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

Yep, Zahn is how I got into the EU as well. In wrapping up NJO, though, I realize how little pre-OT EU novels I have read.

 

Does anyone know in which book series does Pellaeonfind the Mandators and other dreadnoughts?

 

Not in a book series, just a comment in the Essential Guide to Warfare.

 

Ah... That's where I read it in the first place, and it sounded interesting.

 

Given that most of the action takes place in the SW equivalent of a field hospital, it's not surprising.

 

Not an "EU" book" otherwise I would also have picked it.

 

A case could be made that even movie novelisations are EU books - because they expand on the universe of the movies- including little scenes and snippets that the movies do not. And of course providing a window into the minds of the characters by showing us their thoughts.

 

Agreed. I especially liked the scenes with Jango and Boba in the AOTC novel. I thought it added to their characters a bit.

 

Yoda's conversation with Qui-Gon springs to mind as one of the scenes that especially expands the movie:

He spoke softly, but not to himself.
Though no-one was with him, he was not alone.
"My failure, this was. Failed the Jedi, I did."
He spoke to the Force.
And the Force answered him. Do not blame yourself, my old friend.
As it sometimes had these past thirteen years, when the Force spoke to him, it spoke in the voice of Qui-Gon Jinn.
"Too old I was. "Yoda said. "Too rigid. Too arrogant to see that the old way is not the only way. These Jedi, I trained to become the Jedi who had trained me, long centuries ago- but those ancient Jedi, of a different time they were. Changed, has the galaxy. Changed, the Order did not- because let it change, I did not."
More easily said than done, my friend.
"An infinite mystery is the Force." Yoda lifted his head and turned his gaze out into the wheel of stars. "Much to learn, there still is."
And you will have time to learn it.
"Infinite knowledge..." Yoda shook his head. "Infinite time, does that require."
With my help, you can learn to join with the Force, yet retain consciousness. You can join your light to it forever, Perhaps in time, even your physical self.
Yoda did not move. "Eternal life..."
The ultimate goal of the Sith, yet they can never achieve it; it comes only by the release of self, not the exaltation of self. It comes through compassion, not greed. Love is the answer to the darkness.
"Become one with the Force, yet influence still to have..." Yoda mused. "A power greater than all, it is."
It cannot be granted; it can only be taught. It is yours to learn, if you wish it.
Slowly, Yoda nodded. "A very great Jedi Master you have become, Qui-Gon Jinn. A very great Jedi Master you always were, but too blind I was to see it."
He rose, and folded his hands before him, and inclined his head in the Jedi bow of respect.
The bow of the student, in the presence of the Master.
"Your apprentice, I gratefully become."

 

Anything Captain Needa is in is epic

 

Wait, that was supposed to be the same Captain Needa?

Gosh, he aged pretty well, didn't he?

 

I always figured he was in his early 20es at the Battle of Coruscant, as the the actor who played him was 38ish when ESB was shoot.

 

New to the EU. Any comics/novels that focus on clone troopers specifically or at least heavily feature them? I'm aware of the Republic Commando series, but that's all I know of.

 

The Cestus Deception is mostly about the clone Jangotat. The Clone Wars: No Prisoners puts Rex a bit more in the spotlight. And there's a 4 book YA series (Breakout Squad) all about a squad of clones and the Jedi Padawan that works with them.

 

If ROTS isn't sufficiently EU,

 

Thanks. I'll check those out. The Cestus Deception in particular sounds interesting.

 

I love how Needa calls Grievous out on his claims to have the Supreme Chancellor, over the Holonet.
"So ah, General, can I speak to Palps to make sure he is okay?"
"Umm..."
Turns off comm.

 

Interestingly, 3 of those books have been the ones I've chosen to read after a long hiatus from reading SW novels (though I've continued to dabble in the comics). Darth Plagueis and Kenobi were a blast...and now I've recently started Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor. It's been helping to keep at bay the anxious waiting for Episode VII.

 

This is the real portrayal of Revenge of the Sith the movie is good but the book is better.

 

I want to thank everyone for suggesting a couple of EU books. I'll check them out before I start my new Stephen King novel. Now, I am currently reading Shadows of the Empire and while I admit that the story is far more interesting than I actually thought it would be, there are a couple of things there that immediately remind me that I am reading a book and which, I don't know, take me out of the story completely. Fans of Stephen King will know what I mean (Look, mom! No hands!) when I say stuff that reminds me that I am reading. Like the scene where Lando is making beans for Luke and Leia… wait… what? Beans? Really? Or the scene where one of the Rogue Squadron pilots says something about making some tea for the rest of the guys in the team… yeah… tea… want some lemon and non fat milk with that? Or like when Xizor is talking to his aide and the author says something about how great she looks from behind. Is this some alien we're talking about or some guy with raging hormones who finds it hard to keep his thing in his pants? I mean, don't get me wrong, I like Shadows of the Empire, otherwise I'd have stopped reading it, which I always do when I don't like a book, I'm not one of those readers who just keeps reading even if they dislike the book, anyway, I like it, but words like tea, beans and references to female characters' behinds are not exactly Star Warsy to me and remind me way too much of Earth. Didn't this happen a long time ago in a galaxy far far away? So… they have beans and tea there?