I'll check out blank101's stories. Trusting you people that the ending won't be an Evangelion-style downer. I usually prefer Luke to not become an Anakin clone because his storyline is very much rooted in the "Light" and forms a crucial redemption arc with Vader. Hell I'd rather see Leia go dark than Luke.

We'll see how these stories pan out.

 

You won't be disappointed, trust me. I'm in the process of rereading, and it's just as good as I remember.

 

I made some decent headway into Empire's Son about a year ago. It's definitely right up there as a story to read, and if I could remember where I left off I'd probably pick it up again - but it feels too daunting to start over from the beginning.

 

Son of Suns trilogy is without a doubt the best of the fandom. Empire's Son was also good, but I never loved it as much. You should also check out Blank101's site, he's a pretty talented artist and draws a ton of fanart to go along with the story.

Went through my favorites list and pulled out all the Star Wars fics that haven't been listed yet. Haven't reread all of them lately so I'm sure one or two haven't aged well, but I'll list them from what I remember as best to worst. As a warning, all but the oneshot involve Knights of the Old Republic in some major way.

The Darkest Lord: Right before Revan is betrayed by Malek, the entire Sith armada is flung 4,000 years into the future during A New Hope. Features Darth Revan, Darth Malek, Darth Vader, Darth Sidious, and Exar Kun trying to out-Sith each other. Hasn't been updated in a year, but its 160,000 words and its not the first time the author took a long break between chapters. Pretty sure its not abandoned.

Harry Potter and the Dying Embers: Taken from the ruins of Godric's Hallow, Harry Potter was raised among the jedi as Revan. Following Malek's betrayal, he and Bastilla need to hide so they end up back on Earth. AU in which his parents lived. More of a guilty pleasure now, but this was a classic and I remember thinking it was top of its class back when I found it in 2006.

So Not My Problem: All Revan wanted to do was stay alive and try to get with Bastila, in that order. He doesn't want to save the galaxy and he's not looking to help everyone he meets. Tragically, he's surrounded by hero types that keep trying to drag him along for the ride. A parody written by Sarah1281.

Committee Meeting: A few hours into their honeymoon, Luke and Mara get a visit from an old friend. Ben Kenobi had forgotten to mention one tiny little detail about the Jedi Code – attachment is forbidden. A mildly amusing oneshot that's worth a quick read.

I've got a couple of others, but they're all abandoned or slightly lower in quality. If anyone wants me to post those also just let me know.

 

I feel like I need to go and read a plot summary of KOTOR so I can start reading some of the KOTOR based fics.

Quagmire, as recced above, is pretty enjoyable. Made it into the DLP Library (even though I only rated it 3/5).

I enjoyed one of Unexpected Awakening or Shadows of the Future, but can't remember which. Or maybe it was both and they're getting jumbled up in my head again?

Committee Meeting is pretty funny. Have read it before, but thanks for reminding me about it. Actually reminds me of another crack/humour fic where Solo gets a visit from Vader demanding to know his intentions for his daughter, and everything thinks Luke is crazy for seeing dead people. Anyone remember what that was called?



Went through my bookmarks list, which was shorter than I expected (I think I lost 1 year of bookmarks at one point and had to revert to an older backup). But here's some more if you're really desperate for something.

Dissent Rising - I think this one might have actually been pretty good. It basically covers the events of a terrorist attack on Coruscant that an 8-year-old Leia gets caught up in, naturally with Vader being the one to rescue her.

Imperial - Han doesn't quit the Imperial Navy, and ends up as Vader's wingman. Might be worth having a skim over a plot summary of the Han Solo Trilogy if you never read it.

Hades Wing - Basically a story about an Imperial black ops squadron (all OCs) done in a similar style to the X-Wing books. It can be a bit cheesy at times, but was kinda fun anyway....I think.

And if you really want to binge on B-grade fics, here's a couple more:

Betrayal - the entire premises sounds like it's crack. But no, this fic tries to deal with it seriously. It can basically be summed up as "In which Obi Wan angsts and laments the fact Qui Gon can't live with him anymore". It has some decent bits and pieces though.

Out of the Shadows - I think this started off as an alright post-ROTJ Luke/Mara and then got boring.


And I honestly can't remember which Vader!Redemption fic is which, and I can't be bothered flicking through them to work out which ones didn't suck too much.

 

A Star Wars story that I have a certain fondness for is Conquest. It is a Star Wars and Star Trek crossover where the Empire invades the Star Trek universe. It is mostly a Star Trek next generation story as theirs are the named characters that we know, whereas the Star Wars side are manned mostly by OCs, although there will be a few familiar faces in the upper echelons in the ranks of the Empire.

It is kind of a curbstomp story, but not really. While the Empire is a lot more powerful than the Federation, both sides are represented fairly and it was, IIRC, quite the engaging story. Even if you are not a big Star Trek fan as myself, you should get something out of this.

Edit: okay, committee meeting was awesome

 

To keep this going, here's a couple decent Mara/Luke fics. Spirit of the Shifting Sands is oooooooooold, but I remember it being quite readable, and Take My Hand is a fluffy, mediocre guilty pleasure. Neither of them are gold, but if you're jonesing for some SW like I am right now (this thread + KOTOR replay), they're fast reads worth some time.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/1180061/1/Spirit-of-the-Shifting-Sands

^ that author has a lot of readable SW fics that are long and done.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4184869/1/Take-My-Hand

^ same dude that has written that fluffy, overlong, Harry/Fleur/Hermione sprawling story 'Heart and Soul'. Take that as you will.

Also, yeah. Agreed with Andro. Revanchism is a very very fun read. I'm all the way through it and it's turned in to one of those stories that I hope will update every day. Someone less lazy than me should put it up for review in the library.

