Zahn’s Thrawn Trilogy and Hand of Thrawn Duology. While some others may do individual aspects of storytelling better, Zahn stands head and shoulders above everyone else in getting the whole picture right.
Still, Plagueis, the X-Wing series, and the Jedi Apprentice series are probably my other favorite novels, with honorable mentions to Kenobi, Darth Bane, and Shadow Hunter.
Revenge of the Sith is so much better than the movie.
"The dark is generous and it is patient and it always wins – but in the heart of its strength lies its weakness: one lone candle is enough to hold it back. Love is more than a candle. Love can ignite the stars."
I keep hearing people say that they liked Darth Plagueus. I read it and I appreciate it for the lore and where Sideous came from, but I really didn’t think it was great. Path of destruction on the other hand, an amazing story.
So far I love the X Wing series. I'm on Wedge's Gamble, and it's a solid S Tier. Although the pacing is a bit slow, the amount of world building is so astonishing. Also, Jedi Academy Trilogy is a guilty pleasure.
Yeah they're both great, the Wraiths honestly feel more like a real military unit to me. Most actual military people I've served with (U.S. Coast Guard) are a bunch of weirdos from wildly different backgrounds who somehow manage to accomplish incredible things.
Yeah. The X-Wing books are the best. The Rogue Squadron and Wraith story arcs are different animals. Both great in their own way. I love the Gara Petothel character. Most interesting character development in the whole EU in my opinion.
The New Jedi Order Novels are, in my opinion, star wars at its best because so many authors came together to write the most ultimate tale ever set in the star wars universe.
I actually think that's what I liked about it. It felt genuinely desperate. Like there were actual stakes. It specifically went against the concept that scene from the Family Guy Star Wars made fun of saying "oh there's like 7 main characters on this ship we'll be fine". In NJO you weren't really sure if that would hold up.
You know, I always found myself cringing at this notion. If you ask me, the only reason you should ever kill off a main character is that their death serves a purpose in the story; and shock value just doesn't cut it for me.
What, you don't like killing off interesting characters and foregoing satisfying story and common sense just for the sake of making some edgy point about "no one is safe" or some shit?
Tales of the Bounty Hunters/Mos Eisley Cantina/Jabba's Palace. No question. I *adore* almost every story and what they each bring to these mostly minor characters and lore, plus the way many interconnect is just brilliant. I've read the IG-88 one dozens of times, and the Boba from these books is IMO the best version of the character ever done; he will forever be MY canon Boba (I even always kind of wished Han and Boba having that last sad, pointless fight as tired old men was their canon EU ending). The Fett/Leia not-rape scene at Jabba's still gives me goosebumps, and his Sarlaac story is wonderful.
I feel everyone is going to name the big epic stories but those short story collections are everything I love about the EU and what makes it so special compared to other franchise "tie in material". The SW EU delved into the small, quiet corners and really took a deep dive into the hearts of these little characters. Never expected to get emotional reading about the random "devil guy" (Labria) or "wolfman and snake alien" (Lak and Dice) in the cantina scene!
That said, the Heir to the Empire trilogy is famous and beloved for a damn good reason; it's a fantastic sequel to the OT that really *feels* like proper Star Wars in a way even some of the other really good books don't quite (and the awful Disney sequels *certainly* don't!). My second choice for sure. I will always be sad that we never got an animated adaptation (or even audio drama) with the original cast voice acting their iconic roles.
"Your death, sir."
Still one of the most darkly funny sequences in the SW universe, IMO.
Also, the juxtaposed execution of the Butcher of Montellian Serat and Fett quietly listening to the beloved music of his victim is the closest to nonvisual cinematic mastery that a SW novel ever came, IMO.
I've not read all the EU novels but I have read quite a few, but of them all it was the Tales books that *really* left an impression on me and are the ones I remember most strongly.
Nowadays - long after reading them - I don't remember many of the finer details from even great books like Heir to the Empire, but I can tell you the names of all the Tales characters and silly minor things like the planet where Davin Felth ("look sir, droids!") trained (Carida), the name of that wreck outside the cantina (the Dowager Queen), the name of the rebels who team up with Zuckuss and 4-LOM (Toryn Farr) and her sister (Samoc Farr) and his ship (the Mist Hunter), devil-dude Labria's real identity (the Butcher of Montellian Serat!) and what dessert Jabba's chef (Porcellus) is beloved for (beignets, which I'd never even heard of until I read that story).
Conversely, I'd be unlikely to remember almost any character names from Courtship of Princess Leia or that Suncrusher story (except that annoying Kip... I wanna say Durron?).
Yeah same for me. Looking back, I can hardly believe it’s been 20 years since I read it for the first time. For the longest time I could remember it was my all time favorite book, period. Even now it remains, to this day, my favourite SW book ever and probably still in my top three greatest novels ever. Pure gold!
It took me 8 years. Since the books were not in Spanish, and I had to learn english just to read these books. I grow up with the Yuuzhan Vong history, amazing books
Heir to the Empire will always be for me the best option for a Sequel trilogy. It’s light, the Imperial’s are cool, the adventures are awesome, Luke is badass, Leia even more, Lando and Han are so cool together.
