Books Rank the novels of the new canon

I don’t know if anybody else noticed this but their seems to be a weird trend in SW novels these days. They all do flashbacks and side stories and interludes and it’s driving me crazy. Does anybody remember the NJO books or FOTJ. It didn’t do it as much. Those books were also I felt written much better. I don’t understand why I don’t like any of the neu books. I read them and I get bored. Is it just me has anybody noticed Star Wars books aren’t molded the way they used to be?

 

Please god don't let this turn into a "Legends was Better" thread.

 

I thought I agreed with this, but then I re-read Betrayal and it didn't hold up as well as I remembered.

I'm going to read through NJO soon so I'll see how those hold up, but I think we look at the Legends books with rose-tinted glasses.

That being said, I do definitely agree that the style of the Nu-Canon books hasn't really captured me yet, outside of Grey's books.

 

I like a lot of the new canon novels, but Grey is on another level for me. Lost Stars and Bloodline are some of my favorites, hands down.

 

Update:

1. Thrawn - Everything I could ever want from a novel, a look behind the curtain of the Imperial military from the Grand Admiral himself
2. Aftermath: Empire's End - solid ending to the trilogy, made the downfall of the Empire believable, added to the Emperor's mythos with a kill-switch on the Empire, celestial stations, and exploration of the Unknown Regions
3. Tarkin - really enjoyed the internal politics of the Empire
4. Lords of the Sith - interesting to see the Vader/Palpatine interactions
5. Aftermath: Life Debt - really enjoy seeing the galactic powers struggle for dominance after Endor
6. From a Certain Point of View - really enjoyable, luckily the ones I didn't care for were the really short stories, some continuity mistakes towards the end of the book
7. Ahsoka - tight and well paced story, wasn't expecting to enjoy it but the young adult novels excel, I read it in two days
8. Most Wanted - fun and enjoyable story that provided fantastic background to the main characters in Solo
9. Battlefront II: Inferno Squad - solid book looking at the internal conflict the Empire creates within it's own ranks, fun to then watch cut-scenes from game
10. Catalyst - slow and plodding story, but one that kept moving forward despite few action sequences, I enjoyed looking into the workings of the early Empire
11. Leia, Princess of Alderaan - good book, explores Leia's character and is spot on while doing so, surprised how old she was when she became involved in the Rebellion
12. Rebel Rising - a good read about a tragic story/life
13. Lost Stars - I enjoyed how it intertwined throughout the OT
14. Phasma - enjoyable and unexpected backstory that provides good depth to a character poorly utilized in the films
15. Bloodline - good mix of action and politics, but it was difficult to see how useless the NEU New Republic is
16. Dark Disciple - never knew where the story was going, was a really nice surprise
17. Aftermath - different style of novel, but the content was interesting
18. Battlefront: Twilight Company - solid action, never enthralling, enjoyed exploring the Rebellion during this time
19. Canto Bight - first two stories were hard to get through (had to really concentrate to read Mira Grant's writing), last two were good, especially The Ride
20. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story - better adaptation than TFA, but still didn't add a whole lot to the movie itself, found Jyn's motives to be confusing at times
21. Heir to the Jedi - the first person viewpoint was different (and not in a good way)
22. A New Dawn - I see lots of people really enjoyed it, I found it to be dull
23. 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

 

The only one I enjoyed was A New Dawn. I would read it again. (That's how I know a book is good). The rest, once is enough.

I'm hoping next week when Thrawn: Alliances comes out, I'll have 2 books I like. Right now its 50/50. The concept is great but I remember that the first Thrawn was not good. I was shocked. Timothy Zahn is regarded as the father of the EU, and an excellent writer.

 

My opinion is that the authors in the new canon are more constrained with where they can go in their novels than in the old EU. While there were still some topics and eras that were off-limits, they had more flexibility.

 

I totally agree. No story can overstep the bounds of anything regarding creativity or something bigger than the book is. We are left with lukewarm nitty gritty self-contained “Adventures”

 

I’m excited about the new novels on the horizon but I can’t help but notice the giant gap in between books. We have The Solo Novelization in September but then we have October, November, December, January and then February we have Master and Apprentice. I wish they could fill those months with another novel.

 

Recently finished Leia: Princess of Alderaan, Phasma, and Aftermath: Empire's End. Last Shot is next.

