Books Rank the novels of the new canon

Hey all -
This has consistently been one of my favorite threads to check every now and again over the last few months of largely lurking on the Lit boards. I love seeing where other fans stand with these books as they are released, what works and what doesn’t, for each individual reader. Much thanks for everyone’s list and the discussion that sometimes follows.

Now that a fair number of Canon novels have been released, I figure now is as good a time as any to add my ranking to the mix. I found that I had to separate the adult/YA novels from the more junior literature, so forgive the distinction (the jump between Junior Novel and YA is too big for me to compare the two on the same scale). Thanks for a very interesting thread, and keep those lists coming!

1. Battlefront: Twilight Company – As a huge fan of military minutia and fiction, this one hit all the right spots. Aside from my #2, this is the only Canon novel that I had a hard time putting down on multiple occasions.

2. Lost Stars – What a great story to make us fans sit up and take serious notice of the YA novels right out of the gate. The Imperial/Rebel viewpoints were fantastically done, and the romance between Thane and Ciena was handled with maturity (the ‘YA’ tag rarely crossed my mind in this regard).

3. Lords of the Sith – The ‘teamwork’ depicted here between the Emperor, Vader, and the briefly inconsistent number of surviving Royal Guards ( ) really made for a fun survival story. Cham’s plot to bring down the Perilous and Colonel Belkor’s decent into madness were other notable highlights.

4. Thrawn – An above average novel made excellent by my longtime-love for the guy in white. Excellent chronological reintroduction of Thrawn into the new Canon that left me wanting more. Much, much more (looking at you nervously, Rebels series finale). Vanto is another great Zahn character that I also can’t wait to get more from.

5. Aftermath: Life Debt – A huge step up from the first book, delivering a more interesting plot and finally dealing with the post-RotJ political landscape.

6. Catalyst – A very good character piece that provides interesting background to “Rogue One.” Managed to make Krennic one of my favorite characters pre- and post-“Rogue One” premiere (where I certainly wouldn’t be saying that had I not read this novel). Luceno’s writing is always a joy as well.

7. Aftermath: Empire’s End – About as good as “Life Debt,” but failed to provide satisfying answers to some of the mysteries that deserved resolution. The less-interesting interludes (than the previous books in the series) also knock this one down a bit.

8. Tarkin – I see this one as what I would think of the recent “Thrawn” novel had I not been a Thrawn fan prior to reading. A good Vader/Tarkin buddy cop book with good insight into the Empire, but ultimately sporting a ‘meh’ plot. Does have good flashbacks into Tarkin’s past that provide satisfying explanation to the development of his doctrine.

9. Bloodline – I’m all for political stories (I love me my Tom Clancy), but this book felt like it was following the Star Wars ‘planet-hopping’ formula (made famous by the first few “Fate of the Jedi” novels) a bit too closely for my taste. The Leia stuff was largely good, but I found myself not caring about Greer or the introduction of yet ANOTHER “elite” squadron post-RotJ (“Rapier,” “Phantom” and “Black” squadrons all running around trying to be the new “Rogue”/ “Wraith” squadron is kinda irritating).

10. Rebel Rising – Despite many others saying that they couldn’t get enough of this book, I never found myself excited with it. The first half is excellent – exactly what I would want from a Jyn/Saw/Partisan storyline. However, after the incident at Tamsye Prime, the ‘little things’ started piling up and I found myself frustrated where with the book left us (I became very aware of the YA label, noticed some continuity glitches, and ultimately finished with a muddied perspective of Jyn’s motivations during the Rogue One briefing room scene).

11. Aftermath – A largely self-contained story that gets major points for including Rae Sloane as much as it does. That being said, I have to knock it major points for boasting a jarring writing style (yes, I’m one of those people) and not exactly delivering on expectations.

12. A New Dawn – Works as an introduction to Kanan and Hera, but the plot doesn’t really capture my interest (especially now, after the Empire/mining angle has been beaten to death in Canon). This was, of course, the first Canon book I read, so forgive me for not remembering much else to say about it.

