bearhugs Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 I hit 50 with my bounty hunter and I am not ready to make an alt just yet. I wanted to start reading the Star Wars novels in the meantime, but I am having trouble finding where to start. The wiki has so many different series and authors, I tried to figure it out looking at the timeline, but there seems to be random overlap. I dont want to read things that arent canon. If someone could help me out with where to start I would really appreciate it. I would like to start after Return of the Jedi. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EcoLightstorm Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 I think it depends on your taste in star wars. If you are into the original trilogy you might want to check out Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy, which is a sequel trilogy of sorts. If you are enjoying the game then I would definitely check out the tie in novels: Decieved Fatal Alliance, and. Deceived is written particularly well in my opinion. Aside from that there are web sites that will give you a run down of the best books. Just google best star wars books. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MichaelB Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 As EcoLightstorm wrote - Thrawn Trilogy is excellent place to start from. I've just finished Revan and it's absolutely brilliant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hettiran Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 Zahn is the perfect place to start. I started with Truce at Bakura personally, which picks up literally with the end of episode 6. Even if I find the book a tad lackluster (I still haven't brought myself to read it a fourth time), I think its probably the best starting place. And then I moved onto Zahn's Thrawn trilogy, which is great. He is a master of the written word. One thing you shouldn't do is randomly pick the start of a series, that doesn't work well, you'll just be confused? (What, who's Darth Cadeus? And why is he an important member of a legitimate authority?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cioran Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 (edited) Hold on, I have a list on amazon I wrote for game background. http://www.amazon.com/lm/RWR2ZWDY6BFKF/ref=cm_pdp_lm_title_1 Apart from the game, The Thrawn Trilogy (takes place after Episode 6 w/Luke et al) is really good as is the Bane Trilogy (still Old Republic, but much later than the game). IMO, those are the two high watermarks. Shadows of the EMpire is pretty darned good too. Definitely get the Tales of the Jedi Omnibuses, that's where this all started. Avoid the New Jedi Order books, they're mostly atrocious. Theforce.net has good book reviews Edited January 1, 2012 by cioran Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrYar Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 (edited) It can also depend on your interests, but anything by Zahn is awesome. The Thrawn Trilogy is awesome, as is Outbound Flight. (Really, Thrawn is awesome.) The X-Wing series is also good if you like following around Rogue Squadron, X-wings and Aaron Allison's penchant for writing everyone with a sense of humor. (I love to laugh.) I, Jedi is my favorite book both for it's own merit (I love Corran Horn) and all the in-writing cracks at the Jedi Academy trilogy which it wanders through. The "Tales of" books are good if you want little snapshots of a variety of characters and situations that don't have a ton of bearing but are quite good nonetheless. The Bounty Hunter's Trilogy is pretty interesting but really for those who like Boba Fett as a Batmanesque crazy prepared dude. Traitor is pretty awesome for it's Force Philosophy but to really get it you'll have to read more about the Yuuzhan Vong, which is a mixed bag for a lot of people. Edited January 1, 2012 by MrYar Thrawn is awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychogobstopper Posted January 1, 2012 Share Posted January 1, 2012 You can find several more suggestions (including a list that I prepared a while back) in this recent thread from the SW Discussion forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evolvana Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 (edited) Like the others I would definitly say "The Thrawn Trilogy" (Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command). Because you can read them just after seeing the old movie trilogy, and you don't need to have read other books before to understand the story. They are the first books that were written after the old trilogy. And Thrawn is AWESOME ! best villain ever in Star Wars for me you can also read Outbound flight, too, you'll see how the humans met the Chiss and how Palpatine first discovered the existence of Thrawn. Edited January 2, 2012 by Evolvana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blooddodo Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 I'd recommend, as others before, that you start with the Thrawn trilogy and then continue with the Hand of Thrawn (2 books, a direct continuation to the three before), and then read his other SW stuff chronologically. That is, if you happen to like Zahn's style Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cioran Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 (edited) Like the others I would definitly say "The Thrawn Trilogy" (Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command). Because you can read them just after seeing the old movie trilogy, and you don't need to have read other books before to understand the story. They are the first books that were written after the old trilogy. And Thrawn is AWESOME ! best villain ever in Star Wars for me you can also read Outbound flight, too, you'll see how the humans met the Chiss and how Palpatine first discovered the existence of Thrawn. Yeah, OP, the fellow above has a similar opinion to mine and 99% of SW fans, definitely get the 3 Thrawn books. And the follow-up duo is good too. The first volume in the follow-up duology is great, the second isn't bad, but starts to lag a bit. Thrawn's a pretty great villain. I have to agree. Even though I think Thrawn trilogy is overall better as a series (better conclusion), I'd still opt for Bane as the best villain in series with Thrawn, Xizor and Joruus hot on his heels. Did you read the Bane books? Dear God, they were a bona fide bildungsroman of evil. Really fantastic stuff. I would love to see some sequels. Edited January 2, 2012 by cioran Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reillan Posted January 2, 2012 Share Posted January 2, 2012 Zahn's books are a must-read, but don't necessarily need to be a "first" read. If you're into the fighter combat, X-Wing is a great way to go. Allston's Wraith Squadron books are better than Stackpole's Rogue Squadron books, but start with Rogue Squadron book 1 or you won't have a clue what's going on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synti Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 I'm personally interested in books that take place long before the movies. I think that is one of the aspects that fascinate me about this game, as did the Knights of the Old Republic series. Anyone can recommend books that takes place in the galaxy's history? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElGordo Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 I really enjoyed the Darth Bane trilogy. It is the story of the Sith "Rule of Two." Darth Bane: Path of DestructionDarth Bane: Rule of TwoDarth Bane: Dynasty of EvilI think I read them in less than 2 weeks, and that is with a family, full time job, and school. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaydeeneu Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 I would recommend that you start with the Darth Bane trilogy. Those were some of the best reading i have ever done. Like the person above this post said, it explains the rule of two sith. Very well done. After that i would go to the Thrawn trilogy witch takes place i believe 9 years after episode 6. There are some books in between 6 and Thrawn that are good to. After that read The New Jedi Order (25 years after 6) 19 books in all. That’s a lot of books but worth it. Then read The Legacy of the Force (40 years later 6) 9 book series. Legacy was the best of them all to me but make sure you read the new Jedi order first. You can go online to find the timeline for all the star wars books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychogobstopper Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 I'm personally interested in books that take place long before the movies. I think that is one of the aspects that fascinate me about this game, as did the Knights of the Old Republic series. Anyone can recommend books that takes place in the galaxy's history? Start with the very beginning, chronologically - the Tales of the Jedi comic series, which was a heavy influence on KOTOR and featured the original Sith Empire, from which the Sith Empire in this game is descended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phadian_gess Posted January 3, 2012 Share Posted January 3, 2012 Zahn's book are a definite and one other i read a long time ago Called "Children of the Jedi" was another good read. i would check it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freemasonn Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 If you want the books that take place before the movies you can not go wrong with the Darth Bane trilogy.....really good. They take place 1000 years before the movies... Fatal Alliance takes place during the game, dont read it though.....it starts off really good but goes downhill about half way through Decieved also takes place during the game, I just started reading it and its good so far... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fardreamer Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 It all depends... its a really difficult series to jump in to because there are SO many books... The way I started is, I wanted to pick up where events left off immediately after the Return of the Jedi movie. So I started with the Truce at Bakura book, and continued to read them in chronological order. You have to realize that there's several places you can jump into the series. There's the ancient time which take place even before TOR, there's the Old Republic, there the New Republic, and then there even a series that takes place hundreds of years in the future... featuring Luke ancestor, Cade Skywalker... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fardreamer Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Don't listen to these people telling you to stare with Zahn's books. If you do that, you won't know who half the characters are... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DukeStarfire Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Ive been reading Star Wars novels for the last 10 years, Ive read almost all in the EU timeline. What started me being such a crazed fanatic was the thrawn trilogy. Its the perfect place to start. Timothy Zahn is going to be one of the best Star Wars authors you read from. The first book in the series is "Heir to the Empire". Hope this helped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DukeStarfire Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 (edited) Or you could just go chronological. Edited January 4, 2012 by DukeStarfire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychogobstopper Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 Fatal Alliance takes place during the game, dont read it though.....it starts off really good but goes downhill about half way through Decieved also takes place during the game, I just started reading it and its good so far... Fatal Alliance takes place at least around the same time as the game, though I don't think it necessarily takes place during the game. Satele Shan has an apprentice in that novel, but during the story for the Jedi Knight she can remark that she doesn't have time to take an apprentice. My personal thinking is that Fatal Alliance takes place shortly before the game. As for Deceived, it most definitely does not take place "during" the game. After all, the Sacking of Coruscant and the signing of the Treaty of Coruscant both take place while the events of Deceived are ongoing (and, of course, the assault on the Jedi Temple is depicted in the novel). Deceived, therefore, takes place around 10 years prior to the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zekkau Posted January 5, 2012 Share Posted January 5, 2012 Shadows of the Empire is also a good one, taking place during and after Empire Strikes Back. Start with novels written around the timeline of the movies. This way you have some context. Skipping straight to the NJO/Legacy series would be a mistake and leave you asking who some basic characters are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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