Star Wars Books Thread

[JD]

It will be interesting to see how much detail we get about the time between movies. I'm figuring we might get a fair amount of material right after RotJ and right before TFA, but I do wonder about the time between the two movies.

EDIT: StarWars.com has revealed the first image for Shattered Empire, one of the comic series making up Journey to the Force Awakens.

 

[Ithekro]

Start off with the very last image we saw of them.

 

[Mr Light]

http://dorksideoftheforce.com/2015/03/13/chuck-wendig-is-the-author-of-post-rotj-novel-aftermath/
Chuck Wendig writing "Aftermath" the post-ROTJ novel!

I just met this guy at a writer's conference in January and I've read all his writing books, so this is personally very exciting for me!!!

I for one am not going to miss "Truce at Bakura" being written out. I've never been fond of that book, mainly because it takes place immediately after ROTJ and yet features almost no "aftermath" from the movie whatsoever.

In other news, I read the first third of "Heir to the Jedi" and I'm not impressed so far. It doesn't "sound" like Luke, the plot is very pedestrian, there's no threat...

 

[JD]

I just finished up Shadows of Mindor this morning. It was really good.

 

[Mr Light]

I loved Shadows of Mindor. It told a huge missing chunk of Star Wars history, had a great BIG villain, and was just fast paced and high-stakes throughout.

 

[Skywalker]

Agreed, Shadows of Mindor was fantastic. As were Shatterpoint and Traitor, two of Matthew Stover's other SW novels (I haven't read his ROTS novelization). I hope he comes back to add to the new continuity.

 

[Mr Light]

I'm bored, so I came up with a Top Ten Novels list

1. Thrawn Trilogy: these books are over-praised with good reason!
2. Darth Plagueis: what a fascinating history of my favorite character
3. Fate of the Jedi: the back half: this was an excellent series finale to the continuity and I loved it. even the ending was good. multiple great villains!
4. Legacy of the Force: Sacrifice / Inferno / Fury: another set of game changing page turners
5. New Jedi Order: Star By Star / Enemy Lines 1-2 / Destiny's Way: I thought NJO was too dark and I didn't like the Vong, but these books were amazing.
6. Shadows of Mindor: a great adventure, a great villain, a huge missing piece of history
7. Shatterpoint: extremely well written
8. Dark Rendezvous: Yoda is my second favorite character this was an excellent examination of his character (and of Dooku).
9. Labyrinth of Evil / Dark Lord: a little dry but a great pre and post ROTS story.
10. Jedi Academy Trilogy: parts of it are a little goofy, but these books "feel' the most like the movies of anything in the Bantam Era

Dark Horse Runner Up: Death Troopers: so creepy! so scary!

 

[Mr Light]

And because I'm even more bored... Top Ten Worst Books!

The Dregs of the EU: I don't remember these very well as I haven't read them recently, but I remember they were generally terrible and the worst examples of 1990s Star Wars.
1. Crystal Star
2. Planet of Twilight
3. Children of the Jedi
4. New Rebellion

5. Scourge: I actually did not finish this. It was that uninteresting.
6. Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void: I basically skimmed to finish. I did not remotely care about the characters or the story. I really like the comic it's based on and I was extremely disappointed that this story had nothing to do with the comic's storyline.
7. Star Wars Galaxies: Ruins of Dantooine: apparently this was a video game tie-in and I'm not if it even counts but it was extremely uninteresting.
8. Rogue Planet: I haven't read this in a long time but I recall it being a tedious chore to get through and just not an interesting story.
9. Coruscant Nights Trilogy: I like Michael Reeves but these characters and this story were just not interesting. Ironically it's the same template as the Rebels series. also, the 4th book which came much later was actually decent.
10. Shadow Games: again, like the author, but who cares about Dash Rendar protecting a singer?!

Too Long, Didn't Read: I only read the first 1-2 books in these series. And I just didn't care to continue. Star Wars to me is Force users; I don't care about exclusively military fiction.
X-Wing Series and Republic Commando Series

 

[kirk55555]

Too Long, Didn't Read: I only read the first 1-2 books in these series. And I just didn't care to continue. Star Wars to me is Force users; I don't care about exclusively military fiction.
X-Wing Series and Republic Commando Series

Well, as someone who couldn't care less if a SW book has a jedi in it or not, I'll just say that I LOVE the X-Wing series and Republic Commando books. I know the RC books have SW readers kind of divided, but when it comes to the X-Wing series, if you don't think Jedi/the force are a requirement for SW then I'd say the X-Wing series is a must read. Awesome characters, both the pre-exisiting (like Wedge) and EU only, a great story, and just an overall great time.

