Thinking Of Reading EU

[Jek Porky 2001]

Well I'm not much of a reader, but I not long ago finished reading Jedi Quest but now I havent got any Star Wars books to read so i've started on Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban (sad i know!) any way i want to start reading the Expanded Universe books, but in order (time wise, not release).
So can you help me.

[Sith Worm]

jek if I was you I would read the Thrawn triliogy and leave it at that, I have read A lot of them and the only ones I liked was the before mentioned Zhan books. I stopped reading before vector prime and all so I don't know if there A good read or not. And there is also the shadow chaser maul of course also good. If you really want to read some bad a** books check out the tolkien books trust me...

[Bel-Cam Jos]

Jek, there are two "orders" in which you can/should read EU books. One, of course, is in time order, i.e. you read all the pre-E1 books first, then ones set during the movies, then right after ROJ, etc. This is easy, once you know when the books are set. Inside the covers are most New Jedi Order books, there's a timeline of novels from as far back as Splinter of the Mind's Eye, the first true EU novel.

The second way, which is also easy, is to read the books in the order they were published and released. This is a bit awkward, and sometimes confusing, but actually it's good because you can see how characterization changes, as well as planets, technology, or political aspects. I'd jsu check a library database that can organize your search by publication dates for this method.

Good luck! And remember a couple things:
1) this is SW fiction, not fact, so enjoy them as fun stories
2) without knowing how things will be shown in the Prequels, some plots might be contradictory (but remember my first advice)
3)each author's style will differ, a lot, sometimes

[Rollo Tomassi]

If you go out and pick up a copy of any of the New Jedi Order books, they have a "chronological" list of all the books starting with

Jude Watson's Jedi Apprentice series following a twelve year old Obi Wan Kenobi and his Padawan Apprenticeship with Qui Gon from their very first meeting on. This is currently an ongoing series which may very well lead up into

Cloak of Deception by James Luceno which sets up all the subtle political intrigue happening in Episode I. If you read this book and watch Episode I again, you'll be amazed at how much cooler the political stuff is. After that is

Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter which follows Cloak of Deception and leads directly into Episode I. (The book ends with Obi Wan and Qui Gon heading to naboo at the behest of Valorum.

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace The movie and the book.

Rogue Planet by Greg Bear fleshes Anakin out someone, but more importantly introduces the Yuzhaan Vong (but not by name) which wreak havoc 50 years later in the New Jedi Order series.

Jedi Quest is sort of a Jedi Apprentice book with Obi Wan and Anakin instead of Obi Wan and Qui Gon. there was also a Jedi Apprentice book that interwove the two timelines that fits in here somewhere. It was called "Deceptions" i believe.

Approaching Storm by Alan Dean Foster comes out early next year.

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars Episode III: Fall of the Jedi And probably more interim books. The twenty year gap between III and IV should offer up a plethora of reading material. NOT YET WRITTEN
A.C. Crispin's Han Solo Trilogy: The Paradise Snare, The Hutt Gambit, and Rebel Dawn chronicle the exploits of a young Solo from age 10 up until he gets hired by "a crazy old man and a whiny farmboy."

Brian Daley's Han Solo Adventures are some of the earliest EU books out there and chronologically take place during Crispin's
Rebel Dawn. The same goes for

The Lando Calrissian Adventures but I've not read these and can't say where exactly they fit into continuity, but lando still has the Falcon so...

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope An interesting book read because of a fair amount of conflicting information from the rest of the 75 year book saga, but still fun a fun read.

Tales of the Mos Eisley Cantina is several short stories about the patrons of Chalmun's cantina and exactly why they are in the bar at the same moment as Han, Chewie, Luke, and Ben. Some are excellent. Some just suck.

Splinter of the Mind's Eye is the black sheep of EU books. Does not mesh with any other continuity, but it IS Alan Dean Foster, so...

Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back similar to the first Star Wars book and SOTME in that there wasn't enough EU back then, so it conflicts with a lot of the Post Zahn books...

Tales of the Bounty Hunters five medium stories following 1. IG-88, 2. Bossk, 3. Dengar, 4. Zuckuss and 4-LOM and, 5. Boba Fett right around the time of their all being called to the Executor to hunt down the Falcon for Vader. This was my first EU read and still one of my faves. The Boba Fett story is nothing short of brilliant at capturing the man's ideology.

Shadows of the Empire was part of a multimedia "event" staged before the return of the Special Editions to whet the publics appetite for Star Wars. Also included, a comic book series, a video game and toys.

Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi The end of the first half....



There is also an amazing amount of continuity to be found in the comics including series about The Jedi Council and Rogue Squadron , but I'm not sure where they fit into it exactly. Someone else may be able to enlighten you with that information. I will return shortly with the second half of the list...

[Rollo Tomassi]

The following list is everthing that happened after the sixth Episode...

Tales from Jabba's palace: actually, I lied. This one, like with Tales of the Cantina and Tales of the Bounty Hunters, is a group of short stories centering around characters in, where else?, Jabba's Palace. So technically it takes place during Episode VI. The same goes for...

The Bounty Hunter Wars: The Mandalorian Armor, Slave Ship, Hard Merchandise: which stars Boba "just climbed out of the sarlacc" Fett and a bunch of other Hunters. It actually flip flops between right after A New Hope and during ROJ in a kind of dual storytelling thing. Immediately after ROJ is...

Truce at Bakura which picks up the day after the second Death Star explodes and involves the infant day-old New Republic and some Imperials joining forces to stop an invading race of naughty aliens.

