I want to start reading the SW novels, which ones should i read first.

I have never read any of them, i want to start with the ones at the beginning of the timeline, so i can read them in order. Which ones are they ?

 

Begginning of the timeline novels would be prequel novels, and ones that happen before and during the OT.

If you want to check out the comics the earliest of the timeline would be Tales of the jedi, and jedi vs. sith series.

 

What novels begin right after Return of the Jedi ?

 

The Truce at Bakura takes place directly after RotJ.

 

The TFN Timeline shows the novels in chronological order and contains reviews for each one.

 

Start with one of two choices...go chronologically according to release which would lead you to Timothy Zahn's "Heir to the Empire" Trilogy. Or start with something that has familiar characters, and takes place between the "Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi", known as "Shadows of the Empire...good novel. Tells how Luke eventually becomes a Jedi, and how they track Han Solo to Jabba's palace. A good read.

After that move onto "The Truce at Bakura" and "The X-Wing Series". Between book three and four of the X-Wing series read "Courtship of Princess Leia", shows a parallel story line to these books (XWing). Zahns books are next (see above), followed by Kevin Andersons "Jedi Academy Trilogy" (read "I,Jedi" parallel to Jedi Academy), "Children of the Jedi", "Darksaber", "Planet of Twilight (wished it was my twilight reading it)". Skip the "Crystal Star", it stinks...The black fleet crisis books (tough reads), Corellian Trilogy, and finally ending with Zahn's "Hand of Thrawn Trilogy"...after that you will be ready to move onto the New Jedi Order (NJO)...so with the summer vacation starting, you will have plenty to read.

 

Here's how I'm having my friend read the books:

I, Jedi

The Thrawn Trilogy

The Jedi Academy Trilogy

Darksaber

Starfighters of Adumar

Then it's up for grabs from there. This EU-reading system seems to have worked pretty well for him as long as I'm there to answer any questions that come up along the way. So if you ever feel the need to ask something... well, you can count on PAd!

~PAd

 

Just don't read Children Of The Jedi. If you do you probably won't be able to read another star wars book as long as you live

 

I read it and was unaffected.

But I agree, don't start with any Hambly book.

 

When I started reading, it was the Jedi Academy Trilogy. For the most part I read the books with good reviews. To fill in the blanks I read the Essential Chronology, that helped me A LOT.

I highly recommend that.

 

if you start at the timeline, read the Tales of the Jedi comic series, then read the Jedi Apprentice series.

 

hey what about the bounty hunter trilogy?
you know, boba fett, Xizor...man how could you miss that?

 

We have an FAQ for a reason. See link above.

 

actually, my only real caution to you is be careful of what you spend your money on - but in regards to reading i really dont think it matters where you start, only that you start. when the zahn trilogy first came out, i was always racing to keep up with the new books that followed...but now that i look over my collection several of the stories serve as reference books...with exceptions to a select few characters there has been very little development within the novelverse. for example, the jedi academy isnt used by anyone else except anderson extensively, even though you are well aware that several trainees come and go before the new jedi order takes place. new planets that you discover arent really revisited outside of the story that introduces that planet.

your biggest challange is discovering which writers you can and cant deal with. borrow as much as you can before shelling out your cash. buy the anthologies to get a quick glance at several writing styles at once.(i think there are four) and never underestimate the books in the young readers section, they have the ability to surprise. what i didnt realize before, is that many of these stories and ideas are self contained IMO

 

If you love the movies start with Shadows of the Empire and then read Tales from Mos Eisley Cantina and Tales from Jabbas Palace. From there read in Chrono order. I started 3 years ago like that and have read from Jedi Apperentice forward in order and am now on the NJO agents of Chaos 2.

More fulfuilly in Chrono order

 

There are a couple good starting points. I personally started with Heir to the Empire. However, some people detest that book (not me). If you want to go chronologically, you can safely start with The Truce at Bakura and go back later to read the others. Actually, since many of the books were written out of order, so long as you go chronologically once you get to NJO you probably won't be excessively confused. As for the comics, I've been reading EU for about four years now and I only read my first comic a couple months ago. And that was Dark Empire II, because I found the collection for nine dollars. I'm still looking for DE and EE. Anyway, my point was that it's not that difficult to piece the plot together from vague references. The Essential Chronology is useful, but a bit on the expensive side. Check at your local library, mine has it in the non-fiction section. Hey, Star Wars is non-fiction now !