 

[Ithekro]

Stories around Wedge tend to be rather fun.

I am hoping for the use of some of the EU characters in Rebels and newer fiction. Winter would be interesting to see in the days before Alderaan was destroyed and her roll as Leia's friend and stand in.

 

[Wadjda]

I just finished up Shadows of Mindor this morning. It was really good.

I always dreamed about seeing Mindor as animated movie...

 

[Masiral]

10. Jedi Academy Trilogy: parts of it are a little goofy, but these books "feel' the most like the movies of anything in the Bantam Era!

I disagree. Badly written, with shoe-horned-in plots for Lando and Mara Jade (who is portrayed very differently from her appearance in the Thrawn trilogy), and just a lot of filler, like it was stretching a two-book story into three. It wouldn't be on my worst list, but it's definitely far from my best.

I agree with the rest of your list, with some variations in placement, though I'm not sure which I'd put at #1.

 

[Mr Light]

The Jedi Academy books actually had a legitimate Sith / dark side villain, which is about the only Bantam Era novel that can claim that. And while it's a tired trope now, it was the first novel to do a super weapon. And it introduced Daala. And it introduced the spice mines of Kessel (which were really thrilling sequences). And it introduced Kyp Durron. And the Jedi Academy. It just really blew out the world of the EU and reintroduced the Jedi as a regular force.

If all SW novels continued the Zahn model of military sci-fi with hardly any Force users, it would have been a very mundane and boring franchise. (and again, the Zahn novels are my favs)

---

I just finished HEIR TO THE JEDI. I'm afraid it never improved. It's not a bad book, but it's not a great one either. It's very average. I still don't think it felt like Luke's voice, and the entire plot was just very pedestrian and low stakes. It doesn't help that I read HONOR AMONG THIEVES immediately beforehand, which uses the exact same plot (single hero sent to extract Imperial defector) but is vastly more entertaining.

 

[Doctorwhovian]

Funny thing about Winter, is that in many ways she anticipated Padme and her handmaidens (at least in TPM and parts of AOTC).


Before the legends EU overhaul, it was revealed that one of Bail Organa's aides in ROTS was actually Winter's mother (Although I'm not sure that it was a book or some other source).

 

[Buck Bokai]

Star Wars: Aftermath the first of a trilogy of novels

Obviously they aren't going to fill the whole 30-year gap between VI and VII in these books, but I think it'll be interesting to see how much they do give us. A stretched out story with a lot of time jumps? Or just lay enough foundation that VII won't seem that strange?

 

[Hound of UIster]

Funny thing about Winter, is that in many ways she anticipated Padme and her handmaidens (at least in TPM and parts of AOTC).

And TTT was back when Lucas was still nominally involved in the EU and bothered to approve or read the stuff so he might have been influenced by Zahn's trilogy.

 

[Set Harth]

It just really blew

You could have stopped there.

I just finished up Shadows of Mindor this morning. It was really good.

Overrated IMO. I got caught up in the hype when it came out, but it didn't hold up as well when I revisited it.

 

[apollo1984]

What's peoples opinions over the recent books, I actually stopped reading after Swarm War as I really did not like the sound of where they headed (Yes I could actually relate to Jacen's character in NJO series)?

 

[Wadjda]

They are some good ones that are not part of the LOTF and FOTJ mess in the old continuity.

 

[DarKush]

What's peoples opinions over the recent books, I actually stopped reading after Swarm War as I really did not like the sound of where they headed (Yes I could actually relate to Jacen's character in NJO series)?

I thought LOTF was a great concept, but poor execution. They had the makings of a great Dark Side villain in LOTF but botched it. As for FOTJ it was more uneven. Once again the villain had potential, but it felt like they were throwing too many subplots into the mix, giving some of them short shrift.

I also read the Jaden Kor duology. I thought they were decent books. If you are a Jaden Kor fan then I'm assuming they are must reads.