In chronological order, is Darth Bane: Path of Destruction the first Star Wars book?

Question

I have been issued a challenge to read every Star Wars fiction in order of when the events passed. I am looking forward to doing so and I'm asking here to confirm if there's any books in the Star Wars saga which happened on a date prior to the events of the book I have mentioned.

Answer 1

Of all the books (novels) currently in publication, Darth Bane: Path of Destruction is indeed the first book in the timeline and takes place about 1000 years before the events of Star Wars (Ep. IV).

I enjoyed this book very much, but it might be a little confusing to someone who hasn't read any/many of the books. It does cover a lot of Jedi/Sith history and lore, and is very interesting from that standpoint as well as being a well written story.

If you want a complete rundown of the timeline and book order, check out the front of one of the more recently published books, such as one of the Legacy of the Force books. There is a timeline listing the chronology of the books, as well as their relation to Ep IV, which is taken as kind of year 0 for the purposes of chronology.

This timeline doesn't include the young adult novels or graphic novels that have been published and which may include a greater span of time (more than 1000 years before Ep. IV or 40+ years after Return of the Jedi).

There are also several timelines available online, such as at Wikipedia, but I have found these not to always be current or complete and I end up looking in one of the newer books in my collection for book/series order.

Answer 2

As it stands right now Darth Bane: Path of Destruction, set 1020 years BBY (Before the Battle of Yavin) is the first "book" of the Star Wars EU.  There are, however, 4000 years of stories told by Dark Horse Comics.  You'll have to check the "rules" of the challenge made to you to see if it includes comics.  Sorry to say but if it does good luck finding them.  I've seen most of them on amazon but the price could get high pretty quick.

There are a lot of Star Wars time lines out there but most of them are so confusing that even a well versed EU Guru like myself gets lost in them.  Some of the ones that are understandable can be found at del-reybooks.com, theforce.net, and of course starwars.com.

Good luck with your quest you're in for one h**l of a ride ... in the best sense of the word and as always ...

May The Force Be With You ...



EDIT:  Forgot to say that the books of the EU have taken the story about 40 years after the BBY and the comics are about 120 years BBY.