live and coming personally to slap me, I have to say that Dark Journey is the worst SW book.

About Darksaber and Callista, I read everything about that storyline on the official chronology, good grief does that sound lame. Callista is the one that 'lived' inside a computer right? Good thing I have not spent my money on those.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Yeah Luke found her in Children of the Jedi, the storyline was very weak. It wasn't as bad in Darksaber, thought the Hutt contoling the Death star clone was a little weak

[Admiral Lebron]

I felt The Bounty Hunter Wars or whatever, the one brining back fett was the worst POS I ever read.

[Jedieb]

I bought the first of those 3 BH novels but I never bothered to finish them. The X-Wings series was decent but I got bored with it eventually and never bothered to read the last few of them.

[Jedi Master Carr]

Actually they brough Boba Fett back before then, he first reapeared in Dark Empire than it was explained in Tales from the Jabba's Palace how he escaped the Sarlacc Pit. I thought the books were okay but they were nothing special.

[Sene Unty]

I didn't mind Darksaber that much, it wasn't the best, but it wasn't necessarily the worst. As for the Black Fleet Crisis....ugh. Not the worst, but pretty damn close.

For the most part, the NJO isn't bad, in fact I think the last couple of books have been damn good reads. :D

[Shanaria Fabool]

Truce of Bakura is the worst in my mind. All the others I liked, though I admit some of them were hard to get into.

[Sasha Tion]

For me, the worst has been Darksaber.

[Yun]

Kevin J Anderson's books are horrible, along with Barbara Hambly's.

[Marcus Telcontar]

Originally posted by Yun
Kevin J Anderson's books are horrible, along with Barbara Hambly's.

I have this sudden urge to yell AMEN BORTHER!

[Jedi Master Carr]

Anderson isn't that bad at least he does keep to the SW mythos. Hambly is worse I guess because of the whole Calista thing. I still say Crystal Star is the worse SW novel ever, that book is terrible.

[Lion El' Jonson]

Oh, Anderson is horrible. His books read like they were written for little children...and in the case of Young Jedi Knights, they were.

It seems like he puts too much detail into the minor things and too little detail into the major things. For instance, he'll go on and on about how annoying Piranha Beetles are but he's perfectly willing to say: "We launched cruise missiles and the Star Destroyer lost most of its guns..."

Well, thank you, Mr. Anderson. Young Jedi Knights were terrible, but they were partly written by his wife so I guess we can pin that on her. It seems like any book where his wife is involved in the writing process turns out TERRIBLE...if you ever get the chance to read the Starcraft book they wrote, you'll get the idea. It seems like they wrote it by reading the instruction manual.

Darksaber was stupid and completely anti-climatic: The whole book is about building a replica of the Death Star superlaser and then, when all is said and done, it was killed by a damn ROCK! Not by sabotage, but by the failure of a hivemind...there's a GREEAT way to end a book...:rolleyes

The whole Jedi Academy thing was stupid and made Luke seem like a totally defenseless Weenie...and Exar Kun was lame, as was the way he tried to kill Luke. Furgan was a dork. Colonel...what was his name? Ardax? I don't think most Imperial Officers say "Attention: After much difficulty, we've located the Rebel Base" over an intercom. Starship combat seemed forced, and the Suncrusher was what really ruined it all.

First of all, the name was stupid. Secondly, it totally breaks all the laws of Star Wars like a dog on a pogostick. Thirdly...who the hell thought up the idea of an invincible ship?

Truce at Bakura I actually liked. It had fairly good fleet combat. Yes, the storyline was weak, but it gave an interesting look at the day-to-day way the Rebellion worked.

I hate the NJO series with a fierce passion. Why? I don't believe the Yuuzhan Vong should be in the Star Wars galaxy. They're totally unsuitable for the Star Wars Universe? GRAVITY SHIELDS? ORGANIC SHIPS? PAIN WORSHIPPERS? NO NO NO NO NO!!!!

There's too many books, too. It seems like so many authors have contributed to the series that the books barely fit together coherently. The main characters are getting way too old to still be in combat. The authors are also killing off all of the great supporting characters that really pulled together the few excellent Star Wars books. For instance, so many good characters have died now: Borsk Fey'Lya, Chewbacca, Anakin...it's rather disappointing.

