Star Wars Books Thread

[Captain Worf]

I love the Jedi Academy Trilogy as a kid inpart because it was my first exposure to SW. Yeah, the only SW books I really didn't like were The Crystal Star and Barbara Hamley's two novels. Darksaber wasn't very good either. I sorta liked the parts involving Daala, but everything else was really very dumb. Especially Luke and Calista winding up at Echo base in a fight with Wompus.

Everything between the Jedi Academy trilogy and the Hand of Thrawn dualogy seems to never be talked about. I was surprised to see Before the Storm from the Black Fleet Crisis as one of the novels recommended as an introduction to the new Republic era.

 

[Mr Light]

I have 30 pages left on Aftermath. Every time I sit down to read it, I struggle to stay interested and eventually put it down. It's a bit of a chore to get through. So incredibly disappointing.

I just realized why the present tense fragment sentences is so off putting. It's reading like a screenplay. Like he's speaking directly to the audience without the artifice of being a narrator.

I finished Smuggler's Run. It was a cute little story. I found my library has the other two new YA books so I'll grab those too.

I love the Jedi Academy Trilogy. It's a little goofy but I think of all the Bantam Era it captured the feel of the movies better than anything else. It was about a decent Dark Side villain, it used superweapons, it had great over the top action sequences and settings. The Bantam Era books tended to military sci-fi, even the glorious Thrawn Trilogy.

 

[Mr Light]

Finished Aftermath. My hope is that the sequel

Spoiler: ending of Aftermath

stars Han and Chewie liberating Kashyyk. My WORRY is that it will continue to star these new characters liberating Kashyyk, and Han and Chewie will only cameo. I wouldn't care if that new cast disappeared and was never seen again, none of them really gelled for me.

Also, am I supposed to assume the Fleet Admiral that Sloane reported to at the end was Thrawn? Because that would be amazing if it was. And if the Aftermath Trilogy ended up being a poor man's Thrawn Trilogy showing Thrawn trying to bring the Empire back together in the wake of ROTJ.

I got "Moving Target" from my library and read 2/3 of it. These YA books are short! I'm liking it a lot because it actually tells a plot-important story. It's the direct set up to the Rebel strike at Endor which is really interesting. It's also a very strong role for Leia, probably my favorite solo Leia story above the unfortunate comic mini and that novel from right before the Disney buy.

 

[JD]

I haven't checked the other retailers, but Google Play has most of the Journey to the Force Awakens books on sale.
Lost Stars - Was $17.99/Now $9.40
Smuggler's Run - $12.99/0.$99
Moving Target - $12.99/$8.57
The Weapon of a Jedi - $12.99/$8.57
High Noon on Jakku (short story) $2.99/$1.99
The Face of Evil (short story) $2.99/$2.51
All Creatures Great and Small (short story) $2.99/$2.51
The Crimson Corsair and the Lost Treasure of Count Dooku (short story) $2.99/$1.99
Before the Awakening $12.99/$9.99

 

[Mr Light]

Can't beat Smuggler's Run for 99 cents!!! I'm going to end up buying some/all of those TFA short stories.

 

[indianatrekker26]

i've decided to go back to the beginning of the EU, with Heir to the Empire (skipping the early del rey stuff) and i'm gonna read the novels in publication order, go on that journey again, with all the ups and downs.

 

[JD]

Can't beat Smuggler's Run for 99 cents!!! I'm going to end up buying some/all of those TFA short stories.

I'm trying to control my book buying, but this sale is making it very hard.

Just FYI in April they are going to be releasing a collection of all of the short stories with 2 more that aren't being released individually.

 

[The Wormhole]

Finished Aftermath. My hope is that the sequel

Spoiler: ending of Aftermath

stars Han and Chewie liberating Kashyyk. My WORRY is that it will continue to star these new characters liberating Kashyyk, and Han and Chewie will only cameo. I wouldn't care if that new cast disappeared and was never seen again, none of them really gelled for me.

Also, am I supposed to assume the Fleet Admiral that Sloane reported to at the end was Thrawn? Because that would be amazing if it was. And if the Aftermath Trilogy ended up being a poor man's Thrawn Trilogy showing Thrawn trying to bring the Empire back together in the wake of ROTJ.

The exact identity of the "Fleet Admiral" has been heavily debated. The leading theories, in order are Thrawn, a new character who will be exclusive to the novels, someone from TFA.