13. Heir to the Jedi – Not the Luke novel I was expecting, though I give it a bit more leeway than I should when I consider that it was intended to be the last novel in the Empire & Rebellion series. Some interesting Luke character development, but very, very skippable overall.

14. Ahsoka – I saw someone else refer to this novel as “aggressively inconsequential” and found myself wholeheartedly agreeing with their description. I’m all for new Ashoka stories, but there are much more important ones to tell than what we got here (in the main plot; some of the interludes allude to those “more important” stories).

15. Dark Disciple – I realize that I stand against most of the Lit community here, but Dark Disciple was one of the only novels I had a hard time getting though. I found the romance completely unbelievable and the back-and-forth of Vos’ allegiance simply annoying. I’m truly glad that this one did something for other fans, but that just wasn’t the case for me.

------------------

1. Guardians of the Whills – Masterclass in short fiction that manages to both write for all audiences and completely capture the voices of its titular characters.

2. Before the Awakening – Excellent prequel for our TFA heroes, delivering three good-to-great stories for the post-TFA-viewing craving. Major points for giving us some 'TR-8R' action (and ‘real’ FN designation).

3. Servants of the Empire series – Jason Fry delivers yet again with these four books, giving me a real desire to see a YA or adult novel with his name on it in the future. They all blended together as one entertaining story (I can’t remember what happened in each individual book) and delivers a memorable Imperial in Lt. Chiron (oops, I’ve outed my fascination with the Empire).

4. The Weapon of a Jedi – I’m a fan of Luke, so this one satisfied the itch that “Heir to the Jedi” left. Due to spoilers, I knew that Sarco wouldn’t factor into TFA very much, but he was a fun ally/villain/wildcard to read regardless. Fingers crossed that we get to see Luke reunited with Farnay on the page at some point, post-RotJ.

5. Smuggler’s Run – Rucka does a great job with Han here; this left me very excited to see where he would be in the ‘upcoming’ TFA. Beck was a quality villain who I greatly appreciated being name-dropped once again in Rucka’s later “Shattered Empire.”

6. Moving Target – A good Leia story that makes Nien Nunb relevant again. Nothing much else to say from me.

7. Adventures in Wild Space series – Not ‘bad’ per se, just my least favorite. Not much going on here in terms of the greater Star Wars galaxy, but could certainly be more entertaining to younger readers.

 

Although I don't agree 100%, your post was well-written and fun to read

 

Hey, greatly appreciate the compliment! Always fun reading your updated lists as well - like I said, I'm truly glad that "Ashoka" and DD work for a lot of people.

Hope you enjoy "Guardians" as much as I did!

 

Read this a got really confused as to why you were talking about Guardians of the Galaxy, then realized.

 

I have only read only some of the novels, but here is my list:

1. Bloodline (8/10) - has the best characterization. I really felt for Leia. It also helps that I really like Star Wars politics.
2. Aftermath: Empire's End (7/10) - almost tied with Aftermath: Life Debt, but it has a more enjoyable third part (Battle of Jakku > Liberation of Kashyyyk). Plus two of my favourite concepts - bounty hunters and Hutts.
3. Aftermath: Life Debt (7/10) - awesome interlude scenes and an awesome RAE SLOANE. It also has some boring parts, though.
4. Dark Disciple (6/10) - I am a big fan of The Clone Wars and Christie Golden so it was only natural for me to read this novel. As a The Clone Wars tie-in, I really liked some parts, but overall, it was not very engaging and I thought the romance was forced.
5. Aftermath (5/10) - I had big expectations about this book but was rather disappointed. I took me a while to get used to the writing style and I really did not like the character of Norra. Still, it introduced me to Sloane and Sinjir, two of my favourite expanded universe characters.

I am more of a comic book fan and have read all canon comics by Marvel to date. Do you know if there is a similar thread for comics?

 

Updating

1) Dark Disciple A+

A great book that resolves Ventress's story in TCW. It felt so much like the TV show, which I was grateful for as I am a huge fan of the show and still miss it. I will admit I teared up at the end of this one.

