Most of the ones that have already been recced, but I'll add Shatterpoint. Mace Windu does Heart of Darkness (it's by Matt Stover, who also did the RotS novel, Traitor, and a more recent one about Luke that I haven't read).

I enjoyed the first couple of Clone Trooper books; I haven't read the rest of the series, and I've heard mixed things - Karen Traviss being one of the more controversial authors in the EU - but I'd certainly recommend having a read.

 

If it says Kevin J anderson on the cover, run.

 

I can second the Thrawn books, the Corellia books, the X-Wing books, Shadow of the Empire.

I would further recommend the Corran Horn book, "I, Jedi" to be quite enjoyable, even if it was 8 years ago that I last read it. The first two books or so of the Jedi Apprentice series, in which we see how Obi Wan becomes Qui Gons Padawan, was interesting too, although I remember dropping those pretty fast.

 

The Courtship of Princess Leia is probably worth a read if you really want to get into the EU, as it's the first to feature both the Hapans and the Witches of Dathomir, who are both fairly prominent in later installments (the Hapans far more so). Taken on its own merits, it's not that great, but there's some fun to be had with it.

The other trilogy is probably the Corellian trilogy, although I never finished that.

A further recommendation would the the Splinter of the Past/Vision of the Future duology - Timothy Zahn again, kinda wrapping up his Thrawn story (at least chronologically).

 

NJO Era,

where

Spoiler

Anakin dies

were good.

The first few Legacy of The Force books, before they went to shit..

 

I'm in exactly that "when I was younger' time period everyone's talking about, so I'll shed some of my own insights on some particulars:

The person who wrote the Jedi Apprentice saga, Jude Watson, is hands down the best way to introduce a ten year old to the SW EU. She's written three large series: Jedi Apprentice, about Qui-Gon teaching Obi-Wan; Jedi Quest, about Obi-Wan and Anakin (great for people who don't want a permanent image of Anakin as a whiny bitch), and most recently, Last of the Jedi, about the Jedi Purge (aftermath of the third movie).
She also wrote a couple of other books, including Legacy of the Jedi and Secrets of the Jedi, both of which bridge ≥3 generations of Master/Padawan interaction.
All wonderful, but small problem: If you saw where I mentioned the "introduce a ten year old'... yeah. The books are decent, but short, simplistic, and slightly too numerous for my taste. Go ahead and try em: if you get bored, you can ditch them with no big loss in terms of learning about the EU

No need to say more, been recommended enough. Though fuck the ysalmir.

The first sentiment was better: Splinter of the Mind's Eye is decent (and the first EU book ever, IIRC) but if you'e looking for stuff between IV and V, Timothy Zahn does it better with Alleigance.

Courtship of princess Leia is a decent read, but, like CT said, it comes after a good portion of the X-Wing books: not a bad thing, per se, since they rock, but it's not exactly a pick-up-and-read thing.

 

So, I just finished the Thrawn Trilogy. Pretty fucking brilliant if I'm honest. I especially loved how it ended. There wasn't a whole contrived beginning, middle and end. It was a surprise attack twist that definitely fit in with the overall themes in the book.

The emphasis on tactics was excellent, the intelligence of the main cast of characters was excellent. I especially liked the whole thing with 'art' for Thrawn.

I think Thrawn's last line pretty much covered the series for me. "But it was so artistically done."

Either way, I just went and had another read through of the thread, and there doesn't specifically seem to be any mention of books that chronologically follow on from the Thrawn Trilogy. I remember something about Yuuzan Vong or something of the like. Mainly though, I'm interested in the continuing development of Luke and Mara. Are there any books of the like?

Apart from that, I don't know how much of an interest I have in following books based on minor characters, such as Wedge, or Han (These seem to be the other commonly mentioned series). Right now I feel like some more Jedi action. Any ideas?

 

1. Han is in no way a minor character. Get that out of your head here and now.

2. As for Luke and Mara try the Hand of Thrawn duology and Survivors Quest. All 3 are by Zahn.

3. As far as Jedi centric books, I,Jedi the Coran Horn book is good. He is introduced on the X-wing series though. The NJO series is very heavy on jedi but long. If you don't mind Sith check out the first Darth Bane novel. Bane is the guy who founded the Sith line that ends with Vader and the Emperor.

 

Hah, yeah, ok. I know that Han isn't a minor character per se, but just not one that I am focused on at the moment. Hand of Thrawn and Survivors quest are where I shall go next. Cheers.

 

I've read that. It's all right. I don't know why, but Drew Karpyshyn's writing (at least in novel form) always feels a little "eh" to me, so that prevents it from being a big recommendation from me.

Pissed off about him writing a novel about Revan though. All this stuff about Revan in The Old Republic they're adding is really taking away from my own interpretation of the character.

 

heh, I just pretend it doesn't exist, rather like with Jar-Jar Binks, midi-chlorians, and The Clone Wars TV show. *shudder*

 

I'm assuming you're talking about the newer CG Clone Wars and not the god-tier one done by Genndy Tartakovsky.

The CG one actually does have some hidden gems in it. Not many though, and not nearly enough to be worth it.

