main
side
curve
  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Lit The best author of Star Wars novels. Who do you think is the best?

Discussion in 'Literature' started by JediMasterKeno, Feb 25, 2013.

  1. General Immodet

    General Immodet Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 5, 2012
    They are all pretty good. They all use a totally different style. I just cannot compare them.
     
  2. mnjedi

    mnjedi JCC Arena Game Host star 5 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Nov 4, 2012
    There are a lot of autors that I like, but if I had to choose, I would choose Stover every time.
     
  3. Rew

    Rew Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 22, 2008
    I wouldn't quite go that far!
     
    Manisphere likes this.
  4. Mange

    Mange Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 11, 2003
    James Luceno. I think he's the EU author who understands Star Wars the best and is a darn fine writer. Zahn comes second, Stover third and McIntyre and Traviss shares the last spot.
     
  5. Fleab88

    Fleab88 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 12, 2012
    Stover has always been a very personal favorite of mine, but he also does very few books. This is both good and bad to me. Even though there are so few Stover novels it is encouraging that they have always been really high quality stuff. I think he is possibly the most consistent novel writing Star Wars right now.

    Really enjoyed the first couple of Traviss books, but had my respect for her quickly go away by the end of that series, and plumet over some of the things she has said as a person. I find it really hard to respect her writing now. That being said, I still look very fondly on her very early work, and miss enjoying stuff like that today.

    I have mad respect for Luceno after the DP novel. What he did with that was just incredible to me. I know some people think it was overrated, but boy did he impress me with that work.

    I like Zahn, but I think he has become a little overrated. My closer circle of Star Wars fans hype him up a little to much in my mind. I have never disliked any of his books, but I have enjoyed other far more.

    Genuinely feel sorry for Dennings. He wants to write good stuff. He wants to be a part of this legacy, but he just can't seem to quite figure it all out. I don't think he is a particularly bad writer, but I just don't feel Star Wars is the right place for him. he gets far more negative criticism than he deserves (Especially on here I find), but I cannot say I ever respond anywhere close to enthusiastic when he has a new book out or come to his next segment in a book series.
     
  6. jedimikey

    jedimikey Jedi Padawan star 2

    Registered:
    Oct 21, 2012
    I'm a huge Salvatore fan. I own all of his Forgotten Realms novels. ALL of them. And all the graphic novels based on them.

    But I can't name just one, who wrote basically one book! :) I also like Stover, Stackpole, and Denning. Does Ryder Windham count? :p
     
  7. FatSmel

    FatSmel Jedi Knight star 3

    Registered:
    Sep 23, 2012
    Old Zahn, Luceno and Stackpole for me.

    By Old Zahn i mean TTT, Hand of Thrawn especially. HOT are 2 of my favourite books. But his latest books have been of far diminished quality.
     
  8. Jedifirefly5

    Jedifirefly5 Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Sep 5, 2012
    I favor Stover, Luceno, and Allston. Never liked Zahn much, he has too many weird words and repetitive phrasing, he's getting better with that but his blind love for his characters is annoying. Just because he likes them better doesn't mean Mara is more powerful than Vader and no amount of retcons will change that. I still bought Scoundrels and Winner Lose All, though.

    I like the others okay. I admire Traviss Vaderlove but hate her Mando love.

    I wish Walter Williams would write again. I loved Destiny's Way. It's absurd to think of Vergere as a Sith after DW. Or Jacen or that matter.

    I used to include Darth Denning in that group before he fell to the Dark Side and ruined the future of SW and singlehandedly makes me hope the new films will rewrite history. *runs away*.
     
  9. HEDGESMFG

    HEDGESMFG Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 20, 2010
    I agree with the choices of Stover, Luceno and Zhan, in that order. Stover and Luceno have fleshed out the prequel era like no other. They are the reason that I see a vast and wonderful universe in that era where most of the viewing audience sees Mediocrity, hell... I dare say I prefer the prequel era and early Dark Times over the OT era because of them (though I of course love the OT itself, but have little to no interest in its EU material). Seriously. Zhan, well, he's a good part of the reason why we have the EU in its current form at all, and his work is likely to be one of the few things that could survive a post ROTJ Ep VII purge.
     
  10. Havac

    Havac Former Moderator star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 29, 2005
    [​IMG]

    You people can all go straight to hell. Thirty-four posts, and not a single one of you has mentioned Brian Daley.