2) Bloodline A+

A fantastic look at the galaxy between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, but also a great character study of our favorite princess. I loved the string-pulling and it being the Empire that had to subtlety for a change. Plus I love the study of politics IRL so this book was right up my ally. I didn't like the direction Leia was taken in TFA but this book made it A LOT easier for me to swallow. Excellent job Claudia Gray.

3) Catalyst A

James Luceno is back, and this time he gives Rogue One the Darth Plagueis treatment. While it gets a bit technical at times, the book is structured very similarly to the Plagueis book - I flew through the last third of the novel. Even though I knew the outcome I was still on the edge of my seat. Bonus points for the typical myriad of Luceno EU references.

4) Ahsoka A

This was another great character study. As stated above, I am a big TCW fan so of course I was very excited to read this book. It did not disappoint and was actually better than I anticipated! Glad we got to see the (extremely) early days of the rebellion and how Ahsoka was one of the first to join. She was also a beast in combat. Also loved the interludes that discussed Ahsoka's time during ROTS and the Siege of Mandalore - bonus points for working as a quasi-sequel to the Legends Kenobi novel by wrapping up a loose end in that book.

5) Lords of the Sith A-

Sidious and Vader Kick Butt could be an alternative title for this book. Vader was written so well, and Sidious's machinations were in full effect. I really enjoyed the Twi'leks too actually, as we saw the return of Cham Syndulla and his band of freedom fighters.

6) Rebel Rising A-

This book is basically a biography of Jyn Erso, but it manages to give a very good character arc to her as well. I also really liked Revis's portrayal of Saw.

7) Aftermath: Empire's End B+

This one got a bit dry at times, but the last two-thirds of the book had me turning pages at a breakneck pace. The Battle of Jakku was epic and Rax was a great villain.

8) Thrawn B+

Another character study (NuCanon seems fond of these), Timothy Zahn returns and shows us Thrawn's rise to power in the Empire. He's a wonderfully complex character, and reading from Thrawn's PoV was a real treat. Also enjoyed the characterization that Zahn gave to Governor Pryce in Rebels.

9) Lost Stars B-

This book was lots better than I expected. The only reason I have it lower is because love stories are just not my thing. However it was a new and different concept so props to Claudia Gray for doing a great job.

10) Aftermath: Life Debt C+

Mixed feelings on this one. The story and world-building were great. What I did not like though was that Han Solo was written very out of character. I know much of that is due to where he is at in TFA, but I feel like there could have been a more organic way to get him there (like Leia in Bloodlines).

11) Tarkin C

Honestly, I was disappointed with this one. The parts with Tarkin's backstory were a slog. I'm glad Vader guest-starred, and I thought getting inside the mind of Tarkin was interesting, but overall despite the typical Luceno universe-building there just isn't as much here as there is in his other works.

12) Aftermath C-

I have a bizarre relationship with this one. Tried to read it once before TFA came out, gave up about 100 pages in. Upon hearing good things about Life Debt I tried again and I liked it much better. The story is decent and the end battle is cool. The book feels very padded to me though and it drags the score down a lot.

13) Heir to the Jedi D+

I liked the first person. I liked the characterization of Luke. I liked him learning how to build a lightsaber and be his awkward self. Unfortunately though there really isn't that much that happens in this book, hence the low score. It's not a bad book, it's just kinda forgettable, which for a Star Wars book loses a lot of my points in my evaluation.

14) A New Dawn D

I'm part-way through but I've given up on it for now. I don't like the Rebels characters that much (why does it have to be Kanan who gives Obi-Wan the signal beacon idea he uses in ROTS - I feel like the saga is put around Rebels characters as opposed to the other way around) to begin with but also it feels like the overall story of this book has been covered better in other books. Hera's stuff that I've read was decent.

 

Time to update this:

1. Bloodlines: A-
I thought this book was really well done. Leia was really well depicted in all her complexity. Casterfo was another really well developed character. The novel did a strong job of illustrating the nature of the early New Republic. The only thing I wasn't crazy about were some of the action scenes, which felt a little perfunctory.

2. Lords of the Sith: A-

3. Tarkin: B+

4. Ashoka: B
Gives a strong illustration of Ashoka's development between The Clone Wars and Rebels. For the most part I enjoyed the scenes on Raada and the characters there. However, this book sort of felt like a 500 page book shortened to 350 pages. Some aspects of the closing act felt rushed.

