Which Star Wars Book Should I Read

The Star Wars universe is more than just a handful of blockbuster films and animated television shows. The sheer book of material is a double-edged sword: it provides dedicated fans enough of new material to immerse themselves in, but it tin besides deter newcomers who just want to dip their toes in the h2o.

With the new series of films from Disney, Lucasfilm decided requite filmmakers a clean slate. The necktie-in novels are nevertheless being published, but they're not role of the official catechism. That doesn't mean those books aren't worth reading: recently, Timothy Zahn returned to the Star Wars universe to tell the origins of his about famous character, Grand Admiral Thrawn, who was recently brought back into the canon via Star Wars Rebels.

Since that book hit stores, a lot of people take asked about how to start in on the mountain of material that is Star Wars, canon or not. Since The Force Awakens, that question has gotten a little more than difficult to answer, considering the books are split up into two continuities: the non-canon Star Wars Legends (otherwise known as the Expanded Universe) and a new series of books that fall in the official canon.

That's a lot of reading. Just where to get started? This isn't a comprehensive fix of book recommendations, just it should serve equally a good starting point.

Expanded Universe / Legends

In 1991, Del Rey Books launched a new novel from author Timothy Zahn: Heir to the Empire, kicking off the enormous Expanded Universe publishing experiment. Since Disney decided to wipe the slate clean and label these stories Legends, you can think of it as a sort of alternating Star Wars universe. Dozens of authors wrote hundreds of novels that explored the spaces effectually the films.

If you're simply getting started:

• The Thrawn Trilogy past Timothy Zahn. Ask any Star Wars reader what volume to start with, and ix times out of 10, you'll get the same reply: Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy. Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Concluding Command kicked off the Expanded Universe, written as the third trilogy decades before The Forcefulness Awakens arrived. They're smart; they innovate some astonishing figures such as Grand Admiral Thrawn and Mara Jade, a sometime Purple assassinator who eventually becomes Luke Skywalker'due south married woman; and they hold up extremely well years after they were published. If yous but ever read a couple of extra novels, make it these.

Epitome: Bantam-Spectra

• The X-Wing series by Michael A. Stackpole and Aaron Allston. Based on the sometime PC games, this series takes an interesting direction: Stackpole only sparingly uses the franchise's lead characters, and introduces a whole host of his own. The series follows the efforts of the New Republic as it takes on the Empire in the years after Return of the Jedi, and if you like military scientific discipline fiction, there'due south plenty to love here: there'southward lots of X-Wing fighter dogfights, espionage, and a whole cast of great new characters. Aaron Allston's entries follow another unit that's geared more toward espionage, and they're sidesplittingly funny. There's a concluding installment that came years afterwards, Mercy Kill, which takes place after the Legacy of the Force serial (see below), and then some additional reading might be needed for context. The entire 10-book serial is worth picking upwards.
• The Han Solo trilogy, A.C. Crispin. We might be getting a standalone Han Solo movie soon, only A.C. Crispin trilogy is about a teenager named Han Solo who finds piece of work as a transport airplane pilot for a cult. The trilogy recounts how he met Chewbacca, got booted out of the Imperial Academy, and how he ended up losing some cargo owned by Jabba the Hutt. Information technology's a expert example of a prequel novel that sets up its own story, while serving a larger narrative.
• The Jedi University Trilogy, Kevin J. Anderson / I, Jedi, Michael A Stackpole. These books are hit or miss with fans, but if y'all want to read on, they're pretty essential. The trilogy is about Luke Skywalker's efforts to effort and restart the Jedi Order. He tracks down a number of Strength-sensitive recruits, simply to have his nearly promising student autumn to the Dark Side. While the series isn't the all-time out there, it does introduce a ton of characters who volition go pivotal subsequently on, such as Han Solo and Leia Organa's children, Jacen and Jaina Solo. Stackpole's novel I, Jedi is gear up during the events trilogy, cleverly working in a grapheme from the X-Wing serial after the fact.

Image: Del Rey Books

• The Republic Commando series, Karen Traviss. Of all the Clone Wars novels out at that place, none are more essential than the Commonwealth Commando serial. Based on the video game series, Traviss introduces Delta Squad as they're deployed to a remote planet with a bioweapons research facility. Traviss does an astonishing task giving depth to the faceless clone troopers well before The Clone Wars blithe prove did, and she creates some extremely interesting and complicated characters along the way.
• Shatterpoint, Matthew Stover. In addition to Karen Traviss'south series, 1 of the all-time Star Wars novels out there is Shatterpoint. This one is nearly Mace Windu during the early on days of the Clone Wars, and it punches above its weight, thematically. Stover drew on Joseph Conrad's The Centre of Darkness to create an unusually dark and intriguing novel about the seductive nature of power.

