I've Read the Thrawn Trilogy--Now What?

I'm actually not completely finished with the Last Command, but when I go back to the Library Monday to pick up some new novels I want to know what to get next. TTT are the first SW books other than the movie novelizations that I've read and I loved them(so far). Reading what some of you have posted on this board, it seemed that TTT was the consensus starting point of EU reading.
But what now? Do I skip all the the way to Specter of the Past? Should I read some comics? What about the "X-Wing" series? Should I give DE a try(though I don't like the idea of Palps resurrected)

Somebody give a prospective EU follower some advice!

 

I'd read the X-wing books next along with some of the Prequel era novels. When you get towards the end of the Stackpole Xwing novels(Alston wrote a couple as well) read Jedi Trial one of the clone wars novels because they tie into each other. Skip the Jedi Academy Trilogy, I like many don't like Kevin J Andersons work and you can get a better version of the same story in the first couple hundred pages of Stackpoole's I, Jedi. When you read I, Jedi or The Jedi Academy trilogy I'd also pick up the trade paperbacks(i.e. graphic novel compliations) of the Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of Sith and the Sith War as they fill some backstory for thr JAT and I,Jedi. aftwerwards I'd pick up Zahns pre NJO books and then the NJO. I'd also suggest Labyrinth of evil by James Lucerno which leads up to rots, and the approaching storm which is a lead in to AOTC(explains Mace line about Obiwan and Anakin return from Anison) and Cloak of Deception which leads into TPM. Finally I would suggest you read Star wars: Dark Lord which will come out in November and form something like a Trilogy with the Labyrinth, and the ROTS novelization and gives us vaders first month or months in the suit. Other upcoming series or the Dark nest trilogy which takes place after the NJO(late summer) as well as another 9 book series that takes place after that(next year till 08). And also Zahn has a Outbound flight book coming next winter.

 

The best way to go from this point on, with the "essentials" ( for either story, importance, or quality ) only

1. Classic Trilogy novelizations

2. Pre-ANH stories
- The Han Solo Trilogy
- The Han Solo Adventures
- The Lando Calrissian Adventures
- Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina

3. Rebellion Era
- Classic Star Wars comics
- Classic Star Wars : A Long Time Ago... ( Marvel )
- Ruins of Dantooine
- Splinter of the Mind's Eye
- Tales of the Bounty Hunters
- Shadows of the Empire novel/comic
- Tales from Jabba's Palace

4. The New Republic Era
- X-wing Rogue Squadron comic series
- Dark Forces Trilogy ( graphic novels )
- X-wing book 1 - Rogue Squadron
- X-wing book 2 - Wedge's Gamble
- X-wing book 3 - The Krytos Trap
- X-wing book 4 - The Bacta War
- X-wing book 5 - Wraith Squadron
- X-wing book 6 - Iron Fist
- X-wing book 7 - Solo Command
- The Courtship of Princess Leia
- Tatooine Ghost
- The Thrawn Trilogy comic adaptations
- X-wing book 8 - Isard's Revenge
- Dark Empire Trilogy comic series
- The Jedi Academy Trilogy
- I, Jedi
- Children of the Jedi
- Darksaber
- X-wing book 9 - Starfighters of Adumar
- Planet of Twilight
- The Crystal Star
- The Black Fleet Crisis Trilogy
- The New Rebellion
- The Corellian Trilogy
- The Hand of Thrawn duology
- Survivor's Quest
- Young Jedi Knights series

5. The New Jedi Order Era
The New Jedi Order series

6. The Old Republic Era
Tales of the Jedi comic series
Jedi vs. Sith comic series

7. Rise of the Empire Era
Cloak of Deception
Darth Maul comic series
Darth Maul - Shadow Hunter
The Phantom Menace novelization
Jango Fett - Open Seasons comic series
Rogue Planet
Outbound Flight
The Approaching Storm
Attack of the Clones novelization
Clone Wars series
Revenge of the Sith novelization
Dark Lord - The Rise of Darth Vader
Coruscant Nights series

 

If I were you I'd read the, "Debbie Does," Trilogy. You can find them anywhere.

Debbie does Coruscant
Debbie does Naboo
Debbie does Mustafar(hottest one I hear)

J/K, for those who actually get it.

Anyway I'd go with some of the X-wing books then other 2 Thrawn novels.

