I just read Legacy of the Force Invincible (I haven't read the rest of the series), and I really liked it and wanted to read the rest of the books, so I was wondering - are there any books I can skip in the series?
nope none are skippeable in this series as each has big changes happen. It's not like filler in between.
You can skip bloodlines if you want. Maybe Tempest and Revelation. Inferno is interesting and has some developments. Sacrafice is a big one. Exile sets up stuff later on. Furry wraps up a big subplot. Betrayal starts everything.
So the books I should read are: Betrayal Exile Sacrifice Inferno Fury I've heard Bloodlines is about the Mando's (which I didn't really care for), is it absolutely necessary to read? To be honest, I want to read all of them, but it's really hard to find them in my country.
Leaving aside it's subjective goodness (unless you like Fett it's not), it doesn't advance the plot in any significant way aside from the founding of the GAG. You heard correct. Same with Revelation. They have some interesting stuff with Ben, but you can skip them.
No both cannot be skipped as essential setups for major plots and characters. What are you doing there with such advice? Seriously? I loved Bloodlines and I was no and am no Fett fan btw. So that has nothing to do with it.
I'm surprised no one has said "all of them" yet - the sarcasm dial is turned way down in here. The correct answer is: it depends what you are looking for. If you want to get the whole story, you have to read all of them. Each book builds on the last (or at least intends to). It isn't structured as separate but interconnected stories, but as a serial. None of the books deal only with side plots, the main plot runs through all the books. The side plots, and especially the side characters, tend to run through each authors stories. The Mando stuff mostly happens in the Traviss books (Bloodlines, Sacrifice, and Revelation), for instance. If you are just trying to be able to follow the plot, you will probably be fine reading any of them, if you were able to follow and enjoy Invincible on its own. Are you trying to figure out in which books the most significant events occur? Or are you trying to put together a "best of" to get the highlights? Those would all lead to (or potentially lead to) different recommendations.
I'm trying to figure out which books are the best, considering I know most of the significant events from reading Invincible.
None can be skipped - unlike NJO, this series is quite tight. Tempest, Fury and Exile are the most dragging, but each one moves the plot forward (also, Tempest fixes some continuity issues arising from the famous issue of Bloodlines having been finished before Betrayal). Although, if you read Invincible with no prerequisites, all the advice on this thread may be quite pointless (just realized that these emoticons are exactly the ones on the old Yahoo Messenger, which I was using when I started reading this forum and thus seemed then quite normal - now, in the age of ubiquitous Unicode emoticons, they seem quite quaint)
I'm trying to think which books were most similar in style to Invincible, but it has been a while since I have read any of them. If you tell us more about what you liked, or other Star Wars stories you have enjoyed that might help us get a better idea of your taste and give better recommendations. I would say start with Betrayal, Tempest, Sacrifice, and Inferno - the other two books by the same author and the other two books that were originally hardcovers. Depending what you think of those could give better direction which ones to go for next. When I saw you were the last poster, I thought you might.
I read the NJO, and I loved it. Generally, I like fast paced books with lots of action. Like I said earlier I don’t care much for the mandos.
Ok, we've covered that you shouldn't bother reading them, the series is... not good. Based on Invincible, it might seem like the final battle of an epic series, but the actual journey there was unfortunately nowhere near that level. If you really do want to read it, and you enjoyed Invincible (and NJO), then probably read #1- Betrayal, #6- Inferno, #7- Fury. Technically the fifth and eighth books are important, but they're also mostly Mando sidequests and are just bad stories. Revelation might be the worst Star Wars novel I ever read (although I didn't read every single one, only 90% of the old EU ones). There's something to be said for reading everything in order, if there was a decent story or a satisfying payoff, but not really. Seriously, LotF is nothing compared to NJO.
Everything after is....not as good. You should probably read Swarm War before LotF...the stories are independent, but it sets up the characterizations of the characters. You have to squint to really see it, but it sets it up all the same.
That’s part of dark nest, which I didn’t read because I found the idea of a bug hive mind creepy. Is it as bad as I’ve heard?
Depends what you have heard. It’s not great. They are creepy, especially with how they deal with memories and Joiners, almost zombie like. If you like action then you could enjoy most of LotF. Avoid the Travis books though, not much action lots of Mandy’s.