And you know, I never got the issues people have with midi-chlorians. Maybe it's because I was eight when Phantom Menace came out? >_>

 

I didn't care for the other bane novels but I liked the first one.

As for the Revan novel this is the first I've heard about that and Ill checked it out regardless because I have been hoping for a Revan novel.

 

Of course I mean the CGI one, no one in the world dislikes the animated one.
Even if it had these so called 'hidden gems'... it would be rather like putting a diamond at the bottom of a blender filled with sulfiuric acid. No one's reaching down to get it.
I was five when Phantom menace came out, but I still understand the hatred: aside from what it symbolizes (everything wrong with prequels) it also adds a completely unnecessary and illogical 'science' to the Force. rather like Rowling's attempt to retcon magic as a gene.

 

I don't know, I rather liked the Phantom Menace. Of course, the two coolest things about the Prequels, compared to the originals, were the lightsaber fights and seeing Yoda in action. The first were more like pirate fights to be honest.

As for books. No Kevin J. Anderson. Period. Corelian Series and the one with the Black Fleet Star Destroyers were meh. Honestly, most of the books are meh. The Duology was decent, nowhere near as good as the Zahn's trilogy. The Yungzin-wtf-ever was shit all the way through. Too many authors dabbling their fingers.

Shadows of the Empire wasn't actually that bad, save for some nitpicking. Game was awesome, though.

Courtship of Princess Leia was a little better than meh, but the Truce at Bakura was a little below.

Loved the Jedi Series staring the twins, Lowie, and Tenal Ka, but I was 12. Like the cartoons of my childhood, they're best left in my memories because I know they'll be shit on rereads.

 

For some completely unknown reason this just popped in my head. If you check out I,Jedi, parts of it don't match up with prequel canon because it was written and published before the prequels. Just a warning. And its not anything major just a little backstory that's different.

 

I'll second Red Aviary and Torak's recommendation of Matthew Stover's ROTS novelisation. It really is well-written, carefully utilising the nuances of the original story-line, and stands as a damn good novel in its own right. The guy knows how to write.

I liked the Han Solo Trilogy; these three books attempt to explore Han's early life, from how he befriended Chewie to that fateful meeting at Mos Eisley. Crispin has an adroit perception of Han as a character, and it shows in the books. Han's relationship with Bria Tharen is extremely enlightening, explaining his stance with Leia and the Rebellion in the movies. These books were what really convinced me that Han is no supporting character: he is just as much an MC as Luke/Leia. A lack of Force-sensitivity does not mean that you can't be awesome.

Bitches, Han Solo is here to stay.

 

I'm gonna throw in my support for the Han Solo in the Corporate Sector Trilogy (Pure old school fun) and the X-Wing books, particularly the ones written by Aaron Allston The Wraith Squadron books, which revolve around an initial bet in which Wedge makes with Admiral Ackbar, who wants to promote him to general, which would remove Wedge from the cockpit.

Wedge proposes an alternative. He wants to make a squadron who can do double-duty as commandos and practice asymmetrical warfare. Ackbar agrees, and wagers that if the squadron performs to his expectations he will not promote Wedge, but that due to financial and personnel issues faced by the very new New Republic, the pilots available will be washouts and rejects from other units, many suffering from psychological problems.

Among the new people are a former child actor in Imperial Propaganda films, a demolitions expert with performance anxiety in the cockpit, and a cynical half-cyborg surgeon.

The series is also known for being the one in which the one-dimensional villain of Courtship (Warlord Zinsj) gets fleshed out as a competent baddie.



The characters are great, and there are few Jedi, mostly focusing on the pilots.

The final X-Wing book, Starfighters of Adumar, (also by Allston) is well-known among fans as the funniest EU book, and is a great read to cap off the series, with such gems as:

"Stay loose, Red Flight. Diplomacy first."
"Leader, Three. Diplomacy means saying something soothing as you squeeze the trigger, right?"
Wedge & Wes (SoA)

[FONT=Comic Sans MS,Arial,Helvetica,Times]"A noble of Cartaan comes to you and says ‘I know we have no diplomatic relations yet, but I’m here to request asylum in the New Republic.’ What do you say?"
"Is she good-looking?"
"Thank you for making my point."
Wedge & Wes (SoA)

You may also want to read the first X-Wing books by Stackpole which are decent but a bit bland by comparison.
[/FONT]But basically, the Allston books are what would happen the initial plot of the Dirty Dozen was blended with the humor and pathos (and character development) of the Dresden files.

And put into Star Wars.

Sorry for the TLR. Hope it helps someone.

 

Starfighters of Adumar was great. Wedge is an awesome character.



But yeah, despite being a huge fan of the original movies, I never got the epic hate for Episodes I-III that most other Star Wars fans got. Attack of the Clones was rather sub-par, but I thought Phantom Menace and Revenge of the Sith were pretty good.

They didn't carry over the epic almost space-opera feel of the original series, and brought a lot of other themes into it, but still managed to be enjoyable.

I also don't get why people hate Jar Jar Binks so much. Really, he's just the C3PO of the newer movies. The comic relief character. I'd argue C3PO was exactly the same.