Lit New Jedi Order question

That's interesting, because Obi-Wan and Anakin were kind of just thrown in there when they probably shouldn't have been, just to increase book sales. I see it worked lol.
Cheeky, cheeky Del Rey.

 

The scene where Palpatine got mad at Anakin being there was interesting, but the rest just seemed like filler.
Zahn signed on to right a Car'das/Thrawn/C'baoth/Doriana book, but Del Rey figured it wouldn't sell enough without any movie characters.

 

To be fair, in Outbound Flight Obi-Wan did get a few good lines early in the book, when speaking to C'Baoth's padawan. I especially liked his comment on "Force potential" (which is an incredibly fitting for someone like Obi-Wan, who went from a kid who was bound for the Agricultural corps to Council Member, to say), plus it was an effective illustration in just how much C'Baoth sucks at being a master. Plus it's a bit of an amusing joke, considering C'Baoth was originally intended to be a mad clone of Obi-Wan.

 

I would also read The Hand of Thrawn Duology, especially if you read the Thrawn Trilogy.

hmnn. i can't relate to anyone who did not love the Thrawn trilogy. I felt that the hand of Thrawn Duology was crucial, in the fact that these are the books where Luke and Mara get closer and it leads to their marriage. Her speech to Luke in VOTF is annoying and only partially correct, but it sets up a relationship dynamic. The end of the book is so awesome in what happens to Luke and Mara. This alone makes the Duology worth reading. If you love Mara Jade at all, this is a must read.

I liked Outbound Flight. This and it's companion, "Survivor's Quest" are interesting reads.

 

Eh, you don't really need to read the HoT to read the NJO. The essentials of the HoT are easily picked up in the NJO, and imo you're not missing out on any crucial in depth details or back story.

Mara and Luke get married. The galactic civil war is over. The New Republic is terrible, which you'll see plenty of in the NJO. Aaaaaaaaaaaand go.

You really don't need to read anything to read the NJO. Watch the OT. Luke marries Mara, you'll learn about her. Han and Leia get married and have three kids, you'll learn about them. The Empire is defeated and signs a treaty with the New Republic. Aaaaaaaand go.

What else is there? Anakin has a friend named Tahiri. You'll learn about her. There's this guy named Kyp, he went on a dark side driven path of destruction, but came back. You'll be reading about him, too.

You're really not missing anything crucial, it shouldn't be hard to catch up on things. The writers do a good job explaining past events and character back story when it's necessary. They make it very easy for new readers to jump in. They do this for the succeeding series as well.

Despite being one continuity (allegedly), most of the books in the EU stand alone fairly well. Familiarity with the rest of the EU certainly adds to the experience, but it's not necessary.

 

Yeah, I'd argue you don't have to read anything to understand anything in the EU. It's just that, being a shared universe, that cohesiveness can be a nice bonus. Hell, I remember when I first read the JAT, I was addicted to it; despite the bad writing and psychopathic characters, it was made better because he was referencing stuff, and most important of all, I knew that characters introduced in the trilogy were going to be important later. There was something fun about discovering that Star Wars is so much bigger than the `movies, and then seeing that universe actually unfold. Back then, it wasn't "oh crap, the introduction of Kyp Durron", it was "cool, the introduction of Kyp Durron, I hear this guy is important later".

If tie-in fiction can be said to have any strength, it's that the works sometimes can complement each other and make themselves more enjoyable because of it, even the truly sub-par stuff. I loved Luceno's Darth Plagueis, but at the same time, I'm very hesitant to recommend that to someone new to the SW universe, since I find it's greatest strength is unifying so many dangling threads of the EU. That novel is dense, in a manner that puts even most epic fantasy novels to shame (I know I have a much easier time remembering all the names and houses in a Song of Ice and Fire novel than in catching all the references in Plagueis without wookieepedia). It honestly feels like a history book at times, and I mean that as a compliment.

My point: you can probably read the NJO without even ever having seen the movies. But you might get some added enjoyment. It's all up to you.

 

I definitely agree, but if someone asks "do I have to", my answer would be no. If you don't want to, if you're not particularly interested, go ahead and skip to what you are interested in. You can always go back later. Everyone starts somewhere.

I was actually about to mention possibly wanting to read JAT to get the background on Kyp before heading into the NJO, but then I saw that the TS had already read it. I wasn't sure if the NJO did a proper job catching up on the character. It might have, but I don't remember. Kyp was the one possible exception that stood out to me.

Despite the ridiculous amount of EU references in Plagueis, I think it might possibly (or not) be better for someone new, because it might get them interested in other books. It might have the same effect the Clone Wars mention in the OT had. Personally, as someone who was already familiar with the stories being referenced, those references in such massive quantities actually hurt the experience, imo.

 

I think it depends on what kind of reader you are. I see Darth Plagueis recommended as a first SW novel a lot, which is understandable considering it's a pretty inherently interesting topic only touched upon in the films, and I could see it that way, but I know for me it wouldn't have been a great starting place. One thing the novel unarguably does well is make the SW universe feel large, so I suppose that could be just interesting background noise while one focuses on the story, but I've always been the type of person that likes to catch every possible reference. It's why I waited so many years before ever picking up a Marvel or DC comic. The prospect of digging through over 50 years of continuity was way too much of a commitment for me. Now, I realize, you don't have to. Just pick up somewhere. Even so, I still get annoyed every time I don't catch a reference.

For me, no Star Wars novel ever written, save perhaps Brian Daley's Han Solo Adventures, has ever made the GFFA seem more vast than Plagueis, and those two for very different reasons. The HSA obviously had lots of crazy aliens that have never been seen again, and Han gets to travel to lots of exotic worlds, but Plagueis was big on a more, well, let's say "conservative" for lack of a better word, level. It didn't invent that much, in the grand scheme of things, but it brought things together on a ridiculous level. One thing Luceno does incredibly well is take things from other works, and not just use them as throwaway mentions, but as part of the plot, a perfect example being that Senator from the Republic comics. Maybe I'm weird, but I actually had fun wookieepediaing the crap out of Plagueis when I first got it. I'm not completely averse to the idea of a new continuity with the ST, but I will miss this feeling of cohesiveness that really isn't present in any other fictional universe that I'm aware of.

But obviously, when I first read Plagueis I was pretty familiar with the SW galaxy. I'm sure it functions just as well as a book about two Sith being cool and stuff.

 

The NJO may actually be better without JAT, as far as Kyp is concerned. The way he's introduced doesn't have a ton to do conceptually with the JAT, and you get the explanatory references to his background only as his background becomes relevant to other characters' distrust of him. As far as catch-up on Kyp goes, Darksaber has its own value as a take on the penitent, but still brash post-JAT Kyp, who has more in common with NJO Kyp than the Kyp at the end of JAT, who's still in the mode of being hollowed-out after his big mistake right at the start of his Jedi career. It's key backstory, but it also doesn't tell you where Kyp goes, and as such doesn't get you a connection to the character you see later. Simple Tricks is also worth reading, as far as Kyp characterization goes.