Favorite Star Wars Book?

Hey Sabers,

So, there was an interesting piece on TORWars the other day about the best Star Wars EU novels to motivate playing a Jedi character (apparently, the correct answer is Michael Stackpole's I, Jedi and Michael Reaves Shadow Hunter).

I was curious - what is everyone's favorite SW novels?

I'm pretty partial to Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire Trilogy myself, though I've enjoyed a lot of different novels. As far as Jedi-specific stories go, I like Kevin Anderson's Jedi Academy books. What does everyone else think?

Ooo....a tough question.

As far as the most moving and best series you have it pegged with Heir to the Empire - I cried at the end. And if you read more materials from Zahn you'll see a bigger picture of Thrawn and his motivations.

I really really enjoyed the Old Republic books, the first one played out more like a RPG adventure which was okay, but Deceived was awesome while Revan was good but it just needed more meat to the book.

My most favorite book even isn't Star Wars (and aside from the Bible) but is Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card.

Ender's Game is really, really good Card's later Ender-universe stuff is all right, too, but none of it comes close to the original.

I haven't picked up any of the TOR novels yet; they looked pretty good, though. Of course, I played the Jedi Knight story, so most of the Revan novel was spoiled for me. Oh well...

I'm actually torn about the later portrayals of Thrawn. On the one hand, he's one of my favorite Star Wars characters, so seeing more of him is good. I also agree that learning more about his motivations is a major bonus. On the other hand, I feel like Zahn hasn't managed to re-capture what made his original portrayal of Thrawn in the "Heir to the Empire" books so great.

Thrawn is basically an antagonistic, militaristic version of Sherlock Holmes - his super deductive skills allow him to construct trains of logic that correctly analyze and predict his opponents' behavior (he even has his own Watson in the character of Pellaeon, who serves as an audience stand-in for exposition). Also like Sherlock Holmes, Thrawn's deductive skills are greatly enhanced by a quasi-super-human ability to derive insights about bigger events through analysis of little details.

In the "Heir to the Empire" books, I think Zahn did a really good job of balancing these two aspects. Thrawn's deductive genius generally makes sense when spelled out to Pellaeon, but his occasional super-human insight provides a sense of mystery and superiority - it really establishes why Thrawn is the Grand Admiral. By comparison, I feel that the later books (Survivor's Quest, Outbound Flight) rely too heavily on Thrawn's "preternatural" empirical ability to demonstrate how smart he is. The end result is that, instead of feeling like a realistic, super-intelligent character, later portrayals of Thrawn are a bit too Mary-Sue-ish for my tastes.

He's still one of my favorite Star Wars characters, but the later books actually made me a little sad. Actually, given my thoughts on both Zahn and Card, maybe I just like the original stuff better than the follow-ons

Also, speaking of favorite Star Wars characters by Timothy Zahn, how bad-ass is this cover art? http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20...PB_art.jpg

I completely agree about your synopsis of their later works. They couldn't quite pull off the magic of the earlier books. After reading Outbound Flight and Survivor's Quest, I was still left wanting more. They felt like filler books rather than a stand alone piece.

I want a poster of that cover artwork!

While there are a lot of books in the Star Wars universe that I have enjoyed, my hands down favourite has to be Traitor by Matthew Stover, part of the New Jedi Order series. This book really explores the different philosohies of the force, delves deeply into the culture of the Yuuzhan Vong, and offers awesome character development for Jacen Solo. And this is without mentioning one particularly incredible scene with Ganner Rhysode.

In fact, I'd recommend Matthew Stover as an author in general. He also did the novelization of Episode III, and it is incredible.

I also have a particular fondness for I, Jedi by Michael A. Stackpole, an awesome novel about Corran Horn. I might actually start reading that again tonight xD

Oh man, that scene with Ganner, I had almost forgotten that that was another one where I had tear down my cheeks.

I did like the philosophies of the Force, but at the same time you can clearly see the dark side leeching away Vegrere's teachings - even though some of them are good. I remember being disappointed that this idea was not carried forward into other NJO books.

On that same note of philosophy - the new comic series Dawn of the Jedi starts off in an interesting place, almost from a Daoist perspective on the Force.

Man, what a good question. I've read darn near all of the books and there are some really good ones. I really liked quite a few of them and don't think I could pick a favorite. I, Jedi was good. Children of the Jedi was another one I enjoyed. The Zahn books are all classics, and recently Coruscant Nights and Shadow games were really good too. The X-Wing books were strong as well. I dunno. I guess I'll have to to think about it to pick a favorite.

