Lit GENERAL QUESTION THREAD (What to read? Where to start? What's canon? What's not? Duros, etc.)

Jeez! I didn't realize there were 19!! I read the first 6 or 7!

 

I don't know whether to be in awe of you, or afraid of you. Probably both.

 

Go with both. I read really fast most of the time. I think I read six other books that month, too....
But schoolwork has caught up to me this year (well, schoolwork and the boards), and I haven't been able to read much...
I haven't even gotten Scoundrels yet...


I think there are two or three short stories as well, making the total 21 stories, but 19 novels.

 

Yeah, there's, I believe, 2 novellas, which were reprinted in the paperback versions of Star by Star and The Joiner King. There's also a short story or two and a few Tales comic stories.

Additionally, Invasion is a comic series that takes place during the Yuuzhan Vong War, but that came out several years after the NJO concluded.

 

I'm about to finish Force Heretic III and should have the series finished by Monday. I think it will have taken me about a month, too. Maybe a bit less.

 

I feel rather... inadequate, now.

 

Well I only study part-time, and I travel a lot (lots of reading time) and I have a Kindle so it's rarely inconvenient to carry a book around. I guarantee that I am extremely privileged by my circumstances

 

Hi guys, I was in my loft the other day and found a few comics and I was wondering of they are worth reading and if I was to read them would I have to read the ones before in order to make sense of it? The ones I have are as followed;

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_Republic_61:_Dead_Ends

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Wars_Infinities:_Return_of_the_Jedi_2 (Obviously this a 4 part series so it would make sense to read all 4)

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Jedi:_Shaak_Ti (It would be cool if there were other one off Jedi ones for other characters such as Kit Fitso

I also have book type of thing; http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/X-wing_Rogue_Squadron:_The_Warrior_Princess
I think it is that but it is titled, X Wing Rogue Squadron; the warrior princess.


If these are worth a read, where is it possible to buy them as the ones I got was from a small independent comic shop which is sadly no longer there, there is a forbidden planet but they don't stock many Star Wars comics, especially the older ones from the Republic series.

I also have a lot of weekly magazines from about 10 years ago which I'm sure aren't part of the EU but could well be. They are made my Titan and Lucas books and some of the plots include; Vader vs Maul, Bounty Hunter Double (Aurra Sing and Jango Fett). From what I can tell, these are just weekly comics aimed at children but I could be wrong

 

It is part of a longer series, but that one can actually be read independently as it is pretty much self contained.

Pretty much, they recently made an Infinites TBP that collects all three of the Infinities stories (12 issues in total). Which you should be able to get through pretty much any bigger online comic retailer.

There are ones for Aayla, Mace, Dooku and Yoda. Though they are all more or less part of the Republic series which is pretty awesome and should be read together (there are TBPS for the whole series out there).
Jedi Shaak Ti can be read on its own but you might be confused by some of the characters that show up as they are part of the Republic series.

You seem to have gotten the Trade Paper Back version of it. It is pretty much in the middle of the X-Wings series, though still fun to read on its own.

Depends were you live, you can of course always go Dark Horse digital and buy them as online comics on their website, alternatively you can get the Trade Paper Backs that collect most of these stories from places like Amazon, as you already found the Wookieepedia links to the comics just check the entries as they mention which ones have been collected and under what name.

Sounds like the Star Wars Tales series, some of them are canon, many are not.

 

So my question is as simple as where to start? I know that, that's a terrible way to phrase it simply because there are so many options and places one could pick up reading.

I am very familiar with all six movies having seen each probably somewhere in the double digits and am currently working my way through TCW since I'm currently injured and bed ridden. However, I love reading and if i could find a few good books here I would love to get into the literary side of this universe.

As i stated I am very familiar with the characters and the movies and I'm trying to learn more about the ones introduced in TCW unsure if they resurface in other stories. The thing is I don't really knwo a good place to just pick up since so many of these books involve characters I've never even heard of. Do I just grab a series and start reading? Or is there a best place for new readers? Or maybe its user preference and I need to read some summaries about a few of the books... IDK?

 

It helps to have an idea of when in the timeline you want to start, for one thing.