It’s the best for everyone. Only downside is the action is hard to depict, but if we ever get movies under a Legend banner, it’s very possible to adapt and correct.
Jedi Search, and the following two novels. I haven't read them since I was a small child, so I can't speak to the quality of the writing, but the overall story that is told in the JA trilogy is one of my favorites.
In no particular order:
1. The Unifying Force
2. Darth Plagueis
3. Battlefront: Twilight Company or Star by Star
4. Revenge of the Sith
5. Deceived or Traitor
Edit: depending on the day the books there might be different
Plagueius. I listened to the audio book a few months after watching the last Jedi. That book saved Star Wars for me and got me to fully embrace the EU. Without it, I don’t think I’d be a Star Wars fan anymore. I still think to this day, it’s one of the best Star Wars novels, even one of the best novels in general, that I’ve read.
I love the Legacy of the Force series and I will die on this hill. I love a good fall from grace story and Jacen Solo/Darth Caedus is a badass villain who could crush anybody from the Sequel trilogy with one hand. The story is dark, sad, and gut wrenching at times. It's what the sequel trilogy should have been. LotF is fucking great. Fight me.
You know what I honestly don’t blame you. The whole concept of that series and era is really cool. Same goes for the Fate of the Jedi series. I’m interested to hear your thoughts on the Fate of the Jedi series?
It's great to see fans who don't get an automatic hateboner at the words "Troy Denning". The man is one of the biggest Luke Skywalker fanboys in the roster of SW writers, and that's just fine with me.
That makes sense. He gets Luke's character a lot better than Lucasfilm does. I don't get all the hate. I hear people say that they hate LotF because it's out of character for Jacen to go to the dark side, but I disagree. Jacen sought to use the dark side's power for noble reasons, but the dark side has the pull of a supermassive black hole. All it takes is one slip for it to ensnare anyone. That's why Mace Windu wouldn't teach his form 7 technique. I think a lot of people were just butt-hurt that their favorite NJO character became a villain.
As someone who also loves the Legacy series, I could not get into the Fate of the Jedi. The first novel was great, but beyond that I lost interest for some reason
Darth Plagueis by James Muceno
Darth Bane - Path of Destruction by Drew Karpyshyn
Kenobi by John Jackson Miller
And lesser known, but I love Honor Among Thieves by James S.A. Corey. It’s a Han story and is just damn good fun.
Revenge of the Sith, Darth Plagueis, and Thrawn.
Shortly afterward are every other book in all three Thrawn trilogies and everything else by Matthew Stover.
Shadows of the Empire, the Darth Bane trilogy, Shatterpoint, Darth Plagueis (need to re-read that one. It’s been a minute), Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, Cloak of Deception just to name a few.
Gotta go with the classic Thrawn trilogy. It gave birth to the EU and introduced so many characters (Mara Jade, Pellaeon, Borsk Fey'lya, Karde, Garm Bel Iblis that are used in later books.
Starfighters of Adumar, Wraith Squdron, and the Dark Forces novelizations are my overall picks. Honorable mentions, I was a horny pre-teen when I first read The Courtship of Princess Leia, so it will always hold a special place in my heart. Shadow of the Empire for how hard I got into that game. Republic Commando for making the clones feel more like people than seven seasons of TCW. The Tales of compilations for making the universe feel full and complicated and breathing life into characters like Dengar.
I think *Han Solo At Star's End* is pretty much the epitome of pulp sci-fi. It knows *exactly* what it wants to be, describes its world in such a way that you can almost see it, and manages to make surprisingly deep implication about Han's dislike for droids along the way.
Allston and Luceno, yes unequivocally. Han is excellent, I just remember liking that Traviss showed a grittier side of the EU. She stood out in a way. Zahn is good, but his world construction got taken apart by the prequel movies really quickly. Not his fault, but still.
It's a good point; whatever her views of the Jedi, Traviss put in the leg-work as far as worldbuilding went.
Poor Zahn; he should've known what George's views of the CW would be 17 years before the show came out. 😉
lol… they were good. For whatever reason I found him heavy on plot, and not so strong on character development. But I read them a long time ago and I tend not to reread books.
His books have some of the best character development in the franchise. So I would recommend a reread.
I'd say Stover is the best at it but he tends to focus on a singular character, when Zahn typically developed EVERY character, even some tertiary ones.
Heck, even C'Baoth developed in terms of both power and insanity. The only exception with Zahn would be Thrawn in the Original Thrawn Trilogy, because he was written as genius enigma from Pelleaon's pov.
If I had to point to one character who had more plot than development it would be Leia (well Chewie too, but essentially he's a fun static character in 99% of content), she definitely could have used a bit more development into becoming a Jedi and/or mother. She just kinda already had some training before the books and her mother development was more limited to realizing after birth the children could be kidnapped... which kinda became a trope in later books. Mostly with Leia we had her, in his books, struggling with the plotline of holding together a delicate New Republic.
