hey all. i just finished reading the jedi academy trilogy and loved it. my question for you all is:

where do i go next? what is the next sequence of books that keeps the story line of star wars going?

another book related topic question: where in the galaxy is boba fett hanging out? there was no mention of him in the trilogy. what has he been doing for the last 10 years? if anyone knows any books that answer these questions, let me know. also, what about zuckuss, 4-lom, bossk, dengar, and IG-88? did they just fall off the radar or is there stuff out there for me to read? im looking for things post "tales of the bounty hunters" cause ive already read that.

inquiring minds want to know.

The bounty hunters dont get much page time unfortunately. The first series I tell all star wars fans to read is heir to the empire by Timothy Zahn. otherwise knows as "The Thrawn Trilogy" as far as I am concerned it is the greatest work of star wars literature ever written. If you have read that you could try just about anything from the pre-vong/New Jedi Order stuff, really. The Black Fleet Crisis is entertaining, the Corellian Trilogy is pretty good, the X-Wing series won't disappoint either. Also knowing you personally Jeremy, I'd say you'd enjoy the Han Solo trilogy. it takes place before EP4 and is basically the adventures of a younger Han Solo.

If you want to see more of Boba, he plays a fairly large role in the newest book series "Legacy of the Force" but it takes place 40 years after EP4, so you'd be making quite a jump in the timeline.

I hope that helps. Also, never hesitate to read anything Zahn writes, because he is the best Star Wars has hands down.

Heir to the Empire is the best. I need to find my copies of the books and re-read them for more minis ideas.

I have paperback copies that I re-read bits of once in a while, and I've lent them out a lot to get people hooked on star wars novels. But I have first edition signed copies of the Thrawn Trilogy that no one is allowed to touch!

Well here is a link to the Star Wars Timeline - http://www.jedinet.com/timeline/

I'm not a mjor fan of the novels myself. And to contradict 90% of Star Wars fans I do NOT think Zahn writes good Star Wars books. He's a good writer, but I don't like the way he makes his own characters more important to the story, hence I don't like Mara Jade & Thrawn. And as for New Jedi Order... I like the idea of the vong, their design, their technology... but they just don't act alien. And how is it EVERY alien gets speech translated in the novels... except Chewbacca?!!! Talking in the third person works in the movies, not in the novels unless you do it for every langauge other than basic. And killing off Chewbacca... sorry, but talk of the novels always brings me back to this.

So I'm not sure what to recommend next Jeremy. I have not read The Black Fleet Crisis but it is a series that has always interested me. Some will rave on about I, Jedi, but to be honest that bored me to tears.

That is what I like about Zahn, that he makes star wars his own. That is also why I love the KOTOR era, because they make star wars their own. Skywalkers are cool and all, but I love the idea that there are more people than just Skywalkers doing amazing things in the star wars universe. granted Zahn best character ends up as a member of the family, but she is still awesome. Maybe it is just the historian in me, but I love the enrichment that the EU brings to the star wars story.

I do dislike the fact that they killed Chewie. The fact that they killed Mara recently upset me more. Mara was the EU, and now she is dead. too bad I guess, but that is one less reason to have anything good to say about Karen Traviss.

If you want to read about the Bad guys jeremy, pick up Darth Bane: Path To Destruction. It's in paperback and it is one of my favorite star wars books. I was shocked that I enjoyed it as much as I did. I wasn't expecting a book of that quality, especially since I think the quality of the stories has gone down overall.

I don't know you personally, like Darth Ruthven, but I just finished the Han Solo Trilogy and I really enjoyed it.
Another one, if you're interested in the Clone Wars, is the Republic Commando series. It's a four part series with the fourth novel due out this summer. The characters are pretty cool and I really like the storyline.
I'm in the process of reading as many of the books in paperback as I can in order, if possible. I've basically made it to episode IV, and really haven't read a book I disliked so far. The only series I've read that is set in the time past episode VI is the Dark Nest Trilogy. I thought that was a good series as well. Some of the books that aren't in a series (or at least a completed one) that I've really enjoyed are; Darth Bane Path of Destruction, The Approaching Storm, and Shatterpoint.
The one thing about reading all these books is that it just makes you want more minis ! So many cool characters!

For the love of god, stay away from the Black Fleet crisis. Worst of all the books.

I personally enjoyed the "Callista" series, but it is apparently not everyone's favorite (I admit, Waru is a stupid idea).

Was killing Mara all her or was it like R.A. Salvatore with Chewie where he didn't just up and decide to kill him off, but instead he was just the NJO author choosen to write the book in which it had been pre-determined Chewie was going to die.

