Which book or comic from the EU first comes into your head when I ask what I should avoid?
I'm fairly new to the EU, I know that my favourite characters are Aayla Secura & Quinlan Vos and that I just have to get my hands on the Thrawn/X-Wing books but I'm scared of picking up utter guff and don't really trust Amazon reviews.
all of the New Jedi Order series
*runs from Astro*
i would have to agree that the new jedi order is a series to avoid, even though i love it and own the entire series. the series definitly takes the star wars universe and decides to make it something entirely new. so the njo series is more for a reader who has read a good amount of EU books and want to see the Star Wars universe in a different way, not someone who is new to EU.
the thrawn series is great, has that original trilogy feel. a great single novel is shadows of the empire. also i will always love my first trilogy of star wars books i read, the Jedi Academy trilogy.
Darksaber, and probably the "Junior Novels."
The NJO sounds pretty stupid.
How are you going to know until you read them? You won't. But you can save your money by going to the library or the used book store...
I would stay away from anything Children of the Jedi or later untill you are less new to the EU. If you like Aayla Secura and Quinlan Vos, then comics are probably the way to go more then books. If you read and enjoy X-Wing and Thrawn Trilogy, that means you have good tastes, so I would recommend I, Jedi and Hand of Thrawn (dont read HoT untill you've read a bit of other stuff, it connects to just about every book written before it). If you want a good prequel book, then I suggest Shatterpoint. I haven't read to many prequel books yet, but so far this one is head and shoulders above the rest (Matthew Stover is a great author). Uhhh... thats all I got for now.
*stabs sithy* :p
well, I wouldnt suggest the NJO if you are *new* to the EU. By all means, check out the rest of the EU, and see how a saddeningly high amount of it are re-hashes of movie style characters and plots. There were also a high amount of superweapons in the early days of EU !
Let me put it this way
Astro's guide to reading EU
Nb. I have *not* read any of the clone wars era novels so cant comment on those :(
Best Place to Start :
Thrawn Trilogy
Followed by
X-Wing series
Jedi Academy Trilogy
I Jedi
Hand of Thrawn Duology
Survivors Quest
Other Notables :
*Han Solo Trilogy
*"Tales from" series -
-Mos Eisley
-Jabba's Palace
-The Empire
-The New Republic
Shadows of the Empire
Excellent Comics:
Tales of the Jedi
Dark Lords of the Sith
The Beast Wars of Onderon
The Freedon Nadd Uprising
Crimson Empire I and II
Entire X Wing series = awesome
Thrawn Trilogy(comic adaptation)
Dark Empire I and II
Empire's End
*then, when you've read all that*
then try the NJO !
mtfbwya
well i agree that NJO isnt a great stwar wars feel for EU :)
.... childeren of the jedi wasnt a god book. agreed on that. but Darksaber i really liked. because if you read the jedi academy books, it really explains how what happened to some people that isnt explained in any other books.
my personal Favorites:
X-wing book nr. 5 till 7.
Thrawn trilogy
Corellian Trilogy
but i you want to start after return of the jedi: peace at Bakura. i think thats the title. or something like that. that book is right after ROTJ.
my 2 cents
The replies so far have been fantastic and really helpful. Thanks guys!
THE. NEW. REBELLION.
avoid it like plague!
I've pretty much read all the EU, and I really don't have a problem with it... even the Junior and other books mentioned as sucking, ect.
I say choose for yourself, visit the library if you don't want to buy a book.
Thank you, Skinkie; you beat me to it.
My personal "avoid" list:
The Crystal Star
Children of the Jedi
Planet of Twilight
Jedi Trial: A Clone Wars Novel<--worst SW novel ever. Worse that Crystal Star, even. Okay, well, maybe not that bad. At least the action was good. Still to be avoided.
Iffy are the Bounty Hunter trilogy - not bad, but not great and not particularly significant, either - and the older Han and Lando trilogies. Everything else is free game.
As far as the NJO goes, people shouldn't knock it if they haven't read the whole thing. Don't start there. In fact, until you've read the rest of Astro's list (which is, in general, pretty good), don't even think about it. And read any Clone Wars novels first so you won't be disappointed by how poorly they represent a galactic-scale war in comparison to the NJO.