Looking to start reading SW books

Branoic

I've always been a fan of the films and various SW games, but I've never read any EU books, mostly on the assumption that the vast majority of these types of tie-in books tend to be Very Bad Things.

But I'd now like to give it a go.

So, there's so many different series and books, where do I begin? My only knowledge of the SW universe is from the movies and some games (the KOTOR games, Jedi Academy, Outcast, Force Unleashed mainly), so I'm wary of picking up something and being completed lost in the EU.

Any recommendations? I know there's already a "best books" thread, but not sure if these would necessarily be best for a newbie.

AnCapaillMor

Start off with Tomothy Zahns thrawn trilogy and see how you find em. Alot of the PRE new hope is pretty bad, apart from the graphic novels.

evil-monkey

AnCapaillMor wrote: »

Start off with Tomothy Zahns thrawn trilogy and see how you find em. Alot of the PRE new hope is pretty bad, apart from the graphic novels.

i'd suggest starting with outbound flight, and then reading the thrawn trilogy...get some background first on the admiral...

if you wana read em all get one of the books with the timeline...that pretty much filters out all the ones that don't fit together...

AnCapaillMor

The force.net book section is good in that it show the books in chronological order of the starwars universe, reading the books was confusing when i started off.

VinLieger

Try the Timothy Zahn trilogy or the X-Wing series they are good starting points. The Han Solo Trilogy is also a great read.
However if you are looking to do it chronologically do some research and you need to decide where you want to start ie Clone Wars/Old Republic or original Star Wars (Luke, Leia etc).
Whatever you do DONT go for the New Jedi Order series as you will most likely get lost and the first book may make you despise all EU books because of certain happenings within.
Also avoid like the plague The Crystal Star and Planet of Twilight they are absolutely awful and do nothing for the EU.

evil-monkey

VinLieger wrote: »

Whatever you do DONT go for the New Jedi Order series as you will most likely get lost and the first book may make you despise all EU books because of certain happenings within.

sound advice there.

if you really wana get into em. buy Darth Bane: Path of Destruction. softback copy (not sure about the hard back) has a timeline for you of all the novels just inside the cover. the Darth Bane duology are the first two, they're set during the old Republic. you'll then have a list of all the books (for adults), where they are in relation to the films, and you can set off from there...

chopperbyrne

VinLieger wrote: »

Whatever you do DONT go for the New Jedi Order series as you will most likely get lost and the first book may make you despise all EU books because of certain happenings within.

I started with the New Jedi Order series and I like it a lot, although I know what you mean about the first book....*

*The story is very good, just some people may not like the way some of the popular characters are handled.

AnCapaillMor

NJO was one of the best, the reason to not start with it is it referneces some of the stories from the old books and there's no background on alot of the characters, wedge, corran horn etc.

VinLieger

AnCapaillMor wrote: »

NJO was one of the best, the reason to not start with it is it referneces some of the stories from the old books and there's no background on alot of the characters, wedge, corran horn etc.

Exactly. I agree it was brilliant but you need to read alot of the other books to get aquainted with characters.

Mr. K

I, Jedi is a brilliant book. It's told in first person, from a Jedi's perspective. But many events run with Kevin J. Anderson's Jedi Academy Trilogy, so I'd advise reading that beforehand. It's not as good, but still pretty enjoyable.

Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy is indispensible, most will point you in that direction first. I can't disagree, they're very good!

AnCapaillMor

I, Jedi's great ,corran horns one of my favourite EU characters. X-wing series is worth checking too, you get to see the non jedi part of the war.