Age of EU Readers

I am 51 and I started reading the Thrawn Trilogy when they came out, then nothing else until ROTS came out in 2005. That absolutely jumpstarted my interest when I read Stover's novelization of the movie. I now have read every novel and comic and continue to love it all!

 

Can I just say, this is a great thread! This is something I've been wondering about without even knowing I was wondering about! And it's really intriguing and occasionally surprising to see what all everybody's ages are.

 

Well im 23 and read Heir to the Empire when i was 12. I read a few other EU books for the next few years but i was 15 before i managed to get a copy of the last two books of the Thrawn Trilogy.
Its really only been the last few years that ive gotten into the EU, starting with the NJO and then working my way back from there.

 

19, and I just had my tenth anniversary of my fandom earlier this year. More than half my life, and hardcore all the way through. Is that good?

 

Well I'll be 22 in about 40 minutes (Eastern US time) and I have been technically into the EU all my life, as I grew up watching my older brother's Ewoks and Droids cartoons on VHS. But yeah, as far as actually READING EU, that would be Dark Empire when it first came out. I'm sure back then I was just looking at the pictures, but I eventually read it and was hooked

 

To tell the truth, I don't really remember what I thought at the time and my only thoughts about it now are wondering if she saw Hayden or Sebastian.

 

Whoa, I actually checked the dates and I've been reading the EU for twelve years... That's over half my life. When I was eight I was given a paperback version of "The Courtship of Princess Leia" and then... Well, the rest is history.

 

I'm 23, and I started reading about 10 years ago, with the YJK series. I was very much in love with them, so that was probably why I was so upset with the NJO, and thus chose not to read it.

Anyway, when I was about 14 or 15, I also read Truce at Bakura, Courtship of Princess Leia and the Thrawn trilogy, but strangely, I stopped after that, and have only just started reading them again. I also enjoyed the Jedi Prince series, but now of course I see how juvenile they are. Still a decent read though, especially for kids. So is the Galaxy of Fear series.

 

Wow - exactly like me.

 

I'm 24 and I started reading EU books when I was about 15-16, I lived in the middle of nowhere so they were hard to come by until I started ordering them off the internet
I started with the Han Solo Trilogy too, shortly followed by things like I, Jedi and tales from the new republic.

Great thread by the way, nice to see i'm in good company

 

34

Just kidding. I did all my crying when I first entered middle age back when I turned 30 .

And while it's nice that there are plenty of other 30 somethings here, I still can't help but feeling a little like an uncle around here. Especially over in the art forum where so many of them younglings are producing such amazing work. To paraphase Palpatine: "They are going to become more powerful then all of us!"

Anyway, my introduction to the EU would have to be the hardcover of Zahn's "Dark Force Rising", that my father had gotten for me. While I saw when "Heir to the Empire" was first released at my bookstore, back then, buying hardcovers was just something I didn't do. Paying $20 for a book? Now I think back at those times as the "good ol days." I read the first 2 chapters of DFR and forced myself to stop until I read HTTE, which thankfully just coming out on paperback. So I read through both volumes in less than a week (yeah, I'm a slow reader, don't rub it in). Luckily during the torture of waiting the 9 months until "The Last Command" came out I found my very old hand-me down copy of "Splinter of the Mind's Eye" which I had never read and actually turned out to be a pretty good read. From then on I got pretty much all the hardcovers and paperbacks up until Zahn's 2-part Thrawn books, but by that time I was already veering away from them. Didn't even read those books until about 4 years ago so I pretty much missed the whole New Jedi Order, though couldn't avoid the news when Chewie was killed off. It wasn't until the release of Sacrifice and finding out about (SPOILERS) that brought me back to the EU. Betrayal is so far my first book, so I've got a lot of catching up to do.

Joseph B

 

I'm turning 26 in less than 30 days. I don't know exactly when I started in the EU; the first one I recall reading is "The Crystal Star" . . . which put me off reading the series for a while. I do know that one was brand new when I read it.


Dana

 

I'm 24. I started with 'Heir to the Empire' in the 8th grade. I think I was 13 years old. I borrowed a sack full of Star Wars books from my older cousin and devoured them all. Subsequently, he would lend me each new release after he finished reading it. The first SW book I bought was 'Darksaber' in paperback.

 

I'm 37 (38 in October). I actually never read any of the books until after watching RotS and going "That's it? There's no more SW." I really wanted to know the rest of the story. I love the movies and since I began reading so late, I stared from the "beginning". At least of what I precieved as the beginning with Cloak of Deception. I read most of the books from that point on up to LotF in order of the time line. Which in of itself has been intersting. My favorite SW books have been the RotS novelization, the TTT, SbS, DW, TUF and I've enjoyed the LotF series thus far.

So, I've only really been reading EU for two years. But in that two years I've read probably somewhere around 50 to 70 books. However, I haven't read any of the YJK stuff or the comics. And surprising, despite my love for the movies, my favorite EU is the post-RotJ and beyond.


FL

 

22 now. Technically I guess the first EU I read was the original Star Wars novelization (not titled ANH) at 11 or 12. However, I didn't really get into reading EU until after AOTC, so I would have been 17. I can't recall whether I read Republic #50 or Shatterpoint first, but it was one of them.

 

I'm 17 now, I started reading EU around 8 or 9 with the Qui-gon/Obi-Wan series of young adult novels that started before/during the release of TPM.

 

i'm 18 and i've been reading EU since i was 10. started with the Trawn Trilogy.

 

I'm 15 now and I started to read with 12 I think.
I found a sw book on a little market and thought 'oh, there are sw books?'
So I bought and read it, it was the third book of the thrawn trilogy and after that I had tor ead the first two books.
then, I couldn't stop

 

I am just about to turn 30 years old and have been reading Star Wars for about 10 years now. I started in 1997, when a friend bought me Jedi Search.

 

I read legac< and I am 21 next wek 22 years old

 

I was 11 when I found SW in general and the EU in particular with Jedi Search. I've been addicted ever since.
Right now, 16 going on 17.
Hmm... one of few teenagers...

 

19 started with Thrawn

This is unexpected...So many older people and barely any younger. Makes me feel better. I know ill be still buying into this stuff when im 26..32..56..157....re-reading NJO for the 27th time..... Good to see that I won't be alone. This is cool.

 

I am 19 and have been reading SW since I picked up The Glove of Darth Vader in first grade at the age of 6 ('94).

 

I'm 26, and the first SW book I read was a kiddie version of ANH back in 1992; when I was struggling(and failing ) to learn English. But I truly started reading EU in 1999, beginning with HTTE.

Damn, I feel old

 

12 when I first embraced the EU. At 22, I still haven't kicked the habit.