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Recommendations for newbie

Discussion in 'Literature' started by Twilek_Oolala, Feb 14, 2002.

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  1. Twilek_Oolala

    Twilek_Oolala Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Feb 14, 2002
    Hi there! I was wondering what books you guys would recommend getting into. I read the first Zahn trilogy and also the Jedi Academy by Anderson, but that was when they first came out. I really liked the idea of Luke continuing the Jedis, but I haven't read anything since then. What would I like?
     
  2. Crow_T_Fett

    Crow_T_Fett Jedi Master star 1

    Registered:
    Feb 6, 2002
    After the two series you've read, you should try Zahn's "Hand of Thrawn" duology, Specter of the Past, and Vision of the Future. Two of the best SW books ever, IMHO.
     
  3. Knight1192

    Knight1192 Jedi Knight star 6

    Registered:
    Feb 5, 2000
    Personally, SbS surpases the Hand of Thrawn Duology, and the original novelization certainly does. But then that's my opinion. I recommend reading everything you can get your hands on and make your own opinions as to their worth and whether you would like to reread any of them or not. Also, read I, Jedi as it looks into some of the behind the scenes stuff during the JAT.
     
  4. dik-ome

    dik-ome Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Sep 3, 2001
    I agree with Crow_T_Fett. The Zahn books are always great. Read the Courtship of Princess Leia and the entire X-Wing series before you go to I,Jedi.
     
  5. Kier_Nimmion

    Kier_Nimmion Jedi Knight star 5

    Registered:
    Aug 9, 2000



    Hey, Knight, you shoudl check out Skydancer's thread- it's a New Jedi Order bash fest in there...oh, sorry, they're 'critiquing' it, my mistake.


     
  6. Crow_T_Fett

    Crow_T_Fett Jedi Master star 1

    Registered:
    Feb 6, 2002
    I agree on Courtship of Princess Leia. Good call dik-ome. I would definetly recommend that in addition to the "Hand of Thrawn" books.
     
  7. Alderaan_

    Alderaan_ Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 14, 2001
    I like the New Jedi Order, but everyone has their own opinion of it...

    Here are some EU must-reads:

    Shadows of the Empire

    The Courtship of Princess Leia

    Thrawn Trilogy
    (which you've got)

    X-wing series

    The Hand of Thrawn




    But I say, read anything you can get your hands on!

     
  8. Knight1192

    Knight1192 Jedi Knight star 6

    Registered:
    Feb 5, 2000
    Link Kier? The troll is making things hard to find.
     
  9. JEDI-SOLO

    JEDI-SOLO Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Feb 12, 2002
    The Courtship of Princess Leia is great read. Also the Thrawn duology is a must. Personaly I liked the New Rebelion to. But you must read the NJO seires!
     
  10. Lord_Riven

    Lord_Riven Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 13, 2001
    Recommendations:
    Read in this order
    X-Wing, COPL, HoT
    If you like X-Wing read I, Jedi, SotME
     
  11. Ultima_1

    Ultima_1 Jedi Knight star 5

    Registered:
    May 16, 2001
    I'd say:
    X-wing series
    I, Jedi
    Hand of Thrawn dulogy
    NJO (in order)
     
  12. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    As far as Original Trilogy-era material goes...

    Shadows of the Empire
    The X-Wing series (Rogue Squadron, Wedge's Gamble, The Krytos Trap & The Bacta War)
    Dark Empire (comic book series collected as a graphic novel now)
    I, Jedi (this takes place just prior to, during, and just after all of the events of the Jedi Academy Trilogy[JAT])
    Darksaber (same author as the JAT, ties into both the JAT and Thrawn trilogy)
    The Hand of Thrawn duology (Spectre of the Past & Vision of the Future)
    Union (comic book series collected as a graphic novel)

    For some some good material that takes place earlier chronologically...

    (EDIT- The following 4 titles tie into both Dark Empire and the JAT)
    Tales of the Jedi: Knights of the Old Republic
    Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith
    Tales of the Jedi: The Sith War
    Tales of the Jedi: Redemption
    (those 4 titles take place 4 thousand years prior to ANH)
    Jedi vs. Sith (takes place 1 thousand years prior to ANH, details the establishment of "the rule of two")

    For prequel-era material...

    Cloak of Deception (a prequel to TPM)
    Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter (also a prequel to TPM)
    Outlander (comic book series collected as a graphic novel now)
    Darkness (comic book series not yet collected in a graphic novel, but will be soon)

    I haven't read it yet, but "The Approaching Storm" is written by Alan Dean Foster (who ghost-wrote the original ANH novelization) and is a direct lead-in/prelude to Attack of the Clones.

    There are also quite a few good short story collections as well...

    Star Wars Tales, vol 1 (first few issues of the quarterly comic book series collected together)
    Tales from the Empire
    Tales from the New Republic
    Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina
    Tales of the Bounty Hunters
    Tales from Jabba's Palace
     
  13. Bib Fortuna Twi'lek

    Bib Fortuna Twi'lek Jedi Youngling star 10

    Registered:
    Jul 9, 1999
    Read everything.
     
  14. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    well, Bib, she's gotta to start somewhere ;;D
     
  15. MynDonos

    MynDonos Jedi Youngling star 3

    Registered:
    Jan 30, 2002
    x wing series, young jedi knights, NJO, I, Jedi, darth maul shadow hunter, and any other random single story books you can find.
     
