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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Books Rank the novels of the new canon

Discussion in 'Literature' started by ScorpionJedi, Jan 7, 2016.

  1. Tsago

    Tsago Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Jan 24, 2017
     
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  2. Darkslayer

    Darkslayer #1 Sabine Wren Fan star 7

    Registered:
    Mar 26, 2013
    Well, look at it this way - ESB is still a 10/10 film for me!

    I would say the main reason I enjoyed DD so much was because it gave me more TCW. For a long time, that and the occasional novel were my only Star Wars content so I have an attachment to that show. DD reminded me of TCW in all the right ways.

    I would say give it a shot!
    Yep, as I suspected. I have never read the comics featuring Vos. It seems this story was much more for the fans of TCW than the Vos comics.

    So Counter, it really seems that's the answer to this one. :)
    I could never get burnt out on TCW content! :p
     
  3. spicer

    spicer Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 14, 2012
    It is a story for the fans of TCW, but unfortunately, at an expense of the fans of the original comics. That's the most insulting thing regarding Dark Disciple.
     
  4. cubman987

    cubman987 Friendly Neighborhood Saga/Music/Fun & Games Mod star 7 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Nov 7, 2014
    Updated list:


    1. Lost Stars
    2. Thrawn
    3. Bloodline
    4. Ahsoka
    5. A New Dawn
    6. Lords of the Sith
    7. Catalyst
    8. The Weapon of a Jedi
    9. Before the Awakening
    10. Smuggler's Run
    11. Tarkin
    12. Moving Target
    13. Aftermath
    14. Dark Disciple
    15. Heir to the Jedi
     
  5. redxavier

    redxavier Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 23, 2003
    How does Christie Golden compare to the other SW writers? What's the feeling on her as a writer? I'm intrigued by the new Battlefront book she has coming.
     
  6. Yunzabit

    Yunzabit Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 5, 2015


    Hard to tell. I didn't like DD at all. As a writer, I say she is decent, but I can't tell since I'm sure a lot of DD's materials were already written and she just re-formatted it. I also never read any of her legends novels, so this book is going to be a 50/50 for me. Deliah S Dawson's short story Scorched was very predictable, so I don't know how Phasma will do. Just my 2 cents......
     
    redxavier likes this.
  7. Tsago

    Tsago Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Jan 24, 2017
    1 Rogue One novelization
    2 Thrawn
    3 Lords of the Sith
    4 Lost Stars
    5 Catalyst
    6 Aftermath
    7 Tarkin
     
  8. Grievousdude

    Grievousdude Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2013
    Updated with Ahsoka, Catalyst and the Rogue One Novel

    1 Lords of the Sith
    2 Ahsoka
    3 A New Dawn
    4 Dark Disciple
    5 Lost Stars
    6 Catalyst
    7 The Force Awakens novel
    8 Rogue One novel
    9 Tarkin

    I've really enjoyed all the new Canon books I've read so far so even the lower ranking ones I still like just not as much as the top 5.
     
  9. Darkslayer

    Darkslayer #1 Sabine Wren Fan star 7

    Registered:
    Mar 26, 2013
    Updating
    1) Dark Disciple A+
    2) Bloodline A+
    3) Catalyst A
    4) Ahsoka A
    5) Lords of the Sith A-
    6) Aftermath: Empire's End B+
    7) Thrawn B+
    8) Lost Stars B-
    9) Aftermath: Life Debt C+
    10) Tarkin C
    11) Aftermath C-
    12) Heir to the Jedi D
    13) A New Dawn D
     
  10. ForcePushUp

    ForcePushUp Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Oct 19, 2016
    OK, lets add Tarkin, The Force Awakens novelization, and the C-3PO comic to my original list:

    1) C-3PO: The Phantom Limb = A wonderful one shot. Honestly, I always wrote off 3PO's new red arm as just something they did to sell new 3PO toys under the Force Awakens banner. I'm sure that was a motivating factor, but that decision now gave us this nice, well written character piece with great artwork. I also have to give credit where it is due. I never thought 3PO could work as the main focus of a story, and I was wrong.

    2) Lords of the Sith = What makes it work for me is the banter between Vader and the Emperor. Their relationship/partnership is captured perfectly here with Palpatine as the ultimate puppet master that is in control of every situation and manipulating everything around him. And hey. Did you like that Vader scene at the end of Rogue One? Well you could a few similar moments in this book. Just pure Vader awesomness. I've heard some people complain that they spent too much time focusing on the Twi'lek rebels, but to me, establishing them as characters with motivations and relationships makes their mission more engaging.