If you want to take the next step:

• Thrawn Duology, Timothy Zahn. Later starting the Expanded Universe, Zahn took a couple of years off, but when it came fourth dimension to bring the primal conflict (the fight between the New Commonwealth and Empire) to a definitive close, he wrote the Thrawn duology. The novels bring back Thrawn (in a style), and assist tie off some loose ends, but also leaves the door open for the adjacent chapter of the Star Wars universe.
• The Corellian Trilogy, Roger McBride Allen. This series delves into Han Solo's past as his home arrangement comes to the brink of war, with the emergence of a new superweapon. This trilogy is an entertaining one, with some fun activity and espionage.

Paradigm: Runted-Spectra

• Black Armada Crisis, Michael P. Kube-McDowell. This trilogy is set in a remote star cluster as tensions betwixt the New Democracy and a local government explode into state of war. The trilogy is dark and well written, but feels a chip like an ignored story in the larger continuity arc that makes it a good standalone set of adventures.
• The balance of the Clone Wars novels. When Attack of the Clones hit theaters, Del Rey launched an aggressive, multimedia project: novels, video games, comic books and the first animated serial all tied in to one some other closely. The result is a huge number of novels that cover the Clone Wars: books like Jedi Trial, Cestus Deception, Boxing Surgeons, Jedi Healer , and others helped fill in the Clone Wars that were first mentioned in A New Hope. Dave Filoni's Clone Wars animated series conflicts with this a bit, merely at that place'southward some good gems in here that stand alongside the best episodes.
• Honor Among Thieves, James S.A. Corey and Razor's Edge, Martha Wells, Scoundrels, Timothy Zahn. These three novels were some of the last published in the Expanded Universe, and were designed to be a bit more of an entry-level read to the franchise. They're direct-up adventures that channel the feel of the films.
• Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, Michael Reaves. While The Phantom Menace earned mixed reviews, information technology did introduce fan-favorite character Darth Maul. This novel leads up to the picture, and helps explain the origins of Maul every bit he completes a series of trials on Coruscant.

Paradigm: Bantam-Spectra

• Shadows of the Empire, Steve Perry. An experimental, multimedia series, Shadows of the Empire novel ties in with the game and comics, and follows the main heroes as they work to track downwards Han Solo. The book goes into the Star Wars criminal underworld and fills the space Empire Strikes Dorsum and Return of the Jedi.
• The Young Jedi Knights Series, Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta. This xiv-book series are aimed at slightly younger readers, but they're pretty foundational for the later New Jedi Order and Legacy of the Forcefulness novels that come later on. They follow the adventures of Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin Solo as they begin to railroad train to become Jedi, getting into a whole bunch of adventures forth the mode. Some, like Heir to the Force, are quite good, while others are just okay.
• Darth Plagueis, James Luceno. This novel goes into the backstory of Darth Plagueis, who was mentioned briefly in Revenge of the Sith, a Sith Lord who figures out the trick to immortality, before he'southward killed by his apprentice. This volume explains the reference, and helps explain the rise of the Sith just before the prequel trilogy.
• Kenobi, John Jackson Miller. People accept been clamoring for a picture show about Obi-Wan Kenobi, but in the meantime, this volume goes into Kenobi's life on Tatooine after the events of Revenge of the Sith. Some of that's been changed with Obi Wan Kenobi'south appearances in Rebels, but it's a solid book.

If you absolutely have to exist a completist:

• The Castilla Trilogy: these three books haven't aged terribly well, merely they introduce some interesting concepts: Children of the Jedi and Planet of Twilight by Barbara Hambly, and Darksaber by Kevin J. Anderson. They're ponderous reads, innovate some new superweapons, and introduce a dear interest for Luke Skywalker, Callista. She is a long-dead Jedi Knight who was trapped in the computers of an abandoned Imperial cruiser with a deadly mission.

Image: Bantam-Spectra

• The Truce at Bakura, Kathy Tyers. This book is notable because it takes identify right after Render of the Jedi, and follows a New Commonwealth task strength sent to aid a planet under attack by strange aliens called the Ssi-ruuk who are stealing the life energy from people to power their ships.
• Death Troopers, Joe Schreiber. Like horror? Like zombies? Stormtrooper zombies. That's pretty much all you need to know nigh this book. In that location'south another horror novel called Red Harvest that serves every bit a prequel every bit well.
• Courtship of Princess Leia, Dave Wolverton. Han Solo drugs and kidnaps Leia Organa when she considers marrying someone else. Aye. Information technology's a book that hasn't aged well, but information technology has some familiar, canon locations and characters. Dathomir and the Nightsisters, which were seen in the Clone Wars, originated here
• Compensation Hunter Wars, Thou.Westward. Jeter. If you lot like bounty hunters, this might exist a fun series for you: following Boba Fett and a couple of other bounty hunters after the events of Return of the Jedi. It's sort of an underworld have on the Star Wars universes, but it never quite lives upward to its potential.

