EU books

I have never really gotten into the EU, but I would like to begin. What books do you folks recommend for reading? Any that really stand out? I've heard Shadows of the Empire is good.

 

Well, it's a matter of personal taste, but Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy (Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising and The Last Command) is probably the best place to start. They're also among the best.

My personal favorite is the X-Wing series by Michael A. Stackpole and Aaron Allston.

YubYub and TG- Protecting fangirls from hormonally gifted fanboys since 2002

 

In the Bantam Novels: anything by Timothy Zahn, Mike Stackpole, and Aaron Allston.

NJO: Vector Prime, Dark Tide Duology, Star by Star, Traitor, and possibly Destiny's Way. Oh, and after they come out, Final Prophecy and Unifying Force.

Clone Wars: Shatterpoint

Recent EU: Tatooine Ghost and Survivor's Quest ( Feb. '04)

 

I'd advise against reading any of the New Jedi Order (NJO) until you're a bit more familiar with the charactors that are introduced in the Bantam books (which all take place before the NJO).

I'm not sure, but to me it seems that there are so many charactors to know that you'd be lost without being well read.

I also recommend the Zahn Trilogy.

 

Read them all in chronological order.

 

I'd recommend the Thrawn trilogy by Zahn. It was the first set of EU novels written, and are a great introduction into the Star Wars Expanded Universe

 

Zahn's trilogy was not the first set of EU novels, not by a long shot.

 

I am doing just that, Bib. I am currently on Mandalorian Armour.

 

if you've got Shadows of the Empire, read it.. it's good and fun, although not as deep as some of the other works. it's a good start since you are already familiar with most of the cast and setting as it takes place between ESB and ROTJ, with a few new heroes and villains.

hmmm... what would be the best book for someone to start into the EU, if they were most into the prequel era?
Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter
Cloak of Deception
The Approaching Storm
Shatterpoint
???

 

Bib: Fine, fine, the first that was set after ROTJ.

 

Why do folks continue to think TTT was the first set of EU novels? And why do they think they were the first post RoTJ novels? February 1978, the first purely EU novel, Splinter of the Mind's Eye, was released. And according to my copy, which is from the ninth printing released in August of that year, it came out in hardcover, being perhaps the first hardcover SW book. April of '78 was the first paperback printing. One year after the first paperback printing of SotME (April 1979), Han Solo at Star's End came out. November of '79 saw Han Solo's Revenge. And the final book of the original Han Solo trilogy, Han Solo and the Lost Legacy, was released in 1980. May 25, 1983 saw the release of Return of the Jedi to movie theaters and July, October, and December each saw the release of a different book in the Lando Calrissian Adventures (Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu in July, Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon in October, and Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of ThonBoka in December). It would be June 1991 before Zahn ever had a SW book released, by which time he was neither the first to write in the EU nor the first to have an EU book released after RoTJ. He was merely among the first of the 1990s.

 

But it was the first one set CHRONOLOGICALLY after RotJ. Which is what I think he was saying.

 

Thanks you, Fettster

 

Start with the first three Timothy Zahn novels (Heir, Rising, Command)...they're probably the best intro to the post-Jedi SW universe out there, plus they don't have as much of the retroactive backstory baggage that some of the later books would add.

Great stuff.

 

i wonder if its realy wrong and sad that iv read almost all of the EU books except the Thrawn trilogy

 

DarthKurt yes that is really sad!

 

No, it's not sad in the least that you have not read TTT. From one perspective it lets you have "new" EU material to read. From another it means you don't have to deal with uber villian for whom it is a surprise the heros could even defeat.

 

I read the Jedi Apprentice 1-9, the Darth Maul-Shadow Hunter, the Rogue planet, the Paradise snare, the Hutt gambit, the Splinter of the Mind's eye, the Thrawn-trilogy, the Children of the Jedi, the Planet of twilight, the Crystal star, the New Rebellion, the Specter of the past, the Vision of the future, and from the New Jedi Order the Vector Prime, the Onslaught, the Ruin, the Hero's trial and the Jedi eclipse.
I hate the NJO, I think it's a normal fantasy story, and it isn't Star Wars. Chewbacca's and Anakin Solo's death, the woods on Coruscant, Lord Nyax and much blood...

 

Well, Knight, I preffered the "uber villain" to all the uber weapons in some of the other books.

I'd start with Shadows of the Empire or Heir to the Empire

 

I agree LordExar. NJO Is NOT SW! It is a perversion of what SW used to be.

 

Sorry. The NJO is a stupidity. I say that, too

 

Or if you want to start at the very begining( I know they aren't books) Tales of the Jedi TPB, and the J vs. S TBP set up some stuff for other books.

 

If you want to start from right after the OT, I would say 'Truce at Bakura' then 'Courtship of Princess Leia'. Jedi Academy trilogy is pretty necessary if you want to read the NJO, as is the Zahn trilogy and duology.

NJO is okay, but if you love SW, it just gives you something to read.