My final reason for hating the NJO series? Zahn and Stackpole didn't write for it...any they're my favorite authors.

New Rebellion was actually a really good read, and I enjoyed it a lot just because it had so much detail, but I've got to admit that the storyline behind Kueller wasn't that great.

Crystal Star was horrible, and the Black Fleet Crisis was a load of crap...both of them failed to live up to the spirit of Star Wars.

*Ends his ranting and takes a deep, deep breath...breathe in, breathe out...*

EDIT: BTW, check here: http://www.njoe.com/1.htm . It's a great site if you're too lazy to check through your books to see who died or not. The summaries are great, but it's the dead or alive section that makes this a good site.

[Park Kraken]

I haven't read all the books, so I can't say which is worst, but I have some I really don't like. The Young Jedi Knights. Vector Prime. Oh, Woo-hoo, a rock comes throught the galaxy. Let's follow it, kill the small rocks, then get a whole bunch of ships blown up. Look at me, I'm playing with rocks! Balance Point. Traitor. Shadows of the Empire.
The only reason I kind of like Darksaber is the Fleet action involving Ackbar, Daala, Cronous, Pelleaon, so on. For some reason the whole Hutt thing reminded me of something the French might do. Maybe after seeing the Hutt laugh, and those Simpsons episodes..........
I liked Black Fleet crisis, again for the fleet action. New Ships and Technology!!!
For the same reason, I love most of the X-Wing series Novels. Solo Command is one of my personal favorites.

[Jedi Master Carr]

I like the Vong because of those reasons actually they are different they aren't the same old Imperial crap. Actually if their is a future past NJO I hope the Chiss are featured as the villains they could be made into awesome villains.

[Marcus Telcontar]

Why? I don't believe the Yuuzhan Vong should be in the Star Wars galaxy. They're totally unsuitable for the Star Wars Universe? GRAVITY SHIELDS? ORGANIC SHIPS? PAIN WORSHIPPERS? NO NO NO NO NO!!!!

Quoted for great truth. The Vong themselves aint that bad, its that they are in completely the wrong book series.

[Lion El' Jonson]

*Bows to applause*

Where do you think they DO belong, though? Maybe Babylon 5. It seems like they'd do best in Star Trek, though, since they'd fit with the technology and the theme of "overwhelming enemy making a beeline for Earth/DS9/Whatever."

[Jedi Master Carr]

Well they are from a different universe, so to me it does fit. But I am not going to argue about it.

[Maal Lah]

The Crystal Star is by far the worst, along with Anderson's stuff. I actually like the Black Fleet Crisis. and i really like the NJO, even though its starting to drag on a bit now.

The whole Callista/Luke thing was stupid in its entirety.

the most foolish thing I've ever read was this book by the same author of Planet of Twilight, it was about some spy who was trailing Luke and Ben on Tatooine, it was just reall stupid.

My ultimate favorite, though, is the Hand of thrawn duology. No doubt-it is the piece de resistance of SW literature. Next is probably Allston and Stackpole's work. They both did really good jobs in the X-Wing Series and the NJO. Rebel Dream is my favorite book in the NJO so far. They really should make a Book Ten for the X-Wing series,

[Lady Winter]

I don't like Crystal Star. That was baaad. The Courtship of Princess Leia is also up there on my list of least favorite books. I like that they talk a little about the Jedi Knights, but there wasn't enough of the courtship of princess Leia. :rolleyes I was never able to get into the Black Fleet Crisis, and I abhore any book by Barbara Hambly. KJA does okay on the comic books, but I don't like his novels very much.

On the flip side, I like the X-Wing series. Michael Stackpole and Aaron Allston are just awesome.

[Myn Donos]

"Crystal Star" or "Children of the Jedi". As far as NJO went, I couldn't get through "Dark Journey" for the life of me. "Star by Star" is one of my favourite SW novels, now, though.

