-I'm new to the Star Wars Universe, I'm currently trying to read and understand the entire star wars CANON universe. -Besides the current Marvel comics I'm also reading the novels like; Aftermath ,Lords of the Sith, Tarkin and New Dawn ect. -But I keep seeing books like Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure , Lost Stars and Smugglers Run: A Han Solo & Chewbacca Adventure. -I understand these books are CANON but How important are these books in contributing to my Universal knowledge and can they be skipped? -Last question being what is the difference between a Junior and Young Adult Novel? -Thanks everyone for helping a noob
Young adult is generally aimed at 15/16 upwards I think, with Junior aimed at younger readers. As for the books you mention, I've read Weapon of a Jedi (the Luke book to go with the Han and Leia titles you mention) and Lost Stars. Lost Stars I would definitely recommend you read as it's just a good Star Wars book, yes it's supposedly aimed at young adults but honestly I think a lot of people have been surprised by it and rate it very highly next to the regular novels. Based on Weapon of a Jedi I'd say these three books are still worth reading although the language is a little more simplified than Lost Stars. The story felt fairly self-contained and they're shorter stories but they do make a thing of 'hints at what is to come' with the whole 'Journey to the force awakens' stuff. Overall I'd say they're probably all worth picking up eventually but no need to rush and grab them immediately, they're nice short stories about the main three characters from the original trilogy, fun to read while they last but won't really tell you much about the characters that you don't already know in my opinion.
In terms of the quality of the story itself I have found these books to be far more interesting and enjoyable than the del rey books. Jason Frys servants series has been excellent and the journey books have been great too. Perhaps the only passable younger books have been the rebels chapter novels but even they have been good time wasters
So the majority of the younger Stuff with the exception of Lost Stars is not Needed ? It won't give me further universe spanning information ?
Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace (F) Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones (F) Star Wars: The Clone Wars (F) The Clone Wars: Seasons 1-6 (TV) Dark Disciple (N) Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir 1-4 (C) Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith (F) Star Wars: Kanan: The Last Padawan 1-6* (C) Lords of the Sith (N) Tarkin (N) A New Dawn (N) Lost Stars (YA) Star Wars: Rebels: Season 1 (TV) Star Wars: Rebels: Season 2 (TV) Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (F) Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope (C) Star Wars: Princess Leia 1-5 (C) Smugglers Run: A Han Solo & Chewbacca Adventure (JR) Star Wars: Chewbacca (C) Heir to the Jedi (N) The Weapon of a Jedi . A Luke Skywalker Adventure (JR) Star Wars: Skywalker Strikes (C) Star Wars: Darth Vader (C) Star Wars: Showdown on the Smuggler s Moon (C) Darth Vader: Shadow of Secrets (C) Star Wars: Battlefront (VG) Battlefront: Twilight Company (N) Star Wars: Lando (C) Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back (F) Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure (JR) Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi (F) Star Wars: Shattered Empire (C) Aftermath (N) Star Wars: Uprising (MG) Star Wars: The Force Awakens (F) This is what I consider Official CANON so far. Can I remove the JR and YA books of my checklist?
If your stated aim is to 'read and understand the entire Canon universe' as in your original post then no, I wouldn't skip them. They all add things to the universe, it's just varies in terms of how much from book to book.
The middle grade books have been basically the best books of the new canon. Of these, Servants of the Empire is most indispensable IMO. They handle the evils of the Empire better than any other. Similarly, I'm a strong advocate of The Princess, the Scoundrel, and the Farm Boy as capturing SW in its purest sense and for the best-written Leia to date. On the YA level, there's just Lost Stars. And Lost Stars has the Imperial POV I've always wanted in a book. And it's executed very well. The three JtTFA MG novels are also v. good but I'd put them a step behind the six listed here. Missa ab iPhona mea est.