The X-Wing series is the first Star Wars book series to not focus on the main heroes (IE Luke, leia, Han etc....) and except for the last two books chronicles the New Republics retaking of Coruscant and wiping out most of major Imperial baddies leading up to...

The Courtship of Princess Leia where Han Solo pops the question and he and leia get hitched so that she can be pregnant in...

The Thrawn Trilogy by Steve Zahn(no, i'm kidding) by Timothy Zahn. The Star Wars universe was revitalized by this trilogy back in 1991. If this series had tanked, there would be no S.E.'s, no Prequel Trilogy, no toys, nothing. nada. Zip. Zilch. It is the yardstick and the ruler of all the EU novels. If you decide to read in published order, instead of chronological...YOU START HERE.

The Jedi Academy trilogy by (shudder) Kevin J. Anderson. So begins the dark period in the written EU history. And it doesn't get light until Zahn gets back...but the story itself is about Luke starting a New Jedi Order...

I, Jedi by Stackpole is a first person account of future Jedi Knight and former Rogue Squadroner Corran Horn. It's set against the events in the Jedi Academy trilogy and it almost makes the events in that book good...almost. While it's hard at first to get into the "I am" aspect, this book rules and Corran Horn is the coolest Jedi ever. Seriously. Cooler than Luke, cooler than Anakin, cooler than Obi Wan... and he's got a rich history and background to boot.

Right...then you've got a list of books ranging from mediocre to pure excrement. The only value in reading these books is they introduce characters who will be used later in the New Jedi Order series. The books are Children of the Jedi , Darksaber , Planet of Twilight , Crystal Star (ugh, they dont have a vomit smiley) , The Black Fleet Crisis trilogy, The New Rebellion , and The Correlian trilogy. Out of all those, I found the Black Fleet trilogy decent and the rest..well...lets move on...

The Hand of Thrawn duology by Zahn closes up this chapter of the saga because Bantam/Spectra lost the franchise back to DelRey. In it the Imperial Remnant and the new Republic finally acheive piece, Luke and Mara get engaged, and we are left with an ominous portent of something evil lurking beyond the edge of the galaxy...

Which brings us to the Junior Jedi Knight series and the Young Jedi Knight Series following the training of young Anakin and the twins, respectivly, as Jedi. they grom from young pre-teens into rowdy teenagers, until they are finally fit enough to be thrust into...

THE NEW JEDI ORDER the ambitious project to pass the reins of the Star Wars universe from Luke, Han, and Leia (who are all now in their late 40's and 50's) to the younger Solo children (and eventually Luke's kids). It won't be a pretty ride along the way with important characters and Wookiees (I won't say who specifically ) getting smooshed by entire planets. But you know what they say...It's always darkest...


So there it is, 75 years of EU and counting....enjoy the good parts and don't let the bad parts stick in your mouth. You can always rinse with a viewing of the films. Ahhhhh! :happy: :happy:

[Wolfwood319]

Well, that is the order in which to read them, but for times sake, I'd say start with the Thrawn trilogy. That is without a doubt the best EU novels out there. It is also close to the movies as the heroes are still fighting the empire. It also has one of the coolest badguys ever, that is Thrawn himself.

I've read a lot of EU and for the most part, it isn't great compared to other good fiction out there. But if you really don't like to read, then maybe you'll like EU for being Star Wars.

If you want to read them in order published though, you have to read Splinter of the Minds Eye, which is the first true EU as it was published in 1978 I believe. Then after that comes the original Han Solo trilogy, not the one by A.C. Crispin. Then comes Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy.

As for LOTR, if you haven't read them yet, read them! Although I suggest starting with the Hobbit, its a real good jumping off point to get into Tolkien's ME, as it is not as complex as LOTR, and it helps you get into Tolkien's writing style. Jumping into Fellowship right away is a bit much for some people to take in.

[Darth Evil]

Thrawn really is cool, I wish someone would write the Dark Empire series, the comics are great!

[bigbarada]

I hate EU!!! Let me just start with that.

However, I found the Dark Empire series somewhat enjoyable once I was able to accept the lame idea of a cloned Emperor. Sure I know it's totally possible according to Star Wars continuity; but just because something can be done doesn't mean it should be done. Irregardless, I still enjoyed the story.

A friend of mine loaned me the Thrawn trilogy and I am struggling with it. GAH!! More clones!! Can't anybody think up something a little more original? The prequels use clones because they were mentioned way back when the series started, but the books keep using and reusing them. It's getting a little tired.

[Rollo Tomassi]

Actually, Zahn conceived of using clones as a story point before the Prequels since, technically, he wrote his trilogy in the early 90's and George wrote the prequels at the turn of the century. The only thing George had going for him first was a vague reference to "Clone Wars" which could mean anything. Lucas only had Zahn change two things in his books. Joruus C'baoth was originally supposed to be a GONK!ed up clone of Obi Wan and the Noghri were originally called Sith (because no one knew what Sith were back then, we only knew Vader was lord of them). Since George had an idea of what Sith were (evil Jedi) that got changed, but as for cloning? Huh uh. George didn't have the foggiest what the Prequels were going to be about other than Anakin gets a girl and Obi Wan knocks him into some molten pit. If he had, he would have asked Zahn to change that part of the story. So calling Zahn's "Clone" story unoriginal is not true.

[bigbarada]

I can see your point, maybe I'll just hold off reading them until we get throught this whole 'clone' issue in the prequels.