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

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

Discussion in 'Literature' started by Master_Keralys, Jun 4, 2008.

  1. Random Comments

    Random Comments Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 25, 2012
    Toss in Survivor's quest before NJO...and Outbound flight, if you enjoyed it.
     
  2. 16AndPregnant

    16AndPregnant Jedi Knight star 1

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    Jan 19, 2013
    What is Jedi, I and The Black Fleet Crisis about? And is Tatooine Ghost worth reading?
     
  3. krtmd

    krtmd Jedi Master star 4

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    Sep 5, 2012
    I, Jedi is the only first person narrative novel in the EU. It's all about Corran Horn.

    The Black Fleet Crisis is set 16 ABY and is about a political conflict with the Yevetha. Leia is Chief of State, Han is Mr. Mom and Luke is on a quest to find out more about his mother. Lots of fleet junkie stuff.

    I personally loved Tatooine Ghost, but it's very Han and Leia centric and not everyone's cup of tea. It's a bit like a Phantom Menace travelogue tour of Tatooine hosted by the newly married Han and Leia.
     
  4. instantdeath

    instantdeath Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 22, 2010
    I, Jedi takes place during another trilogy, the Jedi Academy trilogy (JAT). That trilogy is about Luke starting a Jedi Academy, and being hindered by the spirit of an ancient Sith lord (from the Tales of the Jedi comic series). I, Jedi is an outsider perspective on the events of that trilogy. One thing it's notable for is that it's the only Star Wars novel to be entirely first person. It stars the main character from the X-wing series, though you don't have to read those to enjoy I, Jedi. I'd recommend reading the JAT first, even if the writing isn't the best thing in the world. I, Jedi is good enough that it actually makes the JAT better.

    I actually haven't gotten a chance to read the Black Fleet Crisis yet, so someone else will have to help you there, but it sounds very interesting. All I know is that it involves three plotlines. Both the Lando plot and the Leia plot are very well liked, but the Luke plot isn't quite as popular, since it deals with him trying to find more information about his mother, and since that came about before the prequels, you know ahead of time he can't find anything, so it's a bit of a dead end from the start.
     
  5. BoromirsFan

    BoromirsFan Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 16, 2010
    what books should I read before darth plagueis? I heard it reaches deep into the EU lore so I want to enjoy it to the fullest.
     
  6. Random Comments

    Random Comments Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 25, 2012
    Cloak of deception.

    Obviously see the movies. :p

    Maybe the Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter book.
     
  7. instantdeath

    instantdeath Jedi Grand Master star 5

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    Jul 22, 2010
    Plagueis references pretty much everything under the sun. Here are some big ones.

    - Various Old Republic stories are mentioned, but Darth Bane is a big one, so it might be worth reading his trilogy
    - The comic series Jedi Council: Acts of War plays an important part
    - Cloak of Deception
    - Most sources that feature Darth Maul. Luceno's own Saboteur, his two other Maul short stories (Restraint and End Game), the Darth Maul mini series, and Shadow Hunter. The Wrath of Darth Maul biography is a possibility as well.
    - Daniel Wallace's short story "Monster"
    - An arc in the Republic series of comics... I want to say it was Bloodlines)

    Those are the ones that play a fairly big part in the story (though it's written in a way where you don't have to read any of them if you don't want to). Beyond that, there are numerous shout outs. For example, there's a reference regarding Palpatine and landspeeders that you'll only catch if you read Karen Miller's books. There's even a shout out to an incredibly obscure Alan Moore comic from the 80's. I'd recommend reading the above, and if you want to catch every reference, have wookieepedia handy.
     
  8. Random Comments

    Random Comments Jedi Grand Master star 5

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    Sep 25, 2012
    These are enough to understand the plot, though.
     
  9. instantdeath

    instantdeath Jedi Grand Master star 5

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    Jul 22, 2010
    You really don't even need those to understand the plot (it's honestly not even a bad first EU novel), but he did mention that he "wanted to enjoy it to its fullest", so I thought I'd be specific. That said, Acts of War plays almost as big a part in the plot as the novels do, at least for the politically charged sections in the second half.
     