5. New Dawn: B

6. Battlefront: Twilight Company B-
War novels aren't my thing, but I found the characters in this to be pretty good. Not a super memorable plot though. A little choppy.

7. Dark Disciple: B-

8. Lost Stars: B-
This was interesting enough with a good set of characters and a satisfying ending. However, I found the need to hogtie the characters into every major event in the OT to become tiring and predictable.

9. Heir to the Jedi: D

10. Aftermath: F

Next up is Catalyst. Might give the other two Aftermath novels a shot on audio. Heard they're better than the first one. However, I don't think I can take another full novel in Wendig's writing style. Maybe it's less annoying as audio.

 

1) Bloodline: A
2) Catalyst: A-
3) Tarkin: B
4) Heir To The Jedi: C+
5) A New Dawn: C
6) Aftermath: C-

 

Updated list

Heir to the Jedi
Battlefront: Twilight Company
A New Dawn
Battlefront II: Inferno Squad
Lords of the Sith
----------------------
Bloodline
Aftermath: Life Debt
Thrawn
Aftermath: Empire's End
Aftermath
Catalyst
Dark Disciple
Tarkin

*Everything under the line, you can skip and not bother reading.

 

1) Bloodline: A
2) Catalyst: A-
3) Tarkin: B
4) TFA: B-
5) Heir To The Jedi: C+
6) A New Dawn: C
7) Aftermath: C-

 

I've read barely any novels from the NuEu, but I'll rank the ones I have.

Great:

1. Bloodline

Good:

2. Lords of the Sith
3. Before the Awakening
4. The Princess, the Scoundrel and the Farm Boy

Mediocre

5. Thrawn
6. Aftermath

Horrible

7. Aftermath: Life Debt

 

1. Thrawn
2. Lost Stars
3. Bloodline
4. Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel
5. Rebel Rising
6. A New Dawn
7. Battlefront II: Inferno Squad
8. Lords of the Sith
9. Dark Disciple
10. Aftermath: Empire's End
11. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Novelization)
12. A New Hope: The Princess, the Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy
13. Heir to the Jedi
14. Tarkin
15. Ahsoka
16. Aftermath: Life Debt
17. Return of the Jedi: Beware the Power of the Dark Side!
18. The Empire Strikes Back: So You Want to Be a Jedi?
19. The Force Awakens (Novelization)
20. Aftermath
21. Battlefront: Twilight Company
22. Smuggler's Run
23. The Weapon of a Jedi
24. Moving Target
25. The Perfect Weapon

 

For those looking for a consensus, here are the rankings based on the last 4 pages of lists(did not go back further in order not to skew results by taking into consideration too many lists without newest releases.) Note: not enough lists included BFIS to include here.

1. Bloodline
2. Lost Stars
3. Thrawn
4. BF
5. LOTS
6. Catalyst
7. AND
8. Aftermath: Life Debt
9. Ahsoka
10. Tarkin
11. Dark Disciple
12. Aftermath
13. Heir to the Jedi

I have only read 5 so I'll wait until I have more under my belt before I post my personal list.

 

Bloodline (I loved Lost Stars and Gray's writing. The book was so interesting I wish it could have been longer.)
Aftermath: Life Debt (I was very apprehensive about this one after Aftermath. It turned out excellent.)
Lords of the Sith (I was highly looking forward to this one and it delivered.)
Tarkin (I love everything Luceno writes and found the Tarkin-Vader relationship perfect.)
Thrawn (I also love everything Zahn writes and thought the characterizations of Thrawn and Pryce were excellent additions to their Rebels appearances)
Dark Disciple (After the lackluster Son of Dathomir, I was apprehensive about this one. It's very good especially Ventress and Vos.)
Aftermath: Empire's End (The book was fine. It just wasn't as good as Life Debt. Dark Knight Rises of the Aftermath trilogy)
A New Dawn (This book was also fine. It was a good introduction to Kanan and Hera and Rae Sloane.)
Aftermath (I hated this book. It was boring and the characters were uninspiring.)
Heir to the Jedi (I did not like the first-person writing. I find it lazy and the story was forgettable.)
Battlefront: Twilight Company (This was so boring I couldn't finish it. I'll try to Audible it prior to Inferno Squad.)

