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Star Wars books and summer sunsets

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Okay, finals are just about done and summer is upon me. So that means that I need some good book recomendations. Specifically Star Wars books. And I think this is the best place to ask for it.

Tell me what you think is best and what I need to avoid. I'm a bit of a literary snob and a Star Wars purist to the core. Most books I've seen apear to be mostly on par with Fan Fictions rather than compelling stories, but I am very interested in finding a fantastic Star Wars book to read and value what you guys can tell me. This is my base so far so maybe you can recomend something:

I've read all 6 movie adaptations of the films (PT in hard back, OT in paper back). I enjoyed them, and the PT books more than the movies themselves.

I have read Splinter of the Minds Eye. I mostly read it for a giggle since it was writen before ESB. It was okay/good, but the ending left the story hanging. Not cool. I was upset.

I have also read The Truce at Bakura but that was almost 10 years ago and apprently didn't leave a very deep impression on me. I got it because it was the day after ROTJ and hoped that it would be on par with the movie. I keep the book for sentimental reasons, but I don't think I'll ever pick it up again. It bored me.

I have also read the first chapter of Shadows of the Empire. I closed the book and brought it back to the library shortly after. A meterosexual villan guy who is envious over Vader's position becase he desperatly wants to impress the Emperor and be his "number one dude?" Bah. No thanks. Not a plot I can get too excited over.

I have also read book 1 of the Han Solo Trilogy. It was pretty good, but not enough for me to continue on to the other 2 books. I don't think that I even remember what the book was about actually...

So there you have it. Can you help a girl out? I don't want to read a book in the middle of some continuing saga though, such as the life of Leia's kids and stuff. I don't want to have to read 7 books so I understand the 8th book you said was the best.

I've heard good things about Rogue Squadron though. I'm a Wedge fan, so if this is sort of the Star Wars story angle but from the X-Wing fighters perspective, that would be so bitchin'.
"I am altering the movies. Pray I don't alter them any further." -Darth Lucas
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Looking at your past of Star Wars books, maybe you should just give up on them. I have yet to read an EU book that I liked. I recently read The Cinema of George Lucas. Though not a Star Wars book entirely, it was a good read.
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Splinter of the Minds Eye and Shadows of the Empire are nearly my entire EU library. They're just not that good.

I read Tales From the Bounty Hunters, which i enjoyed very much because its not very EU-ish and coolest of all takes place mostly at the time of the OT (short stories too, so if you dont like one its over fast). Timothy Zahn's trilogy (Heir to the Emperor, etc.) is also pretty good. Other than that i can't really recommend much. I re-read Splinter earlier this year and found it to be much better than i remembered.
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Splinter was at one point going to be George's low budgeted sequel since he thought Star Wars would only be "mildly successful". Which Han Solo trilogy are you talking about? There are two of them by different authors. Brian Daley's is my favorite. The Lando books also harken back to a simpler time when there wasn't so much baggage in the SW universe.

Where were you in '77?

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If, like me, you're not really into EU stuff that doesn't feature the classic OT characters (and it sounds like that's the case), you might try the Marvel comic books, which continued with their own story after the adaptation of the first movie was over. Okay, so they're not books as such, but they do feature the OT gang in new adventures. Each one is short, so it's not a big time investment, and you get to look at cool pictures into the bargain.
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Yeah, I'm not an EU fan by any means. Which is ironic because I eat up Star Trek books like they are candy. I have about 27 of those that I've bought and read since I was 12. I donno. Maybe because those are episodal stories where Star Wars is more of a "tail."

But anyway, I may be out of luck this summer for a Star Wars books by what you guys are telling me. Which is okay because I have my H. G. Wells classics I have to finish along with about 3 other books on my stand. I just wanted a good Star Wars story I guess. Still feeling the vibrations from last year where I was reading Episode III while listening to my soundtrack. (Which I highly recomend by the way. Much better way of viewing the PT movies.)
"I am altering the movies. Pray I don't alter them any further." -Darth Lucas
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The best of the Star wars EU books was Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy. It takes place a few years after ROTJ and has some new villians, the Grand Admiral Thrawn, who has taken over the Imperial fleet, and Joruus C'baoth, an insane jedi who I think was light-side with dark elements. Written before the prequels, so elements of it now contradict the prequels, specifically what the clone wars were about, but I actually think the book had a better idea that ROTS. but it doesn't talk too much about them, so they are easly overlooked if you are really into everything fitting together and not contridicting. Other than that, Shadows of the Empire is OK, but I really hated the villian and thought that the ideas of the book wasn't very good. Not much else in the EU I really liked, though. I sort of stopped reading them after I couldn't get into the Jedi Academy Trilogy.
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I second Zahn's trilogy. Though I'm not a huge fan of Star Wars novels. I guess they're alright for brain junk, but there's a ton of better stuff out there you can read.

Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here, this is the war room!

