If you like the movie characters then start with the earlier books (wookipedia them) but if you want to read about new characters, look for New Jedi Order books. The Thrawn Trilogy was really good but set later in the timeline.

 

I just read Fate of the Jedi Conviction. And not bad, not bad at all.And for a book that may be in the last Star Wars series I ever read, at least as the ones going in that direction,chronologically that's a relief.

First off, the thing I noticed first was the dialogue, Allston manages to pull off that easy light, humorous dialogue that so many, most notably Stover failed to do. It wasn't particularly laugh-out-loud funny but it just felt like Star Wars. Not all gloom and doom, every once in a while there was an unobtrusive joke by the characters, simple.

I think the problem I had with the Legacy trilogy was the amount of time dedicated to Jacen. And in this series I realised that I was supposed to have the same problem with Luke. But I didn't and it was because I realized that this wasn't Luke's story, it hadn't been for a while, in fact the journey he took may have been the closest he would ever have to a Luke-centric story again. As it should be. That chapter of the EU should be done by now.

That said, everything else didn't fail to live up to expectations. Not that mine were particularly high anyway. The subplot of the slaves marches on, and stops shy of being actually annoying and stays interesting because the characters involved. are actually interesting, and the whole thing affects the bigger story namely the battle with Daala.But I still get the feeling the writers are trying to capture some sort of galaxy-spanning epic feel a la NJO and they're just not pulling it off.

Speaking of which, Daala has kind of been relegated in this story, she appears she takes action but the book is seemingly more well-rounded, not paying particular attention to any side, and we only get one scene from her perspective, were I feel more sympathy than a twinge of sympathy for her, quite an achievement.

The same could be said of Vestara, who inches ever closer to the light-side. But at least in this book it's actually based on other things and not just on her feelings for Ben.

And now on to spoilers.

Spoiler

So... the Jedi overthrow Daala, and install a triumvirate with them, General Paxton and the Senator Treen, notably the two people part of the entire conspiracy to overthrow the government. Hilariously, they were right in the middle of having their own coup when the Jedi crashed their party. But more importantly, the Jedi did just what they were accused of. Not that it wasn't right, not that it wasn't necessary, it just happened. I like that, it shows they're not the perfect paragons.

Abeloth is a barely hovering threat at the back. And wtf you take us with to a planet with a terrible scourge and we rarely if ever get to see the danger of the scourge up front? I mean I never read the associated books but the Death Seed and the drochs just sound awesome, yet they are never very scary.Waste of awesome. Basically the only reason that they need to be there was to for Luke to learn how to free Callista from Abeloth. And then it's stated that Callista's affection for Jedi was causing Abeloth to call out to the Jedi who were at the Maw, causing them to go mad. Finally that plot-line is wrapped up.

And Boba Fett made an appearance. The way Boba Fett is supposed to be used. Kicking ass and taking names.

I really hope the series can end on a good note, and I wish it was Allston doing the final book since I feel he's the strongest writer in the series.

Not a stellar book by any means mainly because of the pacing issues inherent in a series like this but for a Star Wars book I liked it better than most, mainly due to it's kinda light tone and no large ass moralizing and shit.

 

All I can say, is thank (Deity of your choice) for Allston.

 

So, aside from Allston, Stackpole, and Zahn, what other good Star Wars authors are there?

 

I loved the two books by Matt Stover that I've read (Traitor and Shatterpoint), although I concede that they aren't exactly...traditional Star Wars. Other than that...I don't think there's anybody I'd say was consistently good. Denning had his moments pre Legacy, and I think Traviss' Commando books are enjoyable enough, although I never finished that run.

Really though, I've given up on the EU. I haven't read any of them since Sacrifice, and Scribblerus's summary hasn't persuaded me to pick it up again. They're bringing the Drochs back? Seriously? Now that's scraping the barrel.

 

Oh, and the dude who wrote Death Troopers is okay, thought the book is... questionably STar WArs.

 

IMO, Karen Traviss is the best EU author, period. She's the only reason I even bothered with LOTF. But - fair warning - she has an unhealthy fixation on Boba Fett and the Mandalorians, which a lot of people don't like.

 

Yeah, Allston is that series' savior.

And they don't even use them. Annoying as fuck.

As long as you don't read his Shadows of Mindor, you should be fine. His novelisation of Revenge of the Sith is one of the best Star Wars book I have ever read. You would think he had nothing to add to an already foregone conclusion, but his prose and style were just fucking amazing. Don't believe me ? Read the first chapter.

Wow. Okaaay, I'm not even gonna...nope.Self control. Luckily I don't like Clone Wars-era fiction so she isn't generally in my way.

 

No, don't hold back. What do you not like about her? Apart from the Mandalorian thing, I don't think I've heard anyone criticize her writing. (Oh, and her personality back when she was posting on fan forums.)