    3) Thrawn = If you love Thrawn, then its great. He just wins! And when you think he's doing winning, he just turns around and wins some more! It isn't the epic tale that the original Thrawn Trilogy is, but as a backstory for the Grand Admiral in this new canon, it works well. Also, I liked Eli Vanto a lot more than I expected. I didn't think I could accept a replacement to Pellaeon, but he did. My only main criticism of the book is that there is perhaps a little too much focus on Governor Pryce. Its not that her parts are bad, but whenever the focus switches to her, I start thinking "Can we get back to Thrawn please?". But when it does focus on Thrawn, Its heaven. Pure heaven. It has the right balance of ties to the new continuity and references to the Thrawn of old that it covers all its bases.

    4) Ahsoka = Almost the same as above. If you love Ahsoka already, then this book is for you. It isn't exactly what I wanted. I was kind of hoping for a full telling of her time between her Clone Wars exit, through Order 66, and into her time in Rebels. We get some of that here, but only in bits and pieces. It kind of reminded me of Kenobi with Ahsoka playing the loner that is in hiding, but then finds herself having to save some outsiders. For that, its good, and for explaining certain aspects to her character that we see in Rebels (like the White Lightsabers), that is cool as well. I think where it falters a little bit is that the people Ahsoka is protecting just aren't that interesting. Again, to compare it to Kenobi, I really liked the Calwells and they served as a great emotional core to the story. The people surrounding Ahsoka just aren't that interesting, but Ahsoka herself is great. Even simple things like reading about how she tries to pass the time while in exile are all fun to read and just spending time with a great character is enough to make me forgive some of the shortcomings.

    5) The Force Awakens = Honestly, I think I like this book more than the movie. The movie was structured in the "Happy Days Reunion Special" that South Park accused it of being. Characters like Leia, 3PO, R2 and the rest are inserted into the film to "get the pop" (to use a Pro Wrestling term). That makes for a fun theater experience, but hinders it on repeated viewing. I felt like they handled the characters' intros a little bit more naturally in the book. For example, Leia and 3PO come into the story much sooner and we get a, quite honestly, very sad moment where 3PO is shown conversing with a shut down R2. I think that plays much better for the characters and makes R2's situation seem more sad rather than just working everything around getting those audience claps. The book also plugs up some holes like how did Poe survive, and more hints that there is more to Rey than meets the eye (instead of just being naturally awesome at the Force and everything). Some of the issues with the story are still there (I hate Starkiller base) but overall, its a pretty solid novelization.

    6) Tarkin = I was a little disappointed in this because I do love Tarkin, so I was kind of hoping for something like Thrawn or Ahsoka which would just let me appreciate a great character even more. I don't really feel like we get that though. The story is pretty much just Tarkin and Vader on a mission with some flashbacks to Tarkin's past thrown in. OK, so maybe it could be something more akin to Lords of the Sith where we get the two villains thrust into a bad situation and we get an exploration of their relationship. We kind of do here, but it doesn't quite reach the level of intrigue that Lords of the Sith did. And remember how I said the Twi'leks in LOTS were solid characters on their own? Yeah, we don't get that here. The hijackers that Tarkina nd Vader are hunting down are very flat and just there to keep the story moving. Overall, its not an awful book. I like Tarkin and I felt like he was presented well here, and his interactions with The Emperor are like a dream come true for me. The book just didn't reach the heights I was hoping for. Also, it is clear to me that this was originally supposed to be part of the Legends timeline. The way its written with all of its references, I'd forgive you if you thought it was a Legends timeline book.

    7) Aftermath = My least Star Wars books in the EU were The Callista Trilogy (Children of the Jedi, Darksaber, and Planet of Twilight, more specifically books 1 and 3). I would say the young reader books like Glove of Darth Vader, but those were so outside the scope of relevance that they really didn't matter. Well, so far, I'd say Aftermath is by far the worst of the new canon. Messy is the best word I can use to describe it. With so many interludes/breaks from the story, and such short chapters, I almost felt like I was being bombarded and being taking out of situations before I had time to appreciate the experience. The interludes are meant to world build, and I get that, but they come so fast and furious that they just take me out of the main story and the interludes (at least in this first book) don't connect to anything. Heck some of them present ideas that are more interesting than the main story! Like was that Darth Vader's lightsaber being auctioned off? Where are Han and Chewie going and why? Honestly, I wonder if this should have been just a series of short stories about what happened after The Battle of Endor. I wonder if that would have been better. As is, the book just feels disjointed, and it doesn't help that the main characters themselves really aren't that interesting. It felt like I was reading an inferior version of Rogue One. That said, I've been told that Life Debt and Empire's End are better, so fingers crossed.
     