 

Nine chapters into Revanchism, and it's a great story. Solid rec.

 

It's Darth Malak, goddamit. Malak. Malak.

 

Are there any stories featuring Vader and his encounters with the Skywalker twins? Redemption isn't necessary but it would be nice.

 

There are many other fics, though blank101's are the best, for example:

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2441962/1/Dark-Times - This is great, the author has many more fics, mostly shortish, and is mainly focused on Dark!Luke and AUs. Very competent writing, a lot of variance and character focus.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2978326/1/Walk-Like-Men - This one is interesting, though not amazing. Luke is raised by Sand People, which creates some cultural differences. Pretty decent, though, as I said, not amazing.

https://www.fanfiction.net/u/56197/KittandChips - Her stories are sometimes funny, sometimes cringeworthy. All depends on how you view them, and with what attitude you read them. They can be fun, but can also cause: How is THAT Star Wars?! Basically, Vader raises Luke, while still being the bad guy from the series. Some hilarious moments.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2434632/1/Out-of-the-Shadows - An old classic. Quite good. (EDIT - This one was recced some post previously, sorry, forgot about that.)

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/2985379/1/Dynasty - Another old one. Pretty terrible, but still readable. A guilty pleasure fic, if I ever saw one.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4286500/1/The-Unseen-War-I-Tyranny-Reborn - This and its unfinished sequel are pretty good. Worth the time.

 

Any great stories that aren't Jedi/Sith centric?

The prequels kinda poisoned them for me.

 

No Force in Star Wars? *Heresy*

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5493933/1/Tarkin-s-Fist - An errant Imperial Fleet fights modern Earth. Pretty good.

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5754365/1/Elements-of-Deception - Pre-Hoth: Luke, Wedge, Hobbie and three other pilots are on Gehndaaria, to pick-up X-wings secured by the head of the Diazez Cartel. It should be a straight-forward mission... Not EU, based on the movies only (what it says, never could get much into it)

 

I don't mind the force (although the midiclorian pissed me off) I mind the Jedi.
They were so goddamn boring in the PT yet Lucas chose to focus the whole fucking trilogy around them.

 

Ahhh... I remember. I was so hyped on TPM. I went to the theatre. I went back home. Then I thought: "What the frikking hell was that? Why is Vader Jesus Frikking Christ?"

The prequels were horrible. They don't exist in my head actually. Novelisations of the OT and the Thrawn Trilogy provide all the backstory I need.

Getting back to the OP's questions: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3092590/1/The-Father - not good, but not terrible. Can be read.

 

I really wanted to like Conquest. There was a lot to like about it, especially in the first half. There were some really good setpieces, both of the diplomatic and the spacebattling kind. I even managed to overlook the inclusion of NJO characters (usually my kryptonite).

But it went seriously, seriously downhill. The primary antagonist spent the entire last third of the story doing his best Hynkel impression with the idiot ball, and the romance, or rather the pairing sub-plot since there was no romance involved (not necessarily a bad thing in itself) was embarrassingly stupid. As was the epilogue.

Overall really disappointing, not recommended.

 

Are there any good Anakin-centric fics? I don't even mind if it typical Padme/Anakin fluff, as long as its half decent.

 

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4211655/1/Gra-tua-Bounty-Hunter-Kandosii

Suspiciously similar to Firefly in places, and sadly abandoned, but it has memorable characters and only peripheral Force stuff.

I definitely second the rec on Hades Wing, it's fun, and it has a ton of X-wing/Tie-Fighter references.

I really should go through my old favorites, but for now, back to lurking.

 

I actually loved the way it ended. Like the focus of the fic was the Luke/Mara relationship. It held epic tension for the entire fic, and ended with Luke finally trusting her completely. The last entry from the "Annals of the Empire" send shivers down my spine every time I read it.

I'd love a sequel and love the entire universe the author created. But at the same time, I feel it would diminish the story too much. And can't really see any way to make a drawn out war with the Yuuzkhan Vong interesting.

Completely agree with you there. Had a massive conversation with Nemrut about this a while back. It's funny because initially I loved the prequels and had no idea why everyone hated them so much. Only recently that I realized how much potential they wasted.

In the original trilogy, the Jedi were like, these mystical warrior monks. Many people believed they were just some weird cult making shit up. To most people, they play no part in galactic events - their war was all in the background, but no less important.

And then you go from that to the prequels, where the Jedi are a step away from being a government department. Trusted by politicians, sent on important government missions and can almost be seen as a police force. And then later they actually become integrated into the active military with every Jedi Knight being guaranteed a leadership role in the Clone Army. Their battles were no longer some background thing, but the FOCUS of the entire war.

It'd have been way cooler if the Temple was tucked away on some remote planet and Jedi were not even remotely connected to the government. In fact, Palpatine's thing could even be the first Chancellor to really start bringing the Jedi into the political arena more (give them more power so he can justify his claims of them trying to take over). Rather than being some organization that sent its members out on missions, Jedi/Padawan teams would be more independent, going where they felt the Force wanted them to go, with the Council being the gurus providing the wisdom and advice.

Another big point is the fact that in the original trilogy most of the main characters WEREN'T Jedi. It made Luke cooler and Vader/Palpatine that much scarier. In the prequels the ONLY real non-Force user characters were Padme and Jar Jar. Huge battles with hundreds of drawn light sabers just diminished what they were.

I've actually been thinking about this re-imagining of the prequels a fair bit over the last few weeks. Almost tempted to write something...but AUs on the level can be pretty hard to enjoy sometimes...

When you say Anakin, do you mean specifically Anakin before he became Vader? Because if it's the latter, there's a lot of Vader centric ones.

Hindsight is Not Perfect (linked above) is kinda an Anakin one (time travel with Vader coming to his 9 year old body).