Legends What's Your Favorite Star Wars EU Book/Comic Book Thread

[iamlegend]

I never liked Chewie so it's fine by me. However, they wanted to kill Luke off at first and GL vetoed that, the deaths of Han and Leia and the death of the 2 droids. The rest were up for grabs, so they turned to the next best thing: Chewie.

But you have to admit, they gave him a boss death. Defying a moon? Only Conan can die that way.

Chewie's death was sad, but it set a great "no one's safe" tone for the series.

He was also going to inevitably be the character that died, since a character that didn't speak any "Basic" whatsoever was a hell of a lot harder to convey on pages than it was to portray on screen.

 

[Gianakin_]

True, agreed on both counts.

 

[Karelia]

Has anyone read The Old Republic series of novels they got out? Volume 3 is about Darth Revan. I got the first novel (hardcover) for $5 so I'm not losing much if it sucks. Just trying to get some opinions about the series around here.

 

[iamlegend]

True, agreed on both counts.

And, as you said, his death was boss.

Plus the writers did a great job of turning his death into a plot line and huge character arc for Han. Since then, most of the EU deaths have largely just been used for shock purposes... and were largely forgotten afterwards. Chewie's had real impact.

 

[DaveMoral]

It's not fair to just blame Denning for the Legacy of the Force series - I think that quite a few of the creative folks in the publications division were just so hung up on the idea of a Jacen vs. Jaina story that they forced it on us.

I think one of the (darker) influences on the books has been that they've been actively trying to tie the continuity in with the very bleak world of the comics.

No, I think it's perfectly fair to blame Denning. You can see the plot threads he was building up to from Dark Nest forward. Heck, in Dark Nest he essentially had to completely change all the lessons learned at the end of the NJO by all characters... especially Luke and Jacen... in order to make his grand scheme work out.

The only thing I think might have come from "on high" is how Fate of the Jedi wrapped up with Abeloth and Mortis. I honestly think that with that conclusion that could have been the set up for Episode VII, or the state of the galaxy and the storyline. It's as wild a theory as any, but Mortis was George's baby in The Clone Wars and that implementation of that into Fate of the Jedi was so out of the blue it's ridiculous. It literally didn't factor into the storyline until the last half of the last novel.

 

[Spider-Vader]

My favorite EU series is the Republic Commando book series. It's a much different tone from everything else Star Wars related & it gives a great look into the lives of the Clone Troopers. I really hope that Disney eventually makes a movie centered around Clone or Stormtroopers, they're my favorite part of Star Wars.

 

[Gianakin_]

And, as you said, his death was boss.

Plus the writers did a great job of turning his death into a plot line and huge character arc for Han. Since then, most of the EU deaths have largely just been used for shock purposes... and were largely forgotten afterwards. Chewie's had real impact.

Exactly. Even Ackbar's death was amazingly done, imo. Remember that?

 

[CConn]

Traitor and Shatterpoint are by far the two best Star Wars books I've ever read.

Every time he's written Star Wars, Matthew Stover literally lifts the source material up to a higher level of literature.

 

[KevanG]

I really liked I, Jedi and the Thrawn trilogy but my favorite SW books are the Novelization of Ep III and Yoda: Dark Rendezvous. I've always loved reading the novelizations of movies just because it gives so much more detail into what is going on in the characters heads and behind the scenes that's impossible to portray in a movie.

Yoda: DR is set six months before Ep. III and is just full of stuff that you know is going to end badly, like at one point, Anakin (who plays a fairly small role in the book with Obi-wan) runs into a padawan who is on the run from one of the big bads of the book and the kid hugs him saying "I'm so glad you're not here to kill me." He survives the book but skip ahead to six months later and, you know...

The book mostly deals with Yoda and Count Dooku and their relationship. Yoda has to deal with the war, the deaths of so many Jedi and the fact his former student is leading the opposing army killing his family. Starts off Dooku sending Yoda a message saying he wants to start peace talks but only with Yoda and at most a few other Jedi, no one outside "the family". It's one of my favorite books overall, not just SW.

 

[Gianakin_]

The Dooku/Yoda meeting near the end of the book was really powerful.

 

[jonathancrane]

I went on a Star Wars binge today. I picked up the first two of the NJO books (re-purchased them, as I cannot find them,) as I am going to read the NJO arc before the summer ends. I also purchased volumes 2 and 3 of the Long Time Ago...Marvel Omnibuses.

