What Books & Comics Should I Read? / Where Should I Start in the EU?

With such a plethora of titles available for Star Wars literature, it can often be a daunting task to determine where a good place to begin is. There really are a number of great places to begin, but where and what these are can vary from person to person, since everyone has their own opinions (you're bound to find at least one person or loves or hates any particular title).

In this thread you'll find a summary of the most commonly given suggestions and approaches for exploring the Expanded Universe:

1) General Introduction
2) Choose an Era
3) Chronological Order

-General Introduction

There are a handful of titles that are usually the first to be recommended by other fans as good starting places- this is, besides the actual quality of the work, most likely because these titles are either standalone stories or they are more connected to the films/ do not rely heavily on characters & events from other books.

These titles are:

• -The "Thrawn Trilogy": a series set 5 years after Return of the Jedi and basically was the launching point of the modern publishing material. Probably the most often-recommended starting point in the EU. Stars the heroes of the Classic Trilogy. (Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising & The Last Command)


• -The X-Wing series: Another fan favorite, this time following the exploits of Wedge Antilles and his fighter pilots shortly after Return of the Jedi through 9 years after Endor. (Series I: Rogue Squadron, Wedge's Gamble, The Krytos Trap & The Bacta War; Series II: Wraith Squadron, Iron Fist & Solo Command; Series III: Isard's Revenge; Series IV: Starfighters of Adumar)


• -Shadows of the Empire: This "bridge novel" covers the timespan and events between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Features Vader, Luke, Leia, Lando and more.


• -Cloak of Deception: This political thriller sets the stage for the events of The Phantom Menace, and is also the earliest occurring adult novel on the timeline. Stars Qui-Gon and Obi-wan.


• -Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter: A more action oriented story also set just prior to The Phantom Menace.


• -Outbound Flight: Set The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones and featuring (though not starring) Obi-wan & Anakin in a prequel to the various Thrawn books.


• -Shatterpoint: The first Clone Wars novel written, focusing on Mace Windu and the horrors of war.


• -Labyrinth of Evil: The official lead-in to Revenge of the Sith!


• -Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader: Set in the aftermath of ROTS as Darth Vader obsessess over Order 66 survivors while adjusting to his new body.


• -The Tales of the Jedi series: This comic series is set some 4,000 years before the films, and, with it's primary story arc (which starts with Knights of the Old Republic-not to be confused with the game or actual comic series of the same name), delves into the ancient Jedi and Sith conflicts. This fan-favorite series also acts as backstory to the popular Knights of the Old Republic video games. (Knights of the Old Republic, The Freedon Nadd Uprising (if you can find it), Dark Lords of the Sith, The Sith War & Redemption)


• -The Knights of the Old Republic series: This comic series, set after Tales of the Jedi, but before the Knights of the Old Republic video games follows a padawan on the run, set against the backdrop of the emerging Mandalorian Wars.


• -The Clone Wars comics: These highly-recommended comics follow heroes new and old through the turbulent Clone Wars, from the Battle of Kamino to a damned-fool idealistic crusade...(Volume 1: The Defense of Kamino, Volume 2: Victories & Sacrifices, Volume 4: Light & Dark, Volume 3: Last Stand on Jabiim, Volume 5: The Best Blades, Volume 6: On the Fields of Battle, Volume 7: When They Were Brothers, Volume 8: The Last Siege, The Final Truth, Volume 9: Endgame)

 

n/t

 

DarthVankai: where can one find these books/comics?

I'm interested into reading about the EU. Would amazon.com have these? Thanks.

Pretty much all of them should be available through amazon.com, barnes & Noble or other major bookstores (even the graphic novel comic collections).

 

I've added a link to a thread about that. I'll go more in depth soon.

 

StarDude - Beyond Matt Stover's work, the only others I can think of offhand that might fall into what you're looking for would be Cloak of Deception (with it's political thriller aspects) and I, Jedi (which is told first-person, so you get into a character's head more than most books do).

