Star Wars Books Thread
- Thread starter Mr Light
- Start date
Bingo. IIRC, the novelization was actually including a deleted scene from TFA where they met (which, again, makes sense, because if there was never a point where they talked to each other, why stage them so close together in the map scene?). It's essentially the same dialog where they both already recognize each other by reputation.
Maybe that's your fan-wank, it's become a running joke between the two of them, like Harriet Jones, "Yes, we know who you are."
Novelizations are squishy canon in Star Wars. Not the same thing. Besides, Star Trek essentially tried to have it both ways, while Star Wars was consistent in their statements that everything was canon.
It generally depends on who's in charge of the franchise. For Star Wars the creative side of things has always been more centrally controlled through Lucasfilm. For Star Trek, even when Roddenberry was still around it felt like a "too many cooks in the kitchen" kind of deal with various suits and producers working at cross-purposes and nobody actually cared about the content of tie-in media all that much. At least not enough to bother coordinating it with the film and TV productions in a meaningful way.
Even now with the new movies and TV show(s?) there doesn't feel like there's any particular person or group with a firm hand of the wheel, like a Kevin Feige or a Kathleen Kennedy. So a lack of coherence between projects is to be expected.
Last edited:
Well, to be fair, the first DSC novel was commissioned by Bryan Fuller, who left the show a little over a year before it even aired.
They are still working closely with the DSC novel writers, for example the writer of Drastic Measures
knew that Lorca in Season One was from the Mirror Universe before we did.
And the Saru novel that came out last June used the name of Kelpien homeworld the show writers had created for Season 2. It also uses the name of their Predators, the Ba'ul, though the way they're described in the book doesn't match the show.
One of the members of the Story Group, Pablo Hidalgo, has basically said to treat the movie novels like history books, and the movies as witnessing the actual events.
Last edited:
Alex Kurtzman has been put in charge of overseeing the entire Star Trek franchise, so he's basically become Trek's Feige or Kennedy.
Yeah, I have no doubt that the tie-in writers are working with the Powers That Be. It just feels like the promise that the books would expand the world of the TV show are feeling more and more hollow as time goes on.
I like that analogy.
Crap.
I've just started reading the new 'Queen's Shadow' book and it occurs to me that Keira Knightley is about the right age now to come back and reprise her role in the supposed "Young Leia" series that might be in the works. I'm only a few chapters in, but assuming they don't kill her off, Sabé would be the perfect candidate as a mentor/protector for a young teenage Leia.
I am, slowly, working my way through the Disney novels. I like the fact they have pretty much wiped the board clean with the authors they are using, with a couple of exceptions. While I loved a lot of the old EU, I like the fresh take some of the new writers are brining to the table. Especially concentrating more on the villains and female characters.
Keira knightley hasn't age sinds TPM.
Like Keanue Reeves, Patrick Stewart, Samuel L jackson. Over 20 years she still looks like now.
Season 2 of Discovery has been great so far, so if this is an example of the kind of quality we can expect from his time in charge, I'm not worried at all.
Do we know how many people are aware Leia is Padme's daughter? Leia apparently didn't, in the Leia comic she visits Naboo and see's a portrait of Padme, and I don't think she knew she was her mother.
So far as I know it's just Bail, Breha, Yoda & Obi-Wan. For the sake of the safety of all concerned I doubt Kenobi clued Owen & Beru in on the full story. R2 probably technically has that information too, but I doubt he really comprehends such things in that way (one assumes the maternity droid's memory was wiped.) If I'm right and Sabé ends up with as Leia's nanny/governess then it'd be a fair bet she'd be told too.
It's questionable whether Ahsoka ever knew as so far we've only seen them together once when Leia was still a toddler and she didn't appear to suspect anything. Bail seems to test her to see if she knows however, so that may have changed later.
There would be others that had some pieces to the puzzle, like the mortician that made sure her body stilled looked pregnant for the funeral and maybe Captain Antillies, but not the full story.
Moff Panaka however seemed to figure it out fairly quickly, though it helped that Leia walked into his office wearing one of Padmé's old dresses and he had enough inside information to fill in the blanks.
That's all pre-RotJ of course. After that I think the tooka is out of the bag and it's fairly common knowledge...except of course the part where Anakin Skywalker: war hero and Darth Vader: war criminal are the same person. That doesn't come out until the novel 'Bloodline', which is set about 5-ish years before the ST. IIRC Han was the only person Leia told about Vader; even Ben didn't know until he was in his 20's.
