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Star Wars Novels

theryaney

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Since Star Trek has one, why not for Star Wars?

This thread is for everything about Star Wars books. Canon or legends accepted. Spoilers are in spoiler tags.


Phasma by Delilah S. Dawson
The Phasma book is interesting, exploring the backstory of the chrome shiny Captain of the First Order. It dives in her motivation for everything she does, and explores her people's point of view of her. This sure is a nice book you guys might want to pick up.


Inferno Squad by Christie Golden
The Inferno Squad book sets up the events of Battlefront II and is a wonderful read. It captures the perspective of the Empire, and shows a wonderful look at important Rebel events in the Empire's POV. Makes me extremely excited for Battlefront II, even if my chances of getting that will probably be zero. Still, a tremendously awesome book, has some look too at other insurgencies beside the Rebel Alliance.

Lux Bonteri from TCW also returns!


Oh yeah, if you're not too interested in like actual books, I recommend audiobooks, as they have John Williams music, sound effects, and more.

Let's talk books!
 

ThrowgnCpr

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I used to read a ton of Star Wars novels, haven't kept up in a long time.

theryaney said:
Oh yeah, if you're not too interested in like actual books, I recommend audiobooks, as they have John Williams music, sound effects, and more.

^audiobooks, no. Most of them are just read, but there are a number of audiodramas with full sound effects, music, etc. The Dark Forces series are really fun listens.
 

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Important is “Lost Stars” by Claudia Gray, probably the most successful canon book thus far.  The same author also wrote “Bloodline” which was apparently less good.  

I know “Aftermath” by Chuck Wendig crashed but I don’t know how its sequels (“Life Debt” and “Empire’s End”) were received.
 

theryaney

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ThrowgnCpr said:
I used to read a ton of Star Wars novels, haven't kept up in a long time.

theryaney said:
Oh yeah, if you're not too interested in like actual books, I recommend audiobooks, as they have John Williams music, sound effects, and more.

^audiobooks, no. Most of them are just read, but there are a number of audiodramas with full sound effects, music, etc. The Dark Forces series are really fun listens.

What do you mean?

I listened to Phasma and Inferno Squad through Audible, and they have music and sound effects. Ahsoka and Inferno Squad was read by Ashley Eckstein, who voiced Ahsoka in Rebels and Janina Gaavnkar, who plays Iden Versio in 
Battlefront II respectively. Phasma even features duel of the fates at the end which was breathtaking. 

I guess you might be taking about the EU audiobooks, but the new Canon audiobooks only need your imagination to be brought to life.

Canon Editor said:
Important is “Lost Stars” by Claudia Gray, probably the most successful canon book thus far.  The same author also wrote “Bloodline” which was apparently less good.  

I know “Aftermath” by Chuck Wendig crashed but I don’t know how its sequels (“Life Debt” and “Empire’s End”) were received.

Yes, Lost Stars was also very emotional and a good read, as well as Bloodline. 

Lost Stars tell the story of two friends from the same planet on the other side of the Galactic Civil War and Bloodline shows the first stages of the Resistance, what lead to it, and Leia's parentage reveal to the Galaxy.

Claudia Gray sure can make a good Star Wars story.

I'm listening to Claudia Gray's Leia: Princess of Alderaan, and when I have time I return to Aftermath: Life Debt on my iPad.
 

ThrowgnCpr

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I recently tried reading Bloodline and could not get into it at all. I got busy and just put it aside. I guess I'll give it a try again, but it didn't hook me like some SW novels.
 

theryaney

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ThrowgnCpr said:
I recently tried reading Bloodline and could not get into it at all. I got busy and just put it aside. I guess I'll give it a try again, but it didn't hook me like some SW novels.

Well, I'm also currently stuck with Thrawn (the canon one), which I haven't got around to continue. Catalyst is on my shelf, with a bookmark on around the first few pages and untouched for a month.
 

ThrowgnCpr

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theryaney said:
I guess you might be taking about the EU audiobooks

Yes, I really don't care about the new canon. There is a long history of Star Wars novels and many are fantastic reads. There are a lot of these in audiobook form that are standard audiobook, not audiodrama. If you're only now reading Star Wars books and sticking to canon stories, you're really missing out.



theryaney said:
the new Canon audiobooks only need your imagination to be brought to life.

LOL
 

theryaney

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ThrowgnCpr said:
theryaney said:
I guess you might be taking about the EU audiobooks

Yes, I really don't care about the new canon. There is a long history of Star Wars novels and many are fantastic reads. There are a lot of these in audiobook form that are standard audiobook, not audiodrama. If you're only now reading Star Wars books and sticking to canon stories, you're really missing out.

I'm certainly considering that. Plan on starting Heir to the Empire.

theryaney said:
the new Canon audiobooks only need your imagination to be brought to life.

LOL

:D

It's just, you can hear blasters, TIEs screeching, which are quite nice.
 

ThrowgnCpr

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Heir to the Empire is fantastic (as well as the subsequent novels in the trilogy). In fact all of Timothy Zahn's 1990s era SW novels are great.

Some other of my favorites are:

The Courtship of Princess Leia, Shadows of the Empire, and The Truce at Bakura
 

theryaney

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ThrowgnCpr said:
Heir to the Empire is fantastic (as well as the subsequent novels in the trilogy). In fact all of Timothy Zahn's 1990s era SW novels are great.

Some other of my favorites are:

The Courtship of Princess Leia, Shadows of the Empire, and The Truce at Bakura

Thanks!

