What to read after Bakura...

I'm in the middle of reading The truce at Bakura (missed it the first time around - started with the Thrawn and Jedi Academy trilogies)and i wanted to know what youy guys thought should be my next chonalogical book.

I was thinking about reading the X-wing series...
Do they offer genuine thrills? Is there a good plot or are they more like TFU and other filler material aimed at satiating a particualr fanboy itch?

What about The Courtship of Princess Leia, Tatooine Ghost, or Darksaber?
Which of these are the best, which should i skip (if any)

Is Courtship a girly romance book, or is there something for the boys? Was it Lucasfilms attemp at reaching out to a wider female audience?

 

The X-Wing series is a required read and that's putting it mildly.

CoPL wraps up a plotline from the seventh X-Wing (the other two take place later), even though the book was written earlier. It has a good sense of humour and describes the way Han courts Leia in the presence of a more promising match for her.

Tatooine Ghost is perhaps the best description of Han-Leia's relationship. If you care even slightly for them, do read it. It also gives some thought to the way Leia perceives her father and her attitude to having children.


Btw, this question is perhaps better suited for the general EU thread What To Read, isn't it?

 

Courtship is in no way a romance book. A lot of it deals with that, but at least half of the book is about Luke, and there's tons of Nightsisters fighting. In fact, it's one of the most action packed SW novels I've ever read.

 

CoPL is pretty action packed. The whole marriage plot is there, but it doesn't crowd the entire story.

I'd recommend starting with the Thrawn Trilogy and then work through the X Wing series.

 

The interesting thing about Courtship of Princess Leia, the X-Wing series, and Tatooine Ghost is that they work pretty nicely together, with each book setting up plot elements of the next, even though they were published years and years apart.

Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor is another good book set in this era. If you're working chronologically, I'd recommend that one, and then the X-Wing books, etc. Otherwise, jump on ahead to the Thrawn trilogy and decide if you want to go back and work forwards from there.

TC

 

I got the Thrawn trilogy and love them.

The first star wars book i read was Jedi Search and i remember being totally lost in its first few pages. It talked about the resurrected Emperor, Thrawn, world destroyers...

I'm not keep on reading CoPL. The idea of reading half abook dedicated to their relationship hurts. I find those to characters absolutely boring in the EU. I loved them in the films, and the early Thrawn/Academy trilogies, but in later books i wonder why Lucasfilm doesn't kill them off.

What about crystal star, Children of the Jedi?

Where do those books fit in the overall story.

Which of thoses books are essential, and which can be missed?

Bakura > X-wing Series > Thrawn Trilogy > Jedi Academy Trilogy > ?





I don't know about you guys but i've really lost intrested in the book following NJO...
When the fight with the empire finally finished i was skeptical about reading of a new invasion force from beyond the SW galaxy, but ended up loving the series.
Fate of the Jedi has been so disappointhing though. And the 9 book Jacen Solo arc was just a retread of past movies/books.

Its like they've run out of ideas...

 

Why should i skip TCS? What makes it so unreadable?

Just to clarify, you are saying that the X-wing series takes place after the I, Jedi, not before the Jedi academy trilogy?

 

you can use this as a guide of what books fit where/when. Also, if you have any recent SW novel the timeline will be in the front of that also, but exluding the young reader novels.

 

How good is this book?
I notice that its written by Matthew Stover - i loved his RotS novelization and his EPIC NJO bookm but didn't care for shatterpoint...

 

As an avid Star Wars, to understand events. I would read them in this order:

Shadows of Mindor
X Wing Series Books: 1-7
Courtship of Princess Leia
Tatooine Ghost
Thrawn Trilogy
X-Wing Series:Isard's Revenge
Jedi Academy Trilogy/I Jedi
X Wing:Starfighters of Adumar

 

My choices:

Shadows of Mindor
X-Wing series
Courtship of Princess Leia/Tatooine Ghost (just to see how Han/Leia got married and how they decided to have kids, and Troy Denning still twists that "I kill Solo kids" knife.)
Corellian Trilogy (poor, poor Gaeriel)

Avoid the Crystal Star, except for a good laugh. I'd say avoid Dark Empire (It's bad.) but it's also necessary to make everything after Dark Empire make sense.

 

why is everyone saying avoid CS? lol

 

CoS is a bit silly. Han Solo actually looks for advice about women from C-3PO so you can see it's not exactly dead on with the characterization. For best writing and most engaging characters written in the Bantam era go to The X-Wing series and I, Jedi. Shadows of the Empire, Shadows of Mindor deserve attention. I'd also recommend the Han Solo Trilogy if you're up for it. Top it off with The Hand of Thrawn trilogy and Survivor's Quest.

