I'm looking to read some new books in the star wars universe.. I've only read a few, but I liked Truce at Bakura and Splinter of the mind's eye..

What are the best books in the star wars universe? And I know of this Thrawn trilogy, what are their titles?

Jedi Academy Trilogy, for sure. With the sun crusher and stuff.

Honestly I enjoyed the New Jedi Order. Sure, it trivializes the OT, but any EU book that doesn't really isn't epic enough to be worth reading. It's honestly the most well-written and continuous series in the expanded universe.

Just about anything by Timothy Zahn

Hell yeah. The Thrawn Trilogy (Heir To The Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command) are all great books.

All the books dealing with the Chiss species

• Heir to the Empire
• Dark Force Rising
• Last Command
  
• Spector of the Past
• Vision of the Future
  
• Survivor's Qwest
  
• Outbound Flight - Coming out at the end of the month

Timothy Zahn (Thrawn Trilogy and Duology), X-Wing series. I hear the NJO books are rather good despite their trivilization of the OT story, apparently they have some good authors behind them, even if they aren't who think up the main plot.

The Rogue Squadron and Wraith Squadron Books... the X-Wing series, while of lesser literary merit IMO than the Zahn books, are IMMENSELY enjoyable reads... good characters, believable situations and such... Unless I remember incorrectly, they don't introduce another goddamn superweapon anywhere in the series. The humor is good, as well... you really get to know the pilots, etc. Plus, it has Wedge Antilles!

The Rogue Squadron books are by Michael A. Stackpole (who has co-authored some short stories w/ Timothy Zahn, which appear in Tales from the Empire and Tales from the New Republic) and the Wraith Books are by Aaron Alston. Both sets are very good.

I could go on and on, about other books, but it's not worth the effort. Just read a bunch, most have merit.

Also, I, Jedi by Michael A. Stackpole is good. It's almost like 2 separate books in one.

The Thrawn Trilogy: Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, the Last Command.
Then, read Courtship of Princess Leia, Dark Empire, Dark Empire II, Empire's End (if you get hooked, go on with Crimson Empire and Crimson Empire II), The Jedi Academy trilogy (Jedi Search, Dark Apprentice, and... something), then...
Huh...
From there, I'd say... Crystal Star and the Corellian Trilogy (Something like "Conflict on Corellia", "Assault on Selonia", "Showdown at Centerpoint", but don't quote me on those) to get a feel for the Solo kids, maybe a little Young Jedi Knights to really drive the point home, then...
The X-Wing Series (Rogue Squadron, etc), then... uh... I, Jedi... then the Thrawn Duology (Spectre of the Past, Vision of the Future), then, you're ready...
*sigh*
Begin with Rogue Planet. If you've played Knights of the Old Republic, you might have some frame of reference here. Read Crimson Empire II. If you need a refresher course, read Vision of the Future again to get a real feel for the nervousness they feel. Then, we begin.
Vector Prime is where it all starts. The events of this book are the most controversial in Star Wars history. Seriously. this is, like, some serious "I am your father" stuff going on. From here, you move on to "Dark Tide" (Onslaught, Ruin). Next comes "Agents of Chaos" (Hero's Trial, Jedi Eclipse). Next is a Kathy Tyers title (wrote Truce at Bakura), "Balance Point".
As you can guess by the title, this is where things start to go wrong(er).
First, "Recovery". Then, "Edge of Victory" (Conquest, Rebirth), then "Star by Star" and Dark Journey. Next, "Rebel Dream" and "Rebel Stand".
From here, we have "Traitor", "Destiny's Way", and the E-book "Ylesia", which I believe is available in bound form now. After that, the Force Heretic Trilogy (Remnant, Refugee, Reunion), then the Final Prophecy and finally...
*gasps for air*
The Unifying Force, by James Luceno. This is the big one. And it is a big one. It's easily the biggest Star Wars book I've ever seen. I have a copy from the library with me right now. It comes with a CD with an E-book (.pdf) of Vector Prime, as well as an interview with some of the major players in the NJO. The Unifying Force is one of the few Star Wars books I've ever read (besides the Zhan books) that actually draw everything together, explains everything, gives real closure... REAL CLOSURE. I mean, seriously, this book is insane. The big battle at the end (not technically a spoiler as all Star Wars stories have either a battle or a great escape at the end) is the most over-the-top thing I've ever read.
To be honest, by this time, it's not so certain that our heroes can survive. I mean after all, [censored], [censored], [censored], [censored], and even poor old [censored] are ALL DEAD by the time it begins.

