I want to know more about the expanded universe

[TheManAndres]

As I've been reading the forums on star wars lore it has gotten me really into the star wars universe more so then ever and I was wondering if you guys could point me to some star wars book series (not comics) that could be a good starting point for me to start reading. Any information you could give me will be helpful, So thanks.

[Rhadamanthine]

As I've been reading the forums on star wars lore it has gotten me really into the star wars universe more so then ever and I was wondering if you guys could point me to some star wars book series (not comics) that could be a good starting point for me to start reading. Any information you could give me will be helpful, So thanks.

 

Here's a list of everything thus far: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_books

 

I haven't read many of the newer books, but from the older crop of EU material (90s), common favorites are the X-Wing series (some elements of Stackpole's writing may or may not annoy but overall he's good), Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy/Duology and the novelizations of the original trilogy, which also have some details and fleshing out what is in the films. There's probably some others that're good and Kevin J Anderson's stuff can be good (though he has weird villains like Kyp Duron), but avoid the Crystal Star. I hear it's awful pretty much unanimously.

 

Out of the newer material, most people either love or hate the Yuuzhan Vong (New Jedi Order series), and I hear the Medstar Duology (set in the Clone Wars) is supposed to be pretty good. Anything by James Luceno is generally good, he's a good writer. My favorite SW novel so far is Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader, which shows the transition of Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader. You can basically follow his maturation and development as a character from angsty traitor in the armor Palpatine gave him in the beginning, to menacing Dark Lord of the Sith by the end. Anyone who likes Vader should probably read it, it really redeems the idea that Anakin the character we see in Eps 1-3 becomes the big villain in 4-6.

 

And you don't like the comics? Alot of the best stories in the EU are from the comics, IMO. They generally keep the quick adventure-y flavor of the movies better than the novels do, just because of the format of comics vs novels (and I'm usually a big fan of novels). They also keep the grandeur of scale which the movies showcase much better, though again because of the medium.

 

 

Edit: Oh, and the Star Wars Essential Atlas is a great book. It shows the SW galaxy, a timeline of events (though the stuff in SWTOR is only given a small mention with the edition I read - it'll probably be updated), and lots of details on planets with beautiful pictures, charts and maps of the galaxy/some sectors.

Edited April 28, 2012 by Rhadamanthine

[TheManAndres]

Thank you very much.

[Temeluchus]

As I've been reading the forums on star wars lore it has gotten me really into the star wars universe more so then ever and I was wondering if you guys could point me to some star wars book series (not comics) that could be a good starting point for me to start reading. Any information you could give me will be helpful, So thanks.

 

Shutting the door on the comics is a mistake imho, you'll be missing out on The Old Republic,Tales of the Jedi and my personal favorite, Crimson Empire.

 

If you have ever wondered about those silent, unmoving, crimson clad, pike wielding, bodyguard/soldiers from the movies, you really should check out Crimson Empire. It's a pretty good read,gives you a behind the curtain look at one of the most elite units of the Empire, has an epic plot culminating battle, and it has some characters in it that are involved in later books and comics, like Lumiya and Kir Kanos.

[Thinami]

My favs are the Darth Bane books

[DigiFluid]

Shutting the door on the comics is a mistake imho, you'll be missing out on The Old Republic,Tales of the Jedi

 

Agreed. The TOR comics are kind of terrible, but Tales of the Jedi and the KOTOR comics are excellent.

[grandmthethird]

i said it before. i'll say it again. your playing swtor. so read swtor

 

"revan" "deceived" and "fatal alliance". imo playing the game really helps to bring these books to life. not only that but they are actually really great books

[DigiFluid]

i said it before. i'll say it again. your playing swtor. so read swtor

 

"revan" "deceived" and "fatal alliance". imo playing the game really helps to bring these books to life. not only that but they are actually really great books

 

Ehhhh that's overly generous. Revan was alright, but it'll mean a whole lot less if s/he never played KOTOR 1 and 2. Deceived was okay but not much more. And Fatal Alliance was just an absolute abomination. I have no idea how that piece of trash made it to publication.

 

 

/and yet, I'll still read Annihilation when it comes out

[Rhadamanthine]

Agreed. The TOR comics are kind of terrible, but Tales of the Jedi and the KOTOR comics are excellent.

 

I did like one thing about the TOR comics: the character of Exal Kressh. I'd always wanted to see if the Sith had any privileged brats in their ranks and there she was, aristocratic in her hate. It's too bad

her role in the story was just to be the person Teneb Kel kills after a bit of exposition from the story.

 

[utio]

What I've read..