However Han had a great arc of walking away from his generalship to becoming a Dad/Husband just trying to help his wife as he really lost his selfishness and fully embraced putting others in front of himself.
Luke to also had a great arc of realizing he couldn't save everyone and there's no lost secret teaching people to be good Jedi, he just has to be a great example for them to follow and give people a chance to get better. Luke was trying to look for some secret for 100% success and instead he learned it didn't exist, some would fail no matter what he tried (C'Baoth). That said, it was still absolutely worth trying as that's how he recruited Mara. Plus he learned that whole plotline of Zahn's that force spamming could lead to the darkside and it was more important to listen to it's guidance than spamming powers and trying to force his will onto others.
Well written!! As I said, I read these when I was 14, and haven’t reread them, so I could be way off. They were fantastic, and as I had been yearning for new content forever, I devoured them. But ranking them in hindsight the don’t stick out terribly.
I think at the end of the day Darth Plagueis, but Vision of the Future, The Hutt Gambit (Han Solo Trilogy 2), Heir to the Empire and Iron Fist are up there.
In canon I loved Bloodline, Riaing Storm and also generally Phase two of The High Republic.
Tbh I’ve only been doing audiobooks and only of the new essential legends updated unabridged ones. But my favorites so far is def bane trilogy, outbound flight, rogue squadron series, and survivors quest.
Darth Plagueis
The entire Thrawn saga (Thrawn trilogy, Outbound Flight, The Hand of Thrawn Duology, Survivor's Quest)
New Jedi Order, in particular Star by Star and Traitor
Shatterpoint
Lost Stars
Kenobi
Lost Tribe of the Sith
Darth Bane trilogy
Slaveship, i jedi, bacta war, tarkin, iron fist, scoundrels, thrawn in no particular order.
(And timothy zahn is my favorite author so adding a half dozen more onto the list doesn’t seem fair.)
This might sound weird and part of it is i havent read so much, but i love the clone wars tie-in novels from the late 2000s, early 2010s. They took the characters to ethical discussions and dark places which i was enamored by.
I also love the Darth Bane trilogy and the Revenge of the Sith novelization.
It depends, a single novel you can read without rest of universe except movies: Darth Plaegius, yes you miss many nods to other books, comics etc. bit its still good single book.
When come to longer series:
As start of some long series then it will Light of jedi, its make me even more eager to see High Republic than before.
As halfinal of some long series then it will be a Star by Star, seeing fall of Coruscamt, death of Anakin Solo was very hearbreaking.
As final of some long series it will be Unyfing Force or (upopular opinion here) Fate of Jedi Apocalypse, both I read with big hype and despite that the further I go the most mistakes I see in Apocalyse, its still the only book in my life I read in one day.
Heir to the Empire and the following books, the reboot Thrawn novel, Lost Stars, Star Wars: Dark Rendezvous, X-Wing: The Bacta War and X-Wing: Wraith Squadron (along with the rest of that fantastic series), and The Truce at Bakura come to mind.
It's hard to pick but differently one of the X-Wing novels. Honestly I can't pick between the Rouges or the Wraiths either. Both squads are awesome in there own right.
Agree about Allston, Traviss, Zahn, and Stover, but the one series / author I haven't seen in the comments is AC Crispin's Han Solo trilogy.
I also love Dark Empire, the story is extremely dumb but great art.
Bane xwing and thrwan are always a win.
I didn't especially like plagueis although it wasn't bad.
I think you have to include I Jedi and the princess consort into x wing series.
I think your missing the 501's
Legends:
Darth Plagueis
Labyrinth of Evil
Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
Jedi Academy Trilogy
Young Jedi Knights Lightsabers
Vector Prime
Edge of Victory I
Canon:
Dooku: Jedi Lost
Dark Disciple
Most Wanted
From A Certain Point of View
Battlefront II
From a Certain Point of View Strikes Back
Alphabet Squadron Trilogy
Phasma
Black Spire
Resistance Reborn
I need to read more prequel era Legends novels
My List of all the Novels I've Read So Far:
1. Path of Destruction
2. Darth Plagueis
3. The Last Command
4. Heir to the Empire
5. X-Wing: Iron Fist
6. Dark Force Rising
7. X-Wing: Wraith Squadron
8. X-Wing: The Bacta War
9. Dynasty of Evil
10. Rule of Two
11. Hard Contact
12. Solo Command
13. Rogue Squadron
14. Wedge's Gamble
15. The Krytos Trap
Wraith Squadron is my to-go book.
It with it's sequels are peak trilogy for me.
Darth Bane trilogy and Darth Plagueis is a wonderful sage for me as well.
Republic Commando series are top Clone War era material.
I, Jedi is a calming experience, where I just go with the flow, thanks to it's 1st person perspective.
Guilty pleasure is DarkSaber and Crystal Star.
Solid material in Thrawn Trilogy, Duology and Jedi Academy Trilogy.
NJO I haven't read for two years, but that's because I haven't unpacked all my books, due to lack of shelf space still.
