Lit Preparing for NJO

woah i feel like i suddenly got timewarped to, like, 2004 or so



anyway i second those saying just go into the NJO cold if that's where your interest lies. also depending on how spoiled you are I would personally avoid Rogue Planet until after at least Traitor, if not Destiny's Way.

 

I wish it was 2004.

 

There are some parts of that year I would rather forget...

 

I compare the NJO to Stephen King's Dark Tower series in that it functions perfectly well as a self-contained story but you may appreciate it more if you get all the references, callbacks, and tie-ins to the connected stories, even if the continuity doesn't always line up perfectly.

The Dark Tide books draw from Mike Stackpole's X-Wing books and I, Jedi, Agents of Chaos draws from Brian Daley's Han Solo Adventures, Edge of Victory draws from the Junior Jedi Knights series, Star by Star from Young Jedi Knights, Enemy Lines from Aaron Allston's X-Wing books, Force Heretic follows up on plot points from The Truce at Bakura, The Black Fleet Crisis, and Rogue Planet, and the series as a whole takes a lot from Timothy Zahn's five post-ROTJ Thrawn books.

Personally if I was going to give my past self a pre-NJO reading list I would suggest Rogue Planet because it's pretty important, the Thrawn Trilogy for its setup of the post-ROTJ EU, I Jedi for Corran Horn and the Jedi praxeum characters, Crimson Empire II and III for Nom Anor, the Hand of Thrawn books for the state of the galaxy at the beginning of the series, and the first six books of YJK for the introduction of that cast (although their characterization there doesn't end up mattering that much I guess). But basically just read whatever you want.

 

What's the Traitor non-SW preparation reading list?

 

The first four seasons of King of Queens.

 

no wonder I'm not realizing how Traitor contradicts the dark side cave I've only seen 5-9

 

And when you get to the end of The Unifying Force, stop there!

 

I would recommend reading Rogue Planet AFTER Traitor and before the Force Heretic trilogy. Either side of Destiny's Way doesn't make too much difference.

As far as what you should read, I think _Catherine_ hit the nail on the head (really the short version in third paragraph or the long version in the second, depending on how much prep you're up for).

 

make sure to watch the first four seasons of king of queens

 

Fool, You start from the third season and go from there.


Read Legacy Of The force Afterwards, And keep it to yourself and ask no one on here if you should or not.

 

Plus the Legacy comics.

 

As people have mentioned, the NJO references virtually everything. An exhaustive list of things the NJO drew from would include Rogue Planet; The Han Solo Adventures; The Han Solo Trilogy; The Truce at Bakura; the X-wing novels and comics; The Courtship of Princess Leia; Tatooine Ghost; The Thrawn Trilogy; Crimson Empire; The Jedi Academy Trilogy; I, Jedi; Children of the Jedi; Darksaber; The Black Fleet Crisis; The Corellian Trilogy; The Hand of Thrawn Duology; Junior Jedi Knights; and Young Jedi Knights. And probably more, and I'm just talking directly drawing major characters, settings, and plot points from them.

A bare-bones understanding of the basics going in, however, could probably be best obtained by reading The Thrawn Trilogy and The Hand of Thrawn Duology, as well as the X-wing novels and I, Jedi. This will give you a pretty good handle on the general situation and also set you up to appreciate the awesomeness of people like Wedge Antilles, Tycho Celchu, Corran Horn, Gavin Darklighter, Face Loran, and Booster ****ing Terrik. An EU experienced without a proper appreciation for the X-wing cast is an EU not worth experiencing.

 

Oh yeah, I should have mentioned the COPL/Dark Journey connection but I forgot Dark Journey existed.

 

It happens.

 

Ah, Mercy Kill: the proper follow-up to the New Jedi Order. It only took nine years to get it (and almost 20 years in universe!).

 

I might as well just read every thing in the New Republic era timeline before NJO......

Or skim.

Bantam seems hokey

 

The Njo is a wonderful series. Enjoy!!

 

Quick update!

I've decided to go ahead with the reading list I mentioned earlier, mostly because I'm interested in them on their own merit as well as how they might apply to NJO.

 

Main story line. Legacy comics are great too.

 

Seriously don't read The New Rebellion. It has nothing to do with anything in the NJO and is the single worst Bantam-era book by a significant margin. It is a book so stupid it is proven by SCIENCE to lower the IQ of anyone who reads it. Please don't do this to yourself.

 

New Rebellion is worse than Crystal Star?

But it has Cole Fardreamer!

 

And Crystal Star gives us the glory of Waru. And Planet of Twilight gives us Beldorian's vast library of Hutt pornography (and yes, I'll never let people forget that existed).

I've never read The New Rebellion but every image of Kueller paralyzed me with laughter and so I never bothered with that book.