I'll check those out... after I finish the other 4 I mentioned. By the way, Timothy Zahn wrote the canon Thrawn book.
 

ThrowgnCpr

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yeah, I know Zahn wrote the new canon Thrawn book. I'll have to check it out and see if he's tried to keep it somehow connected to his original set of novels.

Shadows of the Empire is particularly interesting because it was Lucasarts/Lucasfilm's first attempt at some greater world building. It was meant as an "interquel" between ESB and ROTJ and they had gone as far as writing a book, a series of comics, creating a video game, a unique score, action figures and additional merchandising, etc.

I think the timing of the project prohibited it from becoming a much larger thing. It's a shame, because I think it is far better and had more potential than the Clone Wars stuff that has been developed so much in recent years.
 

theryaney

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ThrowgnCpr said:
yeah, I know Zahn wrote the new canon Thrawn book. I'll have to check it out and see if he's tried to keep it somehow connected to his original set of novels.

Shadows of the Empire is particularly interesting because it was Lucasarts/Lucasfilm's first attempt at some greater world building. It was meant as an "interquel" between ESB and ROTJ and they had gone as far as writing a book, a series of comics, creating a video game, a unique score, action figures and additional merchandising, etc.

I think the timing of the project prohibited it from becoming a much larger thing. It's a shame, because I think it is far better and had more potential than the Clone Wars stuff that has been developed so much in recent years.

Interesting. I'll be sure to check that out.
 

wilhelm scream

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In my opinion, the worst Star Wars novel is The Old Republic: Revan. Because it does such a poor job at resolving The Exile's story and continuing Raven's. It's ignores major characters from the Knights of the old Republic games and ruins the characters of Revan and the Exile. Good thing this video created an alternate ending to the novel (skip to 2:15:30 to see it): 
 

DominicCobb

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I finished Heir to the Empire earlier this year and thought it didn't really live up to the hype.

I'm with you on audiobooks, the music and SFX is a nice touch, though I don't care so much about that, it's more a convenience thing for me. I listened to Inferno Squad last month and thought it was pretty solid. Going through the Aftermath series right now and have Phasma on standby.
 

theryaney

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DominicCobb said:
I finished Heir to the Empire earlier this year and thought it didn't really live up to the hype.

I'm with you on audiobooks, the music and SFX is a nice touch, though I don't care so much about that, it's more a convenience thing for me. I listened to Inferno Squad last month and thought it was pretty solid. Going through the Aftermath series right now and have Phasma on standby.

Agreed. I'll still check out Heir to the Empire though. 

The Aftermath Trilogy is a tough read.
 

Gaith

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DominicCobb said:
I finished Heir to the Empire earlier this year and thought it didn't really live up to the hype.

!!! Does not compute!  :p  I re-read it earlier this year and found it awesome as always. I love how tactile Zahn makes the universe feel, with journeys that take days, Luke temporarily de-powered, wobbly military bearing in the Imperial Navy, all that stuff.

In fact, my personal Star Wars canon consists of:

Rogue One
ANH
ESB
Shadows of the Empire
ROTJ
Heir to the Empire/Dark Force Rising/The Last Command

... and that's it. To me, the Thrawn Trilogy is just as authentically "Star Wars" as the OT, and as I've written before, a large part of my lack of enthusiasm for TFA even going in was that it wasn't that story (and boy, was it not). :cool:
 

theryaney

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Gaith said:
DominicCobb said:
I finished Heir to the Empire earlier this year and thought it didn't really live up to the hype.

!!! Does not compute!  :p  I re-read it earlier this year and found it awesome as always. I love how tactile Zahn makes the universe feel, with journeys that take days, Luke temporarily de-powered, wobbly military bearing in the Imperial Navy, all that stuff.

In fact, my personal Star Wars canon consists of:

Rogue One
ANH
ESB
Shadows of the Empire
ROTJ
Heir to the Empire/Dark Force Rising/The Last Command

... and that's it. To me, the Thrawn Trilogy is just as authentically "Star Wars" as the OT, and as I've written before, a large part of my lack of enthusiasm for TFA even going in was that it wasn't that story (and boy, was it not). :cool:

That's what droids say.

Interesting. :)

I'll be sure to check all these out.
 

ThrowgnCpr

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Aside from his views on TFA, I agree with Gaith on this one. I still love reading Zahn's Thrawn trilogy.
 

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Here's a list of all the books currently in the canon: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline_of_canon_books
I tend to stick to the novels.


I've read Dark Disciple, which was an excellent light read that kept me invested the whole way through. It was a shame we never got to see it in The Clone Wars, but Golden's novel is a great end to Ventress' story.

Lords of the Sith was... eh... It was pretty good until the Emperor and Vader crash on Ryloth, after that, it just becomes a poorly written action slog. It felt like it was written to be in the visual medium, not a book, unlike Golden's work.

I'm reading Tarkin at the moment, which has been pretty great so far.
 

theryaney

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Zamros said:
Here's a list of all the books currently in the canon: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline_of_canon_books
I tend to stick to the novels.


I've read Dark Disciple, which was an excellent light read that kept me invested the whole way through. It was a shame we never got to see it in The Clone Wars, but Golden's novel is a great end to Ventress' story.

Lords of the Sith was... eh... It was pretty good until the Emperor and Vader crash on Ryloth, after that, it just becomes a poorly written action slog. It felt like it was written to be in the visual medium, not a book, unlike Golden's work.

I'm reading Tarkin at the moment, which has been pretty great so far.

I haven't gotten to read those two.

Tarkin was my first listen, and it was pretty good.
 
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