So, my current girlfriend is one of the biggest nerds I've ever met. And she's read most of the Star Wars books. So, you all being the collection of well-read nerds that you are, which ones are the best? She can't recall specifics, since she read most of them in middle school. Yes, she read most of the canonical Star Wars universe in middle school. She's amazing. :wub:
Unquestionably, the best books I've read are Timothy Zahn's Grand Admiral Thrawn trilogy. Now, admittedly, I haven't read any of the New Jedi Order, but I can't imagine that any of them were as good as the trilogy, since it is so wonderfully faithful to the characters and spirit of the original movies. The Rogue Squadron books are fun, but they are a bit uneven and not exactly full of depth. Plus, they don't feature most of the original characters, which is always a strike for me.
By far the most impressive books I have read of late are the Republic Commando novels by Karen Traviss: Hard Contact, Triple Zero and True Colors. They follow the adventures of two Republic Commando Squads during the Clone Wars, Omega and Delta (Delta Squad is the one featured in the video game). In order to get total immersion, I would recommend going to Brothers All (http://www.clonecommandos.net/music/index.php) and downloading the soundtrack and lyrics. As well, I would recommend going to Karen Traviss' website (http://www.karentraviss.com/) and downloading the Mandalorian/English and English/Mandalorian dictionaries. The fourth, and possibly final novel in the series, is titled "Order 66" and will be out in July.
If you have the first KOTOR game, then you can also add to your enjoyment of the EU material by simply dragging the music folder into WinAmp. Same can be said for the OGGs in Republic Commando. I haven't tried the other games yet, but KOTOR and RC stand out.
Comic wise, I would recommend both Knights of the Old Republic and moreover Legacy. Legacy covers a different Empire, as well as the adventures of Cade Skywalker. Once you see the TIE Predators and the Imperial Knights, you will come to know the Awesome side of the Force.
Clone Wars Graphic Novels. Definitely worth a read, especially if you like Quinlan Voss and Aayla Secura.
Lately I have discovered something totally amazing. Despite the fact that its in Italian and subtitled into English, Dark Resurrection (http://www.darkresurrection.com/index_eng.html) is the most amazing Star Wars fan film. Period. I would even go so far as to say that it rivals the actual movies. Definitely watch it! In fact, do a search for the perfectly legal torrent (the English subtitled .MKV) and if you can watch it on a wide screen with surround sound. A word of warning. Its very heavy on plot and in depth dialogue. This is not for the weak of attention span. For the rest, I promise you will be blown away.
to agree with K here, seeing as he made me watch it, Dark Ressurection is utterly amazing
I personally found all of the novels with the original characters to basically be rehashes of the same story over and over again, hence I got bored with them really fast...
"The republic struggels to keep together in the face of (some old imperial warlord type) who commands the dreaded new (some new type of super weapon) originally conceived by (some contrived connection to a place or character in the original films), meanwhile rumors of an ancient (something related to Jedi) lead Luke on quest to discover something that could (unite/destroy/change) the fragile alliance forever"
But I do remember "The Courtship of Princess Leia" at least trying to be a little different.
At least its what I remember... its been a while.
If I were gonna recommend some I remember really liking the Brian Daley Han Solo Novels (and the even more obscure Lando Calrissian solo one) form the late 70's and early 80's. They were written prior to the stranglehold of Lucasfilm over the properties, so they have a little bit more of a "free for all" mentality to them. Very little connection at all to the universe as Lucas conceived, as a result I found them to be an entertaining diversion.
Quote from: GogglesPizanno on December 07, 2007, 03:45:47 PM
I personally found all of the novels with the original characters to basically be rehashes of the same story over and over again, hence I got bored with them really fast...
Yeah, I can see that, but Zahn's were the first, and quite original in so many ways. I had forgotten about the Solo and Lando novels, good calls. They aren't exactly fantastic, but they can be really fun adventure. If you want to go the comics route, you've GOT to read Dark Empire I and II, they are pretty well fantastic.
I've read a large chunk of the novels and I'm with Benton, the Thrawn trilogy is easily the best.
I really enjoyed the New Jedi Order, it's a long book saga with a new enemy so it's a bit different from most of the novel sets.
It's sequel Legacy of the Force has been underwhelming to me, I kinda feel they're stretching the story over too many books.
I haven't read the Legacy comics yet but I really want to. It just seems like a very cool idea. Dark Empire is another comic worth reading.
Ohh yeah, those Legacy comics are pretty awesome. I haven't read the last several months worth, but I've read the first several, and I really liked them.