Back at the NJO...help please!

I have been away from the EU for a bit now and would like to come back to the NJO series. I started it years ago but never finished it. I got through the first four or five books of the series but am curious if anyone has any recomendations on where to start back? I hear "Star By Star" is great. Would I be lost to just pick it up and start reading? Thanks for your help peeps

 

If it's been a couple of years, I suggest starting from the beginning. Vector Prime. A lot of people on the forums here will tell you that only a few books and duologies here and there, but I think for the very last book, The Unifying Force to have a larger impact you should read them all. Someone will dispuit this, but thats just my two cents. I enjoyed all of them.

 

Depends on where you left off. Don't really worry about where to pick up. Each book is designed to be able to be understood without doing a load of back reading.

Here is my old tried and true Essentials list for the NJO:

Vector Prime R.A. Salvatore-It's the first book so missing the setup for the whole series would be a mistake. Read it. *Essential*

Dark Tide I: Onslaught Michael Stackpole-
Dark Tide II: Ruin Michael Stackpole- This series is truly excellent and important in setting up and understanding things to come. Many love this duology. A few don't think it's Stackpole at his best.

Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial James Luceno
Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse James Luceno-Fine books that center on Han and overcoming his grief. Not a 'Must read" for this series. I read them years later though. Very fun books!

Balance Point Kathy Tyers-I skipped this one as well first time around. Although it was a hardcover it was skippable as the next series which is amazing recaps Balance Point quite well. (You can skip this one if you plan on reading Edge of Victory I&II)

Edge of Victory I: Conquest Greg Keyes
Edge of Victory II: Rebirth Greg Keyes-Get both of these and read 'em. They are both amazing and IMO *Essential*.

Star by Star Troy Denning-This monster of a book is dead center in the series and it is NOT to be missed under any circumstances.*Essential*

Dark Journey Elaine Cunningham-Skip it. Its events are recapped in the next series which is a great one. This is a Jaina novel but little happens. It's a tad more adolescent in theme than some of the other books.

Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream Aaron Allston
Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand Aaron Allston-This series brings back much needed laughs. It has the most old fashioned Star Wars feel
to them of all books in this series. Don't skip them. They may not be technically essential but they are among the best in the NJO.

Traitor Matthew Stover- Don't miss this one. It's one of the most important books in the EU altogether and it's genius. *Essential*

Destiny's Way Walter Jon Williams-Generally well regarded and utterly necessary in beginning to wrap up this arc. *Essential*

Force Heretic I: Remnant Sean Williams & Shane Dix
Force Heretic II: Refugee Sean Williams & Shane Dix
Force Heretic III: Reunion Sean Williams & Shane Dix -I skipped all of the Force Heretic novels and missed nothing. They just
weren't really my thing. (skippable)

The Final Prophecy Greg Keyes- Second Last book. You Can't miss it!*Essential* and quite good.
The Unifying Force- James Luceno. This is where it all comes together and ends. Last book so you can't miss this one either not to mention it's brilliant! *Essential*

 

I've always had trouble accepting the Yuzhan Vong as an enemy. I have always been big on the Empire vs Rebellion which is what always made it difficult for me to get into the NJO. Anyone wanna help quell my anxiety over this?! haha

 

What do you mean? The Yuuzhan Vong might not be the Empire or the Sith, but they are fantastic villains. They've been cut off from the Force, and they try to enter back into symbiosis with the Force in the only two ways left to them: pain, and death. They're a religious, fanatic culture, they sacrifice and torture, they transfigure themselves in unnatural ways, they worship pain and a pantheon of imaginary gods and godesses, have a very segregated society with different family clans and a caste system. They hate technology, and only use living things their scientists "shape" for use, even their ships are alive.

They are very different from the Empire, but that's what makes them such great villains, in that they aren't another attempt of authors to copy the Empire but instead the authors try for something completely new and unique. It helps you better appreciate the Empire more. And the Empire does make an appearance in the NJO, and play an important role, helping the New Republic and making the Empire even stronger in the process.

 

Ahem, he hasn't gotten far enough to know about the whole outside the Force thing. But yeah, I agree that the Vong are such great villains. Fighting the Empire is all good and fun, but it can get old after twenty years...

 

We know from VECTOR PRIME that the Vong are outside the Force? I don't think I spoiled anything.

 

Cut off from the Force is different wording from outside of the Force haha.

 

Excellent reply, Manisphere. I don't agree 100%, but a very good overall view of the NJO novels.

I struggled with the NJO as a whole because of the Vong. To me, they came across as some sort of hybrid between Star Trek and Spawn (Star Wars should NEVER resemble anything from that stuff). That, and they felt like the typical alien villians that popped up everywhere in the late 90's. I was waiting for Marvel's Apocalypse or Thanos to show up next.

 

Pre Character derailment I would agree with you, but now i think these books are essential in cementing Jacen personality and showing whe he was not a ticking time bomb.

 

Those are the only books of the NJO I skipped -- maybe I read the first one -- but I just found however much I read of it so bad I couldn't go on. I didn't feel I missed anything essential.

 

It is the weakest of Keyes entries and when I read it for the first time I thought it was stalling the story. I just wanted to get to TUF. Thing is Keyes' weakest entry is still pretty good material. I think the book is very important if you skipped the whole of the Force Heretic Trilogy, something a lot of us did. So is it really essential? Maybe not. But after trilogies and duologies and "officially" important hardcovers I found The Final Prophecy a small, tight, and engaging story at the tail end of of the NJO juggernaut. It's the calm before the TUF storm and I think it was also the last time I was to really like Tahiri.

I'd give it another go if it weren't such tough tough slugging.

 

Personally, where Jacen was concerned the FH books were infuriating, in contrast, BP was an excellent character study where he worked well as a character that I could understand and even like.

 

I'd say skim them; there are a few rather good scenes in them to warrant reading those bits, but the filler (there's a lot) isn't much interesting

 

the njo series is the best series ever written in star wars history. the only skipable book in my opinion is Dark Tide 1. where han is all broken up about chewey.


if nothing else got to www.njoe.com and read the summaries of each book

 

i have about 100 pages left in TUF and for the most part i would say u can read the series in about 10 books, vector prime, dark tide I & II, balancepoint, edge of victory I & II, star by star, destinys way, the final prophecy, and the unifying force. the rest of them were very skippable, including traitor which is the most over hyped book in the EU imo. overall though i have really enjoyed the series and being a hardcore SW fan who was always a purist and stuck to the movies i started reading the EU about 3 years ago and NJO is great i recommend reading it

 

I'm a fast reader so slow paced books are no problem for me. True they were not dynamic novels, but they do show Jacen as Jacen, it really captures his personality.

He fights only as a reasonably last action, So yes. As things are not falling apart around him he stays his blade more often than not.

It is also important in the resolution of the Tahiri/Rinna plot.

You might feel its a slog, But for Tahiri and Jacen I would say it is important.