One Man's Journey through the EU: A Journal from the Road

So here's the deal. I've read here and there in the EU for a long time, skipping around, etc. Read a lot of it.

But I've recently become enamored of the Interlibrary Loan System, so I've come up with a plan: Read the entire thing. In order.

Now, granted, that's impossible. Some short stories haven't been reprinted yet in any form that I can get through ILL and with new entries coming out all the time, it'll be sunk before it even starts.

However, I'm going to do it. By virtue of being the Official Timeline of TF.N, I'm going to use, well, The Ultimate Timeline of TF.N. It's flawed, yes, and constantly undergoing revisions and such, but it's as good a framework as any. The entire timeline as it stands now has been captured and whatever changes come, I'll ignore them and soldier on with the version I have now.

I have only one ground rule: it's got to come to me through the library, free of charge. I'm not buying anything, nor am I paying lending fees. I'll pay a late fee or two if I have too, but more on that as it crops up.

I'm a bit ahead of the game, having already read a few in order from the start and a bunch from all over the timeline.

I'm not flinching. It's all getting filtered through me: comics, novels, young adults, kids books, short stories, etc. Even the videos of the Ewok movies and such if I can get them (please, God, don't make me be able to get them).

Anyway, I'll be commenting on a variety of factors: first of all, how I'm holding up on the trip. It's a big undertaking and pretty freaky, if I do say so myself, so this will take the form of a journal of the road, or, perhaps a better analogy, diary of a war correspondant.

I'll be talking about how each work stands on its own, fits in the continuity, prefigures what is to come, contradicts what has come before, etc. It'll be idiosyncratic and probably offensive at times, given my penchant for plain talking and my inability to stomach wasteful art.

I should mention I'm a lit fan in general so I'll be musing on connections to the world of literature in general as they pop up. This is the Star Wars EU looked through the eyes of someone who's personal top ten list includes Shakespeare, Hugo, Harper Lee, Frankl, James Jones, C.S. Lewis, Stephen King, T.S. Eliot and more. If that doesn't clue you in, I'll state it explicitly. I'm eclectic and I love a good book of any style. We'll see how the EU stands up to me.

Basically, anything, to quote the song, goes, though I won't be baring my arms. (HA!) Perhaps the best way to illustrate the kinds of things I'll be doing is to just do one and let you see it.

So, without further ado, the first review and a step into a huge world and a long, long endeavour.

5,000 YEARS BEFORE ANH:

The Golden Age of the Sith - Kevin J. Anderson

*Okay, five thousand years?!? Is this trip really necessary?

*And right out of the box, a work by Kevin J. Anderson. This is not going to be easy.

*Seriously, the time period is this work's biggest strength. It realistically takes the movies and says, "Now. Let's go back in time a LONG ways. How do things look?" This book definitely gives us a GFFA that looks very different from the films, yet remains recognizeable.

**Okay, so our main characters are flighty siblings who map hyperspace routes after their parents die. Needing money fast, they do a quickie that results in the loss of a supply ship. This could just as easily been a passenger freighter or something . . . We're supposed to like these people?

*It is nice to see a Hutt that isn't greedy and even extends credits. He's the most likeable character in this book. How often can you say that about the Hutt?

*Why do all female characters in this universe wear evening dresses slit up to their thigh all the time?

*Okay, so at this point, the lightsaber is powered by a pack that you carry on your belt? Interesting . . .

*Okay, Odan-Urr is probably the most likeable, if only because he seems a lot like me. For one thing, he'd rather just sta

 

You're going to read the ENTIRE Expanded Universe?

I bow in the prescense of true geekness.

 

Good luck man. That would be incredible if you could pull it off.

 

There's only one other who succeeded in this feat, and he went insane.

We call him... TEH GENGHIS

After you're done, you two can have a nerdy trivia battle.

 

I used read all the novels in order every summer, but the EU just started getting too long to for me to do that, but I would like to try it again sometime and all the way from Darth Maul Shadow Hunter to The Unifying Force. That'd be really cool.

 

Good luck, you're gonna need it.

Don't get a blowout

I will be watching your career with great interest.

Be sure to scatter the occasional other literature to avoid a blowout.

 

You, my good sir, are either the bravest Warsie I've ever met or the most insane.

Either way, I stand and salute you!

*Wonder how he'll react to the YJK if he reaches it...*

 

Question: I know you said you won't revise the list, but will you read the post-NJO books?

 

I'm with lexu: trivia battle!

Seriously, best of luck with your reading project. Keep us posted.