-When you're done with that, read some Discworld. It's good.

Han Solo Trilogy

The X-Wing books, especially the ones by Michael A. Stackpole. Only read I, Jedi AFTER finishing books 1, 2, 3, 4, and 8 in that series. Also, what bearded_jarl said.

Everyone loves the Stackpole books in the X-Wing series, but I thought the Allston books were just as good, if not better.

...
*counts quietly for a moment*
Damn.
Yeah, Han Solo Trilogy. Both of them, if you're up to it. Also Lando, I guess, if you're going with it.
Nobody mentoined (so far) Shadows of the Empire. Not a bad book. There's also a comic, a game, a series of action figures, and, if Rick Mc had his way, there'd be a CG movie of it too.
And, as long as we're going backwards, maybe wanna get in on some of that Clone Wars action (I myself never did), a little MedStar, perhaps, maybe some Jedi Apprentice stuff for those cold winter evenings with nothing to do but read young adult fiction, then...
Well, you're gonna have to go back to comics to read the KotOR series. Ulic, Nomi, Naga, Exar, the gang's all here.
You can go back further, I believe. Don't quote me on it.
Finally, get the Star Wars Encyclopedia. It's wildly outdated, but it still represents the best repository of SW lore aside from the great Journal. Actually, I believe they're coming out with a Visual Guide that encompasses EVERYTHING, but I dunno about that. I haven't seen it, but I hear it's good.

-Word of advice, no matter what we tell you, do NOT read the Barbara Hambly books (Children of the Jedi, Planet of Twilight). They are the DEVIL! I mean sure, they set up the Jedi Academy Trilogy, but that's all info you can get from the encyclopedia. Barbara Hambly is worse than those funny little SW books they put out in 96 or something that were set right after RotJ and had Palpatine's sons or family or whatever (Glove of Darth Vader, something something, dunno dunno, lame lame blah blah blah)...

I enjoyed the first bounty hunters book (never got a chance to borrow the other two in the series from teh library) and SotE.

bounty hunters ruled. especially if you like boba fett and don't believe he died just because "the sarlacc burped."

A) being digested over a thousand years isn't as bad as it seems since humans only live for about 60. its not like you can live to be 1000 just because you're in the sarlacc. plus you'd die in a month without food/water.

B) it's BOBA FETT. of course he didnt let that stupid sand squid kill him.

I think most of the SW books are **** except for Zahn's.

.

That or the BH series. Awesome.

The Tales books. Tales from the New Republic, Tales from the Empire, Tales from Mos Eisley Cantina, ect.

I'm seriously tired of the main cast. And their offspring as well, except for Anakin Solo who freaking dies . I especially want Jacen Solo to just die in an inglorious way. Maybe choke on some food, or fall off of a cliff. But yeah, the Wraith squadron books as well.

I can't expound on how horrible the NJO was, and anything past that will be. Rubbish, all of it. "Hey guys, guys, here's what we will do. Let's create this, like, huge enemy from like... somewhere, have a few characters die for shock value, and just rape the storyline. They'll love it! Oh yeah, wussify Han for the most part."

[QUOTE=Michael MacFarlane]Everyone loves the Stackpole books in the X-Wing series, but I thought the Allston books were just as good, if not better.[/QUOTE]


They were equal in quality but different in substance, aye?

[QUOTE=Vincent Valentine]Han Solo Trilogy[/QUOTE]


yayayaya. Very good.

[QUOTE=Lord Kuat]The Tales books. Tales from the New Republic, Tales from the Empire, Tales from Mos Eisley Cantina, ect.

I'm seriously tired of the main cast. And their offspring as well, except for Anakin Solo who freaking dies . I especially want Jacen Solo to just die in an inglorious way. Maybe choke on some food, or fall off of a cliff. But yeah, the Wraith squadron books as well.

I can't expound on how horrible the NJO was, and anything past that will be. Rubbish, all of it. "Hey guys, guys, here's what we will do. Let's create this, like, huge enemy from like... somewhere, have a few characters die for shock value, and just rape the storyline. They'll love it! Oh yeah, wussify Han for the most part."[/QUOTE]
.. Yeah, did you actually read all the books? It's a plotline that's actually more meaningful and engaging, as is much more than just OMG ALIENS FROM ANOTHER GALAXY. It's certainly better than "Hey let's fight the empire.. again! It's not getting old yet!"
The Unifying Force was amazing. NJO = best non-film Star Wars, on par with Kotor. Zahn was good when it came out ten years ago, but it's overrated now.

lol, gotta agree with the Empire bit. But I just... didn't like the new aliens. They just... I mean, it was crappy. No way to mince meat. The books were written horrible, I felt no attachment with the characters and the story did not draw me in. I mean, I can't explain why the characters were sorta bland and two dimensional, how it just felt like the run of the mill sci fi, and it just lacked what Star Wars is.

