Well, the EU as we know it is dead-ish now, with a new continuity taking over. Here is my final Top Ten Star Wars Novels list! I do include trilogies as a single entry, but not 9 or 18 book sagas. In chronological order: Darth Plageuis: a masterpiece of continuity and character and the final revelation about two of the most interesting characters in the entire saga. Shatterpoint: superbly written with great action. Dark Rendezvous: sadly the only novel to star Yoda, my all time favorite character, it does a perfect job of showing why he's the greatest Jedi in strength and philosophy. Shadows of Mindor: a great epic story from an untouched part of history with a cool dark side villain. Thrawn Trilogy: the classic that started it all. eminently re-readable. just full of great sequence and characters. Jedi Academy Trilogy: while it gets a little silly at times, it's a solid story that establishes the new status quo of the EU and feels more "Star Wars" than anything else in the Bantam Era. (it actually had a Sith villain in it!) Star By Star: the high point of the NJO, it's unbelieveable how dark the story gets and how far the heroes fall. Traitor: a disturbing twist on what we know about the light and the dark. middle books of Legacy of the Force: I thought this was a really well written series that very beliveably turned a hero into a villain. The middle books were particularly excellent though I don't remember why anymore lol. ending books of Fate of the Jedi: the beginning of this series was hugely time wasting, but the back half was quite excellent with Luke and the Jedi facing their ultimate foe as well as an entire army of Sith. It works as a really good finale to the EU.
I'm going to for for individual novels. Not in any particular order: 1. X-Wing: Bacta War - A great conclusion (or so it seemed) to Rogue Squadron. 2. X-Wing: Iron Fist - The Wraith Squadron books really added something to the series and this is my favourite due to a certain person's death. 3. Black Fleet Crisis: Tyrant's Test - The BFC seems to be quite underrated in my opinion. Had a different feel to most other SW novels. Rare in that it had Chewie have a big role as well. Great wrap up of the three main plots. 4. Shatterpoint - Windu was a badass by name only until this. 5. Shadows of Mindor - Some people didn't like how Stover delves into what the Force is, I don't mind it. 6. NJO: Star By Star - Simply epic. 7. Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse - Jedi and Sith just tearing it up. 8. X-Wing: Starfighters of Adumar - Great standalone in the X-Wing series. Great humour and action. 9. NJO: The Unifying Force - Even bigger than SBS, which is quite a feat. 10. Lando Calrissian trilogy - Going to go against what I said at the start only because I haven't read the series for a while to really split one out and I couldn't not list it.
Are any of these books ones you can pick up and read fresh, without needing to know a whole bunch of previous continuity? I remember reading the Thrawn Trilogy as a kid, but eventually the EU continuity got so complex I didn't think it possible to jump back in. Which is why I'm really looking forward to the new novels coming out.
I've read a lot of SW books, so here are my favrites 1. Republic Commando Series - Ok, there are 4 RC books and 1 Imperial Commando book, but they are not just my favorite SW books, but possibly my favorite books I've ever read (well, Imperial Commando wasn't quite as good, but I still liked it). I'm putting them all together because, otherwise, they'd fill up the list, and they're all very interconnected anyway. 2. Thrawn Trilogy - The books that are basically the core of the EU. They're classics. 3. Han Solo Trilogy - The definitive Han Solo origin/backstory. Covers his life from young kid to right before he meets Luke. 4. The Bounty Hunter Wars Trilogy - Revealed Boba Fett's actual fate in ROTJ, and is probably the best Boba Fett story. 5. Spectre of the Past/Vision of the Future - An awesome duology. It's also when Luke and Mara decide to get married. 6. X-Wing: Wraith Squadron - Wedge Antilles puts together a team of misfits to do missions Rogue squadron can't. 7. I, Jedi - An interesting book, focused on a very good EU character. 8. X-Wing: Mercy Kill - Written (and set) years after the original X-Wing books, this sees Wraith Squadron reform with some new and old members. 9. New Jedi Order: Dark Journey - One of the best New Jedi Order books, this book focuses on jaina Solo, my favorite of the Solo kids. 10. Kenobi - A great book about Obi Wan settling in on tatooine. I have a lot of trilogy's, but they're all basically one story, so they go together. There are many books I've left off the list (I would have put every X-Wing book, among other stuff). I could probably do a top 30+
<<Are any of these books ones you can pick up and read fresh, without needing to know a whole bunch of previous continuity? >> All the Prequel Era books are standalones. The Bantam Era books were standalones (1991-1999). It's only in the New Jedi Order - Legacy of the Force - Fate of the Jedi era (1999-2011) that it became a single serial and hard to jump into.
Shadows of the Empire might be a good read for those not wanting to deal with continuity. Basically it was meant to be the 'midguel" between ESB and ROTJ, and deals with Luke and co. out to rescue Han Solo, but their adventure is complicated by a crime lord who wants to usurp Vader's role as the Emperor's right hand. It was notable at the time for being the only EU story to have it's own soundtrack (not by Williams, but featuring his themes of course) and action figures, although others would follow. The only issue is that the novel is only part of the story, the comic adaptation and Nintendo 64/Video game video game tell the story from other POVs. Even though it's no longer canon, the "Black sun" organization did find itself in Clone Wars (Which is canon) with the Darth Maul storyline. Another light on continuity story is Splinter Of The Mind's Eye, the first EU novel. Reportedly it was based on Lucas's story notes for a low-budget sequel if the original didn't do so well. Basically it's Luke and Leia on an adventure involving a sort of force-focusing crystal, and they face Vader at the end. It's a bit awkward considering Luke/Leia's eventual relationship and sort of hurts ESB a bit, but it's an interesting book nonetheless.
My Top 10 (in chronological order): Lost Tribe of the Sith Revan (The Old Republic #1) Knight Errant Slave Ship (The Bounty Hunter Wars #2) Iron Fist (X-Wing #6) Specter of the Past (Hand of Thrawn #1) The Lost Ones (Young Jedi Knights #3) Lightsabers (Young Jedi Knights #4) Edge of Victory: Conquest (New Jedi Order #7) Dark Journey (New Jedi Order #10)