 

I think you need to ask yourself a question...

Do you want good?

or

Do you want important?

Everyone is telling you X-wing and Shadows... Now okay, Wedges Gamble was important, I will give you that. But Shadows...? That's about the farthest from important as you can get. Now don't get me wrong, I am a HUGE fan of X-wing novels, and even Shadows, but they lack... importance on a galatic scale.

 

When it comes to Bantam you can pretty much sum things up with two names. Zahn. Stackpole. Keeping that in mind, you've got three main options.

1. Go straight to I, Jedi for the reestablishment of the Jedi Order. After that skip ahead to the Hand of Thrawn duology. This is, of course, assuming that you don' want to suffer through people making the empire look like morons.

2. ...and if you do, there's no better place to start then with Stackpole's X-Wing Series. That's Rogue Squadron, Wedge's Gamble, The Krytos Trap[/i], and The Bacta War. Then skip ahead to Isard's Revenge. These fill out the empire experience, while also providing important backround for Corran Horn - I, Jedi's star. I'd recommend this path.

3. Alternatively, you can also read the rest of the X-Wing novels by Aaron Allston (Wraith Squadron, Iron Fist, and Solo Command) plus the end of their overall story in The Courtship of Princess Leia before moving onto Isard's Revenge and I, Jedi.

Only read the Black Fleet Crisis and Corelian Trilogies if you think they sound good to you. Skip the rest.

 

I disagree- bridging the events of the two films is rather important (from Luke's increased training, building his saber, to the search for Solo and the Bothans/DS2 plans event).

I found those things to be cool, but not really... important. I mean it's stuff we knew happened for years, and was finally explained to us how it happened. In the grand scheme of things, if Shadows had been left out, would you have even noticed?

 

Thanks for the pointers so far, it is really helping.

Zahn and Stackpole, I'll keep that in mind.

Keep it coming.

 

This is how I would do it:

The Classic Trilogy Novelizations (which you've read)

There are the pre ROTJ novels
Han Solo At Star's End
Han Solo's Revenge
Han Solo And The Lost Legacy
Also available in The Han Solo adventures Paperback

Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu
Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon
Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of ThonBoka
Also available in The adventures of Lando Calrissian Paperback

Splinter Of The Mind's Eye

Then Bantam Novels:
The Thrawn Trilogy (which you're finishing up)
The Truce At Bakura
The Courtship Of Princess Leia
The Jedi Academy Trilogy (Jedi Search, Dark Apprentice, Champions of The Force)
The Crystal Star (so you can worship or hate Waru)
Children Of The Jedi
The Corellian Trilogy (Ambush At Corellia, Assault At Selonia, Showdown at Centerpoint)
Darksaber
Tales From The Mos Eisley Cantina (short stories about those bar aliens from ANH)
Tales From Jabba's Palace (short stories about those creatures in Jabba's Palace from ROTJ)

Shadows Of The Empire (good standalone to read at any time)
X-Wing 1-4 (Rogue Squadron, Wedge's Gamble, The Krytos Trap, The Bacta War)
The Black Fleet Crisis Trilogy (Before The Storm, Shield Of Lies, Tyrant's Test)
The New Rebellion

Tales Of The Bounty Hunters (quick entertaining read)
Tales From The Empire (if you like stand alone magazine-type short stories)

The Han Solo Trilogy (The Paradise Snare, The Hutt Gambit, Rebel Dawn)
Planet Of Twilight
I, Jedi

X-Wing 5-7 (Wraith Squadron, Iron Fist, Solo Command)

The Hand Of Thrawn duology (Specter Of The Past, Vision Of The Future)

The Bounty Hunter Wars Trilogy (The Mandalorian Armor, Slave Ship, Hard Merchandise)

X-Wing # 8 and #9 (Isard's Revenge and Starfighters Of Adumar)

Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace

Tales From The New Republic (again if you like magazine type stories)

Rogue Planet

The New Jedi Order:
Vector Prime
Dark Tide 1: Onslaught
Dark Tide 2: Ruin
Agents Of Chaos 1: Hero's Trial
Agents Of Chaos 2: Jedi Eclipse
Balance Point

Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter (great lead in to TPM, exciting book)
Cloak Of Deception (another lead in to TPM)

Back To The New Jedi Order
Edge Of Victory 1: Conquest
Edge Of Victory 2: Rebirth
Star By Star
Dark Journey

