SW books reading order

Sean Howard · Post by **Sean Howard** » 2004-10-12 11:55am

Hi everyone,

I've always liked SW, but I never got around to reading the books. College will do that, I felt like I'd be "cheating" on my required reading if I read for pleasure

Anyway, it seems like there are a lot of books out there. I was at the bookstore the other day and man there must have been 20. Some are obviously based in the Prequel era, some after ROTJ, but I don't know the best order to read them in.

Excluding novelisations of the movies, what's the best way to tackle this?

Sean

Mlenk · Post by **Mlenk** » 2004-10-12 12:00pm

I'd avoid the prequel novels. IMO they're shit. Anyways, I got started off reading Zahn's Thrawn trilogy long ago. The EU's a big place but unless you're gonna read the NJO series, I don't think you really have to read any of them in order to enjoy/hate any of the books. Personally I'd start off with Zahn's Thrawn trilogy and then just go from there.

Sharp-kun · Post by **Sharp-kun** » 2004-10-12 12:15pm

The X-Wing series is always good. Stackpoles ones are meh, but Allistons Wraith Squadron series is gold, as is Starfighter of Adumar.

Zahn's books are also good.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2004-10-12 12:20pm

Start with the Thrawn trilogy (Heir to the Empire is the first book). They were the first SW books written, and some of the best.

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2004-10-12 12:21pm

I like reading the books in chronological order, and I see three authors as your primary core of Star Wars.

Stackpole
Allston
Zhan

Start with the X-Wing series and read in order, then read the Thrawn Triology, then Isards Revenge, then I, Jedi, then Starfighters of Amudar, then the Thrawn Duology. Gives you a good core of the series post Endor.

Bob the Gunslinger · Post by **Bob the Gunslinger** » 2004-10-12 01:15pm

Having read many of the SW books, I have to recommend:

Zahn's Thrawn trilogy
Zahn's Hand of Thrawn duology
(stop here)

But if you absolutely must read more, then I suggest you try a Peter David ST book or a Stephen King book or something. Seriously, why do you want to torture yourself?

JME2 · Post by **JME2** » 2004-10-12 02:43pm

Praxis wrote:Start with the Thrawn trilogy (Heir to the Empire is the first book). They were the first SW books written, and some of the best.

In terms of publishing, actually Splinter of the Mind's Eye was first. That little nitpick aisde, the Thrawn trilogy was the first of the modern SW novels and I agree; they are among the best.

Kurgan · Post by **Kurgan** » 2004-10-12 04:55pm

I'd start with the Movie novelisations. Sure they contradict in parts and are a bit goofy in others, but they fill in some of the gaps and are a good launching off point.

Sidious · Post by **Sidious** » 2004-10-12 05:42pm

Good question. I just recently organized all of my books in chronological order and was curious, if I had actually read them that way if they would make sense.

Anyway, I also started with the Thrawn trilogy, then moved on to the Xwing series.

Crayz9000 · Post by **Crayz9000** » 2004-10-12 05:52pm

Ssh, don't let Illuminatus Primus see this thread...

Guardsman Bass · Post by **Guardsman Bass** » 2004-10-12 06:18pm

I thought the "Hand of Thrawn Trilogy" was good, the original Thrawn trilogy, meh.

There was a Han Solo Trilogy by Crispin(I think) as a prequel that I liked, because it basically takes you from his youth as a pickpocket on Corellia to the point where he encounters Luke and Obi-wan on Tatooine.

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2004-10-12 06:21pm

Guardsman Bass wrote:I thought the "Hand of Thrawn Trilogy" was good, the original Thrawn trilogy, meh.

I don't believe you. You're lying! How can you like the Duology and NOT the Trilogy? The Trilogy is about a thousand times better.

