Star Wars Books

[Rakewell]

I really want to start reading the books, but I admit to being lost in the volume of literature.

Can anyone tell me with which book to start?

And if there are any books I should avoid?

And please be gentle, I've already googled this and am still confused.

 

[crownjules]

Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy is considered the best out there.

I enjoyed the X-wing books. I think there's 7 of those in total by a couple different authors. (edit: There's 9, with a 10th coming out later this year according to wiki)

For single books, Truce at Bakura and I, Jedi were both good reads.

The Bounty Hunter Wars wasn't too bad but got a little boring at times.

 

[Hoober]

I second Zahn's Thrawn trilogy. Very good books.

 

[maniacalpha1-1]

First I'd say, decide whether you want to read Old Republic stuff, pre-Rebel Alliance stuff, stuff concurrent with the movies or stuff that comes way later than the movies.

I haven't read any Old Republic stuff so no comment.

For Rebellion era(concurrent with movies more or less), Thrawn trilogy is awesome.

Outbound Flight takes place like 27 years BBY, and it's follow up sequel, Survivor's Quest, takes place 22 ABY. I recommend those.

Black Fleet Crisis is good I think.

Also, I have not read any of the Vong war stuff, currently I'm reading the Fate of The Jedi series and like, they're all old and stuff but it features Luke, Han, Leia, etc.

 

[EvilYoda]

Yeah, just about everyone will recommend the Thrawn trilogy first...I've reread those books countless times. Great story, characters, writing...everything. Almost anything by Zahn (you can follow up the trilogy with Outbound Flight) is good.

Past that, the X-Wing series is great overall and I personally really enjoyed the New Jedi Order series. Lots of books in there, but the NJO really opened up a different side of the Star Wars mythology and seemed to be fairly well balanced.

 

[AstroManLuca]

I guess it depends on what you like.

I was a huge Star Wars fan in junior high and high school. Whenever we had free reading I always read a Star Wars book. That was the mid to late 90s, which is when they really exploded onto the scene. I stopped reading them probably around my senior year (01-02) so I haven't kept up to date with anything since then. From what I've heard, there have been a lot of books more recently that have moved away from the main characters from the movies, I guess because they've been done to death and there's only so much room for stories that take place in the ~15 years after Return of the Jedi.

Probably the most mainstream and well-received expanded universe novels were the Thrawn trilogy - Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command. They introduce a lot of recurring characters and that series in particular is what helped Star Wars books regain popularity throughout the 90s.

Several of my favorite Star Wars books were ones that took place not after the movie trilogy, but in the middle of it. Shadows of the Empire takes place between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. There was a series of short story anthologies, "Tales From...", that looked at background characters (like bounty hunters or random aliens you see in Jabba's palace) and give them a backstory. Those are good if you'd prefer stories that don't focus on Han, Luke, and Leia, or if you just like short stories.

The X-Wing series is good if you like action. It's actually pretty well written too, especially the first four books written by Michael Stackpole. They're sort of like Tom Clancy style military fiction.

 

[dainthomas]

Ironically the book versions of eps 1-3 were quite good I thought. But I've also read the Thrawn trilogy, and those were awesome.

 

[waggy]

Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy is considered the best out there.

I enjoyed the X-wing books. I think there's 7 of those in total by a couple different authors. (edit: There's 9, with a 10th coming out later this year according to wiki)

For single books, Truce at Bakura and I, Jedi were both good reads.

The Bounty Hunter Wars wasn't too bad but got a little boring at times.

/these

I LOVED the X-wing series.

 

[maniacalpha1-1]

Can any of you guys tell me which book to read based on the following question I have spoilered?

Spoiler

Regaring Parck and the Hand of Thrawn base on Nirauan, they show up in Vision of the Future, and again in Survivor's Quest. Is there a book in between that they show up in?

 

[WelshBloke]

I need to get some for my son, he's obsessed with star wars.

He's coming up to 7 but a pretty advanced reader, any of the novels suitable for that age?

He's kinda at the Roald Dahl stage.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Ironically the book versions of eps 1-3 were quite good I thought. But I've also read the Thrawn trilogy, and those were awesome.

I suppose that wouldn't be too surprising if Lucas didn't have anything to do with them.

 

[Crono]

I need to get some for my son, he's obsessed with star wars.

He's coming up to 7 but a pretty advanced reader, any of the novels suitable for that age?

He's kinda at the Roald Dahl stage.

I read a lot of rhe Star Wars books at that age (7). Roald Dahl, too. Hell, I think I went through more than half the entire Kids and Teens collection at my public library at that age.

Read through the Thrawn trilogy first pretty much right after the third book first came out. First Star Wars books I read, but I can't remember if it's entirely age appropriate (it's been 18 years) but I do remember liking them a lot.

 

[WelshBloke]

I read a lot of he Star Wars books at that age. Roald Dahl, too. Hell, I think I went through more than half the entire Kids and Teens collection at my public library at that age.

Yeah I'm having trouble keeping him supplied with books. :biggrin:

 

[Crono]

Yeah I'm having trouble keeping him supplied with books. :biggrin:

Lol sounds exactly like me, I used to go through 20 books every week to two weeks... and annoyed my parents because I would also lose some of them and accumulate fines on my favorites that I would read and reread I used to speed read like crazy.