Went to pick up Catalyst last week but the store was out. So I picked up the RO novelization based on hearing it was good. Wish me luck

 

I thought it was really good. If you get a chance to read Catalyst and the Rebel Rising novel, they work together with the novelization to create a sort of trilogy that really expands the Rogue One story.

 

Finished Bloodline:


1) C-3PO: The Phantom Limb 10/10

2) Lords of the Sith 9/10

3) Thrawn 8/10

4) Ahsoka 7/10

5) The Force Awakens 7/10

6) Bloodline 6.5/10 = This one was hard me to get a grasp on. The dialogue and character interactions are fantastically written. The dialogue is snappy and fun, and for a story centered on our favorite Princess, it did the absolute most important thing right, which is, the book captures the essence of Princess Leia. She doesn't do anything that feels out of place or off. This is Leia and she comes to life in print. Her relationship to Ransolm Costerfo is the heart of the book and he's one of the best new characters introduced in the new canon novels. Where the book falters though is in the story itself.

The whole mystery Leia is investigating is just a big set up for the First Order and the conflict to come in The Force Awakens and an explanation of how the New Republic functions. While that is important information to have, I would have appreciated it more if we got that info in the movies.

One of my big issues in Force Awakens is that they never explain how The New Republic works, how the government functions or any of that. Watching The Force Awakens, is it even clear that the New Republic and Resistance are separate entities? I know part of the complaint about the prequels was that there was too much political talk, but at least I know how it worked. The OT got it right. Just watch that roundtable scene on the Death Star with all the officers and you pretty much get the gist of how everything works.

I was having this conversation with somebody the other day and in his assessment of JJ Abrams' style, he said that Abrams mistakenly thinks that having a good mystery equates to leaving out essential information. That's why Force Awakens feels like it has some gaps like "How does this new government even work?" or "Where the heck did the First Order come from?" or "How does Rey pick up these Force abilities with no training?". While it is true that previous Abrams projects have relied on this tactic (Lost), reading books like this make me think it wasn't so much him doing this, but rather a mandate from Disney. Star Wars is a cash cow, so I get the feeling that they want to use these novels to fill in some of the gaps left by the movies. That's why we got a comic book explaining how C-3PO got the red arm. Its a great comic for sure, but I feel like Disney is deliberately leaving gaps so that they can make even more money on the books. Using the Ahsoka book as an example, there is a part of me that feels like they gave Ahsoka white lightsabers in Rebels just so they could make a book explaining how she got them (and also sell toys with the white sabers too).

Its not a crazy idea. I mean, when the prequels were coming out, the books that came out at the time basically helped to fill some of the gaps in those movies. Labyrinth of Evil in particular almost feels like somebody at Lucasfilm heard me screaming "WHY DIDN'T THE JEDI LOOK INTO WHO ORDERED THE CLONE ARMY?!?!" or "WHY DIDN'T THEY FOLLOW UP ON SIDIOUS BEING IN CONTROL OF THE SENATE?!?!". That said, there is something lacking in that kind of set up. I feel like if I read or watch a story, I should be able to understand everything without relying on another source. Even ending in a cliffhanger, Empire Strikes Back works as a self contained story. Maybe its just me, but I'd like for the movies to be able to stand on their own and the books as to stand on their own. In the 90s, the EU books didn't have to rely on the movies and vice versa. They just picked up where the movies left off and went for it. Sometimes it worked (Thrawn Trilogy) and sometimes it didn't (Crystal Star) but at least I felt like those stories built off of what was already established and told their own stories rather than being created to fill in gaps of (sometimes vital) information that we should already have.

Why couldn't the important political information be given to us in the movie, and this book give us a standalone story focusing on Leia that isn't focused on filling the movie's gaps?