[Myn Donos]

As to the Vong not belonging in Star Wars, I'll have to disagree with that. I think it's that they're so different from the usual Star Wars crises that makes them so interesting. If so many of the NJO paperbacks hadn't been total bores to me, I'd probably find their precense a lot more enjoyable.

[Jordana Montegue]

Courtship of Princess Leia is by far, the absolute WORST EU book ever written. As if we don't know that Han marries her and its not like we cannot assume that they spawn offspring. Do we really have to read about it????

My favorite series is the Rogue Squadron series. Only because my favorite SW character, Ysanne Isard is in those.

[March Kalas]

I personally don't have many book dislikes, but I didn't really like some things in different books. I didn't like Luke running around trying to find his Mom in the Black Fleet Crisis, and though the X-Wing books are quite good in my oppinion, What's his face (the author of the series) uses far outdated fleet tactics, so outdated that they are the kind of tactics that the old sailing navies used in the 1700s (Things like broadsides, manuevering around the enemy and such. They would really probably engage from a hundred kilometers away at least, and from that far, they couldn't maneuver around the other ships). Many of the EU books sport this outdated pathetic strategical mind (I am a serious strategy guy. I love chess, and I play the greatest, at least the most demanding, strategy game, Total Annihilation, and I love to study real world tactics, especially navy tactics). I like the Wraith squadron author, he used some good fleet tactics. I guess I really like realistic things that actually make you think that this could happen.

I love Timothy Zhan's books though

[Lilaena De'Ville]

I love Courtship, but then, apparently I'm the only one. :p I mean, it gives us Dathomir and the Hapan Cluster all in one book!

[Shade Magus]

I actually just got done reading that book, and I must agree it was good. And hilarious with the whole thing about Han's ancestors.

[Ruth Leofsiege]

I liked Courtship. Personally, I thought it was a pretty well written book, compared to some. But then again, I'm sick right now, so my judgement could be off.

[March Kalas]

there is one thing I didn't like about Zahn's books (at least the first three), he made Akbar look like an idiot. and even though he did make Bel Iblis look good, he still made them both look like idiots. I could have come up with a better attack against Thrawn. He made it seem like everyone was so proud of this strategy they came up with: hey lets pretend like we're going to this place and really be going to that place. What a revolution in war tactics! well not really since it has only been used probably over a million times. Besides that, do you think Thrawn is going to not see through such a basic, elementary strategy after he's seen through everything else? I respect Akbar, but Zahn makes him seem like an idiot. Don't get me wrong, I love Zahn's books, but Akbar and Bel Iblis are no idiots! They've seen how Thrawn thinks, he always thinks ahead and sees through almost everything they do. Why not use that against him and actually attack the pretended target. If you start to do something and make it obvious, Thrawn is going to try to see hidden intentions. If you don't have any, then he's going to get screwed! But no, they had to keep doing the same things that Thrawn kept beating them in. Sorry for going on and on, but this has bothered me for a while.

BTW, akbar is a really good tactician, otherwise, how did he get in the position he's in? All the authors seem like they're trying to make him look stupid (like in Darksaber when Wedge beats him in tactics. Wedge said he doesn't even like to think about the tactic stuff in Isard's Revenge). Notice that George lucas shows Akbar as a pretty smart guy (even though he made Lando prove the fish's decision about retreating wrong)

[Darth007]

Hey I loved the Young Jedi Knights series, I read every single one and owned almost every one. Then again, I read them between 3rd and 5th grade. So yeah I guess they were written for kids but I was a kid at the time so :p

[Tessek]

I dunno what THE WORST would be, but I would say the..I cant even remember the name, but the one that went like right after Children of the Jedi, where Luke goes and tries to find Callista. *shudder* and though I like the NJO, they had it go on for WAY too long. It kind of lost its edge, its like another series in and of itself, and though I like the Vong, Im kinda glad its over. Although I still don't know what happens, because they havent brough it out in paperback yet:grumble

[Darth007]

but the one that went like right after Children of the Jedi, where Luke goes and tries to find Callista.

i'm not positive on this so don't take my word, but I think that's The Crystal Star

I remember reading some of it and it didnt seem like Star Wars at all