I'd have to say that my favourite star wars novel that I have read so far would have to be Shadows of the Empire by Steve Perry, followed closely behind by the Thrawn trilogy.
I like each of the stories for the character that are in them. Dash Rendar, though he doesn't come up all that much in the story is one of my favourite star wars rogues and I just found the whole book exciting.
The Thrawn trilogy had Thrawn in it. Nuff said. Lol, well actually I found it was well written and you never know what to expect from Thrawn except that he had everything planned, save for... (no spoilers! :D)

[ July 04, 2001: Message edited by: Ice Man ]

I'm trying to get my sig looking right!

[ July 04, 2001: Message edited by: Ice Man ]

I haven't read SotE all the way through yet but so far, it rocks. Besides that, I really enjoyed The Courtship of Princess Leia.

Alot of people hate it, but Darksaber is my favorite. It rules. The ending with Dorsk 81 is cool. That's about it.

Yeah, Darksaber was cool.

But my favorite is, and will always be, the Thrawn Trilogy. SO good... Thrawn, Pellaeon, Mara Jade...

The THE worst book in the history of Star Wars novels will always Children of the Jedi, with Planet of Twilight coming as a close second :D

My favorite Star Wars book is "The Paradise Snare" book one in the Han Solo trillogy. I liked it because I liked the fact that it was a relatively simple story that DIDN'T involve someone trying to take over the galaxy. Also I liked glimpsing into the world of Hutt politics and doublecrossing. It didn't even have many imperials running around, very refreshing. it's a nice tale that gives much insight into Han's past a an added bonus.

My LEAST favorite book would have to be by FAR the Courtship of Princess Leia. Oh, it started off great. Han Solo kidnapping Leia, trying to win her over from the rich powerful egotistic prince. I fully thought it was going to re-capture the magic of Han and Leia fleeing from the empire in ESB. I thought it was going to be a great story about Han outsmarting both the New Republic and whatever generic race that prince was from and getting into some kind of grand adventure. Then they landed on a planet full of Jedi... witches... :rolleyes:

Then the story violently shifts point of view over to luke and his generic Jedi story about Jedi... witches...

:rolleyes:


another big beef I have with most of the EU is a lot of it is all of the main characters hop around on their own seperate adventures and coincidentally meet up on the same planet in all of the planets in the galaxy several times one book. Then Luke's always going off on some seperate Jedi quest. Damn Luke annoys me. Maybe I just haven't read enough of the EU, but I'd much rather they focused the stories on one single plot.

My favorite sw novel that i've read was heir to the empire...... Also because this is the only sw novel i've read.... ;)

I read one novel, years ago, called "Splinter of the Minds Eye."
Very well written, classic Star Wars storyline (Set between ANH and ESB)
Well worth the read ...
:D

[ July 05, 2001: Message edited by: KordKelly ]

Yeah, Darksaber was pretty cool. I found it a little annoying that there was again a planet destroying "super" weapon in the story, but I love the characters and the interesting settings. The fight against the Wampas on Hoth was awesome!

I like Shadows of the Empire because...well...I guess you can say I like Dash. Did he die? Or was it something else? I know in the game, Dash lives if you escaoe the skyhook, but who knows? I also like "The Hutt Gambit" by A.C. Crispin (Han Solo Trilogy). The Battle of Nar Shadda rocked!

I havnt got a favourite novel, but a favourite trilogy....the Thrawn trilogy by Timothy Zahn! It ruled. But then, thinking about it, they all rule!

The Thrawn Trilogy really blows everything away. On top of cool a Star Wars plot and a classic SW feel, it's also *gasp* written well. I also liked the Hand of Thrawn Duology.

my all-time favorite is actually the first Han Solo trilogy by the late,great Brian Daley. The Zahn and Stackpole books are a close second. They have the best grasp of Star Wars of any current authors.Although, James Lusceno is starting to gain on them IMO.I've not finished the first one he wrote,yet ;)

Along with the two Zahn series of books, the Han Solo trilogy is great, as is the entire X-Wing series. Out of the NJO, I like Stackpole's duology the most, followed by Kathy Tyers' Balance Point.

I like the Timothy Zahn trilogy (Thrawn).
I sorta liked the JediAcademy. I also enjoyed reading I, Jedi, even though the story was completly wierd. I liked Vision of the Future and Specter of the Past (also by Timothy Zahn). I loved it for the sole purpose that the Bothan were in trouble... big trouble. I liked the idea of an other Thrawn... but then the whole ***** (i blocked it not to ruin anything) thing was stupid.

