I haven't read many of the star wars books, and was just wondering where the best place to start is ie the best series to read other than ep 1-6 and the novels that arent in series.

Thanks!

I tell everyone who wants to read star wars novels to start with Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire, followed by its sequels Dark Force Rising and The Last Command. They are the best of the star wars novels and they also introduce many of the Expanded Universe characters that appear in most of the other EU novels.

I'd start from the Thrawn trilogy. There is alot of books before and after that, that are pointless. So after that I'd skip to the Vong Series. The Killik series is rather boring, so I skipped to the Legacy Of The Force series(novels).

Verjal is generalizing a bit, I think. Anything by Zahn is great. The X-Wing series is also a pretty good read.

It depends on what you are looking to read, what eras, do you want the books to remain about the movie characters, etc.

For my money, it does not get better then the Wraith Squadron sub-series of the X-Wing books. The 2 Darth Bane books are also quite decent, and I liked the stand-alone Death Star novel. Personally, I did not care for the Vong series, nor the entire New Republic time-line (wooo the entire government/Jedi act like pussies).

Yeah, I would take Ruthven's advice. That's where I started LONG ago, and it's worked well for me.

It depends some on how well you know the various characters, as to what you read after that. If you feel like you already know a lot of the other characters around the SW Saga, then the New Jedi Order and Legacy of the Force books are both great, IMO. If you don't know the characters as well, then books like the Jedi Academy trilogy (by Kevin J. Anderson) or the Boba Fett trilogy (Bounty Hunter Wars) are cool ones. The other books by Zahn are great as well.

Are you interested in more prequel stuff, or post-ROTJ stuff?

What kind of other books do you typically read?

I agree with Darth Ruthven, start with the Thrawn Trilogy. Then the Jedi Academy Trilogy by Kevin J. Anderson (Jedi Search, Dark Apprentice and Champions of the Force). Has any one read the Saga of the Seven Suns series (not Star Wars) by him. it has been a very good series of books. Tatooine Ghost by Troy Denning was a nice link between the film prequals and eight years after the battle of Yavin.

Yea the Bane books are GREAT. There are alot of books I skipped, most bored me.

I have read all the Adult Star Wars books up to and including Death Star. I'm reading True Colors (American spelling ). I will get Darth Bane: Rule of two and the latest in the Legacy of the Force series.
The only Star wars books I didn't really enjoy were the two by Barbara Hambley and the Lando books by L. Neil Smith.

Best Star Wars book I have read is Shadows of the Empire. The only others I really enjoyed were Courtship of Princess Leia and New Rebellion.

I'd love to play a game using a squad made up of some of the Wraiths.

Book wise I liked Zahn's stuff, the X-Wing books, and the Vong War the best. Single books are more hit and miss. I'm about to read The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader. Its a bit smaller than I was hoping for, but I got it cheap online so I'll see how it is. Death Star and the second Bane book are on my list of books to get a hold of in the future.

I'd read the all of the books by Timothy Zahn first. For my money, he is the best at combining politics and action around greatly developed characters.

I tend to like action / military novels of all types, so the X-wing series, and the Republic Commando series are recommended reads. I particularly like the Republic commando series, as the lady who is writing them used to be a war correspondent for the BBC. She really has a feel for how soldiers talk and act, and offers some great humanizing moments.

After that, well... pick an era.

Might I direct you to the following link?

http://boards.theforce.net/literature/b10003/19927839/p1/?1016

The link is where this exact question jedimasterwolf posed is discussed.

I think there are too many variables involved with a question like this to say "Start with X" or "Don't read Y". It's all based on personal preference. I was fortunate enough to be able to read all of the books as they came out.

I'm currently reading RC: True Colors (almost done) and have DB: Rule of Two sitting on my dresser. By the time I finish that LotF: Revelation should be out.

That actually is a really good first post that's put together there. Very good overall view of the ways things can be read.

I forgot about mentioning the 'read by publication date' possibility. That's how many of us have read the various series, and even though it might not be chronological order, you never have to worry about not understanding what's going on with particular characters, or not understanding how a certain character got to be the way they are.


However....WORD OF CAUTION. I would highly recommend staying away from quite a few of the other discussions on theforce.net boards concerning books. IMO, there are entirely WAY too many people over there that their sole pleasure in life is to shred to pieces any thing they read, over the stupidest silly stuff. I used to read/post over there every now and then, but now it just gets me too irritated at other people nitpicking every little detail, instead of just enjoying what's good about every book.

I rarely post at tf.n anymore either. However, I'm a spoilerholic, so I do check there whenever a new book is due to come out soon. However, I've been good and haven't spoiled myself for True Colors or Rule of Two! Yea me! When reading at tf.n you have to be able to ignore some of the nay sayers. Everyone has their own likes and dislikes. not everyone is going to love every book. I try to keep my opinions general and I don't really care who agrees or disagrees with me.

One thing I would say is that I'm glad that I started reading the books and comics when I did. I'd hate to have to get into it now with so many books and comics to choose from. I'm sure it's a very difficult choice to make and don't know how, unless you are some kind of speed reader, that you'd ever be able to catch up with a new SW being released just about every month. That is, unless you are just going to read a couple books. If you just want to know the story, I'd suggest checking out the Essential Guide to Chronology and Characters(Second Editions). Then you'd only have to read the newer books that came out after those were written. That should cut your reading list way down.

If I ever catch up to the point where I don't have a new book ready to go (currently need to read Rule of Two, Death Star, Sacrifice and any books in the LOTF series after that) I'm planning on using the timeline of when each book's events happened in the front of all the paperback books to figure out what I want to pick up next.

I'm not sure it's the best place to start, but when you get the chance, read anything by Michael Reeves you can get your hands on. His books are always enjoyable.