Magnar of Skagos Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Star Wars novels are by no means literary masterpieces, yet I have gotten quite a lot of enjoyment out of them over the years. Anybody else read any? Discuss! I just recently got into graphic novels, I've never been much of a comic book guy, but I have to say that I enjoy them immensely. I just finished the first volume of the Knights of the Old Republic Omnibus and last night just read through the Tales of the Jedi: Sith War tradepaper back. I really just can't get enough of the Old Republic Era. As far as audiobooks go, I love the narrations by Marc Thompson (he's the only one I really like listening to) and I've listened to ​Knights of the Old Republic: Revan, Knights of the Old Republic: Deceived, and Heir to the Empire. For novels, I'm a huge fan of the Darth Bane series, and Path of Destruction in particular. Share your experiences! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluetiger Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Republic Commando series by Karen TravisImperial Commando by Karen TravisThrawn's TrilogyDarth PlagueisTarkinGraphic novel: Knights of the Old Republic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spring Bass Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 When I was younger (probably my early teens), I read through all of the Star Wars novels out at the time up through Vector Prime. Most of that was back when they were going through the "Superweapon of the Week" phase, but I still liked them a lot, and like some of them. My favorite out of the lot is still I, Jedi by Michael Stackpole. I've heard a lot of complaints that Corran Horn is a Gary Stu for Stackpole, and some of that is true - but it was still a very enjoyable first-person POV book that fleshed out the universe, and Stackpole did a better job of depicting training at the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4 than Kevin J. Anderson did in his original trilogy centered on it. I could never really get into the Thrawn Trilogy of books. I don't know why - maybe it's Zahn's writing, or I didn't care much for the characters. It also felt rather anti-climactic when right after that we get the Dark Empire comics storyline, which feels out of place because it is out of place - they were originally supposed to be set months after Return of the Jedi, and had to be pushed back. This is going to sound weird, but I think my biggest disappointment among the books was the Courtship of Princess Leia. There was something interesting there - Luke and a potential unwitting apprentice in Prince Isolder - which they completely decided to ditch for the Han-Leia storyline about survival amidst the Witches of Dathomir (which is more boring). Which is a pity, because making Isolder force-sensitive would have explained a lot about his background and also given Luke an apprentice to train. I also have a soft spot for Darksaber, even though it's a bad book. There's a lot of weird black humor in there, especially surrounding Bevel Lemelisk (the former chief designer for the Death Star) and the farcical attempt by a Hutt to construct a Death Star turbolaser weapon on the cheap. Also a rather graphic flashback scene where the Emperor kills Lemelisk with carnivorous beetles before transmigrating his soul into a clone body - and Lemelisk's reminiscences about the other six times the Emperor did it to him, like kicking him out of an airlock or having him slowly dipped into molten copper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnar of Skagos Posted March 8, 2015 Author Share Posted March 8, 2015 Star Wars novel? What, like Eragon? I used to be into the Star Wars EU, but I haven't read anything of it in years. I read the Bounty Hunter wars trilogy, the Young Jedi Knight books, the Dark Nest trilogy, most of the story about the Vong War, New Jedi Order I think it was called. The first Darth bane book I think was the last SW novel I ever read. I liked it, but I sort of got out of Star Wars i general after that. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH not quite ;) I recently read Red Harvest and thought it was awful. The horror elements were okay, but I really couldn't care less about the characters, and it didn't even need to take place in the Star Wars universe anyways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Dark Empire...... Gah. I think I like the prequels better.Tarkin was great. Lucino really nails Vader. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnar of Skagos Posted March 8, 2015 Author Share Posted March 8, 2015 I really wish there was a comic or novel dedicated to Ajunta Pall or Darth Nihilus, but sadly I do not know of any :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
underarmsauce Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Avoid the newly released Heir to the Jedi. One of the worse Star Wars books I've read. Luke's voice never felt right and it seemed like the novel was a video game story outline. Saying that, Honor Among Thieves is great. Any book by Zahn is great, especially Scoundrels and if your looking at good prequel era novels Shatterpoint, Labyrinth of Evil and Dark Lord Rising are quality. Labyrinth of Evil is a prequel to Revenge of the Sith that ends literally with Obi Wan and Anakin taking off to chase Grievous and Dark Lord Rising directly follows episode 3 so it's interesting to see how Anakin is adjusting to being Vader. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRevanchist Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 The Thrawn Trilogy (especially the first part, Heir to the Empire) is by far the best novel on Star Wars.Hand of Thrawn Dualogy sucked though, and while Mara Jade - Luke Skywalker love part was ok, most parts of the books dragged for too long and looked artificial.The books novelization - especially those of the prequel trilogy - are ok. They slightly improve the trilogy.I also liked the Force Unleashed novelizations. The second book completes the second game (which was massacred by Lucas Arts).Darth Plagueis is my second favorite book on the universe and found it a brilliant reading. It shows an another part of Darth Sidious and his rice.Kenobi novel (published last year?) was also a very good reading. I love Obi-Wan so found that a must read (to be fair, it was a must hear considering that I 'read' the audiobook reading).Labyrinth of Evil is a Clone Wars book which happens directly before the start of Episode 3. I don't think that I liked it though.As a fan of Kotor games, I had to read Revan novel. I thought that it was quite good, despite that it shows Exile less powerful than we all thought she is. The problem was that Karpyshyn almost tried to remove everything related to Kotor 2. Fatal Alliance is also quite okay, and we can see Satele Shan (although in a supporting role). Speaking about Karpyshyn, Darth Bane trilogy is also a must read.About comics, I only read (most, 40 or so) parts of Knights of the Old Republic. Didn't like them and neither liked the main character. It was such a dissapointment considering that I was expecting that Revan, Malak, Bastilla and Exile will have bigger roles there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnar of Skagos Posted March 8, 2015 Author Share Posted March 8, 2015 As a fan of Kotor games, I had to read Revan novel. I thought that it was quite good, despite that it shows Exile less powerful than we all thought she is. The problem was that Karpyshyn almost tried to remove everything related to Kotor 2. Fatal Alliance is also quite okay, and we can see Satele Shan (although in a supporting role). Speaking about Karpyshyn, Darth Bane trilogy is also a must read. About comics, I only read (most, 40 or so) parts of Knights of the Old Republic. Didn't like them and neither liked the main character. It was such a dissapointment considering that I was expecting that Revan, Malak, Bastilla and Exile will have bigger roles there. I enjoyed the Revan novel as well. I missed him since the game, so actually getting to see what happened to him afterwards in quite nice. I think Scourge was quite an interesting character as well, though the only gripe I really had was with Meetra being not so powerful. I mean, she did kill 3 of the most powerful Sith Lords in the entire galaxy after all... I actually really enjoyed Zayne's character. I really enjoyed his relationship with the hairy guy (name escapes me at the moment) but I really would have liked to see more characters from from the games; like Mission and Zaalbar from at the beginning when they were on Taris. They did have a pre-Sith Malak in there for a few pages, at least, which was cool :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Weird. I've heard nothing but good things about Heir to the Jedi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterbound Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Weird. I've heard nothing but good things about Heir to the Jedi.Goddamit DR! How do you sleep at night after posting in these threads? The KJA was even mentioned. This horror has to stop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 Oh, I'm an unabashed Star Wars fanboy. KJA needs to die though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterbound Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 Oh, I'm an unabashed Star Wars fanboy. KJA needs to die though. Oh, I'm a fanboy, hence my hatred for the shit that sullies that canon/mythos… pretty much any tie in. I'll cut stover some slack, cus I love that dude and I know he has to pay the bills.. but those fucking books, as a whole, are pretty bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Richard II Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 Actually ratio wise they are pretty bad at this point. Pretty much anything post jedi published after 2000 is shit. I think there's maybe a decent X wing book in there, but all the stuff I've liked recently usually doesn't focus on the main characters or um is the James S.A. Corey book. Or is some of Zahn's in between 4 and 5 stuff. I really hate NJO and Legacy and Fate of the Jedi, is what I'm getting at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnar of Skagos Posted March 9, 2015 Author Share Posted March 9, 2015 Oh, I'm a fanboy, hence my hatred for the shit that sullies that canon/mythos… pretty much any tie in. I'll cut stover some slack, cus I love that dude and I know he has to pay the bills.. but those fucking books, as a whole, are pretty bad. So I take it you don't like Star Wars Rebels? :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
all swedes are racist Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 Wait wait wait... When you guys say Red Harvest... You're talking about a Star Wars book?! What in pluperfect fuck? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magnar of Skagos Posted March 9, 2015 Author Share Posted March 9, 2015 Wait wait wait... When you guys say Red Harvest... You're talking about a Star Wars book?!What in pluperfect fuck?Yeah, what's the confusion? :P It's essentially a zombie story set inside of a Sith academy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
underarmsauce Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 Weird. I've heard nothing but good things about Heir to the Jedi.The book didn't do anything for me. As I said, the story felt like an old Star Wars video game. An example, Luke needs to upgrade his ship but doesn't have money so let's run a mission for my co protagonist's father to earn said money to get the upgrades and so off they go on a side quest to enable them to continue further for the main quest. Very little character development and Luke's relationship with Nakari feels forced. The first person narrative felt off. The one saving grace was the character Drusil. She felt the most fleshed out of any character. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Castel Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 The Bane stuff started out fine, though the author started to lose his fight against the urge to type one-handed by the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
underarmsauce Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 So between now and December 18 they are releasing 20 books, granted they are not all novels. Gotta wonder how decent the quality of these works will be. Seems like a lot to pump out in a fairly short amount of time. http://www.ew.com/article/2015/03/09/star-wars-release-20-books-journey-force-awakens Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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