 

Millennium falcon-very good

Fate of the Jedi series-good

Bane series-very good

Death star-very good

Darth plagueis-ok

Legacy o the force series-very good

Corusant nights series-ok

Dark rendezvous-ok

The approaching storm-ok

Shatterpoint-ok

Allegiance-ok

Jedi trial-ok

Shadows of Mindor-good

The truce at bakura-good

 

I'd recommend the fate of the Jedi series, and legacy of the force series if your interested in the skywalkers and the solos. The bane series is very good too, if you're interested in sith lore.

[utio]

Also, reading the books of the films is interesting too, giving some more details.

And I forgot a few, like the Jedi academy trilogy, which was very good, and some books on vader, which were good too.

[Ravager]

Agreed. The TOR comics are kind of terrible, but Tales of the Jedi and the KOTOR comics are excellent.

 

Threat of Peace was far too rushed (due to it being a webcomic that released three pages every two weeks), but I actually enjoyed Blood of the Empire - it set the stage well for a number of subplots in the game, IMO. Still working on The Lost Suns; ashamed that I missed it in the first place.

[DigiFluid]

Of what I've read:

 

• Lost Tribe of the Sith (eBook series spanning from 5000-3000 BBY) -- Okay. Had some really neat stuff, but a lot of really dull points too
  
• TOR: Revan (first half set between KOTOR1 and 2, second half set shortly after KOTOR2) -- Decent. But if you didn't play KOTOR 1 and/or 2, it won't mean much to you
  
• TOR: Deceived (set on the day of and the day after the Sack of Coruscant) -- Alright. Nothing to write home about
  
• TOR: Fatal Alliance (set around a decade into the Cold War) -- Frakking piece of crap. I don't know how anyone ever thought this was a good idea
  
• Darth Bane: Path of Destruction (set 1000 years before ANH) -- The best of the Darth Bane books IMO. The rise of one man from mining slave to a lord of the Sith in the Brotherhood of Darkness
  
• Darth Bane: Rule of Two (set 990 years before ANH) -- Bane trains his new apprentice and establishes the Rule of Two, which would dictate the nature of the Sith Order until the movie era
  
• Darht Bane: Dynasty of Evil (set 980 years before ANH) -- The weakest of the Bane books IMO. Still good, I blew through it in a day or two, but definitely not as good as PoD
  
• Darth Plagueis (starts about 35 years before Episode I) -- Interesting story to tell, but it was kind of unfortunately restricted by having to follow the other established canon of the period. So the narrative jumps forward in decades-long hops, instead of being a single steady story
  
• Republic Commando: Hard Contact (set during the Clone Wars) -- A good book, if a little self-important. Really does a nice job of humanizing the clones though
  
• Republic Commando: Triple Zero (set during the Clone Wars) -- Contributes very little to the overall lore, but it follows on the characters of the first RC book
  
• Republic Commando: True Colors (RC book 3) -- I can't even remember what the story of this one was, that's how memorable it is. It's more of the same as Triple Zero, I recall, so if you want to continue to follow the characters here it is
  
• Order 66: A Republic Commando Novel (RC book 4) -- I'm sure you can guess what the subject matter is. The Clone Wars draw to an end, and the heroes of this series are suddenly faced with the order
  
• Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader (set shortly after Anakin becomes Vader) -- Read this one recently...it was okay, but a bit more of a chore to get through than I expected. It's interesting chiefly because it gives you some of the inner conflict he faces now that he's moved into his new life
  
• Imperial Commando: 501st (RC book 5) -- The worst of the RC books, IMO. Tells some interesting stories about the early Empire and how much and how quickly things changed from the Republic to the Empire, but the character storytelling completely fell apart in this one
  
• Death Star (set shortly before ANH and spanning to Battle of Yavin) -- Surprisingly good. Really gives a wildly different take on the Death Star as a location and a military installation. I was surprised how much I liked it
  
• X-wing: Rogue Squadron series (Rogue Squadron/Wedge's Gamble/The Krytos Trap/The Bacta War, set about 2.5 years after Jedi) -- Kind of a neat set of stories, following around the formerly-Rebel, now-New Republic X-wing fighter jocks. It's a little bit obvious that Stackpole was in the mood for some fighter terminology ****, but they're entertaining enough anyway
  
• Thrawn Trilogy (Heir to the Empire/Dark Force Rising/The Last Command, set 5 years after Jedi) -- Fantastic trilogy of books. Is concerned with one of the greatest of the Empire's naval commanders, Grand Admiral Thrawn, leading an Imperial offensive against the New Republic
  
• Jedi Academy Trilogy (Jedi Search/Dark Apprentice/Champions of the Force, set 7 years after Jedi) -- Eh. Should have been a lot better than it was. Has a ton of potential you see when you're reading it, but it fails to realize all its opportunities
  
• Darksaber (8 years after Jedi) -- WHYYYY
  
• Hand of Thrawn Duology (Specter of the Past/Vision of the Future, 15 years after Jedi) -- Kind of a fascinating story. After so long, everyone's tired of war between the Rebels/New Republic and the Imperial Remnant. Peace is finally on the table

[DarthAsphyx]

I think the Thrawn Trilogy is a must. Many fans even say that it should be turned into Episodes VII - IX.