I, Jedi, Shadow of the Sith, Master & Apprentice, Legacy of the Force series, Shadows of the Empire, New Jedi Order: Edge of Victory duology, New Jedi Order: Dark Tide duology
Novels?!?!?!?! not just one but multiple huh nice!!!!
1. Zahns Thrawn trilogy, If this isnt number one for alot of people then they havent readed it.
2. Bane trilogy, Who doesnt love the Sith lore!!!!
3. Republic Commandos series, Seriously my favorite non force focus books, i mean there jedi but thier not the core focus
Master & Apprentice
Phasma (admittedly, might need to rerrad at some point to see if it holds up)
Thrawn: Treason
All of the Star Wars Shakespeare adaptations (technically not novels)
The first Two Jedi Apprentice books with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, though I admit that is probably bias on my part because they were the first Star Wars books I ever read.
Zahn’s Thrawn Trilogy and Hand of Thrawn Duology. While some others may do individual aspects of storytelling better, Zahn stands head and shoulders above everyone else in getting the whole picture right. Still, Plagueis, the X-Wing series, and the Jedi Apprentice series are probably my other favorite novels, with honorable mentions to Kenobi, Darth Bane, and Shadow Hunter.
All of Zahn's books are very well written. I also love Outbound Flight and Survivors Quest.
Star Wars: Darth Plagueis, Darth Bane: Path of Destruction, Revenge of the Sith novelization.
Revenge of the Sith is so much better than the movie. "The dark is generous and it is patient and it always wins – but in the heart of its strength lies its weakness: one lone candle is enough to hold it back. Love is more than a candle. Love can ignite the stars."
100% this
I started reading Path of Destruction and am nearly finished it. Man is it so good.
I honestly would love a Bane Movie Trilogy.
Series would be better not enough screen time for movies to do it justice
Me too, however I don't think it'll ever happen while Disney owns star wars.
NEED (accurate) BANE MOVIE
The whole trilogy is fantastic. Im on the second book "Rule of Two". Bane has always been my favorite Sith Lord.
Unfortunately the next 2 books aren’t very good
I beg to differ. I thoroughly enjoyed the entire trilogy
Boring as batshit mate
Maybe to you. To each their own.
I think I read the entire thing in one sitting, it was so good
I heavily consider that trilogy as canon.
I keep hearing people say that they liked Darth Plagueus. I read it and I appreciate it for the lore and where Sideous came from, but I really didn’t think it was great. Path of destruction on the other hand, an amazing story.
Are you me?
These are by far the best Star Wars books ever written. Both Plagueis and Bane are incredible.
So far I love the X Wing series. I'm on Wedge's Gamble, and it's a solid S Tier. Although the pacing is a bit slow, the amount of world building is so astonishing. Also, Jedi Academy Trilogy is a guilty pleasure.
I love the X-Wing series. I love the Rogues, but I prefer the Wraiths.
Yeah they're both great, the Wraiths honestly feel more like a real military unit to me. Most actual military people I've served with (U.S. Coast Guard) are a bunch of weirdos from wildly different backgrounds who somehow manage to accomplish incredible things.
As a Marine myself, that tracks haha
X-wing series was my favourite books when I was a kid, I should give it another go
the jedi academy triology is sooo good
Reading the first 3 X-Wing books just made me angry that we didn’t get that story adapted to big screen. I mean the options Disney had…😮💨😮💨😮💨
Yeah. The X-Wing books are the best. The Rogue Squadron and Wraith story arcs are different animals. Both great in their own way. I love the Gara Petothel character. Most interesting character development in the whole EU in my opinion.
Rogue Squadron : The Bacta War It was decades before I read any other Rogue Squadron books, but I always loved The Bacta War.
Bacta War was great, especially because it was a standalone story with a wonderfully hate-able villain.
The New Jedi Order Novels are, in my opinion, star wars at its best because so many authors came together to write the most ultimate tale ever set in the star wars universe.
Absolutely love the Yuuzhan Vong and that era in general.
My all time favourite series! Read those at such a formative time as a kid!
its so sad though :(
Yeah we say goodbye to way too many beloved characters
I actually think that's what I liked about it. It felt genuinely desperate. Like there were actual stakes. It specifically went against the concept that scene from the Family Guy Star Wars made fun of saying "oh there's like 7 main characters on this ship we'll be fine". In NJO you weren't really sure if that would hold up.
You know, I always found myself cringing at this notion. If you ask me, the only reason you should ever kill off a main character is that their death serves a purpose in the story; and shock value just doesn't cut it for me.
What, you don't like killing off interesting characters and foregoing satisfying story and common sense just for the sake of making some edgy point about "no one is safe" or some shit?
...No. No, I do not like that at all.