    [​IMG]
     
    Ulicus , COMPNOR and krtmd like this.
  11. TrakNar

    TrakNar Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Apr 4, 2011
    My list would be somewhat similar, yet wholly different. I like Reaves, Schreiber (You naysayers get back into your caves. Back, I say! BACK!), Perry, Tyers, Stackpole, and a number of other authors. Granted, there are some books that I simply did not enjoy. But, I did enjoy some aspects of that author's writing style. I liked Bear's attention to detail, even though I seriously hated Rogue Planet. I love Schreiber's atmospheric descriptions and his medical knowledge. Reaves's style reads differently, as I can see influence of his BtAS days. Stackpole's description can be confusing at times, but I find his writing to be enjoyable to read, particularly out loud. I have to give Denning some props, too. We are two peas in an arthropod.

    In comics, I enjoy Mike Kennedy and John Wagner's writing. They still had fun with the comics, and the entire galaxy didn't hang in the balance. The stories were entertaining and enjoyable, without being so incredibly dire as to be exhausting.
     
  12. SkywalkerSquadron

    SkywalkerSquadron Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 2, 2013
    Aaron Allston.
     
  13. IG_2000

    IG_2000 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 5, 2008
    I am a pretty big fan of Daniel Keys Moran's "The Last One Standing: The Tale of Boba Fett", I think its probably the best EU piece ever (from what I read, at least).

    Other than that, Matthew Stover is great, and of course you can't go wrong with Zahn.
     
  14. Zorrixor

    Zorrixor Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 8, 2004
    This thread reminds me of the Duros thread, just with more Stover.

    Speaking of which, my answer's Stover.
     
  15. _Catherine_

    _Catherine_ Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 16, 2007
    OVERRATED.
     
  16. Slowpokeking

    Slowpokeking Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 21, 2012
    Stover, Luceno and Zahn.
     
  17. kataja

    kataja Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 4, 2007
    Stover, Allston, Kahn (ROTJ novelization) and Tyers are my favs - then again, I haven't read them all ;-P
     
  18. Scars Unseen

    Scars Unseen Jedi Padawan

    Registered:
    Feb 28, 2013
    I'm not sure I've read enough Star Wars novels to really make a call on this one. Not Troy Denning? Can I say that? Anyone but Troy Denning? Meh, I'm just kind of mad at him for writing lackluster endings to at least two novel series(LotF and FotJ).

    More seriously, I can say that Christie Golden was good for character development in FotJ(even if Troy Denning did toss it all out the window first chance heSHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!) And in his novelization of TPM, Terry Brooks actually managed to make kid Anakin much more palatable than Lucas could, so that's something. Beyond that... well I'm reading Zahn for the first time, and I like it so far. We'll see how it goes from there.
     
  19. Force Smuggler

    Force Smuggler Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    You can say that about Denning. His ending's do leave a lot to be desired. Inferno and Star By Star are amazing though. Can't comment on Golden since I haven't read the books since they came out except I couldn't finish Ascension. Terry Brooks is a pretty good author. Love his Shannara books.
     
  20. Scars Unseen

    Scars Unseen Jedi Padawan

    Registered:
    Feb 28, 2013
    Oh yes, though at the rate he's been churning those out, they could soon outnumber the entirety of the published EU. Brooks really should take a break and write another Star Wars novel. Now there's an author that could write a Jedi's struggle with the dark side convincingly.
     
  21. Sable_Hart

    Sable_Hart Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 28, 2009
    Sean Stewart. Yoda: Dark Rendezvous is, in my humble opinion, the finest literary contribution to the EU, bar none. It's a tight read and hits all the emotional G-spots: it's exciting, sad, scary, funny, and replete with sublime characterization. He manages to seamlessly blend detached, haughty!Yoda with the lovable imp we first met in Episode V. I'm skeptical of a Yoda!spin-off film, but Stewart pulled it off here and that gives me hope. Ventress and Dooku are also stellar; Sidious is at his best; and the lesser & original characters are multidimensional and captivating.

    Luceno & Stover come next, more or less on par. Both are great, but both have visible weaknesses: Luceno focuses too much on weaving disparate continuity threads together that the story suffers; Stover is a philosopher par excellence which sometimes bogs down his prose.

    Everyone else is more or less inconsequential to me.
     
  22. Force Smuggler

    Force Smuggler Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    In the post NJO series he has 9 books out with another coming, Allston has 7 out, Traviss and Golden have 3 with Golden getting 3 more, Kemp has 2 and Luceno has 1. We need more variety. Stop with Denning.
    TPM written by Brooks was amazing. I have to second your call for another book by him.
     
    Zeta1127 likes this.
  23. Allana_Rey

    Allana_Rey Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    :eek:
     
  24. Fleab88

    Fleab88 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 12, 2012

    In fact, I think if Dennings hadn't written so many books he wouldn't be nearly as disliked in the community as he is now. That many additions to the series, and odd are you are going to write some stuff that the majority really dislike.
     
  25. Force Smuggler

    Force Smuggler Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    I have hit Denning Fatigue myself. No more Legacy era. Put him in the Pre-Republic era.