Star Wars Books

[Bluntman]

Yo :smokin ,

I've only read one Star Wars novel: 'Truce At Bakura' by Kathy Tyers. It was pretty sweet, but there are a lot more I'm interested in reading... I just can't decide really. Anyone care to suggest any sweet <smallfont color={hovercolor}>-Censored-</smallfont> star wars novels? Name a title and give me a major reason why you liked it. Mainly looking for a book with more lightsaber action beit Jedi or Sith.

[Sene Unty]

if you want a good star wars book read I, JEdi by Michael A. Stackpole.............577 page of sweet, sweet goodness. :D

[Figrin D'an]

First and foremost, read the Thrawn trilogy, by Timothy Zahn (Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising & The Last Command), simply because this sets a basis for a lot of the rest of the EU.

I, Jedi is solid recommendation as well.

The Jedi Academy trilogy is... okay... (Jedi Search, Dark Apprentice, Champions of the Force)... not great, IMO, but readable.

Hand of Thrawn duology (Spectre of the Past, Vision of the Future) is very good.


Avoid the following craptastic entries: Children of the Jedi, Planet of Twilight, The Crystal Star


Also, be aware that there is a particular story arc which include many novels by several authors, called the New Jedi Order... these books pretty much chronicle one really big plotline, and are best read in chronological order if you get into them. Personally, I don't like them that much, and have given up reading the storyline beyond the first couple of books.


If you are looking for a lot of Jedi vs. Sith stuff, you may want to check out the Tales of the Jedi comics. They cover stuff between 4,000 and 5,000 years before the time frame of the original movie trilogy, and deal with The Golden Age of the Sith, Exar Kun, the Qel-Droma brothers, and the Old Republic in general.

There's been stuff written for the prequel timeframe now, as well, though I personally have read very little of it.

[Tujk]

*wrinkles nose at "I Jedi"* The only good part of that is it gives a brief run over the trilogy that KJA did, without having to read those books... but I'm just not a fan of the first person style that I Jedi was done in.

of the Non NJO new stuff, Courtship of Princess Leia, The Thrawn trilogy, and the Hand of thrawn Duology are problably the best ones to read.

In addtion to Frig's suggestions of what to avoid, add in the "The Black Fleet Crisis Trilogy"

Personally, I like the NJO books, it's definatly an improvement on some of the stuff that's been published, and it's actually got a continueing plot, with new characters that evolve and change. But, do read them in order, and remember two of them arn't actually novels, they're e-books (Recovery(included in star by Star as well) and Ylesia)

[Admiral Zahn]

I have just finished "Children of the Jedi" and am now on "Darksaber"-"Specter of the Past". Now if you want a really sweeeaaattttt book to read, definitely recommend "I, Jedi" and "Vision of the Future" by far.

[Evil Hobgoblin]

Anything by Tim Zahn, Troy Denning, Mike Stackpole, or Matthew Stover is an excellent read.

Shatterpoint is in the process of blowing me away.

Edit: Dangit, I put down the wrong darn author.

[Jarek T'chort]

I've read all the novels up to the Hand of Thrawn books, but for me I only really like Zahns stuff. He seems to capture the whole star wars universe in a way that other authors lack...IMO.
The Zahn trilogy are must reads.

[Jedieb]

[qoute]If you are looking for a lot of Jedi vs. Sith stuff, you may want to check out the Tales of the Jedi comics. They cover stuff between 4,000 and 5,000 years before the time frame of the original movie trilogy, and deal with The Golden Age of the Sith, Exar Kun, the Qel-Droma brothers, and the Old Republic in general.
[/quote]
As far as comics go, those are some of the best Dark Horse had done. They're available in anthologies so they shouldn't be all that expensive to pick up. One of the most underrated novels are the short story anthologies. There are some pretty good ones in there. They don't all have a SW feel to them but I know I enjoyed reading them years ago.

[Bluntman]

I'd prolly wouldn't do the comics: The only comic store for miles around is owned by some snappy japanese people who treat me like I jus came outta a 'Menace to Society' movie.

This Thrawn series sounds appealing, and I wouldn't mind reading a first-person POV novel: it'd be a change. From what I read from here and online, the good novels are continued by another: and that I should avoid a those one-bookies. Invasion is always good, but these Yuzhan Vong don't interest me much. I'm more interested in the rising of Imperial remnants against the New Republic. Plus I want some good ol' lightsaber dirties thrown in the mix. SInce the Thrawn trilogy seems kinda long, I'll start with I, Jedi first. Thanks for the info bo's, hopefully I'll find these books somewhere. *Off to Barnes & Noble*

Bluntman :smokin

[Opie-wan]

If your looking for Lightsaber action then you might want to try Star by Star it's one of the books in the New Jedi Order Series. Which also happens to be a real good series to read!

[Bluntman]

How long's the series?


Bluntman :smokin

[Opie-wan]

The NJO series is a long runing series it has a total of 20 books in it. the series will be ending this november sometime.

If you read it be prepared for anything to happen AND I mean ANYTHING!!

[Admiral Zahn]

If we be, the loyal fans of Star Wars, then we must adapt an evolve to the changes George Lucas has decided about the continuation of the Star Wars Novel Book Series'.