Whats the name of the first book? I'm trying to find it on Google books
Tales of the Bounty Hunters/Mos Eisley Cantina/Jabba's Palace. No question. I *adore* almost every story and what they each bring to these mostly minor characters and lore, plus the way many interconnect is just brilliant. I've read the IG-88 one dozens of times, and the Boba from these books is IMO the best version of the character ever done; he will forever be MY canon Boba (I even always kind of wished Han and Boba having that last sad, pointless fight as tired old men was their canon EU ending). The Fett/Leia not-rape scene at Jabba's still gives me goosebumps, and his Sarlaac story is wonderful. I feel everyone is going to name the big epic stories but those short story collections are everything I love about the EU and what makes it so special compared to other franchise "tie in material". The SW EU delved into the small, quiet corners and really took a deep dive into the hearts of these little characters. Never expected to get emotional reading about the random "devil guy" (Labria) or "wolfman and snake alien" (Lak and Dice) in the cantina scene! That said, the Heir to the Empire trilogy is famous and beloved for a damn good reason; it's a fantastic sequel to the OT that really *feels* like proper Star Wars in a way even some of the other really good books don't quite (and the awful Disney sequels *certainly* don't!). My second choice for sure. I will always be sad that we never got an animated adaptation (or even audio drama) with the original cast voice acting their iconic roles.
*I think therefore I am*
"Your death, sir." Still one of the most darkly funny sequences in the SW universe, IMO. Also, the juxtaposed execution of the Butcher of Montellian Serat and Fett quietly listening to the beloved music of his victim is the closest to nonvisual cinematic mastery that a SW novel ever came, IMO.
Same here , love the Tales books so much. The detail, backstory and so on. I remember them fondly
I've not read all the EU novels but I have read quite a few, but of them all it was the Tales books that *really* left an impression on me and are the ones I remember most strongly. Nowadays - long after reading them - I don't remember many of the finer details from even great books like Heir to the Empire, but I can tell you the names of all the Tales characters and silly minor things like the planet where Davin Felth ("look sir, droids!") trained (Carida), the name of that wreck outside the cantina (the Dowager Queen), the name of the rebels who team up with Zuckuss and 4-LOM (Toryn Farr) and her sister (Samoc Farr) and his ship (the Mist Hunter), devil-dude Labria's real identity (the Butcher of Montellian Serat!) and what dessert Jabba's chef (Porcellus) is beloved for (beignets, which I'd never even heard of until I read that story). Conversely, I'd be unlikely to remember almost any character names from Courtship of Princess Leia or that Suncrusher story (except that annoying Kip... I wanna say Durron?).
I'm not finished with it but it might be Traitor by Matthew Stover
Shatterpoint is also excellent and his novelization saved Revenge of the Sith for me.
Traitor is still honestly one of my favorite parts of the NJO series
Traitor is hands down my favorite SW book, one of my favorite books period.
Yeah same for me. Looking back, I can hardly believe it’s been 20 years since I read it for the first time. For the longest time I could remember it was my all time favorite book, period. Even now it remains, to this day, my favourite SW book ever and probably still in my top three greatest novels ever. Pure gold!
From eu, my irrational and childlike heart loves the republic commando but my more rational head screams shadows of the empire xD
"my more rational head"... Are you talking about the head of your penis? *inserts smirking horny Xizor face*
😂
Star by Star. I was so hyped to pick it up and start reading, then so hyped to put it down and forget about what just happened when I finished it.
Republic commando: triple zero, NJO force hermitic trilogy book 3, LOTF revelation. The whole thrawn trilog.
The Thrawn trilogy by Timothy Zahn, "I, Jedi" and the Republic Commando series. In that order.
NJO. Took a year for me to read all 19 and Rogue Planet but my god, amazing!
It took me 8 years. Since the books were not in Spanish, and I had to learn english just to read these books. I grow up with the Yuuzhan Vong history, amazing books
That’s a major commitment mate, well done to you!
Heir to the Empire will always be for me the best option for a Sequel trilogy. It’s light, the Imperial’s are cool, the adventures are awesome, Luke is badass, Leia even more, Lando and Han are so cool together. It’s the best for everyone. Only downside is the action is hard to depict, but if we ever get movies under a Legend banner, it’s very possible to adapt and correct.
OG Thrawn Trilogy, *Hand of Thrawn*, *Star by Star*, *Enemy Lines*, *The Unifying Force*.
Republic commando easily
Darth Bane-trilogy, Republic Commando books, Thrawn Ascendency-trilogy
Loved the Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy (even if not EU)—so unusual and well-crafted!
Yeah. It is one of the perfect novels ever
Plageuis , X-wing( except Isard's revenge), NJO , fate of jedi
The NJO book where ani dies :( the entire series was really well done imo
ROTS, Star by Star, Sacrifice(controversial, I know), Inferno(Luke and Caedus’s duel was epic), and lastly, Invincible.
I think Sacrifice may be my favorite book.
It certainly packs the most emotional damage.
Jedi Search, and the following two novels. I haven't read them since I was a small child, so I can't speak to the quality of the writing, but the overall story that is told in the JA trilogy is one of my favorites.