 

[DarKush]

I finished Paul S. Kemp's Lord of the Sith today. It had taken me a while to get into the book, but once I got into it, I thought it was a good read. Really shows Vader as a badass, though it does give Palaptine some moments as well. I don't think it went as deep into an exploration of the dark side (like the Darth Bane trilogy) but it did show some of the relationship between Palpatine and Vader and that was neat. I also enjoyed their opposition.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Spoiler: ending of Aftermath

Also, am I supposed to assume the Fleet Admiral that Sloane reported to at the end was Thrawn? Because that would be amazing if it was. And if the Aftermath Trilogy ended up being a poor man's Thrawn Trilogy showing Thrawn trying to bring the Empire back together in the wake of ROTJ.

The exact identity of the "Fleet Admiral" has been heavily debated. The leading theories, in order are Thrawn, a new character who will be exclusive to the novels, someone from TFA.

I want it to be Thrawn, but I think it's most likely Andy Serkis' character. Right now, I'd rate Thrawn as the least likely identity of the character.

 

[Mr Light]

I get the impression that Snoke isn't just some admiral, but a Palpatine level master of the Dark Side or something. "There has been an awakening, have you felt it?" Implies that he felt it first.

So, my new ranking of the New Canon novels:
Dark Disciple > Lords of the Sith > Lost Stars > Tarkin > Aftermath > New Dawn > Heir to the Jedi

 

[Booji]

Finished 'Aftermath' last night. It was the first SW book I've read since I gave up on the first New Jedi Order book. It's, by far, the best SW book I've read. The writing style took a little getting used to, but I ended up liking it. I wasn't expecting to see so little of the main cast. The new characters ended up being great though. Definitely looking forward to the next part of the story.

 

[Mr Light]

I just can't get into non movie characters. They never grab me or hold my interest. I always want to go back to Han, Luke, Leia, and their kids. The notable exceptions of course being Thrawn, Karrde, Mara, Saba, Borssk Fey'la, Vergere...

 

[DarKush]

It's weird Mr. Light but I sort of feel the opposite, to some extent. Even in the EU I was bored with Han and Leia and often felt reading the scenes with them a chore. I liked Luke still, but because he was still important to whatever the central action was and Han and Leia felt more shoehorned in, there by obligation, so the stories had to contort to fit them in. I would've been fine with Han and Leia settling into a nice retirement.

Even in the recent Star Wars graphic novel, the first volume, written by Jason Aaron, I grew tired of the bickering between Han and Leia. Back in the day I doubtlessly liked it. But now it doesn't appeal to me that much.

I'm more intrigued by the larger Star Wars universe. The original era bores me. The prequel era I found more interesting-perhaps because it had been untapped. And then the ancient stuff like Knights of the Old Republic era and the far flung stuff like the Legacy comics.

That being said, I'm cool with the original trilogy era if the story is about the Sith. I enjoy many of the Darth Vader-centric stories. I also liked Marvel's Darth Vader, Volume 1 graphic novel more than the Star Wars one.

 

[Booji]

I also liked Marvel's Darth Vader, Volume 1 graphic novel more than the Star Wars one.

I started reading 'Vader' right after finishing 'Aftermath'. Great book so far.

 

[JD]

I decided to go ahead and get Smuggler's Run and Lost Stars while they were still on sale. The reaction to Lost Stars seems to be really positive so far, so I'm looking forward to checking it out. I've also got the Rebels prequel novel waiting to be read, so either it or Lost Stars will probably be my first new canon novel.

 

[Mr Light]

The first third of Lost Stars is very bland, but it really picks up after that.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I get the impression that Snoke isn't just some admiral, but a Palpatine level master of the Dark Side or something. "There has been an awakening, have you felt it?" Implies that he felt it first.

Now that I've seen the film, I've decided my initial instinct -- the unnamed character in Aftermath is an anonymous Snoke -- is almost certainly wrong.

 

[Mr Light]

I'm halfway through the Battlefront novel now. The first third or so I found extremely uninteresting. I didn't care about the characters or the setting. But it's finally getting interesting now that

Spoiler

they're in the Battle of Hoth

.

 

[The Wormhole]

Ah, Twilight Company. It's kind of interesting, seeing the Star Wars universe through the eyes of army grunts, which we don't really see a lot of, since most of the military characters are fighter pilots, naval officers, or high ranking senior commanders. An alright book, though there are some pacing issues, particularly near the end.

I also wish they had done more with that Star Destroyer with the snotty Imperial upstart nobleman. That could have easily taken up its own novel.