Although on the negative side, anything NJO and after is in my opinion pretty terrible. In addition, the awful Legacy comic series being the canon that all the EU have to conform to is really ruining the classic characters and their stories. The whole thing that happened with Karen Traviss and the Mandalorians was stupid too.

Yeah, I could talk about this subject for a while. =P

@Cisneros - I found the NJO books to be kind of a mixed bag, though Traitor was certainly a high point for the series (though I think my personal favorite was the "Enemy Lines" Duology, Rebel Dream and Rebel Stand - I really enjoyed getting to see the old Rogue & Wraith Squadron crowd kick some serious ass). Vergere is also so-so for me, though less as a character and more as a contribution to the canon. As a character, she's pretty interesting, but too many people I talk with about Star Wars take everything she says as canon (i.e., there is no Dark Side), rather than treating it as the personal philosophy of a highly manipulative and suspect individual. Also, Ganner is a BAMF - definitely the best original character from the NJO series.

@Hanak - How is Dawn of the Jedi? It's gotten some mixed reviews, and I'm kind of skeptical of the concept in general - I think some things (and the origin of the Jedi might just be one of them) are better left mysterious. That said, I haven't actually read any of them. Are they any good?

@Starfire - I love the X-Wing books. So: Stackpole or Allston?

Oh, they wouldn't expose some mystery without adding in a whole other origin mystery...they hint at something pre-Rakata.

I like to watch how they play the dynamic of neutral Force alignment into their fight scenes. The series is relatively new, but if you like a little Rakata lore, you might enjoy this.

The concept of that the Je'daii strive for a balance with both sides of the Force is honestly something they pull across easily. No one strays too far into the light or into the darkness but use both. Those that stray from this tennent are cast to the moons, one light - one dark, into exile. Darth Plagueis hints at this balance that must be maintained as well, so does the Legacy series with the grey Knights, not exactly but of a sorts.

I personally am not a big fan of riding the fence, but I've never understood why lightening had to be a dark side ability. You have offensive and defensive abilities, what motivates them is the key to your doing or undoing if left uncontrolled. Even SWTOR seems to hint at the extremities being your undoing - look at how the master's fell to the Emperor in the Jedi Knight story, easily succombed at fully dark. We have passions, emotions, and feelings for a reason, but only when paired with reason to they have a direction. I'm a firm believer that just because we feel it does not imply it's truth. Our heart lies to us which is why we've been given a brain as well. Too much of either one and you are lost, but when both are balanced, you have purpose and direction.

I spent some time in philosophy of religion classes in college if you can't tell.

Sounds interesting. I've just been wary of going back to do origin stories since the Prequels. I'm not a huge Prequel hater like some, but the story they told was definitely less epic in some respects than the one I'd envisioned. I sort of feel the same way about the Jedi - I'd almost rather get the origin teased in bits and pieces, rather than having a whole story dedicated to just saying what happened.

I'm also fascinated by the philosophy surrounding the Jedi Order, especially the divergences of opinion that appear at certain times. In this regard, I think the Jedi Order is actually a lot more realistic than many Star Wars fans give it credit - as an organization that is many thousands of years old, the Jedi Order has a certain amount of room for divergent viewpoints (i.e., Universal vs. Living Force), even though it also has its own orthodoxy to which all members must (at least publicly) adhere (i.e., the existence of the Dark Side as a pernicious force that must be shunned). In general, I tend to like stories that deal with these kinds of philosophical differences.

I guess the name implies how the Jedi Order came to be and will lead into the story we pick up through the Consular story line on Tython. But it does not even reveal how they came to use or know about the Force. Nor the intriguing circumstances that brought so many Force-users of different species together on Tython. I'd say it opened up more mysteries (in a good way, not like that midi-chlorinated cess pool junk ).

Whenever people ask about Star Wars books, I tell them that the Zahn books are worth reading. Those are my favorites because they are intrically woven together as opposed to a format way too many post-Zahn authors used. Here, I'll give you a recipe for a bunch of other Star Wars books that I read:

MAKE YOUR OWN ANNOYINGLY-FORMATTED STAR WARS BOOK!

Ingredients:
- a handful of known characters (Luke, Han, etc.) and Star Wars locations
- a dash of new characters and locations made up for the book (Note: one character should be a romantic interest for Luke)
- two SCENARIOS OF DANGER*
* feel free to add extra scenarios of danger if you have some in the back of the fridge that are going to expire soon

Set aside Luke's romantic interest. Combine known and unknown characters and locations into a bowl. Stir. Halve the mixture, placing the blended characters and locations into two piles. Assign a SCENARIO OF DANGER to each pile. Form a chapter by sprinkling from one pile and mixing with the assigned SCENARIO OF DANGER. Form a second chapter by sprinkling characters and locations from the other pile to it's assigned SCENARIO OF DANGER. At some point, add Luke's romantic interest to whichever pile he's in. Continue creating chapters, alternating between one pile and the other. Be sure to do something with Luke's romantic interest that renders her useless, uninterested, ineligible, or dead. For the last chapter, knead together characters and locations from BOTH piles and tie together in a pretzel-like shape. Broil in the oven until pages are a toasty brown and the SCENARIOS OF DANGER have dissolved.