  16. Crow_T_Fett

    Crow_T_Fett Jedi Master star 1

    Registered:
    Feb 6, 2002
    I know the X-wing series and I, Jedi seem to be really popular, but I didn't care for either (I'm not a Stackpole fan), and personally I wouldn't recommend them to a SW newcomer.

    If you just go from the Zahn trilogy and the JAT to I, Jedi, you're going to be wondering, "hey, who's this Horn guy?" He's the main character and the reader would have very little idea who he is.

    Reading the X-wing books first would of course solve that problem, but those were just so boring, before long I started reading them just before bed, because they did such a great job putting me to sleep.

    I think the X-wing series isn't a good series for a newbie because it's so far removed from the movies. You open the first book and sure, you've got Wedge, and then you get a bunch of new characters you've never heard of dumped in your lap. I think they'd be best enjoyed after first reading a few more books with Han, Luke, and Leia.

    Twilek_Oolala, I stick to my first recommendations of Zahn's "Hand of Thrawn" duology, or Courtship of Princess Leia. If you like those, try some of the other stuff mentioned above. All of those are great, but just maybe not the best ones to start out with.

    Hope that helps. :)
     
  17. ParanoidAni-droid

    ParanoidAni-droid Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 27, 2001
    Recommendations for a newbie

    Yeah, jump ship while you still can... because once you start down this path, there's no going back!! Consume you it will!! Not that I mind. ;)
     
  18. Twilek_Oolala

    Twilek_Oolala Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Feb 14, 2002
    HA! Wow, I didn't expect so many responses. Thanks! That certainly is a lot to keep up with. As I was reading, I realized that I did read the Courtship of Leia. That other Zahn set sounds great though.

    A friend also told me that the new series going on consolidated all the earlier books into one continuity. If I start reading those new ones, what older ones will I have to read or will I be able to pick up what happened?
     
  19. palpatineson

    palpatineson Jedi Youngling star 2

    Registered:
    Dec 7, 2001
    To get a lot of these books, you've got to read earlier books, otherwise the characters won't make sence.

    CotJ is a good one to start with.
    You've got to read SotE.
    X-Wing series is extremely good and off the beaten path so you'll get it even without the books before it.
    I, Jedi is good if you get into Corran Horn.
    In my opinion, after that you get only mediocre(sp.) books with mediocre(sp.) plots that continually repeat until the NJO.
    Also, for prequel era good books, Cloak of Deception is great, as well as Approaching Storm.
     
  20. The2ndQuest

    The2ndQuest Tri-Mod With a Mouth star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2000
    Most books do a decent job of setting the stage for you without having to read the older books, but reading them gives you a larger sense of familarity with characters, events, etc.

    New Jedi Order does draw on some elements from the older books (an example would be Centerpoint Station, introduced in the Corellian trilogy) but the backstory is explained adequately i feel. To restate my sugegstions above, here they are with any tie-in/previous reading preferences...

    Shadows of the Empire (no previous reading required)
    The X-Wing series (no previous reading required, although there is an X-Wing comic series that preceeds the series that you could read but it isn't nessasary...one of the books does have a line that is a joke at an event that occurs later in Dark Empire..but nothing major, just a one-liner)
    Dark Empire (i believe this references elements of the thrawn series, it also makes vague mention of events that occured in Tales of the Jedi)
    I, Jedi (It's best to have read the X-Wing novels as well as the JAT prior to this)
    Darksaber (refers heavily on JAT, and has a character who was introduced to Luke in the novel "Children of the Jedi", which I actually quite enjoyed, but quite a few people didn't like that one, so I didn't include it on my list...it isn't nessasary to reading Darksaber, but it helps)
    The Hand of Thrawn duology (the thrawn trilogy primarily is the only thing you need to know, although i think it briefly refers to Darksaber)
    Union (Definately need to have read the Hand of Thrawn duology before this)
    Tales of the Jedi series (stands alone quite well, but ties into Dark Empire and, more prominently, the JAT, as this series shows how Exar Kun became dark lord of the sith and how he came to his state of being that he is in in JAT)
    Jedi vs. Sith (no previous reading material, but bridges the TOTJ era slightly with the "prequel-era" as well as sets up Darth Bane and how the more recent sith order with Sidious and Maul came about)
    Cloak of Deception (no prior reading required)
    Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter (no previous reading required)
    Outlander (no previous reading required, however there is reference to Ki-Adi-Mundi's adventure in "Prelude to Rebellion")
    Darkness (it plays off of elements from the whole ongoing series that Outlander is a part of, but stands alone quite well)
    Star Wars Tales, vol 1 (no previous reading required)
    Tales from the Empire (no previous reading required)
    Tales from the New Republic (no previous reading required)
    Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina (no previous reading required)
    Tales of the Bounty Hunters (no previous reading required)
    Tales from Jabba's Palace (no previous reading required)


    I'll also add to my list of suggestions- there is a Darth Maul comic series thats collected as a graphic novel now, which is quite good and ties in with the Shadow Hunter novel briefly, and has vague conenctions to Shadows of the Empire.


    The New Jedi Order can be picked up easily enough without having to read all the previous books, but like i said, it helps a little. Some characters it uses were only used in particular series, so sometimes it helps to have a past-familarity with them...series such as the Corellian Trilogy & Young Jedi Knights.
     
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