I hated Darksaber. I also hated Planet of Twilight. Same with the Black Fleet Crisis. I hated the Courtship of Princess Leia. I liked the first few X-Wing Rogue of the series. But I hated the rest. I also hate most of the The New Jedi Order. I only liked every chapter that was concentrated on CorranHorn, in that last series. He was a well developed character.

I love I, Jedi, that's probably #1, I just love the way it was written and the flow of the story.

I also loved the Han Solo Adventures, one of which is The Paradise Snare (its a collection of three) and also Shadows of the Empire and the Thrawn Trilogy, but I also like the two books that take place after the Thrawn trilogy, Specter of the Past and Vision of the Future.

The Thrawn Trilogy is the best SW novel I have ever read. X-wing serious and Jedi Academy is also good.

And the NJO isn't that bad, but after all, I am a Taiwanese so maybe I don't read it so hard so critisize(how to spell???) it.

hmm...
i dont remember the thrawn trilogy very much, ill guess ill have to reread them, they were the 2nd-4th books i read a long time ago...
i enjoyed the new rebellion, i dunno if it was just because it was the first book i read, or because i truly liked the way it was written
ive liked everything written by stackpole, of all the works his are the ones that stand out to me above the others...bar none
the only ones i can say i somewhat disliked are (somewhat) the black fleet crisis and the agent of chaos duology by Luceno, i think he kinda shifted from the Jedi a *little* too much, and didnt really show much progress on that theme, so far, of all the NJO's, i have enjoyed stackpoles the most, and the edge of victory (which i am believing is the last installment, i could be wrong) second most, greg keyes is good, although ive never read anything of his before, anyway, thats my two cents

the Thrawn books were my favs, Zahn is great!!

Ice man, i, uhh, modified your picture a bit, hope i didnt torque you off to much, umm, anyway, i cannot remimber how to get the white background transparent, so, if anyone knows, maybe, could you slide a tip my way... thanks

[ July 14, 2001: Message edited by: acdcfanbill ]

The Thrawn trilogy all the way!! The Han Solo trilogy (Ylesia, etc.) was also awesome!! :D

oh yeah... New Jedi Order is pretty darn good

[ July 14, 2001: Message edited by: Darth_Rommel ]

One day, when I pick up The Last Command i suddenly realize that is the 7th time I am going to read again. That's what Thrawn Trilogy is great...even u know the whole plot, U can still be surprice by the action, and whetever how much time u read it...I only read Corellian Trilogy for once and I have never re-open it since now...

f-3po,
i think your sig is HILARIOUS man :D

I like the one where that over-sized hairball is squished by a giant rock.

My only complant was Jar Jar wasn't next to him!

aww, helllll no, chewie was cool.

You meen you like the one where good old Chewbacca gets crunched by that moon? Damn you, that book was a real tear-jurker. :( *crying*

Jedi Academy is very good, I like it because it deals with force and Skywalkers like in real SW.

:D

Im about to start The Black Fleet Crisis. Actually, thats what im gonna do next :)

i never really liked those too much, a good read, but the writer had some goofy ideas about how older jedi acted. i dont wanna discourage you from reading it, but it wasnt one of my favorites...

I liked I Jedi it gave us plenty of insight of the jedi ways. It had rich charaters, and a taste of the X-ing series. A good combination. :D

Oh People come on! why has nobody mentioned wht i really like I,Jedi? that book was great, and i have to say SOTE closely follows,

I have about 40 - 50 starwars books, and am only missing about 6 0r 7 now, so yer those have to be my favourites. :D

For those with mere-mortal attention span, I've bolded the bottom line somewhere waaaay down there if you'd rather skip to the point. :)

The Thrawn trilogy is good. Heck, if it hadn't been I wouldn't have bothered with any of the rest of it.

Then, though, I got into works by Kevin J. Anderson. I think it would be very difficult to do more damage to the EU than this man has done. Between him and (argh, I'm forgetting her name, what is it... Barbara Hambly?), they've overused and very nearly destroyed the original characters.