Guardsman Bass · Post by **Guardsman Bass** » 2004-10-12 06:25pm

Stofsk wrote:
Guardsman Bass wrote:I thought the "Hand of Thrawn Trilogy" was good, the original Thrawn trilogy, meh.
I don't believe you. You're lying! How can you like the Duology and NOT the Trilogy? The Trilogy is about a thousand times better.

The trilogy overall was meh. I liked Last Command, and Heir to the Empire, but not the book inbetween. The main reason I didn't like it was Joruus C'Baoth- having him rant about how "Leia wants him to teach her children" a thousand times got dull fast. I also thought the ending was slightly dumb; wouldn't Thrawn be a little more careful in who he allows his body guards to talk to in their spare time?

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2004-10-12 06:33pm

Guardsman Bass wrote:The trilogy overall was meh. I liked Last Command, and Heir to the Empire, but not the book inbetween. The main reason I didn't like it was Joruus C'Baoth- having him rant about how "Leia wants him to teach her children" a thousand times got dull fast. I also thought the ending was slightly dumb; wouldn't Thrawn be a little more careful in who he allows his body guards to talk to in their spare time?

And this is worse than the Duology, which has everyone in the galaxy shit their pants based on the rumour that Thrawn the Magnificent Who Can DO NO WRONG has returned from the dead? Fuck, even the goddamn IMPERIALS were acting like little fanboys. "Yay! Thrawn's back! I saw him die but whatev. Now we can go kick some arse, because before now we were dumbshits who couldn't fight worth a damn."

C'Baoth wasn't bad, and I liked how Zahn added two adversaries like he did. Of course this was a stage where Thrawn-wanking hadn't been established to rediculous extremes. And the point about the guard was ultimately a point about Thrawn's overconfidence. He had a tendency in the novels to make leaps in logic and assumptions on people's motives; why must he be 100% correct ALL the time? Can't he make a mistake? An error in judgement? You know, like assuming those hitherto loyal and fanatical supercommandos wouldn't turn on him when they learned the truth about what he did to their homeworld? Thrawn isn't a bloody genius you know.

Sean Howard · Post by **Sean Howard** » 2004-10-12 06:40pm

Thanks for the tips. The Thrawn trilogy sounds like the place to start.

The only EU i've ever read are some comic books, and the manual for TIE fighter a long time ago. I remember I really liked the story that came with TIE fighter, it followed the recruit into the Empire, and eventually a successful pilot. I thought it was really cool because it portrayed the thinking of your average joe Imperial recruit. I remember thinking this would be Luke's story, if the empire hadn't killed his family.

At the time, I didn't get into the books because it seemed like they would be so heavily focused on the "good guys", and I felt like well, where can it go from here? They won. I remember seeing a book that came out like 10 years ago and my friend was raving about how its all about Leia and Solo getting married. I was thinkin, "WTF? who cares about THAT?"

After looking at some of the info here, it sounds like I'm missing some really good stuff...

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2004-10-12 06:44pm

Yeah. Just, uh, ignore the spoilers.

Sean Howard · Post by **Sean Howard** » 2004-10-12 06:45pm

Stofsk wrote:Yeah. Just, uh, ignore the spoilers.

ahh no biggie. Just reading these forums I've pieced together quite a lot

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2004-10-12 07:09pm

Sidious wrote:Good question. I just recently organized all of my books in chronological order and was curious, if I had actually read them that way if they would make sense.

Anyway, I also started with the Thrawn trilogy, then moved on to the Xwing series.

I read my collection in chronological order a couple times, before Dad threw most of it out because he's an ass. It made sense, though jumping between quality and KJA like that got a little jarring sometimes.

The Cleric · Post by **The Cleric** » 2004-10-12 11:14pm

Thrawn is god. Don't even bother arguing with me

And read Zahn first, then Crispen, then the X-Wing series.

Mlenk · Post by **Mlenk** » 2004-10-12 11:32pm

Stofsk wrote: I don't believe you. You're lying! How can you like the Duology and NOT the Trilogy? The Trilogy is about a thousand times better.

