Sazztam Posted August 16, 2013 Share Posted August 16, 2013 Hi Guys, I have three questions about the Star Wars story line that I've been wondering about for quite some time. 1. I want to start reading the SW books but there seem to be dozens of them out there, is there a "starter" book out there that gets the ball rolling? I realize there seems to be different periods of lore so I guess I would want to start when it was "not so long ago in a galaxy right beside you" 2. What is the deal with Luke Skywalker becoming so powerful? He was an adult force user with a poor attitude and a couple of months of training. How did he manage to become the pinnacle of power? Did the movies not do justice to his training received? 3. I played Kotor2 years ago and enjoyed it but have noticed in the forums that the character played was supposed to be someone in particular, who exactly was I playing? I appreciate any responses from those in the know, Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImmortalLowlife Posted August 16, 2013 Share Posted August 16, 2013 Hi Guys, I have three questions about the Star Wars story line that I've been wondering about for quite some time. 1. I want to start reading the SW books but there seem to be dozens of them out there, is there a "starter" book out there that gets the ball rolling? I realize there seems to be different periods of lore so I guess I would want to start when it was "not so long ago in a galaxy right beside you" 2. What is the deal with Luke Skywalker becoming so powerful? He was an adult force user with a poor attitude and a couple of months of training. How did he manage to become the pinnacle of power? Did the movies not do justice to his training received? 3. I played Kotor2 years ago and enjoyed it but have noticed in the forums that the character played was supposed to be someone in particular, who exactly was I playing? I appreciate any responses from those in the know, Thanks 1. Start with "Heir to the empire" aka "The Thrawn Trilogy" It's considered by most eu enthusiast to be the official follow up to RotJ. From there just follow the timeline... 2. It's pretty much explained in all the stories of the eu post RotJ. He gets stronger & stronger seemingly in each book. By the time u get to the Fate of the Jedi series, he's a complete BAD A** who almost has no true equal when it comes to control of the force... 3. Meetra Surrik aka The Exile was a general during the Mando wars & close friend of Revan. It's all explained in the book "Revan" although I'll warn u now.... I (and most ppl) HATED how they ended that book. But reading it will make the fp's (The Jedi Prisoner) for pubs/ (The Foundry) I think it's the name for Imps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selenial Posted August 16, 2013 Share Posted August 16, 2013 I'll answer the KOTOR 2 one as best I can... The Character you played in Kotor 2, the one referred to as The Exile was actually called Meetra Surrik. The Canon story for that play through was complete Lightside, and that was actually one of her strengths, you see, she's fantastically powerful in a way we don't really hear about in the Game. She defeated one of the Most powerful Lords of the Sith to ever live, in a Dark Side Nexus, Malachor. Most Jedi would have fallen to the Dark Side on Malachor, however she remained fully devoted to the light. She also learned Force Enlightenment, a power reserved only for those who'll never slip to Darkness etc. She was a General in the Mandalorian wars, she actually was entrusted with 1/3 of the entire Republic Navy to fight with, she won battles like the Battles of Dxun, and Serroco. She has a few more accomplishments in the Revan Novel, but I hated that book The author didn't do as much research on her as he should have done, he even admitted it, but it's still a Semi-Ok book, just doesn't live up to most. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sell-dog Posted August 16, 2013 Share Posted August 16, 2013 (edited) Hi Guys, 1. I want to start reading the SW books but there seem to be dozens of them out there, is there a "starter" book out there that gets the ball rolling? I realize there seems to be different periods of lore so I guess I would want to start when it was "not so long ago in a galaxy right beside you" If you want material before the movies, "Darth Plagueis" is the lead in to the Prequel Trilogy. My personal favorite (and many others on here like this a lot) is the Darth Bane trilogy which is 1000 years before the movies and talks about how Sith went from legions to just two. If you want material corresponding to the game, I personally liked "Fatal Alliance", which is also set during the Cold War, the best of the SWTOR books. Good thing about the SWTOR books is that they are all stand alone novels and helpful just to know of a couple key players in the game (ie Shan, Malgus, etc) Edit: I don't consider myself a SW expert relative to other people on here but just thought I'd answer this part of your question Edited August 16, 2013 by sell-dog Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TalonVII Posted August 16, 2013 Share Posted August 16, 2013 Far as number 1, it all depends on where you want to start off? Shaodws of the Empire is a great filler book for in between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Truce at Bakura literally picks up right after RotJ. X-Wing series and Shaodws of Mindor are also great books that pick up about a year or so after the events of Truce at Bakura. And the X-wing Series leads us into Courtship of Princess Leia and then into the Thrawn Trilogy. If you pick up a book these days, they will have a chronolgical order for all Star Wars EU books. Kinda all up to you on where you want to start off at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aurbere Posted August 16, 2013 Share Posted August 16, 2013 Hi Guys, I have three questions about the Star Wars story line that I've been wondering about for quite some time. 1. I want to start reading the SW books but there seem to be dozens of them out there, is there a "starter" book out there that gets the ball rolling? I realize there seems to be different periods of lore so I guess I would want to start when it was "not so long ago in a galaxy right beside you" Depends on where you want to start. If you want to go after Return of the Jedi, then Truce at Bakura is the first one you should read. If you want to go before the movies, then I believe the Star Wars: The Old Republic books are the first pre-movie books. Wookieepedia, I believe, has a chronological order for books. 