That is what's implied at the end of the novel
Ok, I have a question. I've been wanting to catch up more on the canon books, but I'm curious as to what people think is important to read that I might have missed. This is what I have so far:
New Canon Books I've read:
Dark Disciple
Ashoka
Lords of the Sith
Tarkin
Thrawn
A New Dawn
Thrawn 2
Aftermath (and I partially got through enough of the other two, I don't need to read any more of them)
Bloodline
Before the Awakening
Books I'm definitely planning to read:
Phasma
From a Certain Point of View
Last Shot
Books I might read:
Catalyst
Rogue One Novelization
The Last Jedi Novelization
Never going to read:
Lost Stars, or any similar books (meaning that Amidala book that came out recently, etc).
So, am I missing anything really important on the list? Something I've forgotten about, basically? I think that Phasma, FaCPoV and Last Shot are the only main line non-movie tie ins that I haven't read, and the list of books on wookiepedia seems to confirm that, but I just want to know if there is some big hole in my list.
New Canon Books I've read:
Dark Disciple
Ashoka
Lords of the Sith
Tarkin
Thrawn
A New Dawn
Thrawn 2
Aftermath (and I partially got through enough of the other two, I don't need to read any more of them)
Bloodline
Before the Awakening
Books I'm definitely planning to read:
Phasma
From a Certain Point of View
Last Shot
Books I might read:
Catalyst
Rogue One Novelization
The Last Jedi Novelization
Never going to read:
Lost Stars, or any similar books (meaning that Amidala book that came out recently, etc).
So, am I missing anything really important on the list? Something I've forgotten about, basically? I think that Phasma, FaCPoV and Last Shot are the only main line non-movie tie ins that I haven't read, and the list of books on wookiepedia seems to confirm that, but I just want to know if there is some big hole in my list.
Phasma fleshes out the character's backstory and explains why she lowered the shields in the movie. I'd say it's essential if you want answers to those questions. You will will want to pair it with the Captain Phasma comics (read the book first).
From a Certain Point of View is a must-read your time, although it's not going to have anything huge or events that reshape the saga.
Last Shot is interesting, but it's very much a standalone story that you could skip and not miss anything.
Catalyst is very important, esp. if you're a fan of Rogue One. That movie's novelization is also one of the best books written for the franchise. You will want to pair them with Rebel Rising; reading Catalyst, Rebel Rising, and the Rogue One novelization, you'll get Jyn Erso's biography and the full context of everything that lead her to the point we meet her in the film.
Last Jedi novelization is pretty good and worth picking up.
You should read Lost Stars. One of the best books in the franchise. Haven't read Queen's Shadow, but I'd like to if I get the chance.
If you like Last Jedi, Cobalt Squadron is a very good book to read. The character journals for Rey (Rey's Survival Guide), Paige Tico (Bomber Command), and Rose Tico (Rose Tico: Resistance Fighter) are great if you love books like that. Battlefront II: Inferno Squad is a really great novel set outside the scope of the movies. Leia: Princess of Alderaan is quite good (esp. if you read Bloodline).
I'm also up for books that are just good regardless of importance, so I'll probably read Last Shot (although it might be lower on the reading list). Phasma is going to be the first one I read (I just checked it out from the library), and FaCPoV is a book I'm really interested in, since I liked the old Legends era Tales From anthology books, and this seems similar (just without an overarching theme).
I forgot about Rebel Rising. I tried it, and lets just say I didn't find it impressive. I didn't really like the style, and story wise I don't need to read about teen Jyn Erso. Even as someone who seems to like Rogue One more than many people, I just couldn't get into that one. Catalyst itself is kind of a hard sell, because I really don't care about reading the events that lead up to Rogue One, since the movie itself pretty much gave all the essential info.
That's what I've read online, so it should be interesting.
I tried to read it once. Its the book that has made me lose my temper more then any other SW book (which came up in this thread before), so I won't be going back to it. I barely tolerate YA books that aren't romances anyway, and I found trying to read LS painful.
I like TLJ a lot, but I don't particularly care about Rose (I don't hate her, or even dislike her, I just don't care much either way), so I don't really want to read a book focused on her, even a short kids book.
I didn't think to mention it because its not a traditional novel, but I've read (and own) Rey's Survival Guide, and its pretty good for what it is. Like I've said before, I don't care about Rose so I don't particularly care to read those other two books.
I completely forgot about the Battlefront books. I tried them both, but didn't like them. BF1 really bored me and Battlefront 2 had characters that I felt were so cartoonishly evil (even for Star Wars), that I just could not stand more then a few chapters.
As for the Leia book, I'm really not a fan of Gray's YA work, and even in the old EU I had a hard time caring either way about Leia solo stories. So taking her and making her a teenager years before Alderaan blew up, and you get a book I just don't want to read. Maybe if she wasn't a teenager and it wasn't a YA book, I'd check it out. But as it is, I just have no interest in it.
Sounds like a plan.
Okay.
Fair enough. I didn't mind the style and I had badly wanted stuff about Jyn before the movie (heck, that's what I had wanted Catalyst to be before I learned what it really was about).