[Sniperrecon]

I've read every book (and its true , alot of the comics get turned into books with a little added later) and alot of the comics up to and including Scourge.

 

If your a real SW fan , just start with the oldest in order (Lost Tribe of the Sith or Old Republic) and go from there...in order.

 

You'll notice small differences here and there and some stuff that won't fit in with someone elses book , but just remember that its alot of different authers writing about the same thing and its alot to try to keep in order.

 

There really hasn't been a book i haven't liked (but Scourge is hard to get into and Shadow Games was just kinda different , but was by far the worst i've read)

 

I'm also a speed reader , so a book like Scourge will only last me a few days. I've really enjoyed the New Jedi Order Series , Fate of The Jedi Series and the Lost Tribe of the Sith Series. These last 2 kinda tie into each other but are 1000's of years apart. (You might also like Riptide and Crosscurrent)

Edited April 29, 2012 by Sniperrecon

[DanteRagnarok]

i would recommend the "New Jedi Order" series that deals with the Yuuzhan Vong, and the "Legacy of the Force" series, which follows the rise of Darth Caedus.

[grandmthethird]

Ehhhh that's overly generous. Revan was alright, but it'll mean a whole lot less if s/he never played KOTOR 1 and 2. Deceived was okay but not much more. And Fatal Alliance was just an absolute abomination. I have no idea how that piece of trash made it to publication.

 

 

/and yet, I'll still read Annihilation when it comes out

 

well opinions are like noses, every1 has got one.

 

"revan" was a good read. i never played kotor 1 or 2. so i had no preconception about who or what revan was. ppl say because of the ending it let revan down. i disagree.

 

 

revan set out to stop the menace he could sense so his son could grow up in a peaceful time. he left to find out about his past. he accomplished both these things. he got his memory back and from his prison, sent the emperor messages through the force that made him cautious and prevented the attack

 

 

"deceived" was a great book. the battle scenes were some of the best i have ever read, not just in starwars but anywhere. i felt the whole book really showed the struggles any1 could have with dark and light. zman a non jedi struggled with morals just as much as any1, but the jedi tittering on the edge of the darkside the whole book i felt sorry for. and thats not to mention the book really did a good job of showing how we got to swtor the game or what malgus is like as a person

 

"fatal alliance" there is something wrong with you, this is a great book. i'm only half way through it right now. maybe the ending is bad i don't know. but from what i have read all i can say is, a jedi, a sith, and a mandalorian. all trying to kill each other. at the same time. come on this is what starwars is sposed to be.

 

but like i say every1 has and opinion and every1 is entitled to one

[DigiFluid]

"deceived" was a great book. the battle scenes were some of the best i have ever read, not just in starwars but anywhere. i felt the whole book really showed the struggles any1 could have with dark and light. zman a non jedi struggled with morals just as much as any1, but the jedi tittering on the edge of the darkside the whole book i felt sorry for. and thats not to mention the book really did a good job of showing how we got to swtor the game or what malgus is like as a person

Jedi is upset but has to keep emotions in check, Sith is angry and wants to fight people. Yawn.

 

"fatal alliance" there is something wrong with you, this is a great book. i'm only half way through it right now. maybe the ending is bad i don't know. but from what i have read all i can say is, a jedi, a sith, and a mandalorian. all trying to kill each other. at the same time. come on this is what starwars is sposed to be.

 

I don't even know where to start on what's wrong with Fatal Alliance....

• Every single character's name is hockey-helmet-wearing, short-bus-riding dumb
  
• None of the characters get any development in the whole book--just backstory and doing stuff for no discernible reasons
  
• Pretty obvious that each main character was deliberately modelled after a TOR class....and then written as though the game were being played, without bothering to explain actions or motivations--'character x has y in his/her past, but that may or may not have any bearing on why they're doing z right now!'
  
• It was very clear that the author was only interested in writing action sequences (which, incidentally, weren't particularly well-written); this meant action sequences that were so unnecessarily long that they became tedious and tiresome. Meanwhile, actual character and setting exposition was relegated to near nothing
  
• As a result of the previous point, the book was probably about 100-150 pages longer than it had any need to be. There's nothing wrong with a long book, but it's a different story when it's needlessly long just because the author is hung up on blaster self-gratification
  
• The writing style itself is stiff and obtuse
  
• The book has literally zero bearing on anything else in the SW universe. Of the 8 main characters (and the villain critters), not one appears anywhere else in the SW mythos, before or since

 

It was a bad, bad book.

