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Fellow Booknerds, where should I start?

GeneralArrow

By GeneralArrow
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GeneralArrow

GeneralArrow

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Honestly, I've been more of a Trekkie most of my life, but this game has gotten me really into the vast lore and history of the Star Wars Universe in a big way. I've read the Republic Commando series(totally awesome) and the series about Darth Bane. What would you folks recommend I read up on next? Rogue Squadron was another series I have read.
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DarthDymond

DarthDymond

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Have you read the Heir to the Empire Trilogy? They're set after Episode VI so if you're looking strictly for the "history" of the SW universe it may not be a great fit, but they're generally held up as some of the best Star Wars novels out there and they pretty much launched the Expanded Universe as we know it.

 

Only thing to remember is that they were written before the Prequel trilogy came out or any real timeline was established for the Clone Wars/Rise of the Empire, so a couple things need to be... tweaked. (Just tell yourself: a year on Honoghr isn't the same as a Galactic Year; the Emperor was into chopping off already-prosthetic limbs just to be a jerk; and Spaarti Cloning Cylinders -which I think are even mentioned in the Republic Commando series - are a completely separate technology from Kamino cloning and have different advantages/drawbacks.)

Edited by DarthDymond
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LordSeraphiel

LordSeraphiel

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I think the X-wing series is an excellent starting point.

 

Again same issue as Heir to the Empire, written pre-prequel, but blast it all if they still ain't entertaining as heck. 9 books in the original series, with an additional book set about 44 years after the Battle of Yavin with flashbacks throughout.

 

Personal favourite is still Starfighters of Adumar, purely for the FTW humour. but read them through chronologically for the storyline arcs.

 

As a Broad Chronology of the books

 

Truce at Bakura [set almost immediately after ROTJ, an ok read]

(a LOT of comics)

X-Wing Series - Iceheart Arc (4 books) then, Ironfist Arc (3books)

Courtship of Princess Leia - title speaks for itself, also, imo, where they started to go off the rail with Luke's Power Level. to put it in DBZ terms: HIS POWER LEVEL IS OVER 20 QUADRILLION INFINITY

Heir to the Empire aka The Thrawn Trilogy - damn good series about a damn good character. Thrawn ftw!

X-wing Series - Iceheart Arc Book 5 (written a few years after the first 7 books, final resolution to the Iceheart plot)

Jedi Academy Trilogy - The founding of the New Jedi Order

I Jedi - good first person perspective book from one of the New Jedi Order Jedi

X-wing Series - Starfighters of Adumar, a standalone book with characters from the X-wing series, like i said, my personal favourite

Black Fleet Crisis Trilogy - meh, read once, didnt particularly care for it

Corellian Crisis Trilogy - again meh, read once. not too bad, but still

Hand of Thrawn - good 2 books, also Lukes get some. bow chika wow wow

 

that rounds out the first Era of star wars books. start there.

 

Venture into the NJO + Legacy Era at your own risk =) (also kinda helps since you will become attached to some characters before they get GeorgeRMartin-ed), though there is one death in NJO that would cause non-EU star wars fandom to revolt

Edited by LordSeraphiel
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Zerex_Kildron

Zerex_Kildron

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Darth Plagueis is by far the best book I've read so far. The detail, the way the story is told, the story itself is perfect in my opinion.

 

If you are interested in the lore and want to understand more about the factions and such, I would also recommend

getting some 'Guides'

 

Some examples:

-The Jedi Path

-The Book of Sith

-The Essential Guide to Warfare

-The Wildlife of Star Wars

 

I bought these books because I wanted to learn more about the history and lore of the Star Wars universe, but in a 'Not story telling' way, these books describe what it we be like if you were a Jedi or Sith. They are just ways for fans to get more into that galaxy, far, far away.

Edited by Zerex_Kildron
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GibsonMcCoy

GibsonMcCoy

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Have you read the Heir to the Empire Trilogy?

 

This. So much this. From Thrawn and C'baoth to Noghri and yslmarri, it's amazing. And it's so artfully done... :D

Also, if I remember correctly, it's the first time the lightsaber throw is mentioned in the novels.

 

Been a while since I read them, so I may have misspelled some stuff.

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psandak

psandak

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Heir to the Empire was also the first novel written in the Star Wars universe (other than the movie novelizations). I remember reading an article about how Timothy Zahn had to BEG Lucas and prove to Lucas that he knew the universe. So a lot of the lore of EU springs from that point; forward or backward does not matter. Therefore it is a great place to start.

 

And Zahn writes about those characters "back in time"

 

Outbound Flight - Ca'both's pet project during the PT (leads into the New Jedi Order series - the one states as "read at your own risk")

Allegiance and Choices of One - set immediately after ANH but has all the characters from Heir to the Empire.

 

The X-wing series is great, but be warned no lightsabers :)

The Han Solo Trilogy reveals the life of Han Solo before that fateful charter of an old man, a kid, a two droids :)

The Bounty Hunter Wars - Boba Fett is the protagonist

 

Lost Tribe of the Sith - a series of e-book short stories that takes place before SWTOR. The first eight installments are free. But the ninth and final story costs $6 (and includes the first eight stories).