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  11. Yunzabit

    Yunzabit Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 5, 2015


    We have quite different takes on literature.
     
  12. Darkslayer

    Darkslayer #1 Sabine Wren Fan star 7

    Registered:
    Mar 26, 2013
    What are your rankings? I always interested in discussing :D
     
  13. Darth Dnej

    Darth Dnej Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 27, 2013
    Of the ones I've read
    1. Thrawn
    2. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
    3. The Force Awakens
    4. Dark Disciple
    5. Catalyst: A Rogue One Story
    6. A New Dawn - This was, fittingly, my first new canon novel.
    7. Lords of the Sith
    8. Heir to the Jedi
    9. Ahsoka - This is the odd one out because it's the only one I have as an audiobook (I don't own the standard book) and it's the only young adult novel.
    10. Tarkin
    11. Battlefront: Twilight Company
    I haven't gotten around to the Aftermath trilogy yet because I hear they aren't good (especially the first one). Haven't read Lost Stars because I'm not that interested in the young adult novels.
     
  14. Darkslayer

    Darkslayer #1 Sabine Wren Fan star 7

    Registered:
    Mar 26, 2013
    Two pieces of advice:

    1) The young adult novels are great.

    2) Read Empire's End, even if you don't initially like Aftermath.
     
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  15. Yunzabit

    Yunzabit Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 5, 2015


    My list is on this thread. Check back a few pages of so. I'm Yunzabit :)
     
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  16. Darkslayer

    Darkslayer #1 Sabine Wren Fan star 7

    Registered:
    Mar 26, 2013
    Wow, we have practically opposite tastes!
     
  17. Dantooine326

    Dantooine326 Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    May 1, 2017
    1. Battlefront: Twilight Company
    2. Lords of the Sith
    3. Catalyst
    4. Tarkin
    5. Dark Disciple
    6. A New Dawn
    7. Rogue One novelization
    8. Heir to the Jedi
     
  18. StormTrooperPrecision

    StormTrooperPrecision Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Mar 25, 2017

    I'm in the same boat. Have only read Dark Disciple(which I really enjoyed I'm a little surprised about the reception in this thread) and Catalyst. Starting Ahsoka today. Came here to help map out next few books to read. I'm trying to do most of the new canon in chrono order leading up to TLJ. Based on this thread as well as some other opinions I've gathered I think I'm going to pass on Heir to the Jedi and the Aftermath trilogy.
     
  19. Counter

    Counter Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Mar 3, 2017
    Just ordered both Dark Disciple and Ahsoka (the only two NuCanon novels I've yet to read). I'm admittedly going into both of these books with some preconceived notions about their quality...
     
  20. Mr. Forest

    Mr. Forest Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 1, 2012
    1. Thrawn
    2. Lost Stars
    3. Bloodline
    4. Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel
    5. Rebel Rising
    6. A New Dawn
    7. Lords of the Sith
    8. Dark Disciple
    9. Aftermath: Empire's End
    10. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Novelization)
    11. A New Hope: The Princess, the Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy
    12. Heir to the Jedi
    13. Tarkin
    14. Ahsoka
    15. Aftermath: Life Debt
    16. Return of the Jedi: Beware the Power of the Dark Side!
    17. The Empire Strikes Back: So You Want to Be a Jedi?
    18. The Force Awakens (Novelization)
    19. Aftermath
    20. Battlefront: Twilight Company
    21. Smuggler's Run
    22. The Weapon of a Jedi
    23. Moving Target
    24. The Perfect Weapon
     
  21. Yunzabit

    Yunzabit Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 5, 2015


    I know. Isnt it strange that they occupy the same space yet we create two completely different universes of thought and seeing reality.
     