2. What is the deal with Luke Skywalker becoming so powerful? He was an adult force user with a poor attitude and a couple of months of training. How did he manage to become the pinnacle of power? Did the movies not do justice to his training received? You don't really see how far he advances because the films make his father look not very good. However, Vader is a very powerful Sith Lord, and Luke defeating him is a testament to his skills. Luke grows more and more powerful over time, eventually becoming the very height of Jedi power. 3. I played Kotor2 years ago and enjoyed it but have noticed in the forums that the character played was supposed to be someone in particular, who exactly was I playing? You were playing a female Jedi named Meetra Surik. She was one of Revan's most trusted Generals during the Mandalore Wars. Her story is eventually concluded in Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan (awful book for those who care about Star Wars lore) written by Drew Karpyshyn. I would advise not reading anything by Karpyshyn, except the Darth Bane Trilogy. But I find the the Bane Trilogy pales in comparison to many other books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TalonVII Posted August 16, 2013 Share Posted August 16, 2013 Oh also, if you want to know more about Mandos, and well clone commandos from the Clone Commando Video game, read the clone commando series. Many people hate on Karen Traviss for her work in the Legacy series, BUT, her commando books, I like them and they tell us about the ugly side of what was done to the clones nobody else wanted to cover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sazztam Posted August 16, 2013 Author Share Posted August 16, 2013 A very big thank you to you all, I appreciate your responses. Sazztam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TalonVII Posted August 16, 2013 Share Posted August 16, 2013 Hope you find the droids you are looking for! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordRoth Posted August 17, 2013 Share Posted August 17, 2013 I too have wondered this as far as the books go. What Star Wars books are considered non-canon now? I've been wanting to start reading but with the dozens of them out there, ontop of some of them not being relevant anymore I didn't know where to begin. Truce at Baraka is a good one to start with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TalonVII Posted August 17, 2013 Share Posted August 17, 2013 I too have wondered this as far as the books go. What Star Wars books are considered non-canon now? I've been wanting to start reading but with the dozens of them out there, ontop of some of them not being relevant anymore I didn't know where to begin. Truce at Baraka is a good one to start with? Quite good, literally picks up after RoTJ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthDymond Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 1. Start with "Heir to the empire" aka "The Thrawn Trilogy" It's considered by most eu enthusiast to be the official follow up to RotJ. From there just follow the timeline... This. Heir to the Empire introduces several characters who become major fixtures of the Expanded Universe alongside the movies' characters, and the author, Timothy Zahn, is generally considered one of the better SW authors out there. There are books that chronologically take place between Return of the Jedi and Heir to the Empire (such as Truce at Bakura) but there's nothing in Heir that would make it confusing as a starting point. Nothing wrong with starting with Truce, but I think Heir is the better choice overall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthDymond Posted August 18, 2013 Share Posted August 18, 2013 What Star Wars books are considered non-canon now? I've been wanting to start reading but with the dozens of them out there, ontop of some of them not being relevant anymore I didn't know where to begin. There has actually been a pretty solid effort made by LucasArts continuity team to keep 99% of the stuff out there canon, at least in broad strokes. What you may see are some individual lines that don't make sense being retconned, particularly with respect to the Clone Wars and the timeframe it took place in. For example in Heir to the Empire, there is a line about a Clone Wars battle happening "44 years ago" - that would put it years before The Phantom Menace. Later books "corrected" this by saying that a year on the planet in question was shorter than a standard year. The big one is that there are some stories that talk about Jedi having had multiple apprentices at the same time or openly being in romantic relationships. After the Prequels came out, these Jedi were retconned as having been from a separate sect of Jedi that had much more relaxed rules than those trained at Coruscant's Jedi Academy, without being officially branded as heretics. While you may have to do some mental gymnastics at times to fit some individual lines or plot points with material that was released later, there are hardly any books that are entirely considered non-canon (sometimes these are called "Infinities" after a set of "What If" comics that deliberately changed the events of the movies). Wookieepedia has a list here:Infinities Whether ANY of the post-Return of the Jedi continuity will be kept intact after the Disney movies come out... well, I'm not holding my breath there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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