Coming out of the announcement of a new SW novel series, I wondered what people thought of the previous ones. The Bantam Era: 1991 to 1998 Heir to the Empire to Vision of the Future. New Jedi Order: 1998 to 2003 Prequel/Clone Wars: 1999 to @2005 Legacy of the Force: 2005 to 2008 (including Dark Nest) I've enjoyed each era for differing strengths and weaknesses. The Bantam Era had some amazing individual novels (the Zahn books, the Han Solo origin trilogy), but a whole lotta bad ones, and no real unified progression of story. So I'd count them as the weakest. NJO I enjoyed for telling one massive WWII style epic, but the Vong were just too damn dark as villains and it was just too bleak and depressing. That said there were some incredible individual stories (Star by Star, Traitor, Enemy Lines, Unifying Force). And I liked how major characters were killed and changed. Jacen went from my least fav to my fav non-OT character. The Clone Wars novels were a bit like the Bantam Era, no real unified story, some good, some bad. There were some really great ones though! Dark Rendezvous, Shatterpoint, Labyrinth of Evil, Dark Lord were all excellent. LOTF I was really enjoying until the final novel, which I felt completely undercut the entire series in delivering a very unsatisfying conclusion that didn't deal with a vast majority of hanging story points. Before that though I was loving it. I thought the descent of Jacen was handled wonderfully, and those middle novels (Sacrifice, Inferno, Fury) were classic! The Traviss novels were a tough pill to swallow though with their constant Fett Family Fun. So in the end I guess I would pick LOTF and Clone Wars as my favorites, though all were appreciable.
I dunno what everyone's problem is with Traviss' novels. Yeah, she likes Mandalorians, but since she does a pretty good job with 'em, that doesn't really bother me.
I like Boba Fett as much as the next guy, and I liked the Fett Trilogy which was widely despised, but this vast Mando culture that gets entire novels starring it just doesn't interest me. I read the first Republic Commando book and really didn't care for it, but if it's its own thing that's fine. What bothered me was getting it shoehorned into the LOTF series, taking valuable "screen time" away from the other stories more apropos to the series. It's particularly egregious in the 2nd to last novel. Boba Fett is an interesting character; but his granddaughter? His amnesiac wife? His 2nd in command? His underling who doesnt like him? His armorer? His armorer's wife? His armorer's son?
I would have to say the Bantam era for me. Agreeably, not every book was a continuation of the book that came before it, but that--as well as the relative brevity of each book series--was sort of it's appeal to me. In comparison, it was the era before The Second Dark Times...before the Vong...before the rebirth of the Sith...
The earlier the better... Ok, maybe not Splinter of the Mind's Eye, but the Han Solo and Lando Calrissian adventures still rank among my fave books. Then Bantam era certainly. Loved the Thrawn Trilogy, The Truce At Bakura and Children of the Jedi to The Crystal Star, although I'm probably in a minority there. The Han Solo Trilogy was excellent, the short story collections were good. The Boba Fett trilogy has grown on me with re-reads, and I also enjoy the Jedi Academy and Corellian trilogies. Don't like Black Fleet crisis (foretelling of what was to come). And God the X-Wing series sucked big time. I Jedi was a Mary Sue of a nioovel And by the time The New Rebellion and the Thrawn duology came round, the series was dead. And then they buried it. NJO was torture porn. Torture for me because I prefer stories to story. I don't want 50 books to tell just one story, I want to be entertained for a bit, then move onto something new. Torture porn cos the Vong took all the fun out of Star Wars. Star Wars is meant to be fun remember. Ewoks and Gungans. Jawas going Oooteenee! Fun. Swashbuckling, exciting, funny and thrilling. Snappy one liners, entertaining. Not the sci-fi equivalent of the Saw Films. I've read some of the Legacy of the Force stuff, and please, Lucasfilm, let them die. Forty years of losing battles and getting the stuffing kicked out of them is just too much. Star Wars was a fairy tale. Happily ever after and all that! The prequel stuff is where it's interesting, if you can get away from the continuity overload. Shatterpoint was Heart of Darkness. Don't waste my time with shallow remakes/rewrites/. Loved Rogue Planet, despite the NJO tie in. (I usually ignore that) Cloak of Deception was good. Liked APproaching Storm, Jedi Trial (could have done without the Halcyon character), Cestus Deception and Labyrinth of Evil, but Dark Lord not so much.
I've picked the NJO. Epic in scope, philosophically and culturally intriguing, emotionally gripping, with real threat and consequence to it, not to mention a lot of kick-ass battles. The high point of Star Wars publishing. The Bantam Era books and the Clone Wars would be next, somewhere near equivalency. Bantam had some great books like the Thrawn Trilogy and the X-Wing series, and some really bad, what-the-hell-were-they-thinking pieces like Crystal Star and New Rebellion and, well, anything by Kevin J. Anderson and Barbara Hambly. To an extent, I find myself a lot more critical of that era after the NJO has shown how it should be done then I did at the time. Clone Wars era books likewise have some notable entries (Shatterpoint) and some real stinkers (Jedi Trial is one of only a handful of books I've started reading and never finished). With the post-ROTJ era mired in the crap-fest of the NJO's sucessors, I find myself looking more towards that era for quality products (like the Coruscant books, of which I read and enjoyed the first book). Legacy of the Force failed, hard. I read the first four books and didn't care for them at all, dull, dumb and repetitive. When I saw that Sacrifice had come out in paperback recently, I realized I had no desire to continue reading this series (nor subject myself to more off-topic watered-down Mandalorian stories), so that's where it ended for me. I doubt, given the track record, that I'll bother picking up this next series. Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman
I have to go with the Bantam Era. In my opinion, Timothy Zahn did a great job of capturing the spirit of the films and the characters.
I voted for Bantam...I like the NJO quite a bit though. Haven't given LOTF a try yet. I guess the main thing I like about Bantam is I could skip a few novels and not miss much. As much as I liked the Yuuzhan Vong storyline, 19 novels is a bit much.
I vote for the Bantam era. I like most of the books that they published. Del Rey on the other hand has been kind of hit and miss with me with NJO the only book series I liked as much as the Bantam era. LOTF was disappointing, as was most of the Clone Wars books. (The only Clone Wars books I liked were the Medstar ones).
Voted Bantam mainly because it got me into the EU or at least the X-Wing novels did. Though the two framing series you list for the era and not my favourites. Not a Zahn fan. First EU novel I read was from the Thrawn trilogy and it did nothing for me. It wasn't until I read Wedge's Gamble that I got into the EU. Favourites would be Black Fleet Crisis and the Rogue/Wraith series. I also enjoy all the other eras. Though I seem to have the least interest in the prequel era as I have only read 3 novels (Shatterpoint, RotS and Dark Rendezvous. Also a big fan of the Lando trilogy. They should do another.
I got into the EU really with the NJO so it's my favorite. The Clone Wars are second, Bantam third, and LOTF would be last. Not on your list, but where would the Darth Bane books fit? Or the books right before or after TPM?
It took me 3 times to finish Splinter. I kept losing the book. I loved the Brian Daley Han Solo trilogy and have read it 2 or 3 times. In contrast I couldn't make it past the first chapter of the Lando stories.
Sorry, I should have put a "Miscellaneous" column for things for 70s books and Darth Bane. Holy crap I can't believe how popular the Bantam Era is! I never read the X-Wing series, but when I think of that time I think of 3 good Zahn books and a dozen horrible other ones
I've read a lot of Zahn's books, and I usually enjoy them. His Star Wars entries are no exception. The X-Wing series is the other high point of the Bantam era, as has been stated.