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Yep, "The Thrawn Trilogy" is really good, and for me, it was my first step in EU books.
I've also enjoyed the Rogue Squadron series. The characters are great, as well as the stories. And if you are a Wedge fan, as you said, you should enjoy this series. Just my opinion...
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yeah 6 books i would recommend, you can read them in any order but i think the chronological order would be best would be:
outbound flight
the thrawn trilogy
the hand of thrawn duology

i've read the first two and heard good things about the last one. you'll find a villian that rivels Vader in those. you can read them in any order you like but that order there will give you the best insight on thrawn IMO. the order they came out in was

thrawn trilogy
hand of thrawn duology
outbound flight.

if you have time i would strongly recommend the NJO series, there is like 19 books and it is about the solo kids, but you dont need pior reading on them to understand the story. infact if you dont want to read all 19 there are books you can skip. if you want to skip some then this is the order i recommend.
vector prime(hard cover) must read
Dark tide 1 and 2
Agents of chaos 1 and 2(only 2 big thing happens in these books and those are the intoduction of a character, and an event) skippable
balance point( i didnt like it that much, only one big thing happens, and they shell out a little bit if jacens solo's character) skippable
on the edge of victory(i loved this duology, nothing big really happens, but they really develop both anakin and jaina solos characters. major enfasis on anakin) important but skippable
star by star (one of the most important books in the series, and probably the best one) must read
dark journey(i didnt like it much, it really develops jania's character) important but skippable
behind enemy lines 1 and 2 (very good set of books i loved them and really recommend them) but skippable
traitor( best book in the series, hands down, this book is not starwars fan novel, this book is literature, i would be very compelled to write an essay on this book its done by matthew stover same guy that did EP 3 novel)
destiny's way) hard cover must read
some trilogy( i found it to be the most boring part of the series its sorta important for the end of the series)
final prophesy ( good book) read it
unifying force ( last book, must read.)

overall if you want to get the best experience out of the series, the only books i might drop are agents of chaos, but the series is fantastic overall. it put war back in starwars. the battle in the last book well here is one stat, the casulties for jsut star fighters were are around 10 000. and the battle spans an entire solar system.
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Since you seem to be a PT fan, I would highly recommend reading 'Cloak Of Deception' and 'Darth Maul: Shadow HUnter' followed by the TPM novelization. As someone who has nearly every EU book, this unofficial trilogy is one of my favourite PT EU

FINISHED:
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I have been wanting to get back into some of the EU books. I enjoyed the Zahn trilogy as most others here have said. For EU those are probably the best recommended and best reads around. The first Han Solo trilogy by Brian Daly is good too. Someone else mentioned some of the early comics...I would second that. And if you are one to read comics, the Dark Empire series that was published by Dark Horse Comics in the early 90s was really good too, IMO. They released it in graphic novel form as well, at one time, so you don't have to hunt all the issues down. Dark Empire takes place right after ROTJ too.

I want to try Rogue Squadron. Sounds like it's pretty good.

Star Wars EU is so all over the map it can be tricky to find the good stuff, it seems.
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Considering I've read all of them but the newest releases, I'd say Rogue Squadron, The Thrawn Trilogy, and the majority of the NJO are the best--the rest you could potentially live without.
"I don't mind if you don't like my manners. I don't like them myself. They're pretty bad. I grieve over them during the long winter evenings."
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I'm surprised no one mentioned the bounty hunter trilogy with Boba Fett as the main guy. It's about how he got where he wanted to be, the inner workings of a rather complicated bounty system, and his survival from the Sarlacc pit. It features lots of other famous bounty hunters from the trilogy in a way that actually works with the story.

But for the life of me, i left them at home when I moved for college and I can't remember the name of any of the books.

I also recommend the Rogue Squadron series.

Hey look, a bear!

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Meh, they seemed a bit lackluster to me, I ended up giving them away.
"I don't mind if you don't like my manners. I don't like them myself. They're pretty bad. I grieve over them during the long winter evenings."
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Two Star Wars books I like are Star Wars Dark Rendevouz ( This book has a lot of Yoda and Count Dooku, and it partially gives you Count Dooku's back story. Plus it has Yoda momentarily turning to the dark side which is awsome! ) Also another great read and possibly the best written Star Wars books are the Star Wars Republic Commandoe books. ( These books focus on 4 Commandoes and their missions. You just can't beat good old hand to hand combat millitary style. ) There are currently 2 Republic Commandoe books, and there is a third on the way.


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Thrawn trilogy

Outbound flight

all three stover novels:

Traitor

shatterpoint

revenge of the sith

brian daley's Han solo adventures trilogy

the rogue squadron books are some of the best star wars novels imho, not the ones by allston though

the republic commando books are some of the best realistic military sci-fi out there

imho the best current EU stories happen to be in Dark horse comics, and the kotor series. too bad no kotor books.

“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.