    Random Comments likes this.
  10. The Bornless One

    The Bornless One Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Feb 7, 2013
    Good evening, newbie here. I've been a Star Wars fan for a fair while now although just of the films. I have a various amount of the EU books including The Thrawn trilogy, The Jedi Academy trilogy and others such as the Han Solo and x-wing books. I've never read any EU books as I want to start at the best possible place, obviously there are 70 pages of opinions here but I don't want to trawl through them all. Would the best place to start be the thrawn trilogy? Or are the books set before and around Episode 1 best to start with in order to read everything chronologically?
    I am new so please forgive my ignorance and I would love any help to delve further into the world of Star Wars which I have grown to love over the last ten years
     
  11. Iron_lord

    Iron_lord Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    Depends on which period you want to know most about.

    The Thrawn Trilogy are an entertaining read IMO and fairly easy to get into.
     
  12. The Bornless One

    The Bornless One Jedi Youngling

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    Feb 7, 2013
    I'm not to familiar with anything outside of the films, are the periods?
     
  13. instantdeath

    instantdeath Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 22, 2010
    The Thrawn Trilogy is a great start. Zahn does a good job of capturing the voices of the characters from the original trilogy, and until the actual sequel trilogy comes out, it's pretty much the sequel trilogy.

    Is there a particular era you like? Do you prefer the classic era, the prequel era, or maybe the old republic? Any particular characters you want to read about? For some of the other books you listed as having, the Jedi Academy trilogy isn't all that great, but does introduce some long lasting characters. The Han Solo books are very fun, as are the X-Wing books. For some other suggestions, Darth Plagueis is worth checking out. Also, you can't go wrong with any Star Wars book with Matthew Stover's name on it; he's written a Mace Windu book, the superb novelization to Revenge of the Sith (which many believe is better than the movie), a book about Luke, Leia and Han, and a book about Jacen Solo (the son of Han and Leia), so you can take your pick there. If you like Darth Vader, you might want to check out Dark Lord: Rise of Darth Vader by James Luceno.

    For easy reference, here are the periods.

    The Old Republic era: This is what Ben Kenobi refers to in A New Hope, thousands of years before the movies. This is typically a great era if you like Jedi and Sith, as there are ton of them floating around. Some notable works here are Tales of the Jedi comics (not a fan myself) and the Knights of the Old Republic game and comic.

    Rise of the Empire era: Basically, everything shortly before the prequels, and the prequels themselves. After Revenge of the Sith is a short period called the "dark times", which usually features Vader in some way.

    Rebellion era: This one's pretty self explanatory. Everything surrounding the original trilogy.

    The New Republic era: The formation of the New Republic. Starts shortly after Return of the Jedi, ends about 14 years later.

    The New Jedi Order era: A massive book series, the New Republic that the last books have been building up comes crashing down when a race of alien invaders called the Yuuzhan Vong attack. Quite a few big characters die (you've probably heard at least one of them, but in case you haven't I won't spoil it).

    Legacy era: This is everything after the devastating Yuuzhan Vong War, as well as the Legacy comics, which take place over 100 years after A New Hope.
     
  14. The Bornless One

    The Bornless One Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Feb 7, 2013
    Wow, that was great help, thanks!

    I think what intrests me the most would the Rebellion era and the New Republic era as I would like to know what happens after ROTJ, so to start me off and to give a basic understanding would the Thrawn Trilogy be a good starting point?
     
  15. Random Comments

    Random Comments Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Sep 25, 2012
    Thrawn trilogy is about the best place to start there is.
     
  16. instantdeath

    instantdeath Jedi Grand Master star 5

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    Jul 22, 2010
    Alright. I'm just going to assume you're open to both novels and comics.

    If I were just to point to one thing to start with, I'd have it be the Thrawn trilogy. It was one of the first expanded universe novels (the only ones before it was a novel from the 70's, before even Empire Strikes Back came out, the Han Solo Adventures, which are incredibly fun and worth reading but aren't connected to much else, and the Lando Calrissian adventures. All you can say about those is that they're really, really weird). They really do feel like sequels to the original trilogy; the characters feel like themselves, but also have matured, especially Han. It also introduces Mara Jade, who becomes a very big player in later books.

    If you want a great standalone, check out Matthew Stover's Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor. In a deliberate departure from his normal style, which is usually quite dark, Mindor is intentionally a callback to old adventure serials, hence the somewhat hokey sounding title. It's incredibly fun but also has an unusual depth to it. This novel is all about a world weary Luke Skywalker retiring from the military so he can focus all of his attention to rebuilding the Jedi.

    Another fun book is Shadows of the Empire, which is notable for taking place between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. If you've wondered how Luke got from where he was at the end of Empire to the reasonably mature Jedi in Return, this novels the answer. Also has a really great Vader.