The story was bland. Shock value is great and all, but it only goes so far before being trite. And yes, I read the damn books, I still think the storyline sucked the big one. Thank god I just borrowed stuff past the onslaught books so I stopped wasting money.

And, to me, it's still OMG ALIENZ.

I really enjoyed the NJO series and own all the books in the series, including the ebooks.

Beyond that, I'd say my faves were I, Jedi, and the Thrawn Trilogy by Zahn. I thought they were great and are probably the best place to start reading SW novels.

For what it's worth, I thought "Splinter" sucked and "Truce at Bakura" wasn't a whole lot better. LOTS of the SW are much better than those two.

Oh yeah, here's a link to a chronological list of ALL the Star Wars novels. Keep in mind that the book reviews there are very spoilerific.
Chronological list of Star Wars novels

I'd say that's right.

Children of the Jedi of course!

...

*bursts out laughing*

tales of the bounty hunters, OF COURSE

Actually, in... Tales of the Bounty Hunters (not Bounty Hunter Wars, which also rocked), at least I think it's Tales of the Bounty Hunters... might be Tales from the Empire... in one of 'em, it's revealed that the Sarlacc doesn't just eat its victims and that's it. It gets its tentacles in them, fills their minds up, keeps them alive for a thousand years.

-I think there was a Jedi character in the story too, and then, at the end, Boba blasts the everlovin snot out of the Sarlacc with Slave 1.

I liked The New Rebellion but that was 8 years ago. I might find it retarded nowadays.

I haven't even read many of those, but that Shadows of the Empire book was neat.

In my opinion, almost everything post-RotJ sucks big time. Forget about the NJO... it's horrible. Timothy Zahn.... ugh. Jedi Academy Trilogy? Bah.

The clone wars novels are the best the EU has to offer.

I really hated Bounty Hunter Wars. IMHO it was really boring. Almost as bad as what Barbara Hambley wrote. Every action-sequence feeled so dragged and e v e r y t h i n g w a s e x p l a i n e d i n f u l l d e t a i l . N o s p e e d i s n e e d e d , i n a c t i o n s c e n e s , a s w e a l l k n o w.

Oh, and I didn't really like the Jedi Academy Trilogy either, but it is important for the storyline.

I haven't read that many, but I reallly remember liking Shadows of the Empire. Xizor's relation with Darth Vader and the Emperor was cool, and it's place in the SW timeline (between ESB and RotJ) was something I really liked. Too bad Dash Rendar wasn't very original :p

... have you read any of them?

You need one of these:

... I doubt he was being sarcastic, seeing as in previous threads he has pretty much already stated that he dislikes the EU. He certainly wasn't being sarcastic then, and now he comments on what many consider to be the best Star Wars books yet to be published, and says that they suck. I think the logical conclusion would be that he's not being sarcastic.

I mean, the guy's allowed to have his own opinion, I'm just wondering if it has any basis.

Quoted for truth

lol! I seem to have a reputation. Well, don't get me wrong... I like some of the EU stuff. It just so happens that I do not like most of the post-RotJ stuff. I thought Thrawn was cool, for example, but Zahn horribly messed up the story with C'Baoth and a totally out of character Luke Skywalker. The reason why I don't like the NJO is because it throws overboard the entire George Lucas vision of the Force, which is really important i.m.o. In the Jedi Academy trilogy, I thought the suncrusher was silly, and not even half as cool as the Deathstar, yet it was supposed to be lots more powerful.

I wasn't really being sarcastic... I read some of the Clone Wars novels and I really enjoyed them. Much more than I did all the other books. They seem to be more consistent with the movies, which I like. I'm planning on reading more of them. Some of my clanmates reading SW books agree that the Clone Wars novels are generally better than the rest.

Just my 2 cents.

Well since you are a JK fan, I suggest the Dark Forces trilogy.

Many people DON'T KNOW that JK was made into a series of books. Everything you do in the game, you can read about in the books, which also expands on the stories. Check them out.

I've been looking for those for years! I think I'll have to order them, because they aren't available anywhere, where I live.

Someone here had the audio tapes for the dark forces books, too.

But Timothy Zahn is easily the best writer in the EU.