 

Her Mandalorian fetish to the exclusion of all other characters - particularly in Legacy of the Force - which also tied into (some claim) Jedi bashing. Can't say I saw that myself, but as I said previously, I didn't finish that run.

@Scribb: I rejected Shadows of Mindoir on principle - the retconning of yet more Sith Cultists into a previously exhaustively detailed time period just pissed me off, and I couldn't be bothered with Luke wangst again. I'll agree that Stover is a fantastic writer though. As for the Drochs, I'm quite happy for them not to be used. 'Planet of Twilight' was one of the lesser books, and that's really saying something.

 

What knocked me off Shadows was the fucking dialogue for some reason. It just seemed so... shallow.

Example:
Baddie: Kneel.
Luke: You have me confused with some other Luke Skywalker.

Really Stover? Really?

It basically went like this, reflecting the work itself. Just another shallow, action book with yet another shallow enemy. I coulldn't even bring myself to finish it, despite the few awesome ideas in the story..

 

So just the Mandalorian thing. It doesn't bother me because I like Boba and her other Mandalorian characters - but I get the frustration. Never noticed any Jedi bashing, though.

Ignoring that, her prose is excellent, and she does character development better than any of the other LOTF authors (especially for Ben).

 

I'm always wary of posting this but I guess it's required reading. I hear it gets much worse in the RC series, where a main character is supposedly killed trying to protect a clone trying to kill a Jedi, which is why I don't read that series.

YodaKenobi's infamous review. I don't totally agree with him but the theme runs throughout the entire story.

In LotF it's more subtle. It's tied to the Mando-love. She takes every chance to lift the Mandos at the Jedi's expense (such as the Sword of the fucking Jedi grovelling at the feet of a bunch of Mandos for fighting tips), as you can see here in my highlight reel:

Jaina Solo curled into a ball because some old man was hitting her with a stick. Jaina Solo. And that was after about two seconds of checking.

Notice her failure -deliberate or otherwise-to grasp that the Sith are a totally seperate entity from the Jedi and what naturally happens when you give flawed beings power. Instead she turnt the Sith into fallen jedi, which just so conveniently making their actions the Jedi's fault even though Sith existed and evolved parallel to the Jedi for millenia and many Sith were never trained or encouraged by Jedi.

I highlight this section not because of what's being said but what's not being said. This is addressed to Jaina. Once again, Jaina fucking Solo. Who knows more about the dark side than Gotab could dream. Yet she doesn't point out that this is exactly what got Jacen, she just takes shit throughout the novel.

Because this is totally a Jedi-specific problem. She ruins a totally valid point. The Republic, and by extension the Jedi Order have some hard questions to answer. Who pays for it.And now she moves from making a political statement that may have needed to be made and attacks people themselves with little to no provocation.

Fuck it, I have a test. But I'm having fun, so I think I'll finish this later.

 

So after finally reading some Star Wars fanfiction, I'm curious about the EU but not enough to read all the books. From what I've seen discussed it seems like the best ones to read are Allegiance, Shadows of the Empire, The Thrawn Trilogy, Jedi Academy Trilogy and I, Jedi. Are there any others I should read?

 

There's Specter of the Past and Vision of the Future, Zahn's follow up to the Thrawn trilogy, which are both pretty good. The New Jedi Order series is...well, it's a controversial entry in the EU, but I'd say it's worth a read, and that's probably the last set of books you should bother with, at least chronologically.

Other than that, I'd perhaps say The Courtship of Princess Leia. It's not a great book, but reasonably important to future events.

 

The Han Solo Trilogy by A. C. Crispin was decent if memory serves me.

 

Haven't read an SW book in a long time, but I remember the X-Wing series being pretty awesome.

 

Rogue Squadron and Wraith Squadron were fun little focuses in the Expanded Universe. Them and anything Zahn ever wrote. Besides that, I've never been invested in anything in the setting. I remember reading parts of the Vong Invasion and finding it rather interesting in regards the Vong culture and mentality. But that's pretty much it for me and if I'm being honest, I'm not the most devoted Star Wars fan, EU or otherwise.

 

I don't know if we should create a new thread or not but anyway we have new Star Wars EU Books coming which makes every other book non canon.

Four books have been announced to be released by March of 2015

Sauce

The 3rd and 4th one especially looks interesting. Kevin Hearne is the author of the Iron Druid series which is an okay read though I didn't really like the later books.

 

Everything in the EU has been declared non-canon by Disney via Lucas' statment that "Only the movies are canon" in prep for the upcoming movies. This type of decisioning basically invalidates everything that the authors wrote. While I'm not a huge fan of some of what was written, this is fucking stupid and I hate them right now.


ALL THE FUCKING RAGE