So did anyone pick up any of the new books?
Of the stuff out now, I want to get copies of the Phasma novel and BB-8 chapter book. Maybe the Leia novel too.
I could use non-canon old EU advice that all you wonderful people might be able to give me.
I'll see what I can do.
I generally don't care much for most of the SW novels because of the few I've read, the vast majority were... very mediocre.
Your mileage may vary is always the rule of thumb. (Personally, I've found the that the post-Disney stuff has been generally pretty good, but that's IMHO).
Having said that, I fell in love with Timothy Zahn's first trilogy when I was a teenager, and to this day it's probably my favorite piece of Star Wars (yes, better than the movies...).
It's pretty good (a top ten-er for sure). My personal favorite is
Kenobi by John Jackson Miller, although I think the movies are better than the tie-ins.
Much of that is down to Mara, because I just love redemption stories. The way Zahn made her a relatable character even before she became "good", was great.
Yeah, can see that. Heck, I'd argue of all the main characters in the book, she was the only one who had an actual story arc in it; everyone else was basically the same by the end; she was the only one who changed over the course of the story (albeit dragging her feet the whole way
).
Having said that, I feel like I'm missing... quite a few years in my version of Mara because I haven't read all that many books.
I've read Zahn's first trilogy, then the Hand of Thrawn duology, and Survivor's Quest. Apart from that I've read some crap I don't remember the names of that really didn't give me much great Mara content (and even less Mara/Luke content).
Let's see, Mara was one of the lead characters of the Zahn-written "Hand of Judgement" duology (
Allegiance and
Choices of One) set shortly after
A New Hope, during her tenure as Imperial superspy extraordinaire (not really much about her with Luke, given the timeframe). She also starred or appeared in short stories in the anthologies
Tales From Jabba's Palace (dramatizing the mission she described to Luke in the original Thrawn books),
Tales From the Empire (setting up her smuggling career), and
Tales From the New Republic (an adventure she had sometime after the Thrawn Trilogy).
She also had notable supporting roles in quite a few of the New Republic era novels: the Jedi Academy trilogy (
Jedi Search,
Dark Apprentice, and
Champions of the Force) and that trilogy's companion volume
I, Jedi;
Children of the Jedi;
Darksaber; and the Corellian trilogy (
Ambush at Corellia,
Assault at Selonia, and
Showdown at Centerpoint). As a member of the Solo/Skywalker family, she was a key character in the
New Jedi Order series,
Dark Nest trilogy, and
Legacy of the Forces series. At that point the character only had a couple cameos in the
Fate of the Jedi series (that was basically the end of the Legends
Star Wars continuity, minus the
Legacy comics set generations after the original trilogy character's time). If you don't know why Mara was not in the books much after
Legacy of the Force, I should caution you that you probably won't like it at all.
Besides the
Union comic, she was the star of the miniseries
Mara Jade: By Emperor's Hand (explaining how she went from Imperial agent to outlaw after
Return of the Jedi) and the short story "Mara Jade: A Night on the Town" in
Star Wars Tales #1/
Star Wars Tales Vol. 1 trade paperback (a pre-
Return of the Jedi mission).
The big gap I'm seeing is the stuff between the trilogy and the duology. I'm not really interested in every single detail of her smuggler CV but I keep thinking there's gotta be some good stuff on the time Mara actually got her Jedi training from Luke? Or isn't there?
There really isn't. In the New Republic stuff, it's mostly about her being a smuggler or New Republic ally. Next to nothing about her getting training, much less from Luke;
I, Jedi would be the closest, but her interactions with Luke are pretty sparse, although it is a first-person story about another student (you would want to read the Jedi Academy Trilogy first, since
I, Jedi fills in the gaps of that story).
At the start of the duology, Mara is pretty worried because Luke had used the force too much in previous years and obviously I have no clue what that refers to.
Basically all the New Republic Bantam-published novels plus the
Dark Empire,
Dark Empire II, and
Dark Empire: Empire's End comics. Pretty much everything gets a nod.
But if Mara was involved in that story as well, I might actually care.
She wasn't as I recall, esp. for the really big stuff.
And is there anything worth reading that deals with the 3 years between Hand of Thrawn and Survivor's Quest? (I've actually read the Union comic.)
There was a short story,
Judge's Call (read
here), but it's pretty inconsequential. Beyond that, absolutely nothing period.
So uhh, what I'm asking is: Do you have any recommended reading for me?
Random sidenote: I might die of boredom if I have to read about Leia and her children. I was always tempted to skip her chapters even in Zahn's books.
Beyond the Mara books described above (and of those I think the "Hand of Judgement," the
Tales anthologies, and
By the Emperor's Hand comic were the best ones), I could think of a few.
As far as Legends stuff goes,
Kenobi, by John Jackson Miller is probably the best
Star Wars book written IMHO (it's a Western-style book with Kenobi as the stranger coming to town in a story explaining how he settled into Tatooine after Order 66).
Scoundrels by Timothy Zahn is a pretty good Han Solo-centric post
A New Hope story (it's
Star Wars meets
Ocean's Eleven). The two Han Solo trilogies by Brian Daley and A.C. Crispin are worth reading if you're a Han Solo fan (the Daley books are a series of three adventures Han and Chewie had before the movies, while the Crispin ones give Han a backstory from his earliest days to literally when we first meet him in the films). I'm also extremely partial to the
Knight Errant novel and comics by John Jackson Miller (set generations before the movies, they follow a young Jedi Knight trapped alone in a sector of space being fought over by various Sith Lords).
In canon,
Lost Stars is really good (follows two soldiers during the original movies). The
Rogue One prequel novels
Catalyst and
Rebel Rising add a lot to the movie. The
Rogue One novelization is also a must-read. I also really like
Rey's Survival Guide (a book about Jakku as written by Rey) and
Before the Awakening (an anthology of stories about Rey, Finn, and Poe shortly before
Force Awakens).
Inferno Squad is a pretty good novel about an Imperial team on a mission after
New Hope. If you like the Thrawn Trilogy, the new
Thrawn novel by Zahn might be of interest to you. As far as comics go, the original
Darth Vader series and current
Doctor Aphra series are the best of what I've seen.
