xammer99 wrote:Could someone recommend a few of the better EU books from post RotJ and pre-Yuzhon Vong setting? I've read the Thrawn books and they weren't bad, but are they the best? Are there others worth reading?
Thanks!
These are my personal recommendations, but the first three Thrawn books are probably the best overall. The Aaron Allston books and Zahn's
Survivor's Quest are pretty good as well, with Hand of Thrawn being slightly worse. Avoid Barbara Hambly, Kevin J. Anderson, and
The Crystal Star.
Truce at Bakura and Stackpole's books are in the middle, at least in my opinion, but others rate them higher or lower. I never read the Black Fleet Crisis or Corellian trilogies, but people are divided on those too. Same for
Tatooine Ghost Really, if you're looking for quality, I would recommend ignoring the post-ROTJ EU apart from Zahn and Allston, and looking for the two Han Solo trilogies, the Lando Calrissian trilogy, and
Shadows of the Empire, which I would rate as being in the upper half of the EU.
Stretching the definition of book,
Dark Empire is pretty good, but avoid its sequels. Keep in mind that I'm a bit out of date on the EU. If you want some expanded reasoning on my picks, though:
Zahn: Zahn is one of the better writers who's done Star Wars, and for the post-ROTJ era, him and Denning are supposed to be the best. However,
Hand of Thrawn is all about how great Thrawn is, so depending on how you liked Thrawn himself, well...
Survivor's Quest has less Thrawn-love, except at the very end, and works to set up the prequel-era
Outbound Flight, which is pretty good, if Thrawn wank all the way.
Allston: Allston's Wraith Squadron books and
Starfighters of Adumar are the most lighthearted parts of the Post-ROTJ EU, but the first one is significantly worse. They also lack any major movie characters until
Solo Command, where Han Solo is the main character. These have the lowest Jedi concentration of any of the post-ROTJ EU, by which I mean one in Wraith Squadron, and none in
SoA. However, how do you like fighter jockeys? These books are high on fighter combat, low on technical accuracy, but fun to read. They also have far better Imperial characters than most other EU books.
KJA and Hambly: KJA is unable to write novels without ripping other people off, it seems. For the Jedi Academy Trilogy, think if somebody tried to mix'n'match the Thrawn Trilogy with one-half prequels and one-half OT. Now imagine reading it in mediocre prose, and with a sense of trying to outdo everybody else.
Darksaber is the same only stupider and with tie-ins to Hambly's snoozefest novels. Seriously CotJ and PoT aren't as bad as some of the EU, especially
Crystal Star, or KJA's works, but they're simply boring.
McIntyre and Tyers: These two share the same problem, which Hambly does as well. Their works simply don't have that Star Wars feel.
Crystal Star is also dull and full of more WTFery than
Truce at Bakura, so that's why I placed Tyers on the same level with Stackpole. To be fair to Tyers, she was actually trying, which is more that can be said about KJA's novels.
Stackpole: Stackpole's books, are, well, he claims to be able to write 400 pages a month on his website, and it kinda shows. His works also feature Corran Horn, who is a figure of intense dislike for many. I simply find him an arrogant prat and wonder why, if Stackpole is aware of Corran's faults, that we must suffer through such an unlikeable narrator for all seven books Stackpole has done for Star Wars. Stackpole's books suffer from some of the same faults as Allston's, and a few of Zahn's, which is why I place him in the third tier. He can write the occasional good action scene, though.
Wolverton: Almost forgot about
Courtship of Princess Leia, which tells you much of what you need to know. Also feels oddly unlike Star Wars. Highlights include rancor-riders, hamhanded evil matriarchal and good matriarchal societies, one-dimensional villains at best, Han and Leia's relationship being reset, half the scenes with Luke were written one-handed and the one of the stupidest space battles in Star Wars, matchable only by using the
X-Wing: Alliance simulator in its ridiculousness.
Frankly if you find the Thrawn trilogy to be not bad, then you may want to simply ignore the post-ROTJ EU (maybe excepting Allston) and simply read prequel-era and OT-era stuff, but maybe part of my overview will pique your interest.