My Star Wars Novel Reading Planning List

[Guardsman Bass]

Fuck! I missed! Let me grab some more debris to throw.

That book couldn't have been any more wank if Hackpole had just jerked off onto some empty pages and submitted it to the publisher. Fucking Corran Horn...

Yeah, but that's the beauty of it. The first-person perspective allows you to self-insert into Corran Horn (man, that sounds wrong). That said, Horn's not a total wank-machine, seeing as how he has almost no telekinesis most of the time, and gets his ass kicked by someone whom Luke proceeds to totally own.

Seriously, though, I really do think it does a superior job of portraying the start-up of the Jedi Academy than KJA's trilogy.

[Darth Fanboy]

That's like saying that setting your hair on fire is a preferred way to get a haircut than being scalped.

[Guardsman Bass]

That's like saying that setting your hair on fire is a preferred way to get a haircut than being scalped.

It is, though, isn't it?

I suppose the whole Jedi Academy theme could have been done better by a hypothetical third author (or not done at all*), but in the mean-time I'll still take Stackpole over KJA.

* That's on my long mental list of "Things the EU Could Have Done That Would Have Been More Interesting", along with Prince Isolder from Courtship of Prince Leia being Force-sensitive, and the Dark Empire stuff actually taking place not long after the events of ROTJ instead of after the Thrawn Trilogy.

In any case, getting back to the main OP:

Yoda:Dark Rendezvous David Sherman

I liked this book and recommend it, mostly because it takes place largely from the perspectives of two padawans in the Jedi Temple (although one of those padawans, Scout, later got Travissed, so that's not so cool). It's a fairly easy read.

Rouge Squadron Michael Stackpole
Wedge's Gamble Michael Stackpole
The Kryptos Trap Michael Stackpole
The Bacta War Michael Stackpole

While I liked I,Jedi, I thought most of Stackpole's "X-Wing Series" was pretty meh. Corran Horn is just not that interesting of a character to follow from a third-person perspective, in my opinion - he's much more interesting from a first-person one.

That said, I seem to be in the minority on this one, and I admit that it has probably been nearly 8 years since I read those books, so take my views with a grain of skepticism.

Solo Command Aaron Allston

This is definitely a "yes", although you'll probably want to read Allston's preceding book before it. It's cool see Han actually in command and leading a fleet.

Before the Storm Michael P Kube-McDowell
Shield of Lies Michael P Kube-McDowell
Tyrant's Test Michael P Kube-McDowell

These have good and bad elements to it. The "good" involves the space battles, minimalist though they may be, and the conflict in general (although the Yevetha never really made sense to me - how did their star cluster manage to stay unexplored for so long, considering it is basically next door to the Core Worlds and has navigable routes into it?). The "bad" involves anything with Luke and the girl he's running around with.

Specter of the Past Timothy Zahn
Vision of the Future Timothy Zahn

I'm not much of a Thrawn fan, but I did like elements of this duology. The Luke and Mara Jade bits were good, although it would have been nice if there had been some development in immediately prior novels before Spoiler

they decided to hook up and tie the knot in this duology. That always amused me, by the way - after reading the book, I had this mental image of Luke saying to Han and Leia upon returning, "So, we were wandering around in this cave out there, and now I'm going to marry Mara", and them going, "What the fuck? What the hell happened down there?"

[Darth Fanboy]

Solo Command Aaron Allston

This is definitely a "yes", although you'll probably want to read Allston's preceding book before it. It's cool see Han actually in command and leading a fleet.

You really need to read both "Wraith Squadron" and "Iron Fist" to get the full enjoyment out of the third book. Really is an awesome trilogy.

[Crazedwraith]

Guys, Mung's list does have Wraith Squadron and Iron Fist on it already.

[Darth Yan]

I always thought the reason the yevetha were a problem was that most people didn't see the point in stopping them. the only time they win a fight is due to outright cheating (using hostages as shields); every other time they get their asses handed to them.