But most SW books do tend to emulate the movies' focus on action and adventure.

You might want to look into some of the Clone Wars comics actually, they have a few thought-provoking issues (like the one fetauring Bail).


DarthRonin1976- If you are looking to bridge the gap between trilogies, there's not too much just yet. Luceno has a book coming out next year set just after Episode 3 titled Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader, which sorta starts that era off (to be followed by three paperbacms over the next few years), though if you want to start on something to prepare yourself for that, it is supposed to form something of a psuedo-trilgoy with Labyrinth of Evil and the ROTS novelization, which are already out, so those might be something to look into until Dark Lord comes out.

Beyond that, The Han Solo Trilogy does a pretty good job of setting up the characters and events of the classic film era (particularly Han, Chewie, Lando, Boba, Jabba & Xizor).


raperks- For the Clone Wars era, give Shatterpoint and Yoda: Dark Rendezvous a try.

For the post-ROTJ era, since you've read Tat. Ghost, the stage is set pretty well for the Thrawn Trilogy so I don't think you can go wrong with those.

After that, you might want to jump back on the timeline a bit and give the X-Wing series a try, as they nicely compliment Zahn's work in the Thrawn trilogy.

From there the only way forward is to the Jedi Academy Trilogy & I, Jedi. (though you might want to at least read up on the basic events of the Dark Empire comics befor doing so).

MasterJoda23- The main sources featuring the ancient times are in the Tales of the Jedi comics, Knights of the Old Republic video game and Jedi vs Sith comic. However, there are two books coming out set during this era, the first of which focuses on Darth Bane (who started the "rule of two" and appears in Jedi vs Sith), but the first of these books won't be out until late 2007.

Darth Maul only appears in one novel (Shadow Hunter) though he has am e-book short story titled Saboteur (included in the paperback of Cloak of Deception) as well as the comic series Darth Maul.

Yoda really only features heavily in Yoda: Dark Rendezvous, the rest of the time he's mainly utilzied as a Jedi Council member. There is also the Jedi: Yoda comic one-shot collected in Clone Wars Volume 5 as well.

>>I also have another question... What is the order of books that includes the titles shatter point and cestus deception?<<

The Clone Wars books occur in the following chronological order:

Republic Commando: Hard Contact
Shatterpoint
The Cestus Deception
Medstar I: Battle Surgeons
Medstar II: Jedi Healer
Jedi Trial
Yoda: Dark Rendezvous
Labyrinth of Evil

You can find a full lsiting of all clone wars material 9books, comics, games, etc) in this timeline thread, and if you want a listing of all major EU titles (including those comics set during the ancient times), follow the Star Wars Timeline link at the top of the forum.

 

The Jedi Apprentice, Jedi Apprentice: Special Editions, Jedi Quest, Legacy of the Jedi, Secret of the Jedi and Last of the Jedi books all seem to create their own mini-saga.

You usually don't find heavy connections to their events in the adult novels, though there might be the occasional offhand reference.

So, you shouldn't have any problems starting with Cloak of Deception- it's a good starting point and you won't get the impression you've missed anything.

 

As I understand it, they're still pretty enjoyable (and frankly, after reading the part with Qui-Gon in Legacy of the Jedi, I was highly tempted to go read JA just to read more of Qui-Gon).

Also, by young adult, they usually mean reading levels aimed at readers age 9-12, so expect them to be below your reading level (but again, that doesn't mean they can't be enjoyed).

 

Out of curiosity- why have you decided to skip the X-Wing series?

 

>> 1) Chronologically speaking, what should I read after C.O.D.?<<

Either the comic "Darth Maul" or the novel "Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter".

>>2) What does the "Empire Trilogy" consist of?<<

I believe he's referring to "Heir to the Empire", "Dark Force Rising" & "The Last Command", more commonly referred to as the "Thrawn Trilogy".

>>3) The Truce at Bakura takes place how long after the battle at Endor? <<

The day after.