I have read most of the SW books so I will put in my 2cents.

I liked the first set of Thrawn books, however, I thought the end was very rushed. Almost like Zahn got to the end of the book and realized, "Oh I better end this." and wraps it up in a few pages.

I did not like the second Thrawn set, Shatterpoint or Dark Nest.

I liked the NJO series. I loved the X-Wing series, Splinter of the Mind's Eye, EpIII novelization, Republic Commando series (Although it took me awhile to get into it), I,Jedi, and The Med Star books.

Comics I liked - Clone Wars (not Adventures), X-Wing, Tales of the Jedi, Empire, Crimson Empire

I think you are exactly right homer. I believe Karen Traviss had no choice in the matter.

I have nothing good to say about Traviss either way. I dislike her books so greatly that I find it hard to read any more of the Legacy series. I've discussed this in a previous thread, but basically she brings her personal politics into the story and I don't agree with her portrayal of the characters.

Not too mention personal fanboyism. There was absolutely NO reason for Fett in Sacrifice. And his wife is still alive and frozen in carbonite?!?! WTF?

I have no problem with Mara's death. I was kind of disapointed they chickened out of killing Kyle, but I wasn't too upset, just because he had FINALLY gotten some real screen time in the books. I sort of expect Saba, Kyp, or Corran to bite it before Legacy is done.

I love KOTOR, but all of the characters are original. Zahn takes the heroes of the galaxy and makes them support cast, and I think that was the problem. Now, had Zahn wrote the Thrawn Triology WITHOUT any of the major established characters I can see myself liking it. When the Thrawn trilogy was released there was only a little EU, so I guess when those books came out I was wanting more Han/Luke/Leia. Maybe I'll go back and re-read them with a different perspective.

I re-read them last winter and I wouldn't say that Luke/Han/Leia are supporting cast at all. They are the main characters and Mara, Talon, Trawn, ect. are supporting cast members in another star wars epic. Thrawn is the villian that I find a hard time not respesting, he has none of the rage issues that kept Vader from truly excelling as a commander.

Guys, let's PLEASE keep the author bashing to a minimum. I know a lot of people seem to have a problem with Ms. Traviss, but the fact of the matter is, she's LFL's #1 best-selling Star Wars author right now. Personally, I love her work, but then again, I do my best to find things I like about anything I read. Sure, there's some things I don't like either, but nothing is 100% perfect.

For the record, NEITHER Karen Traviss or R. A. Salvatore had any real say in killing off either Chewie or Mara. In the NJO series, the editors and story arc creators had already decided they wanted to kill off a major character at the beginning of the series. Lucas specifically told them who they couldn't kill. For the LOTF series, it was a joint decision between the 3 authors, Lucas, and the editing staff. In fact, I would guess they probably double-checked with Mr. Zahn as well, to make sure he didn't have any future plans for Mara past the LOTF timeline.


Anyways.....

If you want more about the Bounty Hunters, then you absolutely have to pick up the 'Bounty Hunter Wars' trilogy. It's still one of my favorites. The 'Callista' trilogy is another one I liked, but the first book is the best of the three, and unfortunately, the 3rd book was kind of disappointing to me.

If you're interested in the LOTF series, I suggest you either read the JNO and Dark Nest sets first, or do some reading up on Wookieepedia. There's a lot of stuff in the LOTF series that you may not understand as well if you haven't read those ones first.

The Republic Commando series has been spectacular as well so far, and the final book sounds very promising so far.

I tried to keep my Traviss-bashing to a minimum, we can agree to disagree on her quality. I would kind of discount the #1-seller status, since I am sure I am not alone in the star wars community when I say that I buy all the books when they come out, and I dont necessarily read them right away. Star Wars fans will buy the books no matter what.

Haha, that is true, but the only way companies like LFL or WOTC or Microsoft or whatever it is know what the public likes is through sales numbers. If you truly don't like an author, you argue against yourself by buying the book. Especially if you buy it as soon as it comes out. If you wished not to show your support, then find a local library which carries the book(s) or find a store like Half-Priced Books where you can both save yourself some money, and keep the system from registering another sale in the grand scheme of things.

and one sale is going to change the sales numbers sooooo much . protest s fine, but pointless protest is just that. I'll still read it because I have an OCD with needing to know everything about star wars, but that doesn't mean I have to like her writing style or her personal politics that come through in the books.

So... is no one going to recommend Darksaber?

Okay, it was a book with so much potential that was poorly realised. There're some great idea's in there but they just don't get used properly. This was a book I was looking forward to so much when it was released, and the one I was most let-down with.