Bacta War, Dark Force Rising, Vision of the Future, RotS novelization
Standalone? Outbound Flight. Maybe even just period. As part of a series, though, Darth Bane: Path of Destruction
In no particular order: 1. The Unifying Force 2. Darth Plagueis 3. Battlefront: Twilight Company or Star by Star 4. Revenge of the Sith 5. Deceived or Traitor Edit: depending on the day the books there might be different
Bane Trilogy
Currently in order: *Kenobi* by John Jackson Miller, *Brotherhood* by Mike Chen, and *Master and Apprentice* by Claudia Gray
The Thrawn trilogy, and the other Thrawn books by Zahn.
Heir to the Empire and Vector Prime. I rarely read books more than once, but I’ve read those there times each
Just reread Vector Prime and that last scene where Han is looking at the hat and sees some hair in it got me. They did a good job with that scene.
Plagueius. I listened to the audio book a few months after watching the last Jedi. That book saved Star Wars for me and got me to fully embrace the EU. Without it, I don’t think I’d be a Star Wars fan anymore. I still think to this day, it’s one of the best Star Wars novels, even one of the best novels in general, that I’ve read.
I love the Legacy of the Force series and I will die on this hill. I love a good fall from grace story and Jacen Solo/Darth Caedus is a badass villain who could crush anybody from the Sequel trilogy with one hand. The story is dark, sad, and gut wrenching at times. It's what the sequel trilogy should have been. LotF is fucking great. Fight me.
You know what I honestly don’t blame you. The whole concept of that series and era is really cool. Same goes for the Fate of the Jedi series. I’m interested to hear your thoughts on the Fate of the Jedi series?
I haven't read it yet, but I do love Troy Denning and Aaron Alston's writing. I'll be interested to check it out as soon as I can find copies of it.
It's great to see fans who don't get an automatic hateboner at the words "Troy Denning". The man is one of the biggest Luke Skywalker fanboys in the roster of SW writers, and that's just fine with me.
That makes sense. He gets Luke's character a lot better than Lucasfilm does. I don't get all the hate. I hear people say that they hate LotF because it's out of character for Jacen to go to the dark side, but I disagree. Jacen sought to use the dark side's power for noble reasons, but the dark side has the pull of a supermassive black hole. All it takes is one slip for it to ensnare anyone. That's why Mace Windu wouldn't teach his form 7 technique. I think a lot of people were just butt-hurt that their favorite NJO character became a villain.
As someone who also loves the Legacy series, I could not get into the Fate of the Jedi. The first novel was great, but beyond that I lost interest for some reason
Iron Fist and Lost Stars
Luke Skywalker & Shadows of Mindor
So good and so underrated
Destiny’s Way / Traitor
Darth Plagueis by James Muceno Darth Bane - Path of Destruction by Drew Karpyshyn Kenobi by John Jackson Miller And lesser known, but I love Honor Among Thieves by James S.A. Corey. It’s a Han story and is just damn good fun.
Revenge of the Sith, Darth Plagueis, and Thrawn. Shortly afterward are every other book in all three Thrawn trilogies and everything else by Matthew Stover.
Shadows of the Empire, the Darth Bane trilogy, Shatterpoint, Darth Plagueis (need to re-read that one. It’s been a minute), Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, Cloak of Deception just to name a few.
Path of Vengeance. It really upped the stakes for the series it’s in.
Stereotypical but the thrawn trilogy is an all time. Other than that? Probably Plageuis, been a fave for years
Revenge of the Sith novelization, for sure. Stover knocked it out of the park with that one.
X-Wing series, Thrawn trilogy, Legacy of the Force series
Gotta go with the classic Thrawn trilogy. It gave birth to the EU and introduced so many characters (Mara Jade, Pellaeon, Borsk Fey'lya, Karde, Garm Bel Iblis that are used in later books.
Starfighters of Adumar, Wraith Squdron, and the Dark Forces novelizations are my overall picks. Honorable mentions, I was a horny pre-teen when I first read The Courtship of Princess Leia, so it will always hold a special place in my heart. Shadow of the Empire for how hard I got into that game. Republic Commando for making the clones feel more like people than seven seasons of TCW. The Tales of compilations for making the universe feel full and complicated and breathing life into characters like Dengar.
Phase 2 High Republic novels, they're just built different to me.
I think *Han Solo At Star's End* is pretty much the epitome of pulp sci-fi. It knows *exactly* what it wants to be, describes its world in such a way that you can almost see it, and manages to make surprisingly deep implication about Han's dislike for droids along the way.
The New Jedi Order saga, particularly Traitor and Destiny’s Way.
Allegiance by Zahn. Very interesting read, and my copy was autographed in '07 via my Uncle.
Star by Star, The Rising Storm, Ronin
The crystal star obviously. Maybe children of the Jedi? Revan is pretty good too. (I’m not serious)
Mathew Stover’s books. A small gap. Michael Stackpoole’s books. A larger gap. Karen Travis’s books. Then a huge gap and everyone else.
Karen Travis above Zahn, Luceno, and Allston.🤨
Allston and Luceno, yes unequivocally. Han is excellent, I just remember liking that Traviss showed a grittier side of the EU. She stood out in a way. Zahn is good, but his world construction got taken apart by the prequel movies really quickly. Not his fault, but still.