 

I've noticed that nobody menttions reading any of Kevin J Anderson's books...

 

the jedi academy series were good. darksaber had it's flaws but was still good. dont read tcs and barbara hambly's books thery'e awful.

 

Well, they're very cliche-ridden. The reputation of the Bantam Era having a superweapon in each book is largely due to his books. He isn't able to create many original ideas of his own and thus ends up recycling plot devices from the original trilogy. To be honest, the only lasting plot developments that come out of the Jedi Academy trilogy are the formation of the Jedi Academy and Leia's ascension to Chief of State. Otherwise, you could easily skip it and be fine in terms of continuity.

 

To be fair, I quite liked The Crystal Star and I think Children of the Jedi is pretty underrated. Of course, I remember liking Courtship as well...but now that I'm re-reading it, it's not quite as good as I remember it reading. I wouldn't recommend skipping the Jedi Academy trilogy in favor of I, Jedi...it's not bad, but I wouldn't say it's better, particularly since it focuses on only one character.

Kevin J. Anderson, IIRC, worked in a weapons development center for years, so this may be where his superweapon fixation comes from. However, he also has a pretty funny take on weapons designers because of this, so his books can be pretty funny.

TC

 

The only thing about the JAT that's worth anything is the idea that the New Republic's just as bad as the Empire. But that's not actually explored. Oh, instead we get a Jedi terrorist.

 

The JKA stuff isn't horrible. I too wouldn't recommend I, Jedi to avoid the JAT. The thing about Anderson is that I think he's overly underrated on these boards. His books weren't the most cohesive or compelling at times but he came up with scads of canon that's still in use.

 

That may be, but KJA is a pretty terrible writer IMO. I'm reading Jedi Search again now. I can't believe how much time has been wasted with the Kessel mines and the energy spiders, the stupid Umgulian blog races, etc. There is a whole lot of fat that could have been trimmed from that book. As I recall there's a whole lot of garbage in Dark Apprentice and Champions of the Force too. So much of what the guy does just drags and drags.

The apex of that is the entire YJK series, and his various comic efforts. The Sith War IMO is the weakest link in the original TOTJ run, all the Golden Age stuff is "meh," luckily he got Redemption right, and Jedi Academy Leviathan is one of the dumbest "me Jedi, me slay dragon" stories ever.

 

Yeah, but he came up with lots of canon that's still used because he got to write some of the earliest books in the EU and establish a bunch of stuff. They were still godawful books. It's got nothing to do with how he's rated as an author that other people were forced to reference his material. He still wouldn't know good writing if it walked up to him and introduced itself.

 

Also, possibly the absolute worst thing that KJA established as continuity that stuck until the Dark Nest Trilogy(and we thank you for breaking this horrific cycle Mr Troy Denning) is that Leia is a lousy, lazy, Jedi who felt she couldn't be both the politician and the Jedi. We are talking a scant few weeks after the Dark Empire Trilogy, where-in Leia acts as essentially a fully trained Jedi Knight and one could successfully make the argument that her confrontation of Dark Luke and Palpatine aboard the Eclipse counts as her passing her Jedi Trial much as Luke's confrontation of Vader and Palpatine on the DSII was his that she was clearly of that level(heck, she learns Battle Meditation in the sequel chapters). Clearly KJA had Jedi Search in the bag for the most part when DE came out and he just didn't bother to do anything but speckle a few references back to DE in the book. Otherwise it's basically just like DE never happened and those books follow right on the heels of TTT.

Stang, I just got to the point where Leia is alone with Gantoris and Streen on Coruscant while Luke and Lando go to Kessel to track down Han and Leia isn't helping either of them out at all. Especially Streen, whom Leia could surely have assisted in quieting his mind given her obvious skill with the Force's mental side in DE. And unfortunately every author after that kept on with that with the exceptions of a few hints at Leia's skill and training as a Jedi. In the Corellian Trilogy Leia has to be given an honorary Jedi Knighthood. But at least even Zahn had enough and made Leia out to be a skilled Jedi Knight in HoT. Then basically no real progress for her in NJO, and finally DNT she decides to get trained up again.

 

I agree with Dawud 100%. I feel that a HUGE opportunity for some sweet story development was completely missed with not having Leia working on her mastery of the force. I don't think it would have been out of the realm of possibility for her to be a powerful politician as well as being a powerful jedi. Chalk it up as another missed opportunity, I suppose.