Some Star Wars Novels

[leviticusd]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Shadows of the Empire.

God, I hope not. I read the Heir to the Empire series, and then moved on to that one. I will never read Star Wars novels again. It was that bad.

The sad sign of my fanboyism, is not only do I have that book, I have the Soundtrack for that book. Yes, some wannabe John Williams composer made a symphony/orchestra soundtrack to the important scenes of that book. The songs aren't much better than the book.

Though while I didn't like the story, the introduction of the Falleen race and Black Sun crime syndicate were pluses for the expanded universe.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Gladly.

The Thrawn Trilogy, first and foremost. Its 'predecessor', Outbound Flight, was pretty good too if you don't mind Thrawn looking a bit Gary Stu-ish by the end of it.

The Darth Bane trilogy was mentioned before, and while I didn't like the other two that much, Path of Destruction was an excellent look at the Sith without requiring any prior experience in the EU.

Anything by Michael Stover is generally worth your while (Traitor, Shatterpoint, Shadows of Mindor). Strangely I checked out another work of his, the Caine books, and did not like them at all.

The entire X-Wing series, the Wraith Squadron books in particular. Starfighters of Adumar is best as a stand-alone though.

Finally, all of New Jedi Order's 'main' titles, Star by Star and Destiny's Way in particular.

After that I feel the EU kind of lost its way- I no longer follow it- but the recent Wraith Squadron book was still quite good.

 

[Flatfrog]

Just briefly veering off topic but in reply to the original post if you're looking for some alternative routes into sci-fi as well as Star Wars you might like a few other recommendations. Specifically, if you like big space-opera epics you really ought to give Iain M Banks a try - Consider Phlebas or The Player of Games would probably be the best place to start. And in the 'also recommended' category, Stephen Donaldson's Gap series; Julian May's Rampart Worlds trilogy starting with Perseus Spur; Gordon R Dickson's Dorsai series starting with Soldier, Ask Not; and Harry Harrison's Deathworld series.

None of these other than Banks and possibly Donaldson are what I'd call great works of SF, but they're all big, bold page-turners with plenty of action and adventure.

 

[Signa]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Shadows of the Empire.

God, I hope not. I read the Heir to the Empire series, and then moved on to that one. I will never read Star Wars novels again. It was that bad.

The sad sign of my fanboyism, is not only do I have that book, I have the Soundtrack for that book. Yes, some wannabe John Williams composer made a symphony/orchestra soundtrack to the important scenes of that book. The songs aren't much better than the book.

Though while I didn't like the story, the introduction of the Falleen race and Black Sun crime syndicate were pluses for the expanded universe.

Actually, I find that kinda cool that you have that. It's a hallmark of a true fanboy if you're willing to collect the bad with the good, and still acknowledge that it's bad. As long as you're not going as far as collecting Dash Rendar's replica blaster or something stupid like that. You are supposed to only do that for good things.

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

My favorite Star Wars novel is Vector Prime, which is I believe the first New Jedi Order book. I can't really speak for the whole series since I stopped reading after the fourth book years ago (for reasons I cannot recall) and haven't resumed since but it seemed pretty good.

 

[Neverhoodian]

They've been out of print for a long time now, but I'd recommend the Han Solo books by Brian Daley (Han Solo At Star's End, Han Solo's Revenge, Han Solo and the Lost Legacy). Your best bet would be to get your hands on a paperback reprint of all three books (The Han Solo Adventures). They were written in 1979 and 1980, back when Star Wars was still new (The Empire Strikes Back wasn't even out yet). As such, authors had more leeway in coming up with their own interpretations of the setting, and Daley came up with a fun one indeed, somewhat reminiscent of pulp sci-fi and Indiana Jones.

While not particularly deep reading, the books are enjoyable, action-packed romps nonetheless. They also bear the distinction of introducing a "big bad" other than the Empire in the form of the Corporate Sector Authority. Sadly, few of Daley's ideas caught on, though you see the occasional allusion springing up in Star Wars reference books from time to time.

Other recommendations would be Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy and the X-Wing series, particularly the Wraith Squadron books.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

**SNIP**

1. Thrawn Trilogy (Timothy Zahn)
2. X-Wing Series (Michael A. Stackpole and Aaron Allston)
3. Hand of Thrawn Duology (Zahn, again)
Top 3 series, followed by the Other Zahn books, Stackpole's I, Jedi, Definitely read Allston's last Wraith Squadron book Mercy Kill but don't do it til you finish the X-Wing books. Also Scoundrels is an awesome book.

One other thing... Don't get too attached to the Republic Commando series as Karen Traviss had issues with the forced continuity changes to her work so she quit after 501st and never finished the series. And probably won't.

Other than that, I don't recommend tackling the New Jedi Order books unless you read them in order. Especially Vector Prime by R.A. Salvatore. You will hate this book yet love it... maybe. I do.

 

[Redd the Sock]

I'll throw out a curveball: The Revenge of the Sith novelization. Not the greatest thing by any means, but it was far better than the movie. Matt Stover had a better handle on the material than Lucas did.

 

[Zakarath]

Adding in another recommendation for the Thrawn Trilogy, along with Aaron Allston's section of the X-Wing series (In my opinion, he's a significantly better writer than Stackpole)

 

[COMaestro]

As with most everyone else on this thread, I cannot recommend enough Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy (Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command). Zahn portrays the characters that you come to love from the movies and does it just right. Other authors seem to want to pull the characters in their own directions, then Zahn came back with the Hand of Thrawn duology and sets things right again.

The X-Wing novels are a fun read as well, and it's nice to get more characterization for some of the minor characters from the movies.