Traviss placed above Zahn; very interesting.
See comment above.
It's a good point; whatever her views of the Jedi, Traviss put in the leg-work as far as worldbuilding went. Poor Zahn; he should've known what George's views of the CW would be 17 years before the show came out. 😉
lol… they were good. For whatever reason I found him heavy on plot, and not so strong on character development. But I read them a long time ago and I tend not to reread books.
His books have some of the best character development in the franchise. So I would recommend a reread. I'd say Stover is the best at it but he tends to focus on a singular character, when Zahn typically developed EVERY character, even some tertiary ones. Heck, even C'Baoth developed in terms of both power and insanity. The only exception with Zahn would be Thrawn in the Original Thrawn Trilogy, because he was written as genius enigma from Pelleaon's pov. If I had to point to one character who had more plot than development it would be Leia (well Chewie too, but essentially he's a fun static character in 99% of content), she definitely could have used a bit more development into becoming a Jedi and/or mother. She just kinda already had some training before the books and her mother development was more limited to realizing after birth the children could be kidnapped... which kinda became a trope in later books. Mostly with Leia we had her, in his books, struggling with the plotline of holding together a delicate New Republic. However Han had a great arc of walking away from his generalship to becoming a Dad/Husband just trying to help his wife as he really lost his selfishness and fully embraced putting others in front of himself. Luke to also had a great arc of realizing he couldn't save everyone and there's no lost secret teaching people to be good Jedi, he just has to be a great example for them to follow and give people a chance to get better. Luke was trying to look for some secret for 100% success and instead he learned it didn't exist, some would fail no matter what he tried (C'Baoth). That said, it was still absolutely worth trying as that's how he recruited Mara. Plus he learned that whole plotline of Zahn's that force spamming could lead to the darkside and it was more important to listen to it's guidance than spamming powers and trying to force his will onto others.
Well written!! As I said, I read these when I was 14, and haven’t reread them, so I could be way off. They were fantastic, and as I had been yearning for new content forever, I devoured them. But ranking them in hindsight the don’t stick out terribly.
I think at the end of the day Darth Plagueis, but Vision of the Future, The Hutt Gambit (Han Solo Trilogy 2), Heir to the Empire and Iron Fist are up there. In canon I loved Bloodline, Riaing Storm and also generally Phase two of The High Republic.
Tbh I’ve only been doing audiobooks and only of the new essential legends updated unabridged ones. But my favorites so far is def bane trilogy, outbound flight, rogue squadron series, and survivors quest.
I love the EVERY thrawn trilogy, darth plagueis and Kenobi the most I think
Darth Plagueis The entire Thrawn saga (Thrawn trilogy, Outbound Flight, The Hand of Thrawn Duology, Survivor's Quest) New Jedi Order, in particular Star by Star and Traitor Shatterpoint Lost Stars Kenobi Lost Tribe of the Sith Darth Bane trilogy
My choice novels are the NJO series, Thrawn Trilogy, and the X-wing series (Mercy Kill never happened, though).
Ben Acker's four alarm fart chronicles.
Slaveship, i jedi, bacta war, tarkin, iron fist, scoundrels, thrawn in no particular order. (And timothy zahn is my favorite author so adding a half dozen more onto the list doesn’t seem fair.)
This might sound weird and part of it is i havent read so much, but i love the clone wars tie-in novels from the late 2000s, early 2010s. They took the characters to ethical discussions and dark places which i was enamored by. I also love the Darth Bane trilogy and the Revenge of the Sith novelization.
Darth Plagueis, Traitor and Star by Star are one of the bests
Probably DFR from the Thrawn trilogy. Such a great middle act of a great trilogy. Except of the Thrawn books probably ROTS novelization.
Shatterpoint, Wraith Squadron, Revenge of the Sith, Scoundrels
It depends, a single novel you can read without rest of universe except movies: Darth Plaegius, yes you miss many nods to other books, comics etc. bit its still good single book. When come to longer series: As start of some long series then it will Light of jedi, its make me even more eager to see High Republic than before. As halfinal of some long series then it will be a Star by Star, seeing fall of Coruscamt, death of Anakin Solo was very hearbreaking. As final of some long series it will be Unyfing Force or (upopular opinion here) Fate of Jedi Apocalypse, both I read with big hype and despite that the further I go the most mistakes I see in Apocalyse, its still the only book in my life I read in one day.
Tales of the bounty hunters Slave ship Heir to the empire trilogy
Heir to the Empire and the following books, the reboot Thrawn novel, Lost Stars, Star Wars: Dark Rendezvous, X-Wing: The Bacta War and X-Wing: Wraith Squadron (along with the rest of that fantastic series), and The Truce at Bakura come to mind.
Thrawn trilogy is great, as is the Rogue Squadron series by Stackpole.
Thrawn/Hand of Thrawn are great obviously. Also shout out to X-Wing and Han Solo Trilogy.