The Approaching Storm (good read pre-AOTC)
Episode 2 - Attack Of The Clones

Again Back to The New Jedi Order
Enemy Lines 1 - Rebel Dream
Enemy Lines 2 - Rebel Stand
Traitor
Destiny's Way

Tatooine Ghost

Finish the New Jedi Order
Force Heretic 1: Remnant
Force Heretic 2: Refugee
Force Heretic 3: Reunion
The Final Prophecy
The Unifying Force

Star Wars Galaxies: The Ruins Of Dantooine

Shatterpoint
The Cestus Deception
Medstar I: Battle Surgeons
Medstar II: Jedi Healer

Survivor's Quest (break from the Clone Wars and back to before NJO)

Republic Commando: Hard Contact (standalone Clone Wars)
Jedi Trial
Yoda: Dark Rendezvous
Labyrinth Of Evil
Episode 3 - Revenge Of The Sith


and that would catch you up through all the adult novels we have so far, up next is the Dark Nest Trilogy & Dark Lord: The Rise Of Darth Vader) This is somewhat in the order the novels were released but piecing together sequences more appropriately, I highly recommend it.

 

I'm sorry but are people actually recommending the Lando books?

E_S

 

I'm sorry but are people actually recommending the Lando books?

Look closely... that list was simply the books release order...

 

I'm sorry but are people actually recommending the Lando books?

Look closely... that list was simply the books release order...


Pretty much I mean I moved standalones ahead of or behind a trilogy or whatnot, I perfected the order you might say

 

So maybe you'd like to go to the library and take aprox. 50 books with you. Big help, that is.

Let's assume you want to continue with the New Republic era...

If you want to continue where the Thrawn trilogy left off and you don't want to bother with Dark Empire, read the Jedi Academy Trilogy. It sums up the most important things of what happened in DE in a few sentences. It also continues the main themes of the New Republic era, the rebirth of the Jedi and the Solo offspring, plus the remaining Imperial threat. I, Jedi deals with the same time frame but neglects the main characters in favor of Stackpole's alter ego doing a Kyle Katarn.

The X-Wing novels are fun to read, but it's set before TTT and focuses on minor and totally new characters. So it's more like a worthy addition.

As for skipping everything and going to the Hand of Thrawn... only if you use it as the direct beach head for the NJO. And even then, I'd say knowing about the Jedi Academy and its students is more important, because you'll have to relate to them later on. HOT only gives you minor knowledge about a minor player in the NJO. So the Jedi Academy would really be the logical step.


If you want to go the Prequel era, pick your favorite movie. The novels are really grouped around the movies with the main themes of "TPM surroundings" and Clone Wars. And about the Old, Old Republic comics, they are more or less background for the JAT. The Lando and Han books are obviously for those who like the characters but have no "galactic importance".

And I'd agree on Shadows not being essential. It details nothing really new and doesn't have any important future connections.

 

Ender_Sai :

I'm sorry but are people actually recommending the Lando books?

[image=http://home.att.net/~webzone9/starwars/pic/caric/lando.gif]

I'm sorry, but is someone actually dissin' Lando?

 

Lando, no. L Neil Smith, yes.

E_S

 

What would you recommend, Ender_Sai?

I would recommend reading the entire Zahnverse... then continue on from there... what is great about his own little 'mini-saga' is that it spreads across many era's now, so it is a great opportunity to get a feel for the Star Wars Expanded Universe.

 

The Lando trilogy is pure literary gold, I say.

 

"Gold" in the way the GoDV is "gold."

Okay, maybe not quite that "gold."

All of those books are nice, but for your next move I'd suggest the Han Solo Trilogy (note: NOT the Han Solo Adventures) which consists respectively of The Paradise Snare, The Hutt Gambit, and Rebel Dawn. It ties in with the original trilogy nicely (and even the prequels if you consider Chewie), doesn't require any real preexisting EU knowledge, and gives you a great perspective on Han Solo. And how can anyone not love Solo!?

After those three, consider the X-Wing series. If you're a little put off with the first four of that series by Stackpole (they can be tedious to some with all of the endless battle scenes), try skipping to Allston's contributions to the series. You can't go wrong with the Wraiths + the Fab Four of Starfighter Command (Wedge, Hobbie, Tycho, and the legendary Janson).