"Trust the judgement of the Council you must, or lost in the absence of the universe you'll be in"O_o

[Bluntman]

He can go ahead and kill off all the main characters, as long as they introduce new ones. I'm kinda sick of Leia/Han/Luke and the gang. Chewie's kewl. Also not looking for 'kiddie Jedi' stories like the Solo kids. Older Jedis are more appealing.

Bluntman

[Marcus Telcontar]

NJO is the wrong bloody universe. Avoid.

I concur with anythin Zahn or Stackpole - most worthwhile and you feel like your in the universe proper.

Avoid Kevin J Anderson and Barbara Hambly. Avoid The New Rebellion. Avoid Black Fleet Crisis.

[Alexi Hesith]

Timothy Zahn's trilogy and his sequel duology rock!

[Jedi Knight Sui-Gro]

Originally posted by Figrin D'an
The Jedi Academy trilogy is... okay... (Jedi Search, Dark Apprentice, Champions of the Force)... not great, IMO, but readable.

My favorite set was the Jedi Academy. I really enjoyed it but some of my favorite stories were the Dark Empire graphic novles.

And of corse anything with Boba Fett. :crack

[Admiral Zahn]

el piene en mi pantalones es muy grande!
and its not my lightsaber......

[Admiral Zahn]

If they ever come out with a new series I think it should definitely involve more characters, like Obi-Wanna-Wak-Off-Right-Now and Princess Laymee. No but seriously all the Star Wars couples need to perpetuate the human race outside of the Star Wars Universe.......Much much much more Star Wars characters getting izsack in a much more appealing blue vein throbber kind of way.

HEEEE HEEEE HEEEE HEEEE HEEEEE!!!!!

[Jedi Knight Sui-Gro]

Anything Kevin J. Anderson.

[Lion El' Jonson]

You might want to try "The New Rebellion", by Katherine Rusch, or something. 700-800 pages long, but a good read. Involves a lot of good smuggler stuff, plus some fairly good fight's between Luke and his former students.

A bit anticlimactic, but still a good read.

I recommend the X-Wing series, which were started by Stackpole and continued by 2-3 other authors. There's a perceptible change in writing style between the 4th and 5th books, where the authors changed, but it doesn't detract from the writing. Still, make sure that you read Wedge's Gamble and Bacta War, both are great reads.

I, Jedi is actually a great book.

Like Marcus said, the NJO is in the wrong galaxy. Go tell the Yuuzhan-Vong to get drunk with the Borg or the Kilrathi, they took the wrong exit on the alternate-universe superhighway.

[txa1265]

Make sure you've read the novelizations of the books. Episode 1 and 2 add some cool things ... nice augmentations to the films. Also the whole beginning to RotJ I liked a lot, as it gave insight into Luke and his development as a Jedi.

I also like the Jedi Academy trilogy very much - those were some of the first books I read. The first was I, Jedi, which I also liked quite a bit.

I've read some books of the NJO and while the books are well written and there are some cool things, I very much - very much - dislike the entire premise of the storyline.

I'm reading the Thrawn trilogy now - just at the beginning of Last Command now ... I like them very much also, though the prequels throw off the timeline and some other things ...

Finally, there are two collections - Tales from the Empire and Tales from the New Republic. Both are very good, well they're mixed really, as some stories are better than others. But on whole they're enjoyable.

Mike

[Park Kraken]

Depends on what you want in a novel. If you are interested solely in stuff like Nava Action, then Black Fleet Crisis, Solo Command, Isard's revenge, and Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse would be good books for you. If you want solely characters, then Vector Prime, Dark Journey, and Traitor would be good books for you. The best blend of both that I have seen so far is Star by Star, although the Force Heretic series did pretty good.
BTW, Final Prophecy comes out September 30th in paperback, and the Unifying force comes out November 4th in hardback. James Luceno writes the latter, while Gregory J. Keyes writes the former. Gawd, I hope those authors don't screw the series up upon it's conclusion.

Unifying Force book cover:
http://a1055.g.akamai.net/f/1055/1401/5h/images.barnesandnoble.com/images/6730000/6734297.gif
Final Prophecy book cover:
http://a1055.g.akamai.net/f/1055/1401/5h/images.barnesandnoble.com/images/6520000/6523756.gif

[txa1265]

What really puts me off of a lot of the books is how they seem to have decided that Luke peaked out in RotJ, and hasn't gotten any stronger or more insightful since. It was true in Thrawn, I Jedi, the Academy Trilogy and the NJO. He is routinely meeting up with more powerful people.

Personally I've always imagined him in the years after RotJ being more like Mace Windu in Shatterpoint ...

Mike

[Alpha]

Read the Wraith Squad cycle of books in teh X-Wing series. :) By Aaron Allston. They're some of the best in that series.

Also the new Han solo Triology is good

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Tatooine Ghost is one of the better books I've read. I need to pick up Shatterpoint at some point, but I just got R.A. Salvestro's Legacy of the Drow and am plowing through that, so I think it'll be a few weeks before I get to Made Windu. ^_^;

[Pierce Tondry]

Mace sez: "That's not what I want to hear! I want to hear you say 'Sit tight, I will be reading the book directly!'"

Brian sez: "He knows what he's talking about." *nod*