It's well-written, so I'd say its worth your while on that alone. You also get a lit more insight into Krennic and Jyn's parents (all characters who were not given as much in the movie proper). The opening scene of the film does have a lot more weight knowing the backstory that lead up to it.
Should be.
Well, you know you better then I do.
Fair enough. IMHO, having read it before the movie came out made the film work better (seeing Paige die in the opening made it a character I knew and cared about, not just someone I knew it was bad to see die because they were a good guy). Course, I do like the Rose character, so it is up my alley.
Sure. The Paige one is more of a technical manual with biographical details while Rose's is literally a journal she was keeping during the events of the movie (so a lot of film scenes described from her POV). I find these kinds of things cool, but that's just me.
Never read the first one. I would strongly advise giving the second one another chance. It picks up really quickly after those first few chapters and I can assure you that there are no cartoon villains in it. In fact, I think this book actually has some of the most complex characters we've seen in the tie-ins to date.
I'm not a huge Leia fan myself (cool character, but not one I "need" lots of stuff on). I do like Gray's writing a lot and I do think that this one is, on a craftsmanship level, the best of its "YA" counterparts and compares really well to the main line novels, but I will agree that it is a lot about Leia and I will concede that I do gravitate to Rebel Rising and Lost Stars more, even if I don't think they're quite as good.
Mileage may vary, as always.
I started reading Last Flight of the Harbinger, the fourth TPB of Marvel's current ongoing subtitleless series. I'm on #20 right now, which is another Journal of Obi-Wan Kenobi issue, and I'm really enjoying it. These Obi-Wan issues have been a highlight of the series, which has been pretty great overall.
First, before getting into my responses to other posts, I want to say that I've started Phasma. I looked up a bit about it, and I'm really disappointed in all the comparisons to Mad Max, and how Phasma isn't even really a character in the book. Hopefully post episode IX the movies will be completely done with her and we can get an actual backstory and character for her. As for this book, Ill give it a chance, but I don't know if I'll get through it knowing what I now know about it.
Anyway,
Eh, I don't really need anything more with the parents. They got the perfect amount of screen time in the movie. Anything more would be like reading a book focused on Luke's Uncle Own and Aunt Beru, a kind of pointless story about characters I find uninteresting.
I found the "blindly loyal to the point of being psychotic" Empire types in that book to be boring. I'm fine with really evil villains in Star Wars, but they have to have more to them then "the Empire is basically my religion". No Imperial should be that obsessively loyal to the Empire, to the point where they have no real character. Imperials don't have to waver in their loyalty or anything, but they need something else. I just really hated everyone in that book. I'd honestly call it the second worst canon book I tried but couldn't finish, after Lost Stars.
That is the perfect way to describe what I think of Leia. She's a good character, but I don't need a lot of stories with her as the focus. As for the book, even outside of it being focused on Leia, honestly I tolerate Claudia Gray at the best of times. I'll at least try any general audience SW book she does, but I couldn't be paid to look at one of her YA books again.
I think that, while Marvel's standard/subtitleless Star Wars book is ok story wise, art wise I wish they would go for another style besides "trying to copy faces based on looking at movie stills" for the movie characters, since it leads to the facial art being really weird and frequently stilted. Its probably the weakest art of the ongoing books (although it definitely has better art then some of the side stuff, like the Lando mini from a year or two ago).
Anyway,
Eh, I don't really need anything more with the parents. They got the perfect amount of screen time in the movie. Anything more would be like reading a book focused on Luke's Uncle Own and Aunt Beru, a kind of pointless story about characters I find uninteresting.
I found the "blindly loyal to the point of being psychotic" Empire types in that book to be boring. I'm fine with really evil villains in Star Wars, but they have to have more to them then "the Empire is basically my religion". No Imperial should be that obsessively loyal to the Empire, to the point where they have no real character. Imperials don't have to waver in their loyalty or anything, but they need something else. I just really hated everyone in that book. I'd honestly call it the second worst canon book I tried but couldn't finish, after Lost Stars.
That is the perfect way to describe what I think of Leia. She's a good character, but I don't need a lot of stories with her as the focus. As for the book, even outside of it being focused on Leia, honestly I tolerate Claudia Gray at the best of times. I'll at least try any general audience SW book she does, but I couldn't be paid to look at one of her YA books again.
I think that, while Marvel's standard/subtitleless Star Wars book is ok story wise, art wise I wish they would go for another style besides "trying to copy faces based on looking at movie stills" for the movie characters, since it leads to the facial art being really weird and frequently stilted. Its probably the weakest art of the ongoing books (although it definitely has better art then some of the side stuff, like the Lando mini from a year or two ago).
Last edited:
Similar threads