Edited April 29, 2012 by DigiFluid

[ProReo]

Start with the Thrawn Trilogy. It is the first ever EU book, and imo the best. It picks up 5 years after ROTJ, and it feels much like the movies, exciting and captivating. Grand Admiral Thrawn is a brilliant, fantastic character, my favourite villain in SW. (well, perhaps Nom Anor could rival him slightly) I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

 

I also recommend Labyrinth of Evil, which takes place between Ep.2 and Ep. 3. It was nice to read that.

 

If you wish to continue reading more after that, I recommend Jedi Academy Trilogy. It is about Luke establishing the Praxaeum, the new Jedi Academy on Yavin 4, and you also get introduced to Kyp Durron and a bunch of other characters which get important later on.

 

There are also X-Wing series and I,jedi (which by the way I intend to read soon) which people recommend, you might wanna check them out too.

 

There is also a very long series called New Jedi Order, which is basically about the Galaxy being invaded by an extragalactic species called the Yuuzhan Vong. Pretty good stuff, what's great in this one is that it takes the SW away from the usual and done to death Sith v. Jedi conflict. The enemy is a new threat to everyone in the galaxy. Even Jedi are surprised by them. It is composed of many duologies and standalone books, and by far Traitor was the best book of them all. But if you're gonna start reading this, start with Vector Prime, it's the first novel.

[DigiFluid]

I loathe the NJO stuff myself, but if you decide to tackle it, here's the order.

[Lanuria]

We need some more X-Wing Rogue/Wraith Squadron love up in this thread.

 

The books don't deal with the main heroic Jedi type characters, but the pilots and general non-Force users right after the OT. The characters are deep and well written and the fight scenes are just amazingly well done.

 

I am going to be starting the Corran Horn books soon to get a better idea of Corellia, since my Jedi is from there.

[psandak]

Start where it all began - Thrawn Trilogy. Of all the authors who write SW, Timothy Zahn is the best, IMO.

 

Other stories I really like are:

X-Wing series - be aware VERY little Jedi and only cameos by characters you really know (Han, Luke, and Leia).

Jedi Academy trilogy - if you read this trilogy you should then read I, Jedi (events of the trilogy through the eyes of a single jedi trainee).

Bounty Hunter Wars Trilogy - You get to root for Boba Fett

Han Solo Trilogy - Follow Han Solo through his life up to ANH:

 

In fact the end of the third book has Chewbacca telling Han there's an old man and a kid wanting a charter

 

I agree that the e-book series Lost Tribe of the Sith is a good read, but can drag at times.

 

Honestly I could not get through the New Jedi Order series. I liked the concept of the extra-galactic species invading, but...

 

...it quickly became too depressing,. If you like to see the heroes get there asses kicked and get their asses kicked again and get their asses kicked again to finally make small inroads only to get their asses kicked again.... then the NJO series might be for you.

 

[infinitum]

I completed reading the Darth Bane trilogy and was really impressed by it. The first book, Path of Destruction (as someone mentioned earlier) is the best in the series. Bane's character is very very well written and probably at the top of my favourite SW characters

[Temeluchus]

I completed reading the Darth Bane trilogy and was really impressed by it. The first book, Path of Destruction (as someone mentioned earlier) is the best in the series. Bane's character is very very well written and probably at the top of my favourite SW characters

 

They are good books,rather easy and quick reading though. The artistic interpretation of Bane and Zannah on the covers kind of knocked Bane's coolness factor down a peg or two in my eyes though, he looks like an emo, dim witted Sith version of Mongul from DC Comics.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongul

[RobNightfall]

I've read damn near all of the books, and I recommend everything written by Timothy Zahn as a must. He put a lot of time and effort into his books to make them feel like Star Wars, which is something a lot of the other writers don't do or can't do as well.

 

In terms of must read series to know what's going on I'd read:

 

Heir to the Empire trilogy by Timothy Zahn

Jedi Academy Trilogy by Kevin Anderson (I think)

I Jedi by Michael Stackpole (I think I'm remembering his last name correctly)

Hand of Thrawn Duology by Timothy Zahn

The New Jedi Order series

Dark Nest Trilogy by Troy Denning

Legacy of the Force series

Fate of the Jedi series

 

There's a lot of other stuff out there, but that list will give you a rough time line and a solid idea what has happened so far.

A lot of people don't like Karen Traviss for a lot of various reasons, some of them decent criticisms and a lot of them pure crap. The two big things with her are a) she points out areas where the jedi morality is selfish and b) she demonstrates that the Mandalorians would be competition for all but the toughest jedi. Reading Traviss is a lot like reading Glen Cook's the Black Company in that she takes the high mythology of Star Wars and attempts to bring it down to a normal people level, with a lot less success than Glen Cook had with high fantasy.