Voila! Bon appetit.

Seriously, I got SO sick of the back and forth and the magical "squish it all together now" endings. I will totally, TOTALLY confess to sometimes skipping chapters on the characters I cared less about in order to get to the ones *cough Luke* that I did care about. Anybody hear me??

While I can't list a specific favorite, and I can't claim to have read all of the Star Wars books out there, I can tell you which Star Wars book I remember absolutely hating: Crystal Star. Poor me stayed up late to finish it, somehow hoping it would get better. It didn't. I can't even remember the plot now, because I think I hated it so much that I blocked it from my memory!

P.S. Ender's Game was good. . . the follow-up books to that are WEEEEEIRD (but I wouldn't have known that unless I read them!)

Jujitsu, if I am reading you right we are going to have to disagree on the Luke thing. He's my favorite character, and I love reading about his adventures no matter how bad they get. However we are in total agreement on how his love interests are handled. They just keep killing them off or messing it up somehow. It gets old quick, and don't even get me started on what they did to Mara and/or Callista.

As for the Crystal Star thing, THANK YOU! Finally someone else realizes that ... thing ... is the single worst Star Wars novel ever written. If I wasn't such a collector, I would have wiped my rear with that word vomit of a book by now. It is unquestionably the lowest point in the series so far.

Adun, I haven't really read an X-Wing book I don't like yet. But since I prefer Rogue Squadron to Wraith, I guess Stackpole? Not because of his writing style or anything, just because of the characters themselves. To me, the real Wraith squadron is in Saber. =P

ROFL, that's a perfect description of a ton of Star Wars books (Black Fleet Crisis anyone? That was painful...).

Kirby, she was saying she skips to the parts about Luke.

Stackpole wins out. But I like Wraith squadron, not that formal edge Rogue has.

Black Fleet Crisis was pretty painful. Kube-McDowell (had to look up his name ) just didn't have a very good feel for the various Original Trilogy characters. His Luke comes across as this weird, mysterious wizard (very different from other characterizations of Luke), while his Leia is an ineffectual leader who is paralyzed by her husband's kidnapping. The story itself isn't awful, although it presages some of the failings of the Prequels by focusing so extensively on the workings of Galactic government at the expense of the high adventure feel that is so central to any Star Wars story. The Military Sci Fi stuff I don't mind as much (after all, I like the X-Wing books), but in general the military characters in the Black Fleet Crisis just aren't as interesting as those of the X-Wing books. On the plus side, Chewbacca kicks some serious ass (actually, maybe his best moment in the EU, beyond his final one). The Lando/droids stuff is good enough, but has absolutely nothing to do with the main story, and would probably have done better as its own stand-alone book; the idea of rich, successful post-RotJ Lando Calrissian on the hunt for Star Wars' version of the Flying Dutchman is actually a pretty cool concept in and of itself.

As for the X-Wing books, I agree that both Stackpole and Allston offer good work. Stackpole does very solid military sci fi stuff with some really good original character work (Corran, Myrax, Booster, Isard, etc.); I think his writing is the quintessential Star Wars military sci fi, so much better than the Kube-McDowell books. I have to admit, though, that I have a soft spot for the goofiness of Allston's work (in addition to his X-wing books, I'm also a big fan of his aforementioned "Enemy Lines" NJO contributions). Wedge Antilles pretending to be a cybernetically-enhanced Ewok pilot (complete with teddy bear prop) in order to infiltrate a post-Imperial warlord's forces? It might be a little over the top, but it captures, I think, some of the fun team dynamics that made the original Star Wars movies so great. Actually, my favorite X-Wing book thus far might actually be Starfighters of Adumar, simply for the fun Wedge-Tycho-Janson-Hobbie dynamic.

Also, in looking over the X-Wing books, I just realized that Allston's writing another one:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/X-wing:_Mercy_Kill

Unsurprisingly, it's a Wraith Squadron book; I'm a little disappointed that Tycho, Janson, and Hobbie aren't listed (yet) as characters. Still, I guess this is a new incentive to actually finish reading the Fate of the Jedi books. I'm so excited!