All of this gave me a taste for books that steer well clear of our increasingly bizzare Luke, the mired-in-politics Leia, meek house-husband Han, and the omnipresent Lando. Other no-nos for me include:

Admiral Daala, who evidently serves no purpose other than offering new and original ways to kill a Star Destroyer under her command. One of the original aspects of Star Wars was that the female characters are strong and dynamic -- Leia, Mon Mothma, Mara Jade.
Daala, though, is an incompetent fop elevated to her position because she slept with a Grand Moff, and averages AT LEAST one Star Destroyer lost per book. :D

Kyp Durron. I'd have been fine with this character if he'd actually been killed in the Maw instead of surviving to become the #1 generic not-quite-bad-guy throughout the rest of the EU.

Callista. She serves basically no point other than to deflect attention from the potential chemistry between Jade and Skywalker, and she grows even more tiresome now that we know the eventual outcome.

New Republic politics. Zahn fully explored the dangers of splitting the Republic. It's an old, tired subject. Let it die already.

Ssi-Ruuk, Yvetha, or Yuuzhan Vong (sp?). These just scream "I'm a cardboard-cutout evil alien race designed to replace the Imperials as the Main Bad Guys!". Even Stackpole's work with the Vong seemed pinched and hemmed in by a bad premise.

The era of the E-Wing, K-Wing, et cetera. Star Wars: The Next Generation just doesn't appeal.

------------------------

So anyway, thanks to the character assasination of the original stars, I've become quite attached to the X-Wing series. This is because Han, Luke, Leia et al are kept at a healthy distance; someone else gets to save the day, and the author gets no chance to screw them up any further. There's opportunity to create new players like Corran Horn, Face Loran, Kell Tainer, Myn Donos, Lara Notsil (and whatever alias she's using these days :)). Heck, I think Corran has actually surpassed Mara Jade as my favorite character (and I'm talking overall, not just EU).

At the same time we have familiar but originally very minor characters like Wedge Antilles, Wes Janson, and Admiral Ackbar, so we're not cut completely adrift. When the original characters do show up they're generally used sparingly and treated with the respect they deserve. The one time they use a lot of a main character (Allston borrows Han Solo for a while) he's written in a way that, for once, feels right to me.

By the time Zahn wrote his Hand of Thrawn pair, the damage to the main characters and the Star Wars universe in general was almost irreparable. There was a lot of stumbling done on the way, what with the Crystal Star, the Jedi Academy Trilogy, Darksaber, the Black Fleet Crisis.. there are, IMO, too many bad SW books for me to list, so I'll stop trying. But Zahn is head and shoulders above most of the rest and it managed to shine through. This last pair isn't as good as the original Thrawn trilogy, the damage was done, but it's solid and entertaining nonetheless. We get to see that regular people can deal with Jedi, and this was done by inventing a very novel "Jedi trap" instead of giving Luke emotional problems or digging up yet more ysalmiri (they were great at first, but overused) like so many hack pretenders. I swear, Myrkr must be stripped raw of them critters by now, and Luke needs to look into some freaking therapy! :D

So all in all, Zahn, Stackpole, and Allston are the only three Star Wars authors I really trust. Zahn writes Lucas' original characters better than Lucas himself does, in my opinion. Stackpole knows what not to touch and watching him play in the rest of the Star Wars universe is great. And Allston... he can spin a good tale, but his real strength is that he's just plain funny. Yub yub, Commander! :D

So, I've written you all an essay, here, but I've not answered the original question. Between these three authors and their various works, it's tough for me to choose. But I, Jedi is the only one I've read more than half a dozen times (heck, I'm probably getting closer to the full dozen now, and my copy is looking a little beat up :)).

As for why, first of all I came out of the X-Wing series really liking Corran Horn. The character re-evaluates himself and beats himself up so much that I know I'm not alone ( :D). He's mortal. He fouls up, gets angry, has an ego, but he's basically a good person and he never leaves you with that same foul taste that Kyp does when they try to show you his dark side.
IJ also runs parallel to KJA's Jedi Academy trilogy and manages to salvage some interesting tidbits from out of that drivel. It gives us a look at the Force from a first-person perspective. It's very long and very diverse; it could probably have been three books with very little trouble (the pages are deceptively thin and the print is a little smaller than your average SW book).

So, bottom line: I, Jedi, followed closely by the Thrawn trilogy and the X-wing series tied for second place.

Congrats to anyone who managed to read this far through my crazed ranting and raving. Force Long Post is strong in this one. ;)

[ August 03, 2001: Message edited by: Denise ]

I am guessing 8 stars, right?