If you want to know what happens to the film characters post-RotJ, the Thrawn Trilogy is a great choice, and a very good jumping-on point.
If you want a Clone Wars era book...
I haven't read any of the TCW spinoff books, only the older Clone Wars books (so no Ahsoka or anything in those), so I'm not sure what the best choices would be there...


Edit:Ninja'd

 

Thanks for the insight! I was thinking of probably starting with the Thrawn Trilogy since it will likely be most familiar to me but I am interested in that which came pre PT. I want to know more about where/how it all started. Sith V Jedi and all that jazz. Also, are any of the older Clone Wars books recommended? It would be cool to get a different perspective on that side as well.

 

The Revenge of the Sith novelization by Stover has (deservedly) earned wide praise, though it doesn't quite match up with how the Clone Wars have been established through the show.
Many like Shatterpoint, a Windu novel, and Labyrinth of Evil, which leads directly into RotS, and is generally considers to be part of a loose trilogy with the Stover Novelization and "Dark Lord: Th Rise of Darth Vader."

I personally think The Thrawn Trilogy is a great place to start, though, and then expand from there...

Edit: You Ninja! Again!
Oh yes, I left out Yoda: Dark Rendezvous, which is very good (but not really Yoda-centric).

 

Awesome! Thanks to you both, should give me a great place to start! And hopefully kill some of this mounting boredom that has held me prisoner for a week now!

 

And if something confuses you or you have questions, feel free to ask here. (Or look it up on Wookieepedia)

 

Shatterpoint is totally on my list of To Read books, now that I've read all the post-RotJ books I want to, which pretty much includes the Zahn books, the awful Jedi Academy and I, Jedi (I regret those), and all of NJO.

 

X-Wing! Read X-Wing!

 

Ugh, no! I can't stand Stackpole and I tried reading the first book and nearly fell asleep. Getting through I, Jedi was painful enough.

My first day on the boards I pretty much complained about Stackpole and Horn in three separate locations

 

Skip to the Allston ones, then!

 

I could, but from the Wraiths that popped up in NJO I can't say I found many of them particularly interesting, at least not so much I'd go read a whole series about them. Also, X-Wing seems to be really male-centric and it doesn't engage me as much as more diverse characters.

 

Starfighters of Adumar is generally considered one of, if not the, best of the EU novels.


It couldn't hurt to try Wraith Squadron.

There are female characters, too...

 

As someone working their way through TCW, I'd suggest having a look at the series tie-in novels. The movie novelization is quite good, as is the follow up Clone Wars: No Prisoners, which is mostly Captain Rex and Ahsoka-centric. Others have had good things to say about Wild Space (a primarily Obi-Wan-based adventure) and both Clone Wars: Gambit novels, Stealth and Siege, which feature Anakin and Obi-Wan primarily.

In the same era, but not tied into the television series, I recommend Shatterpoint, an excellent Mace Windu novel by one of Star Wars' greatest authors, Yoda: Dark Rendezvous, which features possibly the best Yoda characterization short of the movies themselves as he attempts to return Dooku to the light. There's also the Republic Commando novels, which are clone-centric and feature additional Mandalorian content, as well as the MedStar duology, Battle Surgeons and Jedi Healer, dealing with combat medics, Barriss Offee as a Jedi healer, and a general MASH in space vibe. Near the series' close, I'd highly recommend Labyrinth of Evil, which chronicles Anakin and Obi-Wan's last days of the war leading up to Revenge of the Sith, as well as the search for Darth Sidious and Grievous' assault on Coruscant. It serves as the perfect lead in to Revenge of the Sith, both the movie and the novelization, the latter of which most fans will agree is an absolute masterpiece, potentially even better than the movie itself.

If you like comics, then Dark Horse's Republic series Clone Wars-era issues would be a great read. The beginning of the run serves to document the early portion of the Clone Wars, before the television series picks up, and runs throughout the war, alongside and often just offscreen of the events seen in the show. Quinlan Vos, seen in Hunt for Ziro, is a prominent character in the series, along with other Jedi such as Aayla Secura, Mace Windu, and more than a few storylines featuring Obi-Wan and Anakin. TV series tie-in comics like In Service of the Republic, featuring Kit Fisto, Plo Koon, and Commander Wolffe are also decent.