Anyone read the Star Wars novels?

[russjass]

The Republic Commando series is really good, and i've just finished reading Darth Plagueis by James Luceno. All Star Wars fans need to read that book, its brilliant and sheds SOOOO much light on Episode I and the events that followed and preceeded it.

I read the first book of the Republc Commando series (Hard Contact?) and I found it quite enjoyable, although it was a little predictable, and had a bit of a YA feel. It didnt inspire me to read the rest. Do they get better?

[Lord of the Night]

I read the first book of the Republc Commando series (Hard Contact?) and I found it quite enjoyable, although it was a little predictable, and had a bit of a YA feel. It didnt inspire me to read the rest. Do they get better?

Well I think they do, later on it really addresses the questions of the Clone Army like why should these beings have to fight for a Republic they don't even understand? Or why have the Jedi supported building an army of sentients to die for them? Its a bit biased against the Jedi but I think the Jedi are too often made out to be white knights, the last two novels show them for the child-stealing cult that they actually are which I think is very refreshing.

Though the series was never completed due to the abomination Clone Wars cartoon screwing up recent Mandalorian history, as such Karen Traviss was not allowed to write her novel and resigned in protest. She released notes that detail what happens to the main characters though so we have some closure.

LotN

[Noroldis]

The Thrawn Trilogy is IMO excellent, and so is the X-Wing series (which has entries from two authors, Michael Stackpole and Aaron Allston). Lately, I've also enjoyed Drew Karpyshyn's Darth Bane trilogy, if not quite as much as the Thrawn Trilogy or the X-Wing novels. Matt Stover's Shatterpoint and Revenge of the Sith adaptation are superb.

Gurney Halleck:

And, the Rogue squadron people were like frreakishly good/invincible, even in the face of stupid odds.

The Rogues in Michael Stackpole's X-Wing novels may have had a relatively low casualty count (though they did lose members), but the Wraiths from Aaron Allston's books lost people at a noticeably higher rate.

Lord of the Night:

Legacy of the Force and Fate of the Jedi, especially the latter, are awful.

Fully agreed with this. Invincible, the concluding book of the already low-quality Legacy of the Force series, is IMO a loathsome abomination that should have gotten the author, Troy Denning, and his editors fired on the spot. I don't really know about FotJ – I stopped reading at the third book, and haven't regretted the decision given reviews of the rest of the series. If only they'd get rid of Denning...

Its a bit biased against the Jedi

This I disagree with. In the Republic Commando series, I soon couldn't stand Karen Traviss's blatant hatred of Jedi and worshipping of everything Mandalorian-related. I managed to read up to book 3 before giving up in disgust.

[Crazydog7]

A couple of the early books were great The Heir to the Empire books and I was on a trip recently and for whatever reason I was reading the courtship of Princess Leia it has held up very well and I also remember likeing the Xwing serise and I Jedi.

There was a period in the late 90s when there wasn't just a new installment of the expanded universe every 3 months it was two in a four week period and many of those just suck particularly The Black Fleet Crsis, the Corellian Trilogy and The Bounty Hunter Wars but also the Crystal Star and anything by Kevin J. Anderson (but I have to confess I remember liking Dark Saber.

Everyone gives the New Jedi Order books shit because of the radical departure from the established plot but people have to remember that the established plot for almost 15 books was "hey lets defeat some lame Darth Vadar stand in" the powers that be threw a massive curve ball with Vector Prime and for the most part it worked.

Many of the new books suffer from what I always call Episode 1 syndrome Outbound Flight, Scoundrels and about 20 others that take place in the Old Republic era of these the standout is probably Shatterpoint.

I also have to mention the Young Jedi Knights serise I wouldn't think it was very impressive if I read it today but when I was 12 I was very impressed.

I've heard good things about the comic books that take place 150 after Luke and Han and star a fellow named cade skywalker there are alot of them if you want to get started but I have never bothered

[SkynJay]

See I liked the Black Fleet Crisis, but disliked the Courtship of Princess Leah. As for NJO, it was the inconsistent quality that people give hell too, which is expected from an ensemble cast of authors. But the two early Dark Tide books and Traitor are often mentioned in the 'best of Starwars' discussions.

[sologdin]

splinter in the mind's eye was pretty awful, and it kinda went downhill from there, no?

[Crazydog7]

See I liked the Black Fleet Crisis, but disliked the Courtship of Princess Leah. As for NJO, it was the inconsistent quality that people give hell too, which is expected from an ensemble cast of authors. But the two early Dark Tide books and Traitor are often mentioned in the 'best of Starwars' discussions.

All I remember about the New Jedi Order/Vong invasion books was that Fey'lya really "went out like a boss" as the kids say.