 

For a full list of EU books and their place in the timeline: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline_of_books. This is where I usually go when I want to find a SW book to read next.

 

edit: oh yeah, Labyrinth of Evil and Dark Lord: the Rise of Darth Vader are prequel and epilogue to RotS and are great reads.

Edited by psandak
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JabstJaif

JabstJaif

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If you've played this game at all, the new Revan book is a must.

 

A few that I really liked for the story:

 

Outbound Flight

Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter

Approaching Storm was pretty good as well.

Rogue Planet was extremely hard to follow for some reason. Never got into it too much.

 

I started reading at the oldest books timeline wise and have been reading up from there.

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Aeneas_Falco

Aeneas_Falco

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Assuming you are open to any setting and not just the Old Republic, Heir to the Empire should be your first stop. The trilogy that begins with that book are *the* best books written that are set in the Star Wars universe. Also a few characters important to the post-RotJ expanded universe are first introduced in that series.
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DarthDymond

DarthDymond

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Heir to the Empire was also the first novel written in the Star Wars universe (other than the movie novelizations).

Actually, the first EU novel was Splinter of the Mind's Eye, which was written before Empire Strikes Back even came out (which is why there is a ton of sexual tension between Luke and Leia in it... awkward! :sul_embarrassed:)

 

Fun Fact: Splinter was written as a potential low-budget sequel to A New Hope, in case the first movie didn't perform well at the box office and that would be all they could afford. Harrison Ford wasn't committed to the sequels at that point, which is why Han Solo doesn't even appear in the novel.

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Unibek

Unibek

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I just started reading Star Wars novels and have been enjoying shatterpoint which is about Mace Windu during the Clone Wars. I've enjoyed the insight so far (only 4 chapters in) on who Mace is and what makes him tick. I've heard a lot of people say to start at the Thrawn trilogy. Though I couldn't help but to jump into some of the stories that extend the universe we know so well. I also have Labyrinth of Evil to read next.

 

I read the first 2 SWTOR comics but I'm not really sure how I feel about them yet. They were my first comic books so I may have just read them wrong lol.

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BradTheImpaler

BradTheImpaler

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Hmm. I might come back and edit this list later. I'm currently reading the Darth Bane trilogy and would definitely recommend it (same writer as KOTOR 1 and SWTOR: Revan as well as, I think, at least part of the JK story in SWTOR).

 

Truce at Bakura (I'll try not to spoil it but let's just say in one chapter a certain Force ghost gets a long-overdue telling off and then disappears in shame :D).

 

Darth Plagueis

Yoda: Dark Rendezvous & Legacy of the Jedi are both great if you want more insight into Dooku's history.

Shatterpoint

The Revenge of the Sith novelization

Death Troopers

Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader

 

SWTOR: Deceived is pretty good, but Fatal Alliance is nothing special. I'll grudgingly add TOR: Revan because while there are things about it that I can't stand, it gives crucial background about the Emperor and ties the KOTOR duology to SWTOR's timeline.

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BradTheImpaler

BradTheImpaler

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I just started reading Star Wars novels and have been enjoying shatterpoint which is about Mace Windu during the Clone Wars. I've enjoyed the insight so far (only 4 chapters in) on who Mace is and what makes him tick. I've heard a lot of people say to start at the Thrawn trilogy. Though I couldn't help but to jump into some of the stories that extend the universe we know so well. I also have Labyrinth of Evil to read next.

 

I read the first 2 SWTOR comics but I'm not really sure how I feel about them yet. They were my first comic books so I may have just read them wrong lol.

 

Labyrinth of Evil was good...but the suspense in a novel surrounding the search for Darth Sidious can only go so far given what we already know now.

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Aztang

Aztang

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Excellent thread! Actually got pen and paper out to start writting my shopping list! So glad I found this thread as I wanted too get into the books like the OP does.

 

Would you all agree amazon would be the best option to collect all these books from?

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Atim

Atim

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Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter

 

That was a really good one. Didn't take me long to read through it cause I couldn't put it down.

 

Rogue Planet was extremely hard to follow for some reason. Never got into it too much.

 

Same here. The reverse of the Darth Maul book; I pretty much had to force myself to read it.

 

Labyrinth of Evil was good...but the suspense in a novel surrounding the search for Darth Sidious can only go so far given what we already know now.

 

I worked a little better if you happened to read the novel before seeing Ep. III. :D Even then, though, it didn't take much to figure out who exactly Sidious was.

 

For my own personal history, I pretty much read various novels at random. I read Legacy of the Force a few years ago, then decided to go back and "read from the beginning" with Cloak of Deception. It's taken a while, since I got sidetracked by the Bane novels, Fatal Alliance, and other non-SW novels, but I'm up to Jedi Trial now and hoping to finish that by this weekend.

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