OK, now I'll get off my soapbox. While this book demonstrates another example of what I discussed above, the main positive are the characters themselves, how they are written, and how they interact. Claudia Gray has a unique voice for the universe and I'd like to read more of her material. This is a book that is light on action, and heavy on political jargon, risking the same bashing as the prequels. However, what keeps it from suffering that same fate is that the dialogue and conversations are legitimately well written and made for a quick read. If those attributes had been included in a more interesting story, it would probably be a great book.

One aspect that I did enjoy was Leia having to deal with her true parentage. The best aspect of EU novel "Truce At Bakura" was Leia having to come to terms with who her real father is and how she would move forward. That aspect is covered in this novel as well and comes about in a pretty emotionally heavy manner.

7) Tarkin 6/10

8) Aftermath: Life Debut 6/10

9) Aftermath: Empire's End 5/10

10) Aftermath 3/10

Next up for me are Dark Disciple and the Rogue One Novelization.

 

Did some re-reads, shuffled up my list. About to start Inferno Squad. This is my updated list (not including junior novels or movie novelizations):

1. Bloodline
2. Thrawn
3. Lost Stars
4. Catalyst
5. Battlefront: Twilight Company
6. Aftermath: Life Debt
7. A New Dawn
8. Tarkin
9. Aftermath: Empire's End
10. Dark Disciple
11. Ahsoka
12. Aftermath
13. Heir to the Jedi
14. Lords of the Sith

​

 

The ones I've read so far:

1. Dark Disciple
2. Battlefront: Twilight Company
3. Tarkin
4. Lords of the Sith
5. Battlefront II: Inferno Squad
6. Aftermath
7. Ahsoka
8. Heir to the Jedi

 

Updated my list:

1) C-3PO: The Phantom Limb 10/10

2) Dark Disciple 9/10 = This came highly recommended to me and as a fan of the Clone Wars cartoon, I was intrigued to read something based off scripts of episodes that never got made. After reading it, I can say that I was quite happy with the result. It really does feel like the show from the dialogue and the situations presented, and serves as a perfect extension of the events of the series. I don't want to give too much away for those that haven't read it, but if you like Asajj Ventress, it is a must read. I loved her development in the show and this book flat out tells us where that development was leading. I guess my only real problem with it is that it I can mostly tell where the episode breaks are as it does feel like 8 separate entries in a story arc. That works much better in an episodic TV show, but in a book, it can be a bit jarring to have the main focus of the plot change every few chapters or so. Still, I was very happy, with it. Even the predictability of how the events were going to play out worked well for me as the whole story was just a tragedy waiting to happen, and I just read the whole thing waiting to have my heart ripped out. One last thing. This didn't really affect the quality of the book either way as I'm not a huge fan of this character to begin with, but did Mace Windu come across like a jerk in this or was that just me?

3) Lords of the Sith 9/10

4) Thrawn 8/10

5) Ahsoka 7/10

6) The Force Awakens 7/10

7) Bloodline 6.5/10

8) Tarkin 6/10

9) Aftermath: Life Debut 6/10

10) Star Wars: Princess Leia (Issues 1-5) 5/10 = After how happy I was with Phantom Limb, I was dying to check out more of Marvel's Star Wars work. Took me a while to get around to it, but I decided to start off with a series centering around our favorite Princess. Like Dark Disciple, it came highly recommended to me. Right away, I love the set up. Leia is off to save Alderaanian refugees? Awesome. Picks up immediately where New Hope left off? Awesome! I'm on board with this. And then I read it and...eh. You ever eat a meal that didn't taste bad or make you sick, but was so bland that it made you wish you had tried something better? Yeah, that was this series. I didn't hate it. It didn't do anything that upset me. It just happened. I read it, not a whole lot of intriguing things happened, and then it was over. I think part of the problem for me is that unlike Bloodline (which was flawed, but captured Leia's character and dialogue perfectly), this book just didn't feel like Leia. I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe it was the dialogue or how the story tried a little too hard to make her not act like a traditional princess, but something about the characterization was just off to me. Oh well, the artwork is very nice for the most part.

