Star Wars back catalog - June 28

[Dulin's Books]

xwing /rogue squadron books are some of my favorites as well.

ahh who am i kidding. i love 'em all some more than others but all of them

[Dulin's Books]

Originally Posted by Dallista

To be fair, that happened 12 years ago, in 1999. Does that really count as a spoiler anymore...?

thats impossible. it couldnt have been twelve years ago. i swear my son was alive when I read that book...

[Dulin's Books]

i just checked. it WAS twelve years ago. i have completely lost my ability to keep track of time

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Dulin's Books

thats impossible. it couldnt have been twelve years ago. i swear my son was alive when I read that book...

From Wikipedia:

Spoiler:

The 1999 novel Vector Prime by R. A. Salvatore (the first in the New Jedi Order series) marks Chewbacca's last chronological appearance in the Star Wars universe. Chewbacca dies when he sacrifices his life to save Han's son Anakin from a collision between the planet Sernpidal and one of its moons.

Funny thing is, I am sure I read that book, but I have no memory of that happening. Perhaps I blocked it out.

ApK

[EowynCarter]

12 year ago ? wooo ! I can't believe that either !

[foghat]

okay, I have never read any of the star wars books, but am certainly interested.

With so many books, where does one start? I assume they are not all sequential? Or is there a set order in which one should/could read them?

Thanks.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by foghat

okay, I have never read any of the star wars books, but am certainly interested.

With so many books, where does one start? I assume they are not all sequential? Or is there a set order in which one should/could read them?

Thanks.

Most of the books have in the end papers a chart of Star Wars chronology. I'm sure we could find it online, but there are so many different series, I can't imaging trying to read them in a particular sequence.

You could do far worse than starting with Timothy Zahn's original Thrawn trilogy, I think.

In general, there are enough fundamental characters and concepts introduced in the earliest expanded universe books, that you could probably read Thrawn, and a few other of the earliest published ones, then have enough background to jump to just about any other series without being too lost.

Of course, I say this being more than a decade behind on them myself.

[mikegetz]

Originally Posted by foghat

okay, I have never read any of the star wars books, but am certainly interested.

With so many books, where does one start? I assume they are not all sequential? Or is there a set order in which one should/could read them?

Thanks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Wars_books

this is a really good chronological listing of the Star Wars books. If you are heading for the highlights, i would suggest the Thrawn books, then the A.C. Crispin Han Solo trilogy.

[Dulin's Books]

in universe chonological timeline

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline_of_books

if you wanted to you could read them in publishing order which would take a little more time to find the correct order. but Splinter of the Minds Eye was first followed by the Han Solo Adventures (the original Han Solo At Star’s End | Han Solo’s Revenge | Han Solo and the Lost Legacy)..


I would recommend the X wing Series, Thrawn Series and also the short story books

Tales from Mos Eisley Cantina, Tales of the Bounty Hunters, Tales from Jabba’s Palace,
Tales from the Empire, Tales from the New Republic

are good places to start. The first 3 Short Story collections are all by Kevin J Anderson. Along with Michael Stackpole they seem to be my favorites for writing Star Wars, leaving out Timothy Zahn only because he gets mentioned more often.

The Splinter of the Mind's Eye by Alan Dean Foster is fantastic. It supposedly was going to be the story for a sequel to Star Wars if it didnt do well and they had a low budget to work with. But when they got the big budget they made Empire and had Alan write the novel for Splinter

[AlbertaCowboy]

Originally Posted by ApK

You could do far worse than starting with Timothy Zahn's original Thrawn trilogy, I think.

Of course, I say this being more than a decade behind on them myself.

Pretty much sums up my own opinions, at least for the ones I read a long time ago...
I always thought that the Timothy Zahn books really captured the spirit of the original movies.
Ah, I can just hear the soundtrack in my head...

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by vsalvaggio

I stopped reading the Star Wars books when the Yuuzhan Vong war series started...just couldn't get in it.

That's where I stopped too.

I would love to have the X-Wing series in ebook format. If priced right I might just give the Star Wars book universe another go!

Looks like the X-Wing books will be $8 each. Probably going to be too much to get me to rebuy.

[foghat]

Thanks for all the info.

So, is the whole point of this thread stating that all the books listed on the 2 lists linked above will be available as an ebook come june 28?

I suspect I 'd like to just start at the beginning and work my way through them - I'm sort of anal that way. Though I see this taking years and am maybe better off just reading some of the series recommended above...

Not doubt it varies, but is there a typical length to the books? If I had to guess, I would guess they are on the shorter side of things (300ish pages)? Or does it really vary from book to book?

[foghat]

okay, so as I am looking at some of the first books (timeline wise) up on amazon, I see they have a release date later in 2011. So, it is confusing on how best to read these. I guess just pick a series and go? I suspect most series stand on their own?

[ApK]

Originally Posted by foghat

okay, so as I am looking at some of the first books (timeline wise) up on amazon, I see they have a release date later in 2011. So, it is confusing on how best to read these. I guess just pick a series and go? I suspect most series stand on their own?

Yes, but in many cases, if you don't know some some key players, like Mara, Jacen and Jaina, and their relationships, some things will either seem confusing, or spoil the enjoyment of being introduced to them.

ApK

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by foghat

okay, so as I am looking at some of the first books (timeline wise) up on amazon, I see they have a release date later in 2011. So, it is confusing on how best to read these. I guess just pick a series and go? I suspect most series stand on their own?

I'd start with these three, in that order...

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...SIN=B00513HX7Y

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...SIN=B00513HKF4

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...SIN=B00513HJXC