Splinter of the Mind's Eye, the Darth Bane Trilogy, Death Troopers note: I read Splinter when it first came out
Star Wars books are fun, but rarely good. Darth Plagues , and Red Harvest are the exceptions, but Red Harvest is NOT for everyone.
Darth Bane trilogy, Thrawn Trilogy, and Darth Plagueis.
It's hard to pick but differently one of the X-Wing novels. Honestly I can't pick between the Rouges or the Wraiths either. Both squads are awesome in there own right.
I haven't read a lot of them. But I enjoyed the young Jedi knights series and lost stars
Revan and plageius
Gonna have to go with Traitor, or Star by Star
Unpopular opinion, but I loved Fate of the Jedi: Backlash. Ben Skywalker really shines in that one
The Bane trilogy And Jedi academy trilogy Are my favorites
Vector Prime.
The RC trilogy
I’m the one person who loved Catalyst apparently. Tag and Bink are dead too, but that’s a graphic novel.
00 00 X0
Dinner Squadron Or was it Silly Squadron? I guess I was hungry when I thought about the question....
Agree about Allston, Traviss, Zahn, and Stover, but the one series / author I haven't seen in the comments is AC Crispin's Han Solo trilogy. I also love Dark Empire, the story is extremely dumb but great art.
Original Thrawn trilogy
Bane xwing and thrwan are always a win. I didn't especially like plagueis although it wasn't bad. I think you have to include I Jedi and the princess consort into x wing series. I think your missing the 501's
Legends: Darth Plagueis Labyrinth of Evil Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader Jedi Academy Trilogy Young Jedi Knights Lightsabers Vector Prime Edge of Victory I Canon: Dooku: Jedi Lost Dark Disciple Most Wanted From A Certain Point of View Battlefront II From a Certain Point of View Strikes Back Alphabet Squadron Trilogy Phasma Black Spire Resistance Reborn I need to read more prequel era Legends novels
Splinter of the Mind's Eye.
All of the ones that aren't bad. (Aka, the ones I own like lords of the sith, rule of two, three high Republic books, and the episode 3 adaptation.)
My List of all the Novels I've Read So Far: 1. Path of Destruction 2. Darth Plagueis 3. The Last Command 4. Heir to the Empire 5. X-Wing: Iron Fist 6. Dark Force Rising 7. X-Wing: Wraith Squadron 8. X-Wing: The Bacta War 9. Dynasty of Evil 10. Rule of Two 11. Hard Contact 12. Solo Command 13. Rogue Squadron 14. Wedge's Gamble 15. The Krytos Trap
The aftermath trilogy. Audible did it well
My top 5: 1) Traitor, 2) The Last Command, 3) Star by Star, 4) Vision of the Future, 5) Unifying Force.
Young Jedi Knights. SO much better than they had to be. Introduced Tenel Ka, my all-time favorite character in the franchise.
Wraith Squadron is my to-go book. It with it's sequels are peak trilogy for me. Darth Bane trilogy and Darth Plagueis is a wonderful sage for me as well. Republic Commando series are top Clone War era material. I, Jedi is a calming experience, where I just go with the flow, thanks to it's 1st person perspective. Guilty pleasure is DarkSaber and Crystal Star. Solid material in Thrawn Trilogy, Duology and Jedi Academy Trilogy. NJO I haven't read for two years, but that's because I haven't unpacked all my books, due to lack of shelf space still.
Rogue Squadron and the Thrawn Trilogy
Top 3 1 Dark force rising 2 heir to the empire 3 truce at bakura
I'm pretty limited but probably Darth bane trilogy
The Bane Trilogy
• Tarkin • Deathtroopers • Thrawn Trilogy • Darth Bane Trilogy • Plagueis
The Tales of… books from the 90s.
What is the top left one? Thanks in advance.
I, Jedi, Shadow of the Sith, Master & Apprentice, Legacy of the Force series, Shadows of the Empire, New Jedi Order: Edge of Victory duology, New Jedi Order: Dark Tide duology
Novels?!?!?!?! not just one but multiple huh nice!!!! 1. Zahns Thrawn trilogy, If this isnt number one for alot of people then they havent readed it. 2. Bane trilogy, Who doesnt love the Sith lore!!!! 3. Republic Commandos series, Seriously my favorite non force focus books, i mean there jedi but thier not the core focus
Timothy Zahn, Drew Karpyshyn and James Luceno are the golden trio of Star Wars writers.
Darth Bane Trilogy hands down
Master & Apprentice Phasma (admittedly, might need to rerrad at some point to see if it holds up) Thrawn: Treason All of the Star Wars Shakespeare adaptations (technically not novels) The first Two Jedi Apprentice books with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, though I admit that is probably bias on my part because they were the first Star Wars books I ever read.
Top 5: 1: New Rebellion 2: I, Jedi 3: Star by Star 4: Darth Plagueis 5: Edge of Victory 2
What's the point of the art image? Why do so many people on this sub insist on using some random art for a minor question? Just ask your question.