Image: Del Rey Books

• The New Jedi Order, diverse authors. While Timothy Zahn capped off the conflict betwixt the New Republic and the Empire, Del Rey had to figure out what to do next. With a group of authors, it plotted out an ambitious, 19-book, multi-author series that sees the entire galaxy invaded by an alien race known as the Yuuzhan Vong. There are some vivid points in the serial, but it'due south a long series, and the multiple authors makes it pretty uneven, quality-wise.
• The Legacy of the Forcefulness, diverse authors. Made upward of three trilogies from 3 authors (Aaron Allston, Karen Traviss, and Troy Denning), the Legacy of the Forcefulness trilogy takes identify afterwards the New Jedi Guild. The upside is that it'southward a tighter series than the NJO, but it comes with a pretty hefty stack of books to read first.
• The Han Solo and Lando Calrissian Adventures. Written past Brian Daley and Fifty. Neil Smith, these books were written in the 1980s, and cover the formative years of the two titular characters. They're fun books: lighthearted run a risk mixed with a dose of 1970s / 1980s science fiction.
• The Crystal Star, Vonda N. McIntyre. This book is roundly mocked, and it'southward probably worth skipping. But if you have to read them all? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

New Continuity

With The Forcefulness Awakens announced, Lucasfilm faced a couple of options: keep the vast EU, and build a story set up in the same world, ignore it completely, or keep bits of information technology. It opted to render the entire storyline not-canon (much to the dismay of some fans), but kept the building blocks that made upwardly the EU. As we've seen, there'southward some parts of the EU that's made its way into the regular continuity, and we'll likely see more to come in the nigh future.

If you're just getting started:

Aftermath Trilogy, Chuck Wendig. While not the first novels in the new continuity, Chuck Wendig'due south Aftermath novels were the first to begin covering the time between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens. The novels innovate some new characters, and explicate how the Empire fell, and bear witness off some of the big battles hinted at in The Force Awakens, in club to queue up the new trilogy.

Image: Del Rey Books

Thrawn, Timothy Zahn. Nosotros've already covered Thrawn in some detail, but nosotros'll reiterate: it's a fine book, 1 that works actually well as an entry bespeak for the franchise, just also serves as a good setup for the original Thrawn trilogy. All-time of both worlds!

Bloodline, Claudia Gray. This novel takes place correct before the first of The Force Awakens, and follows Leia Organa as she works to manage the rising of the First Order and the Resistance that comes to combat it.

Ahsoka, E.K. Johnston. Ahsoka has become i of the most pop characters to emerge out of the Clone Wars, and when she vanished from the series and later reappeared in Rebels, fans were wondering what happened to her. This book covers that lost fourth dimension. The audiobook is actually voiced by Ashley Eckstein, who voices the character in the serial.

If you desire to accept the next step:

Goad, James Luceno. This novel is begins at the cease of the Clone Wars and helps to set Rogue 1. It follows Galen Erso during the formative years of the Expiry Star projection, and explains why he left in the outset place.

Lords of the Sith, Paul Kemp. Lords of the Sith is about Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine, and sets up their relationship during the early days of the Empire, when both are trapped on a hostile planet.

Image: Del Rey Books

Battlefront: Twilight Company, Alexander Freed. When Battlefront came back to consoles, Alexander Freed came in to write a novel based on the game, much similar the X-Wing and Republic Commando books. The result is an action-packed book that covers the Rebellion betwixt A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. In that location's some other Battlefront novel coming out afterward this year that looks promising as well.

Lost Stars, Claudia Gray. Aimed at younger audiences, this novel begins eight years after Revenge of the Sit down h. Spanning the events of the original trilogy, information technology follows ii friends Thane Kyrell and Ciena Ree on their diverging paths equally state of war overtakes the galaxy.

Tarkin, James Luceno. Thousand Moff Tarkin has become a pivotal effigy between A New Hope, Rebels, and at present Rogue I. This volume follows his origins to explain how he became a feared fellow member of the Imperial government.

If you absolutely accept to be a completist:

Nighttime Disciple, Christie Golden. The Clone Wars was famously cancelled before its time and rather than fleck i of the story arcs, Christie Gilded went and adapted its events for a novel, one that follows former Sith apprentice Asajj Ventress and a Jedi knight named Quinlan Vos (who starting time appeared in the Expanded Universe).

A New Dawn, John Jackson Miller. This novel serves every bit a prequel to the Rebels animated bear witness, and explores the origins of Caleb Dume, who would later get known as Kanan Jarrus. There's a agglomeration of characters from Rebels that appears in here, also equally in other novels that have place effectually the same time.

Epitome: Del Rey Books

Heir to the Jedi, Kevin Hearne. This novel was intended equally the final Expanded Universe novel, just it was slipped into the main canon. Where James S.A. Corey's Accolade Amid Thieves and Martha Wells' Razor's Edge follow Han Solo and Princess Leia, respectively, this would have formed the third part of a loose trilogy, following the final member of the franchise's "Big Three" characters, Luke Skywalker.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Alexander Freed / The Force Awakens, Alan Dean Foster. If y'all really want to read all of the books, the respective novelizations are worth picking up. They're breezy, and add a little extra to the films.

valenciaflocruing.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/4/15299448/star-wars-novels-recommendations

Share this post