11) Aftermath: Empire's End 5/10

12) Aftermath 3/10

Next up for me is the Rogue One Novelization and the Darth Vader Marvel Series

 

Updated list

Phasma
Heir to the Jedi
Battlefront: Twilight Company
A New Dawn
Battlefront II: Inferno Squad
Lords of the Sith
----------------------
Bloodline
Aftermath: Life Debt
Thrawn
Aftermath: Empire's End
AftermathCatalyst
Dark Disciple
Tarkin

*Everything under the line, you can skip and not bother reading.

 

Updated list

Phasma
Heir to the Jedi
Battlefront: Twilight Company
A New Dawn
Battlefront II: Inferno Squad
Lords of the Sith
----------------------
Bloodline
Aftermath: Life Debt
Thrawn
Aftermath: Empire's End
Aftermath
Catalyst
Dark Disciple
Tarkin

*Everything under the line, you can skip and not bother reading.
*Sorry for the repost. Catalyst wasn't in the row

 

I totally forgot to update this list
so here we go (comments only on the new books)

1. Lost Stars
2. Thrawn - I really enjoyed this book - discovering the Empire with Thrawn, fantastic characters, and a brilliant tie-in to s3 of Rebels - Thrawn's first scene with Pryce after the book looks completely different.
3. Battlefront: Twilight Company
4. A New Dawn
5. Bloodline
6. Tarkin
7. Catalyst
8. Leia: Princess of Alderaan - a very nice and quick read. Wonderful Breha, Bail not being so perfect, great teenage Leia and beautiful Alderaan. But most of all - Amilyn Holdo. I hope TLJ won't destroy her as a character. I liked the sweet and innocent romance and I liked all the foreshadowing. Watching certain scenes from ANH now is certainly much more painful
9. Guardians of the Whills - I liked this story and how funny and serious it was. I loved how Jedha stopped to be an anonymous city, but it got its voice. And amazing dialogues.
10. Battlefront - Inferno Squad - I was surprised how much I liked this book. A true prequel to the game, some nice TCW surprises and a connection to Rebel Rising. Another fun and quick read.
11. Servants to the Empire
12. Aftermath: Life Debt
13. Dark Disciple
14. Before the Awakening
15. Aftermath
16. Rebel Rising - very good book but so terribly depressing I had troubles to read it. Great story and it tells us a lot about Jyn (and makes R1 finale even worse). That's why it's so low in my ranking - I don't think I will ever come back to it.
17. Phasma - another good book but too... dark and brutal for me. But I really enjoyed how much we discovered about FO, all the names drops and how it ties with Aftermatch trilogy. But on the other hand I won't read it again.
18. Ahsoka
19. Aftermath: Empire's End - why so low? Because for me this book is the worst from the trilogy. I liked original characters but here they are all so annoying and sometimes just stupid I couldn't stand it. Also awful Mon Mothma, dumb Wedge and a story that promised to be so much more.
20. Lords of the Sith
21. Heir to the Jedi - nothing changed, tried to read it couple weeks ago and failed again.

 

1. Thrawn
2. Leia: Princess of Alderaan
3. Lost Stars
4. Bloodline
5. Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel
6. Rebel Rising
7. Phasma
8. A New Dawn
9. Battlefront II: Inferno Squad
10. Lords of the Sith
11. Dark Disciple
12. Aftermath: Empire's End
13. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Novelization)
14. A New Hope: The Princess, the Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy
15. Heir to the Jedi
16. Tarkin
17. Ahsoka
18. Aftermath: Life Debt
19. Return of the Jedi: Beware the Power of the Dark Side!
20. The Empire Strikes Back: So You Want to Be a Jedi?
21. The Force Awakens (Novelization)
22. Aftermath
23. Battlefront: Twilight Company
24. Smuggler's Run
25. The Weapon of a Jedi
26. Moving Target
27. The Perfect Weapon

 

I've read Ahsoka, All 3 Aftermath Novels, Tarkin, Thrawn, Lords of the Sith, Bloodlines, Heir to the Jedi, Catalyst to Rogue One and Currently reading Rebel Rising.

My favorites are:
Emperor's End: Aftermath
Tarkin
Thrawn
Lords of the Sith
Ahsoka


The others are okay, but so far these are my favorites