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  22. JABoomer

    JABoomer Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Oct 23, 2009
    Update:

    1. Tarkin - really enjoyed the internal politics of the Empire
    2. Lords of the Sith - interesting to see the Vader/Palpatine interactions
    3. Aftermath: Life Debt - really enjoy seeing the galactic powers struggle for dominance after Endor
    4. Ahsoka - tight and well paced story, wasn't expecting to enjoy it but the young adult novels excel, I read it in two days
    5. Catalyst - slow and plodding story, but one that kept moving forward despite few action sequences, again I enjoyed the look into the internal workings on the early Empire
    6. Rebel Rising - a good read about a tragic story/life
    7. Lost Stars - I enjoyed how it intertwined throughout the OT
    8. Bloodline - good mix of action and politics, but it was difficult to see how useless the NEU New Republic is
    9. Dark Disciple - never knew where the story was going, was a really nice surprise
    10. Aftermath - different style of novel, but the content was interesting
    11. Battlefront: Twilight Company - solid action, never enthralling, enjoyed exploring the Rebellion during this time
    12. Heir to the Jedi - the first person viewpoint was different (and not in a good way)
    13. A New Dawn - I see lots of people really enjoyed it, I found it to be dull
    14. Star Wars: The Force Awakens - glossed over the best parts and didn't properly capture the funny moments from the film, and added little to the story

    I've been pleasantly surprised at the Disney–Lucasfilm Press novels. They're located in the 'teen books' section of my bookstore, but I don't notice any drop in the writing.

    Is Guardians of the Whills a teen novel like Ahsoka, Lost Stars, and Rebel Rising or is it a young readers novel?
     
    Nickname320 likes this.
  23. ForcePushUp

    ForcePushUp Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Oct 19, 2016
    List is updated to include Aftermath Life Debt and Empire's End:

    1) C-3PO: The Phantom Limb 10/10

    2) Lords of the Sith 9/10

    3) Thrawn 8/10

    4) Ahsoka 7/10

    5) The Force Awakens 7/10

    6) Tarkin 6/10

    7) Aftermath: Life Debut 6/10 = MASSIVE improvement over the first Aftermath. The first Aftermath hurt my head due to its lack of focus, constant interruptions to the main story, and boring characters. This book slows the pacing down a bit, we spend more time with the characters, the interludes don't feel quite as frequent (though they still feel like pointless interruptions), and we get Han, Leia, and Chewie thrown in to help out. Some of the issues are still there. The main characters are still a little on the boring side, which is only enhanced when OT favorites like Han are interacting with them, and there are also some big logical gaps as well. However, considering how much I didn't like the first book, I'll accept an improvement.

    8) Aftermath: Empire's End 5/10 = Small step down from the 2nd book. Maybe I'm just an unromantic slob, but it got annoying to me that almost everybody was pining for somebody. It felt like almost every major character was somehow motivated by losing their lover and it got a bit tedious. Also, the gaps in logic seem to really go off the rails in this one. I mean I get that Norra wanted revenge and all, but what she did to get to Jakku felt completely reckless. However, it was cool to get an account of the Battle of Jakku in print.

    9) Aftermath 3/10

    Next on deck for me to read: I just picked up Bloodlines and Dark Disciple
     
  24. vncredleader

    vncredleader Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 28, 2016
    Just finished Rebel Rising so I will rank the books I have read.

    1. Bloodline. Perfect. Strong characterization, great pacing, and fleshing out the timeline a bit more.

    2. Tarkin. Fleshes out Tarkin which I always wanted and has V-wings, need I say more?

    3. Aftermath: Life Debt. I really enjoyed this and it being such an improvement over the first book makes it so great.

    4. Rebel Rising. So the first 200 pages are the best book of the new eu, however it drops in quality big time in the middle. All the Hadder stuff is standard and annoyed me. I loved this novel so much but the moment saw leaves it feels like Revis is trying to extend a novel after it already ended.

    5. Aftermath: Empires End. The characters I liked before mostly annoyed me here which was frustrating and I wanted to shoot Snap and Norra, but the Rae and Rax stuff and everything with the Battle of Jakku is to good to ignore.

    6. Ahsoka. Great small scale story and only new eu book about a Jedi doing Jedi things.

    7. Before the Awakening. Made all the TFA character more interesting than the movie did for me. To bad that version of Poe has yet to be in anything else. Get Rucka on the Poe comic asap.

    8. Catalyst. while not bad it let me down a bit and I found the Erso's unlikable for some reason.
     
  25. Darkslayer

    Darkslayer #1 Sabine Wren Fan star 7

    Registered:
    Mar 26, 2013
    Guardians of the Whills is a young readers' novel. About 175 pages. I haven't read it yet myself but I do plan to.
     
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