 

[titansupes]

I haven't read too much, but I always liked Legacy, about Dooku's youth and betrayal by a friend, then his paring with Qui-Gon, Qui-Gon with Obi-Wan, and Obi-Wan with Anakin. All facing the friend (who was kicked out of the order).

And yeah, Dark Rendezvous was great.

 

[Duke]

I don't know if this qualifies, but I've always liked Tales From the Mos Eisley Cantina.

 

[KevanG]

It's part of it as much as Tales from Jabbas palace is.

 

[pr0xyt0xin]

Personally, so far, I've only read
Darth Bane:
Path of Destruction
Rule of Two
Dynasty of Evil

Which were awesome. And I've recently started in on
Han Solo:
The Paradise Snare
The Hutt Gambit

Now, I don't find these books to have phenomenal writing. But they are better than Episode I-III and they are entertaining reads. So I enjoy them. I'll report back as I go.

 

[iamlegend]

Has anyone gotten their hands on "Crucible" yet? It came out last month, and could well be the last novel published within the current EU continuity - hard to say, what with Disney.

I haven't read it yet... but I've heard it's an absolute mess. Not excited about it.

 

[Gianakin_]

Ain't buying anything until SW7 comes out. Need to see the new continuity.

 

[Lobo]

OK so what are the absolute best books to read? I don't want anything that takes place after Jedi as Episode VII will likely wipe it all away anyway. I do have one notable exception.

So far the ones I think I'm going to get are

Shatterpoint
The Han Solo trilogy (Have heard nothing but good things)
I, Jedi (my one exception as the wiki made that story sound fascinating)

Is The Bounty Hunter Wars worth reading? What about the Lando novels? Are there any novels about Jango? I'm looking for novels not comics. At least not at the moment

 

[jonathancrane]

The Bounty Hunter Wars are my favorite EU trilogy.

 

[iamlegend]

OK so what are the absolute best books to read? I don't want anything that takes place after Jedi as Episode VII will likely wipe it all away anyway. I do have one notable exception.

So far the ones I think I'm going to get are

Shatterpoint
The Han Solo trilogy (Have heard nothing but good things)
I, Jedi (my one exception as the wiki made that story sound fascinating)

Is The Bounty Hunter Wars worth reading? What about the Lando novels? Are there any novels about Jango? I'm looking for novels not comics. At least not at the moment

The Han Solo trilogy is fairly well done, but if you're worried about continuity getting wiped, remember that there's already been talk of a Han Solo movie, too.

Personally, I'm content with the idea of dealing with two different, parallel continuities.

 

[ericadawn16]

Well, that's true. It's not like Marvel doesn't have multiple continuities especially when you include the tv shows.

Unless they use the trilogy for the Solo film, since AC Crispin, the author, also wrote Jack Sparrow's origin novel.

 

[Gianakin_]

It's the one thing I liked in the EU, that it doesn't have multiple continuities. If that gets ruined, it'd be a shame. I'd rather replace books.

 

[GremlinZilla89]

I haven't read an EU book in ages. I'm gonna start up again soon because my anticipation for the new films is growing by the day.

My first foray into the EU was the Jedi Academy Trilogy. Some fans aren't fond of it but I really loved them. I wasn't expected to because I started reading it as a lark but I found myself really getting into it and they jump started my exploration of the EU.

The Thrawn Trilogy is of course, fantastic. It's the most well regarded for a reason. The Hand of Thrawn is damn near as good as well. The Han Trilogy is great and gets better as they go along. I dug Shadows of the Empire although it isn't written very well. The X-Wing series is shockingly good. They remain well written and entertaining through NINE whole books. I've never encountered a long running spin-off series that consistently good, ever.
The novelisations of the original trilogy are decent and the novelizations of the prequels are sooo much better than the films it's not even funny.

The Courtship of Princess Leia, I, Jedi, The Darth Bane Trilogy, Darksaber....all good imo. I haven't read much else I don't think. I've heard nothing but bad things about the New Jedi Order but I may try them considering the good word of mouth it has gotten here.

 

[jonathancrane]

I finally picked up Death Troopers and have been unable to put it down. It is one of the best EU books and best horror novels of this decade.

 

[Marvolo]

Never read any of the post ROTJ books and was considering starting with the X-Wing series. Is that a good series to jump into?