[polishgenius]

Everyone gives the New Jedi Order books shit because of the radical departure from the established plot but people have to remember that the established plot for almost 15 books was "hey lets defeat some lame Darth Vadar stand in" the powers that be threw a massive curve ball with Vector Prime and for the most part it worked.

Nah, like SkynJay said, it was mostly the lottery nature of reading them that people gave NJO shit for. I mean Vector Prime caused a furore on release but once people got used to it, I think by and large the decision to fuck with the status quo was popular. The problem was that you never knew whether a book was going to be good, average, or woeful, and that some of the good ones (particularly Traitor, which is a culmination of the series till then) depend on knowing what happened in the shit ones.

[End of Disc One]

I don't remember there being any really bad books in NJO. I started to lose interest around that trilogy later on, but that was more for personal reasons. The quality was certainly more consistent than in pre-NJO novels, where you had Barbara Hambly, Crystal Star, that Bounty Hunter trilogy that should have been awesome but was boring, etc.

[Crazydog7]

Oh God how could I forget

Callista

proof (at least in the Star Wars Universe) that there is no God. Wow I had almost forgoten Planet of Twlight

[Rhom]

I started reading NJO (over a decade ago! Wow! Where has time gone?!!?) but found myself lost and couldn't keep track of what happened where. I feel like I remember events being referenced that happened in a comic book or some other format that I didn't read and just saying "To hell with it" and that was the last Star Wars book I read.

[henderson]

DARTH PLAGUEIS by James Luceno and SCOUNDRELS by Timothy Zahn are both very good reads. DARTH PLAGUEIS was published at the beginning of 2012 and SCROUNDRELS was published at the end of 2012.

[Black Wolf Smith]

In the GRRM version, Han definitely shot first.

Wouldn't the GRRM version have Han getting shot in the back?

I have read a more then a few of them. Some are good, some aren't. Sometimes a series has 2 good writers, and 3rd not so good, so the series goes back and forth.

Red Havest and Death Troopers are very different type of Star Wars novels.

[First of My Name]

I've read about a hundred of them and I found nearly all of them enjoyable. I own a lot, too. My favorite authors are Karen Traviss, Matthew Stover, Timothy Zahn, and Paul S. Kemp. But Michael Reaves, Aaron Allston, Greg Keyes, Jude Watson, Troy Denning exc. I also like.

[First of My Name]

I read the first book of the Republc Commando series (Hard Contact?) and I found it quite enjoyable, although it was a little predictable, and had a bit of a YA feel. It didnt inspire me to read the rest. Do they get better?

They get completely frikkin awesome. In my opinion.

splinter in the mind's eye was pretty awful, and it kinda went downhill from there, no?

I see you're very positive. (I disagree)

[Lord Tyrion]

Hey guys, I was going to start a thread on these books but I found one.

I want to actually start reading the Star Wars novels, and I was wondering if one of you guys can provide a systematic list of what novels to read in order?

Or is there somewhere I can find that on google?

[Noroldis]

Hey guys, I was going to start a thread on these books but I found one.

I want to actually start reading the Star Wars novels, and I was wondering if one of you guys can provide a systematic list of what novels to read in order?

Or is there somewhere I can find that on google?

If you're looking for a timeline of all Star Wars adult novels, young adult novels, and ebooks, here it is:

http://starwars.wiki...meline_of_books

[Lord Tyrion]

If you're looking for a timeline of all Star Wars adult novels, young adult novels, and ebooks, here it is:

http://starwars.wiki...meline_of_books

Damn, there are so many books! That's going to cost a fortune.

[Derfel Cadarn]

Lots of them are shit. The clone war cartoon made the continuity if the clobe war novels iffy, George had enough of Karen Traviss' anti-jedi/Mando lovefest and had the cartoon shit all over her books to the poibt where ahe gave up. And the new movies will probably wipe moat of the others from continuity.

Best ones are Darth Plaguis, the XWing novels (including i, jedi) and shatterpoint.

[banjax451]

DARTH PLAGUEIS by James Luceno and SCOUNDRELS by Timothy Zahn are both very good reads. DARTH PLAGUEIS was published at the beginning of 2012 and SCROUNDRELS was published at the end of 2012.

I have heard nothing but awesome praise for the Darth Plagueis novel - lots of people said it even made them like the prequels better, since it explained quite a bit of things behind the scenes (and is one of the more overtly "political" novels...not real world politics...just that it deals with political machinations inside the Republic). Haven't gotten around to it yet, alas.

I find Zahn hit and miss, tbh. Some of his books are really good. Others I've been decidedly mixed about. One also has to consider that a number of things he wrote about, particularly in the "Thrawn Trilogy," have since become kind of retcon'd by the prequels. I also felt there's a fair bit on nonsense in his books that you kind of want to skip past (Thrawn is an interesting character, eg, but I found him to be a bit too perfectly intelligent - to each their own, I suppose).