    The X-Wing series is very fun. It's mostly self contained, but does have some elements that are big for the rest of the universe, most notably establishing Wedge as a major character (though he already kind of was), introducing Corran Horn, and showing the New Republic take back Coruscant, the Empire's capital.

    A comic series called Dark Empire. This series is controversial, because it has Palpatine cloned, and leaves a lot of important events off-screen. That said, it's pretty important, so I'd recommend reading it. A ton of people report being confused reading Jedi Academy, because it mentions events from this comic series.

    The Jedi Academy are okay light novels, but there are some annoying things about them. However, there's another book called I, Jedi that takes place during the events of the trilogy from another perspective. It's notable for being the only Star Wars book to be entirely first person, and stars a character from the X-Wing books.

    And that will get you started. What follows from there is a stretch of books that feel odd compared to a lot of the rest of the Star Wars universe; in particular, they feel much more "sci-fi". Some of them are pretty good, some aren't, but if you want you can easily skip from I, Jedi to Timothy Zahn's next books, the Hand of Thrawn. That closes off the era, with the war between the New Republic and Empire officially ending. The New Jedi Order series begins a few years later.
     
    Manisphere likes this.
  17. Random Comments

    Random Comments Jedi Grand Master star 5

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    Sep 25, 2012
    Also, read Survivor's Quest before NJO. Your last spark of happiness before the chaos and misery.
     
    BoromirsFan likes this.
  18. The Bornless One

    The Bornless One Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Feb 7, 2013
    I actually have a lot of comics in the loft, I used to read them when I was 8 or so but they've been in there a while now, I will have to pull them out.

    I think I will definitely start with The Thrawn trilogy and go from there, thanks for all the help, although I'm not the fastest of readers so I could be some time...
     
  19. Manisphere

    Manisphere Jedi Master star 5

    Registered:
    Aug 25, 2007
    After The Thrawn Trilogy and maybe I, Jedi, you can pretty much go anywhere in the post Return of the Jedi era. The NJO, my favorite series, included. When I started reading the EU, I felt I had to go in order. That I had to read every post ROTJ book in order. I found it just isn't necessary. I'd read the Hand of Thrawn duology long after reading The NJO and LOTF. Don't feel constrained is all. There are some real boring books pre NJO. You don't have to read everything.

    It does but reading books just to prepare for Plagueis isn't necessary for enjoying Plagueis to it's fullest. Seeing the TPM is the most important source for this novel. You can read Cloak of Deception and Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter (which I highly recommend) later. Reading Plagueis first does enhance all of the other novels and comics referenced in the book. It works both ways.
     
  20. BoromirsFan

    BoromirsFan Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 16, 2010
    I haven't gotten very far in Plagueis but it hasn't been very thrilling so far. In fact I am severely disappointed. I expected so much based on this board's praise. It is picking up in the part I am now, when he flashes his red blade onto the unfortunate crew members. I don't know, I just find Plagueis to be fairly interesting, and Tenebrous to be lame. I hope Palpatine will make up for it later on in the book.
     
  21. Gorefiend

    Gorefiend Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Oct 23, 2004
    I have to admit I did not like the book as much as other have (not a big fan of stories mainly about the Force) though yes the Palpatine parts also struck me as more entertaining, especially his rise to power. If you like the writing style though I highly recommend Cloak of Deception, as it is much more about action, intrigue an adventure (one of the main characters the story follows is a pirate for hire) and less about the Force.
     
  22. BoromirsFan

    BoromirsFan Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 16, 2010
    I very much enjoyed Cloak of Deception, Labyrinth of Evil and Dark Lord by Luceno. I guess the hype made me think the book would be godlike from the getgo.
     
  23. jedimikey

    jedimikey Jedi Padawan star 2

    Registered:
    Oct 21, 2012
    I, Jedi is an excellent book. One of my personal favorites. Corran is my favorite Jedi to this day.

    Corran Horn ROXOR.
     
  24. BoromirsFan

    BoromirsFan Jedi Master star 4

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    May 16, 2010
    For future reference, should I Jedi be read before or after the X-wing books since Horn is in them?
     
  25. Force Smuggler

    Force Smuggler Force Ghost star 7

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    Sep 2, 2012
    After. X-Wing starts place 2 1/2 years after ROTJ. I Jedi takes place 7 years after ROTJ