Dark Disciple
Thrawn
Lords of the Sith
Lost Stars
Catalyst
Bloodline
Battlefront II: Inferno Squad
Guardians of the Whills
Ahsoka
Tarkin
Leia: Princess of Alderaan
A New Dawn
Battlefront: Twilight Company
Aftermath: Empire's End
Aftermath: Life Debt
Phasma
Aftermath

 

Based on percentages just like in grade school (how I was graded)

Phasma- 72%
Heir to the Jedi- 70%
Battlefront: Twilight Company- 71%
A New Dawn-91%
Battlefront II: Inferno Squad- 70%
Lords of the Sith-65%
Bloodline-60%
Last Shot-45%
Thrawn: Alliances-55%
Aftermath: Life Debt- 70%
Thrawn-68%
Aftermath: Empire's End-50%
Aftermath-50%
Catalyst- 45%
Tarkin-39%

Cumulative score: 61.4%

Looks like my math class report card. (65 and under was failing)

 

I choose no side. New Canon, Legends, PT or OT. I like what i like. Since TLJ i try to handle all those like Campfire Storys. If i like a Story depends on how it was told.
But i have to say that my love with written Star Wars startet with the Books of the new Canon. So here we go:

1. Bloodline
2. Catalyst
3. Leia Princess of Alderaan
4. Lost Stars
5. Dark Descible
6. From a certain point of view
7. Phasma
8. Thrawn
9. Ahsoka
10. Tarkin

Currently i read Thrawn Alliances and the next Book is the Battlefront 2 Novel.

Im totally in love with Claudia Grey's approach on the Saga, her way to write the Characters and how they feel and expirience the Events around them. All those fine tunes.

Wish she would write some Scripts for the Movies as well!

 

Nope. Hire John Jackson Miller

 

There can be more than one good writer you know.

 

Well as far as NeuCanon goes, he’s the only one that wrote something great. Like I’ve said many times on this forum. Bring. Back. Drew. Karpashyn

 

2017 had 20 books. 2018 will only have 11. So sad........

 

From what I've read so far, these are my rankings:

1. Lost Stars
2. From A Certain Point Of View
3. Ahsoka
4. Rogue One novelization
5. The Last Jedi novelization
6. The Perfect Weapon (novella)
7. Forces Of Destiny (Volume One)
8. The Force Awakens novelization

Next up, waiting on my shelf are Dark Disciple and Bloodline.

 

I’d really like a novel sometime between now and Master and Apprentice in April. I have to go through the entire winter without a SW book. That’s colder than a night on Hoth!

 

I've only read a handful of the new canon books (currently reading Catalyst so I'll leave it out for now).
1. Ahsoka (yes, I'm biased)
2. Battlefront II: Inferno Squad
3. Rebel Rising
4. Leia: Princess of Alderaan
5. Dark Disciple
6. A New Dawn

I think I would've bumped A New Dawn up a notch if Hera was as much a part of the story as Kanan was.

 

from best to worst:

Lost Stars - best exploration ever of the internals of the Empire
Bloodline - it's like a reboot of LOTF, I would have loved this to be the ST
Aftermath trilogy - the Bantam era compressed into one year with tons of twists (e.g. Coruscant not being a worthy prize, the Concordance vs. Dark Empire)
Catalyst, Tarkin - liked the reimagining of the early Empire, particularly its relationship with the Separatist holdouts ("the war is not over")
Moving Target - telling the SOTE story with no Xizor - feels more in line with the films
Thrawn series - good for Empire lore (same as above), unfortunately too steeped in Legends so it breaks a bit one's suspension of disbelief
Battlefront Twilight Company - surprised me for having a Rebel perspective, nice that it made the GCW feel like an actual war (still wondering how the comics will deal with this)
Before the Awakening - liked this slightly more than I liked TFA
Dark Disciple - nice, but TCW is so yesterday
A New Dawn - that paragraph with the line "This decade, central rule was in fashion." saved the book for me
Ahsoka - good that one gets some sort of finale to TCW (soon to be superseded), a lot of unexplored potential though
Inferno Squad - this bored me to death, especially in comparison to how much I loved Rogue One
Leia: Princess of Alderaan, Lords of the Sith, Canto Bight, Phasma, Rebel Rising, Guardians of the Whills - read, but couldn't focus and forgot everything
Heir to the Jedi, Last Shot, Most Wanted - did not attempt

 

I haven't really been reading a lot of Star Wars books in the last couple years, and I've only read three nu-canon books.

1. Bloodlines
2. Lost Stars
3. Catalyst

I really enjoyed the content of Lost Stars, which seems to be a favorite on the forums, but not so much the writing style. I know it's a YA novel, but the very basic prose was a bit tedious at points. None of the novels were bad.

 

Han is my favorite character, so I'm biased, but from what I've read so far:

Aftemath: Life Debt
Last Shot
Aftermath: Empire's End
Bloodline
Thrawn
Leia Princess of Alderaan
Moving Target
Smugglers Run
Most Wanted
The weapon of a Jedi
Heir to the Jedi
Thrawn Alliances
Tarkin
Lords of the Sith
Ahsoka
Rebel Rising
Catalyst
Lost Stars
Lando's Luck
A New Dawn
From a certain Point of View
Before the Awakening
Cobalt Squadron
The migthy Chewbacca in the Forest Of Fear
Guardians of the Whills
Battlefront Twiligth Company
Battlefront Inferno Squad
Dark Disciple
Tales from a galaxy far far away Aliens
The legends of Luke Skywalker

I guess that's it.