Essential SW: NJO Books

[JediKnightButler]

After reading a few of the LOTF books (prompted by the free giveaway of "Betrayal" earlier this year) and finally finishing the last two books in the Thrawn Trilogy (yeah, yeah I'm a late bloomer), I decided to circle around to the first book of the NJO, "Vector Prime", which I've nearly finished. R.I.P. Chewbacca *snif*

I just wanted to know, given the large number of books in this particular series, after finishing "Vector Prime", which books are ESSENTIAL for getting the most out of the NJO series and which ones are more or less "filler" (i.e. nothing much noteworthy happening)? I probably will read all of them sooner or later but right now I just want to read the most important books (the "meat" of the series if you will). Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[SGCSG1]

My advice? Start reading the Horatio Hornblowers books by C.S. Forester.

The Star Wars books are crap. Don't be like me and read so many of them that you realize that. Just move on and stop wasting your time.

 

[JediKnightButler]

Well, that wasn't exactly the kind of advice I was looking for but, well, thanks anyway.

I guess I should've clarified my OP and asked for opinions from people who read and actually enjoy Star Wars books, the NJO series specifically.

 

[The Evil Dead]

I'd read all the books that were originally released as hard covers (Vector, Balance Point, Star by Star, The Unifying Force), the Dark Tide books (those two are actually my favorites - Stackpole rocks) and Traitor. You'll get the broad strokes of the storyline from the hardcovers, and the 2 Dark Tide books and Traitor are just good books that any Star Wars fan should read.

There are interesting tidbits in almost all of the books, but for all the other books I'd just read a summary on Wookiepedia unless you find something particularly intriguing about some of those books (perhaps you like the author, it features your favorite character, etc.)

The biggest weakness of the series is just how damn long it is. Some of the books are difficult to track down at this point and just not worth the effort. It makes you appreciate just how lean and to the point Star Trek - Destiny is.

 

[Trent Roman]

Read 'em all. NJO had the most interesting world-building, character development and philosophy of Star Wars fiction to date. A few books drag here and there, but the whole is spectacular.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[The Laughing Vulcan]

Wouldn't it be cheaper to buy real toilet paper?

 

[sidious618]

Read 'em all. NJO had the most interesting world-building, character development and philosophy of Star Wars fiction to date. A few books drag here and there, but the whole is spectacular.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

I don't know if I'd say spectacular but it was very good. A lot of people don't like it but I throughly enjoyed it

 

[Smiley]

If you just want the basic story outline, read Wookieepedia. Reading selected books of the series is like reading selected pages of Lord of the Rings. You will get the most important story information, but the artistry and emotional punch will be gone. It takes a while to read 19 books, but since you're already behind, why not take the time to enjoy them properly?

 

[captcalhoun]

yeah, read em all...

 

[Mr Light]

You could skip books, but you will end up missing some things, character bits and whatnot. Still, I thought several of the NJO books were weak. So to skip: Agents of Chaos 1 & 2, Balance Point (it's a hardback but its horrible and nothing important happens in it), Edge of Victory 1 & 2 (though it's an important event for two characters), Dark Journey, possibly the Force Heretic Trilogy (I'm re-reading through #2 so far and it's not vital more of a side story).

 

[Stevil2001]

I find it unfathomable that anyone could ever want to skip Edge of Victory. Conquest is where tNJO finally starting working for me. Greg Keyes gets it.

 

[Mr Light]

It was good but the whole thing felt a little "standalone" to me. Also it's one of the worst offenders for the sadistic qualities of the Vong. Of course I never read the Young Jedi kiddie books so I wasn't familiar with all the characters in it.

 

[DarKush]

After Vector Prime:

Dark Tide duology (Onslaught & Ruin)
Edge of Victory duology (Conquest & Rebirth)
Star by Star
Traitor
Destiny's Way
The Unifying Force

 

[Base_Delta_Zero]

Wouldn't it be cheaper to buy real toilet paper?

Truth.

There were a few interesting things going on in this 19 book ubersaga and some great potential early on, but the authors literaly lost the plot at Star by Star and the thing became one big fan-wankery mess. I've read better fan-fiction than most of that crap.

If you're really into self-torture though, the above post about sticking to the hardcovers and a few of the duologies is correct in that you'll get pretty much the whole gist of the Vong Invasion without the sideplots with characters no one has ever given two shits about.

Spoiler: Pretty Major Spoilers

After killing Chewie in the first book, you might think ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN and ANYONE CAN DIE, but you'd be wrong. I think they end up killing Ackbar and that's it of the movie characters with lines who bite it and he does so off screen of old age (weak-ass death).

The only EU character of note to die is Anakin Solo (by authorial/editorial/Crazy George Lucasorial fiat) and they were building him up to be a pretty awesome character, too. This, of course, gave an opening to develope/retcon Jacen Solo into the next Sith Lord for the follow up series. And Darth Emo version 2.0 turned out so well in those. Blegh.

Go, I hate those books. Anyway, enjoy, I guess.