I think I went on to Jules Verne after doing a lot of Narnia, Encyclopedia Brown, Choose Your Own Adventure, Goosebumps, Animorphs and nearly everything in the sci-fi/fantasy section.
Used to read a lot of the non-fiction dinosaur, astronomy, and kids science experiment books, as well.

Sadly, gaming and my love for computers killed off some of my attention span when I turned 12. Inherent multitasking on computers made it harder for me to focus when reading. I can now, but not like I used to.

 

[WelshBloke]

Lol sounds exactly like me, I used to go through 20 books every week to two weeks... and annoyed my parents because I would also lose some of them and accumulate fines on my favorites that I would read and reread I used to speed read like crazy.

I think I went on to Jules Verne after doing a lot of Narnia, Encyclopedia Brown, Choose Your Own Adventure, Goosebumps, Animorphs and nearly everything in the sci-fi/fantasy section.
Used to read a lot of the non-fiction dinosaur, astronomy, and kids science experiment books, as well.

Yeah his reading skills are fine for pretty much whatever he gets his hands on. It just worries me that he's still just 6 and is either missing a lot of the plot or that some of the ideas may be too grown up.

 

[Crono]

Yeah his reading skills are fine for pretty much whatever he gets his hands on. It just worries me that he's still just 6 and is either missing a lot of the plot or that some of the ideas may be too grown up.

Yeah, he will miss some things (for good or for bad). Rereading some stuff (like Asimov) that I read when I was younger, I can tell you I definitely got the gist of most stories and essential plot, but not all the full implications and subtexts.

 

[WelshBloke]

Yeah, he will miss some things (for good or for bad). Rereading some stuff (like Asimov) that I read when I was younger, I can tell you I definitely got the gist of most stories and essential plot, but not all the full implications and subtexts.

I suppose its still better that making him read the crappy starter books that are recommended for his age.

Like you say he can always rediscover things later, I'd just like to keep the death and destruction down to a fairly low level.

 

[Chapbass]

Lol sounds exactly like me, I used to go through 20 books every week to two weeks... and annoyed my parents because I would also lose some of them and accumulate fines on my favorites that I would read and reread I used to speed read like crazy.

I think I went on to Jules Verne after doing a lot of Narnia, Encyclopedia Brown, Choose Your Own Adventure, Goosebumps, Animorphs and nearly everything in the sci-fi/fantasy section.
Used to read a lot of the non-fiction dinosaur, astronomy, and kids science experiment books, as well.

Sadly, gaming and my love for computers killed off some of my attention span when I turned 12. Inherent multitasking on computers made it harder for me to focus when reading. I can now, but not like I used to.

Holy crap Encyclopedia Brown... not going to derail the thread (actually useful info, i may start reading some of these), but time to go hunt on wiki....

 

[DrunkenSano]

The Zahn Trilogy is a great place to start. Then the X-Wing saga is a good follow up since it has quite a bit of ship action.

 

[Leros]

How easy reading are these books? Let's use a scale from Harry Potter to LOTR.

 

[Fingolfin269]

Zahn all the way. I wish we could go back in time, wipe the prequels from our memories, and have these made into movies instead. By someone other than Lucas of course.

 

[DAGTA]

Can any of you guys tell me which book to read based on the following question I have spoilered?

Spoiler

Regaring Parck and the Hand of Thrawn base on Nirauan, they show up in Vision of the Future, and again in Survivor's Quest. Is there a book in between that they show up in?

The Thrawn trilogy by Zahn. He wrote the trilogy first, then wrote Visions of the Future adn Survivor's Quest.

I was very into these books in my teens and early 20's. They were decent, chronological order, until the Yuuzhan Vong series (9 or 12 books, can't recall). That was interesting at times but also changed the feel of the characters. I read the two series after that (chronologically) and they were enough to get me to stop reading the books.

 

[UberNeuman]

Stop reading them....

 

[maniacalpha1-1]

The Thrawn trilogy by Zahn. He wrote the trilogy first, then wrote Visions of the Future adn Survivor's Quest.

I was very into these books in my teens and early 20's. They were decent, chronological order, until the Yuuzhan Vong series (9 or 12 books, can't recall). That was interesting at times but also changed the feel of the characters. I read the two series after that (chronologically) and they were enough to get me to stop reading the books.

I meant between that, Thrawn Trilogy is before Vision of the Future.

Spoiler

Parck and his Empire of the Hand base are supposed to have made themselves known after Visions but the next time I see them is in Survivor's Quest and they seem to be past all that, I haven't seen any book between that that says whether he's pissed about Thrawn's clone being killed by Luke and Mara.

 

[waggy]

The Zahn Trilogy is a great place to start. Then the X-Wing saga is a good follow up since it has quite a bit of ship action.

IF you want a total change read the Arc trooper series (forget whats its called). But it is about a team of advanced recon commando troopers. Based during the clone wars. Then how they deal with Order 66 and the aftermath.

Great fricken series.