Star wars book question

Television, Movies Games and Books Star Wars
#1

I read the majority of Star Wars novels printed in the 90’s. I also read the Zahn novels about the outbound flight series.

I have found that the majority of these books ( other than zahn’s stuff, and I actually like the Bakura book)despite how much I love Star Wars… and how involved I was in WEG RPG stuff, to be crap. (example: now huts are building a deathstar, now there is a suncrusher and a prototype deathstar, or worse half the dialog in the books are rehashed dialog from the movies done poorly. )

So all that being said I am willing to give some new books as shot, but I won’t follow blindly, just because it’s Star Wars. I want good plots and good writeing and dialog.

Are the new books ( the ones that take place 40 years after ROJ) worth a damn. I started trying to read that series where they were fighting a wat against the crab race and they blew… with that being over… are the new books any good?

#2

I really enjoyed the first three books of the New Jedi Order books where they start the war with the Yuzon ovng. I have not read past that iin that series yet but i intended to.

I also read the Entire Legacy of the Force novels and they are super awesome. They deal mostly with the next generation but it does involve Luke, Han and crew. Boba Fett is really cool in the series and the series kills off some long running and fan favorite EU characters.

#3

If you start with eh Yuuzhan Vogn war, you’ll be pleasantly surprised, I 5hink. Before that, I agree, it was always a “superweapon of the week” kinda thing. but once the Yuuzhan Viong invade…totally difernt vibe.

#4

I’m a shameless fan who even loves the books that suck. Except for Darksaber, Dark Journey, the Black Fleet Crisis, and the Bounty Hunter Trilogy.

But I will say that the NJO-and-later books are much better quality than the Bantam-era ones. For one, there’s more of an effort to keep things consistant. I never liked Luke pre-NJO because his characterization was so irregular. There’s actually overarcing plots and internal consistancy.

That said, NJO was waaaay too long. Some people out there have “abridged lists” of which ones to read and which to skip, but I really do advise reading them all. (Even Dark Journey, which I hated. There was still stuff in it that is important in later books, as out of character as I thought the characters were.)

The Dark Nest books were… eh. Some good elements (Tarfang the killer Ewok!), some bad ones. (WTF BUGS. That stuff still weirds me out.) They still set up the next arc.

Legacy of the Force. Much tighter paced, at nine books versus nineteen. Three authors on a rotating schedule, and all pretty good ones: Aaron Allston, Karen Traviss, and Troy Denning. (I know people have issues with Denning and Traviss, but whatever personal problems I have with them as authors I think that they can write pretty well.) I happened to like the series, but I know some people didn’t. If you liked Episode 3, I think you’d like this series.

Millenium Falcon. I consider this a must-read, as it handles the relationship between Han, Leia, and a third character really well. It also sets up the next arc.

Fate of the Jedi is the current arc, one book in and eight more to go. I’m really liking it, especially since it’s looking like it’s going to show how things got to how they are in the Legacy comics. Aaron Allston wrote the first book, Outcast, and I thought it was a great balance of funny, interesting, and sad. (That may be because bad things happen to the family of two characters I adore.)

Really, you’d have to give them your own try.

#5

There is another current arc out there,Star Wars: Republic Commando. I resisted this for a long time because I have always been disappointed with stories that were video game based. Wow, was I wrong about this one. Karen Traviss has writen what is probably the the best military sci-fi Star Wars novels out there. The other novels are Skywalker- centric and action-adventure stories. She writes small unit special-ops tactics very well and actually has a military background so she seems to know what she is writting. Her novels follow a couple of republic comando squads as they fight through the Clone Wars and beyond. Think Star Wars meets Band of Brothers. The books are Hard Contact, Tripple Zero, True Colors, Order 66 and Imperial Comando I hear is comming out later this year. If anyone reads this post and has read these books let me know what you think of them.

#6

I started reading Order 66 and i felt like i was coming in in the middle of a series, even though i know they are all technically separate books. I think i am gonna go back and start at the beginning. She also writes Bobba Fett really well.

#7

“Trust your feelings Luke.” Yeah, you were coming in to the middle of a series. Staring at Order 66 is like being introduced to the Matrix with the third movie. Fun, but it doesn’t make any sense. The first book was ment to stand alone but after that it is one story. Start at the beginning and build up your emotional investment with these characters like Etain, Kal, Omega and Delta squads and Order 66 will hit you much harder.