Which Star Wars books are the best?

Question

I plan to start reading Star Wars books,but I don't know which ones are good. I'm planning to read the Thrawn Trilogy and The New Jedi Order Series and lastly The Legacy of the Force series. I want to read the books that take place after the movies but which ones are good?

Answer 1

I love Star Wars.Read the Dark Nest Trilogy.

Answer 2

Pick up a recent softcover and read them in order from Shadows of the Empire. The whole series is linked, what happens in one has consequences in the others. Don't get intimidated by how many there are, you'll enjoy them all. BTW if you're a fan of Fett, read the Republic Command series from the prequels.

Answer 3

Read the thrawn trilogy it rocks! then read the darth bane books!

Answer 4

The Thrawn Trilogy is the place to start.  After that I would recommend the X-Wing Books, the first 4 but there are 9 of them but the first 4 give tons of background info on characters and they are also a great read.  After that ... well I wouldn't recommend The New Jedi Order Series or The Legacy Of The Force series as the next books you read.  I'm not saying that they are bad, far from it, I'm just saying that you might get a little lost because there are many characters in those to series that you won't know if you jump right into them especially the Legacy series.  The NJO is set 21 years after the events of ep VI and the Legacy series is set 35 years after the events of ep VI and  a lot of stuff happens in the stories leading up to them.

One of the others here said to read them in order ... in a perfect world that would be the ideal way to do it but some of the books have more meaning to the story itself than others ... most are decent reads with most being great but there are some that are just horrid ... The Crystal Star being the worst of them.

Anyways, after the Thrawn series and X-Wing series I would say to read the Jedi Academy Trilogy; "Jedi Search", "Dark Apprentice", "Champions Of The Force";  or the Corellian Trilogy; "Ambush At Corellia", "Assault At Selonia", "Showdown At Centerpoint".  They are both great reads and give tons, and tons of background info that will help on down the road.  Personally I'd read both of those series but you could probably get away with one of them for the background stuff.  After that I would recommend The Hand Of Thrawn Duology; "Specter Of The Past", "Vision Of The Future".  Very, very good books ... this is the set in whick Luke "pops the question" to his future wife.  If you're a fan of Luke and his wife then I would add "Survivor's Quest" to the list too.

The NJO is a very well written series and doesn't really have any "blank spots" in it.  I will warn you though that two beloved characters die in this series ... one in the first book, "Vector Prime".  There is another trilogy of books after the NJO but before the Legacy series.  It is the Dark Nest Trilogy; "The Joiner King", "The Unseen Queen", "The Swarm War".  One of the others that answered this question named the Dark Nest Trilogy as a good one to read.  Personally I have mixed feelings about this set of books.  One of the main problems is that it can't hold a candle to the NJO ... that doesn't mean that it isn't a decent read, if just means that the NJO was just so damned good that any series that followed it would be second rate ... the Legacy series comes closer to that but still is lacking in some respects.  One kind of cool thing that happens in the Dark Nest trilogy is that Luke & Leia find out a lot of stuff about their mother and who she was.

In the end it's your choice.  It would be best to read them in order because your knowledge of the EU and the new characters would build on each other but if you just want to read some of the better ones then you've got probably the three best ones in your list of "want to read".  The books of Star Wars are a great way to "escape" the h**l that the real world is becoming and retreat into a galaxy far, far, away and forget about the "real world" troubles you are having ... if only for a few minutes ... in these times a short escape is a pretty good idea in many ways.  You can be as serious or casual with the books as you want to but to steal a line from Obi-Wan ... you've taken your first step into a much larger world.

May The Force Be With You ...

Answer 5

STAR WARS!!!!!!!!!!!