I'm with Guardsman Bass. Now, don't get me wrong. The Thrawn trilogy I thought was good but the Duology was IMO much better.

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2004-10-13 12:41am

Thrawn was so uber thats why he never made any mistake, defeated the rebels, and survived.

Give it a break people. Thrawn made numerous mistakes in all three books. Ultimately several of them cost him his life.

The Cleric · Post by **The Cleric** » 2004-10-13 02:27am

Alyeska wrote:Thrawn was so uber thats why he never made any mistake, defeated the rebels, and survived.

Give it a break people. Thrawn made numerous mistakes in all three books. Ultimately several of them cost him his life.

Come on. He made some mistakes, sure, I won't deny that. However, his amazing victories serve to counterbalance that. He was a tactical and strategic genius, who made a few mistakes that proved to be fatal. That doesn't detract from his battlefield brilliance.

Alyeska · Post by **Alyeska** » 2004-10-13 03:34am

StormtrooperOfDeath wrote:
Alyeska wrote:Thrawn was so uber thats why he never made any mistake, defeated the rebels, and survived.

Give it a break people. Thrawn made numerous mistakes in all three books. Ultimately several of them cost him his life.
Come on. He made some mistakes, sure, I won't deny that. However, his amazing victories serve to counterbalance that. He was a tactical and strategic genius, who made a few mistakes that proved to be fatal. That doesn't detract from his battlefield brilliance.

My comments were to the people who saw Thrawn as a worthless uber perfect character.

Prozac the Robert · Post by **Prozac the Robert** » 2004-10-13 08:03am

I second or third or whatever the wraith squaron portion of the X-wing series. They have some great moments.

Guardsman Bass · Post by **Guardsman Bass** » 2004-10-13 08:41am

And this is worse than the Duology, which has everyone in the galaxy shit their pants based on the rumour that Thrawn the Magnificent Who Can DO NO WRONG has returned from the dead? Fuck, even the goddamn IMPERIALS were acting like little fanboys. "Yay! Thrawn's back! I saw him die but whatev. Now we can go kick some arse, because before now we were dumbshits who couldn't fight worth a damn."

Maybe so, but I thought in Spectre of the Past(my memory is kind of hazy, it was a while ago that I read it) Pellaeon(who HAD watched Thrawn die) didn't believe that he was back, and I remember Leia(I think) saying that when Thrawn had mounted his last campaign "He had a quarter of the former Empire's resources. Now he back, but he has almost nothing."

C'Baoth wasn't bad, and I liked how Zahn added two adversaries like he did. Of course this was a stage where Thrawn-wanking hadn't been established to rediculous extremes. And the point about the guard was ultimately a point about Thrawn's overconfidence. He had a tendency in the novels to make leaps in logic and assumptions on people's motives; why must he be 100% correct ALL the time? Can't he make a mistake? An error in judgement? You know, like assuming those hitherto loyal and fanatical supercommandos wouldn't turn on him when they learned the truth about what he did to their homeworld?

I suppose, but it seems like the last thing Thrawn would do. This is a commander who went to the trouble of searching out and finding Ysalamiri to protect himself from C'Baoth erratically force-choking him, and who use planet's histories(The leaps in logic you mentioned) to mount tailored assaults on worlds. Neglecting to know the history of his elite bodyguards seems like a MAJOR oversight on his part.

Thrawn isn't a bloody genius you know.

AHA, AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHA!

I actually DO think he's a genius. He may have made many leaps in logic, and used them to create strange tactics and strategies, BUT he managed to use them successfully to severely weaken the New Republic(not to mention the fact that as Curtis Saxton mentions on his site, Thrawn was almost denied shipbuilding areas, and had to spend a lot of time trying to find adequate resources). If a more conventional Admiral, say Pellaeon, had tried something like this, it would have royally blown back in his face.[/i]

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SW books reading order

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