Star Wars Books Thread

[Reverend]

I'd cite Kenobi and Thrawn trilogy as the best of Legends. The Brian Daley and A.C. Crisipin Han Solo books were great too, as was Knight Errant. From canon, I'd cite Lost Stars, Before the Awakening, A New Dawn, and Bloodlines as the greats.

I never did get around to reading the Han Solo books, or Knight Errant. I think the former came out right around the time I started to loose interest and I was under the impression (perhaps mistakenly) the latter was a tie-in for something else that I also hadn't read, so it didn't seem worth it.

Anyway, I'm making my way through A New Dawn now. Not really deep enough into it yet to have any really solid thoughts, except that I think Count Vidian is a little too cartoony.

He certainly seems that way at first, but the more you find out about his background and what's motivating him, the more sense his behaviour makes. There more going on in this book than it first appears.

 

[Mr Light]

The A.C. Crispin Han Solo Origin Trilogy is some of the best of the Bantam Era. Book 1 not so much, but Book 2 is amazing.

Knight Errant is a novel that's a collection of short stories, and then the story continued in a couple of comic book miniseries. It's not a classic but it exceeded my expectations.

 

[Solid Snack]

I liked the AC Crispin trilogy, although with the third book in particular it seemed a bit weird to tie in Han with the rebellion before the events of the first film (Complete with rebel girlfriend too!). What's worse, the comic sequel Underworld: The Yavin Vesillica also has him help Bria out on Yavin 4!

 

[WebLurker]

I never did get around to reading the Han Solo books, or Knight Errant. I think the former came out right around the time I started to loose interest and I was under the impression (perhaps mistakenly) the latter was a tie-in for something else that I also hadn't read, so it didn't seem worth it.

Brian Daley's trilogy came in in the 70s and 80s (they were the first original Star Wars novels after Splinter of the Mind's Eye). AC Crispin's trilogy came out in the mid-90s.

Knight Errant is a stand-alone prose installment of a comic book series of the same name. I read the book before the comics and I was able to follow the story (in fact, me liking the novel is why I'm trying to collect the comic series).

 

[Reverend]

Brian Daley's trilogy came in in the 70s and 80s (they were the first original Star Wars novels after Splinter of the Mind's Eye). AC Crispin's trilogy came out in the mid-90s.

Knight Errant is a stand-alone prose installment of a comic book series of the same name. I read the book before the comics and I was able to follow the story (in fact, me liking the novel is why I'm trying to collect the comic series).

Knight Errant and both the classic and later certainly on my list of EU novels to check out at some point. It's a long list though as there's a ton of later Dark Horse comics I never bothered with either. Wasn't there also a Lando trilogy published in the 80's? I'm only passingly aware of this stuff in so far as it cropped up in the old 'Essential Guide to....' books that still sit on my shelves. Something about a blue protocol droid with a talking box in his chest?

I also missed out on the Jedi Academy books. I wonder if they weren't even published over here at the time because I don't ever recall seeing them. Being young readers books wouldn't have put me off (I did read the Jedi Prince books after all.) Perhaps my local bookshops kept them in the kids section where I wouldn't think to look and not in SF&F with the other Star Wars books (yes kids, this was before Amazon, when you had too go into a shop and look on a shelf to know if a book existed or not!)

Currently I'm reading Rinzler's 'The Making of Star Wars' and am about 2/3rds of the way the the RotS novelization and plan to go back and read TPM & AotC afterwards.

 

[WebLurker]

Knight Errant and both the classic and later certainly on my list of EU novels to check out at some point. It's a long list though as there's a ton of later Dark Horse comics I never bothered with either. Wasn't there also a Lando trilogy published in the 80's? I'm only passingly aware of this stuff in so far as it cropped up in the old 'Essential Guide to....' books that still sit on my shelves. Something about a blue protocol droid with a talking box in his chest?

Yep, there was a Lando trilogy. The droids you're thinking of were from the Daley Han books, though.

I also missed out on the Jedi Academy books. I wonder if they weren't even published over here at the time because I don't ever recall seeing them. Being young readers books wouldn't have put me off (I did read the Jedi Prince books after all.) Perhaps my local bookshops kept them in the kids section where I wouldn't think to look and not in SF&F with the other Star Wars books (yes kids, this was before Amazon, when you had too go into a shop and look on a shelf to know if a book existed or not!)

The Academy trilogy was an adult series. It was printed in the mid-90s. I wouldn't recommend them though, they aren't exactly the greatest books in the franchise.

 

[The Wormhole]

I did think it was a little silly that Tarkin was able to piece together that Vader was actually Anakin Skywalker.

IIRC, there was also a Legends novel in which Tarkin privately theorized Vader was Anakin, and that was written before Tarkin was featured on Clone Wars.

 

[Reverend]

The Academy trilogy was an adult series. It was printed in the mid-90s. I wouldn't recommend them though, they aren't exactly the greatest books in the franchise.

Oh no I've read those, mores the pity.
I was referring to the young Jedi Academy books with the Solo kids, the daughter of the Dathomir witch & Hapes Prince from CoPL, Chewbacca's nephew who has a tiny translator droid, etc. I became vaguely aware of them much after the fact, but never saw them in-print.

