SW EU: Where to start?

[Elfdart]

The Han Solo trilogy by Brian Daley.

Aside from the movie novels, those are the only ones worth the trouble. The rest of the EU sucks hard and turns an epic serial into a clown act straight out of Mary Sueville. Fett-wank, Thrawn-wank, Corran Horn-wank, Fandibonean-wank, Christ Almighty I could go on for hundreds of pages on just how bad the EU sucks. If these Mary Sue characters, idiotic plots, moronic characters
(Vidkun Benedict... you know -the traitor! Next they'll have a murderer named Dahmer Manson. )
and other abortions were relegated to the back alleys of the Galaxy Far Far Away it would be one thing, but their suckiness ends up contaminating something I've loved since childhood called Star Wars.

The re-writing of characters is what really pisses me off. In ANH, Chewie is scared shitless of the monster in the garbage crusher and runs like hell when he hears it in the corridor.

Han: Come here ya big coward! Chewie -come here!

In TESB and ROTJ Han and Chewie are still presented as buddies who have saved each other's necks countless times, like Robin Hood and Little John. But in the EU there's some oh-so-serious honor code/blood oath nonsense like something out of Beowulf. If the writers who came up with that crap think it's so great, why don't they inflict it on their own characters? I avoid the EU like it was a 73 Pinto with a gas tank full of nitro moving at high speed in reverse.

[eyl]

In TESB and ROTJ Han and Chewie are still presented as buddies who have saved each other's necks countless times, like Robin Hood and Little John. But in the EU there's some oh-so-serious honor code/blood oath nonsense like something out of Beowulf. If the writers who came up with that crap think it's so great, why don't they inflict it on their own characters? I avoid the EU like it was a 73 Pinto with a gas tank full of nitro moving at high speed in reverse.

Didn't the life-debt thing originate in the Han Solo trilogy, though?

[General Soontir Fel]

But in the EU there's some oh-so-serious honor code/blood oath nonsense like something out of Beowulf.

I thought the "life debt" idea came from the Holiday Special. Not that that's a recommendation, of course...

[Elfdart]

But in the EU there's some oh-so-serious honor code/blood oath nonsense like something out of Beowulf.

I thought the "life debt" idea came from the Holiday Special. Not that that's a recommendation, of course...

IIRC from the Daley books, Chewie felt a debt to Solo for saving his life -a debt repaid with interest many times over. They're best buddies, but Zahn and whichever wanker wrote the Black Fleet series make it look like Ecgtheow's life debt to Hrothgar. It's wank of the worst kind.

Didn't the life-debt thing originate in the Han Solo trilogy, though?

I thought that was Life Day, which a drug-addled Carrie Fisher sang a tune for.


That was the only time I ever saw someone on a TV show with the Jefferson Starship who was more stoned than they were.

[000]

The best way to decide where to jump in is to decide first what you're most interested in, both in terms of medium and in terms of content. Are you only looking for adult novels, or are you looking to explore the games, comics, or teen novels as well? The novels, remember, are only a portion of the overall story-- games such as Knights of the Old Republic and The Sith Lords and comics such as Tales of the Jedi and Legacy are both the sole source for some major galactic events.

What sort of story are you interested in? Do you want to read mostly about the further activities of the OT characters and their family members? Are you interested in the activities of their more distant descendants? Did the prequel characters appeal to you more? Are you interested in going back in time some thousands of years and meeting a whole new cast of characters? Are you looking for the big events, or side stories? What era interests you the most? Are there any minor movie characters who you'd like to learn more about? Do you want to get involved in a major story arc, or a one-shot side story? Or do you simply want recommendations on what are generally thought of as the best, or what I feel is the best?

[Imperial Overlord]

The life debt did originate with the Han Solo trilogy, but like Elfdart says it was one incident near the beginning of a lot of mutual ass saving. Their relationship is depicted as both a friendship and a partnership (like the movies) not as that of an honor bound vassal and his master.

[Cos Dashit]

Courtship of Princess Leia? The title itself is revolting.

The Han Solo trilogy never really interested me. I've also found him an awesome side-character, but three novels about him? Meh.

[Edward Yee]

Crimson Empire may be a bit much, but it explains "whatever happened" to certain characters, its events following up on Empire's End. Also, Crimson Empire II: Council of Blood was the first appearance of a major NJO character.