 

[WebLurker]

Oh no I've read those, mores the pity.
I was referring to the young Jedi Academy books with the Solo kids, the daughter of the Dathomir witch & Hapes Prince from CoPL, Chewbacca's nephew who has a tiny translator droid, etc. I became vaguely aware of them much after the fact, but never saw them in-print.

Oh, I read a couple. Not bad for the target audience and better than the Academy series.

 

[kirk55555]

I liked the young jedi books, but I also liked the Jedi academy trilogy a lot. It gets a bad reputation, and I've never understood it. All I ever thought was weird about it is that the sun crusher is over powered, being both capable of exploding a sun and literally invincible. That was stupid, but besides that I always thought it was a very solid trilogy. A pretty good story, an interesting villain with Exar Kun, some cool moments and some good characters. Not the best thing ever or anything but a good, enjoyable read.

 

[fireproof78]

Knight Errant and both the classic and later certainly on my list of EU novels to check out at some point. It's a long list though as there's a ton of later Dark Horse comics I never bothered with either. Wasn't there also a Lando trilogy published in the 80's? I'm only passingly aware of this stuff in so far as it cropped up in the old 'Essential Guide to....' books that still sit on my shelves. Something about a blue protocol droid with a talking box in his chest?

I also missed out on the Jedi Academy books. I wonder if they weren't even published over here at the time because I don't ever recall seeing them. Being young readers books wouldn't have put me off (I did read the Jedi Prince books after all.) Perhaps my local bookshops kept them in the kids section where I wouldn't think to look and not in SF&F with the other Star Wars books (yes kids, this was before Amazon, when you had too go into a shop and look on a shelf to know if a book existed or not!)

Currently I'm reading Rinzler's 'The Making of Star Wars' and am about 2/3rds of the way the the RotS novelization and plan to go back and read TPM & AotC afterwards.

Can't wait to hear your thoughts on the PT novelization. T
I think I still have a Young Jedi Knights book if you want me to post it over to you

 

[Skywalker]

IIRC, there was also a Legends novel in which Tarkin privately theorized Vader was Anakin, and that was written before Tarkin was featured on Clone Wars.

Gah, that's even worse. At least Tarkin has the Clone Wars connection.

 

[WebLurker]

I liked the young jedi books, but I also liked the Jedi academy trilogy a lot. It gets a bad reputation, and I've never understood it. All I ever thought was weird about it is that the sun crusher is over powered, being both capable of exploding a sun and literally invincible. That was stupid, but besides that I always thought it was a very solid trilogy. A pretty good story, an interesting villain with Exar Kun, some cool moments and some good characters. Not the best thing ever or anything but a good, enjoyable read.

For me, I never really connected with the characters that much, and the multiple plots never really seemed like they belonged in one series. I do tend to flip back and forth, since I do like some of the humor (the bureaucrats flying the Death Star by committee, Lando's attempts to court an utterly disinterested Mara, etc.).

On one hand, I've never had the desire to re-read it in a long time (esp. since the canon reboot), but on the other, I can't get myself to give away my copies. That's pretty much how it stands with me.

 

[Ithekro]

I didn't mind the Jedi Academy trilogy. Gave us something we really didn't have before, multiple Jedi being trained and the ideas that some are good at some things and others are not. Gave us the state of the Empire post-Thrawn (and post Dark Empire really) with tiny empires fighting each other around fortress world with large fleets of star destroyers of various makes while the New Republic could sit back and rebuild. Also I think gave us the first window into the Tales of the Old Republic era, as this lead to the Tales of the Jedi and assorted comics from Dark Horse if I recall correctly. This lead to things like KOTOR which remains highly popular.

 

[Mr Light]

I love the Jedi Academy Trilogy! While it's a little silly at points, to me it's the most Star Wars-y feeling of any of the Bantam Era books, including the Thrawn Trilogy. Because it placed a Sith Lord front and center as the villain, and featured someone falling to the Dark Side.

Basically the only EU I haven't read is the X-Wing series and the Young Jedi Knights series. I intend to do it one day. Oh and the Traviss Commando books, but I don't think I'd ever bother.

 

[Ithekro]

The X-wing series is likely more nostalgic if one played the X-wing games from LucasArts. Especially since they they used one of the especially hard missions as part of the training simulator test for Rogue Squadron applicants.

 

[Mr Light]

Never played em

 

[Set Harth]

I'm kind of surprised by all the love for Kenobi. I read an excerpt and was less than impressed. Maybe it just wasn't the story I was looking for.

 

[Mr Light]

I give Kenobi 3/4. It's well written, but it's just the story of some guy living in the desert getting stuck dealing with some two bit thugs.

 

[WebLurker]

I'm kind of surprised by all the love for Kenobi. I read an excerpt and was less than impressed. Maybe it just wasn't the story I was looking for.

I will concede that the story has a leisurely pace and is not that plot-driven, but I did like the way they approached the characters and tied everything together.