I'm about halfway through The Unifying Force, and the auther keeps dropping the name 'Kyle Katarn', but won't actually talk about him! I admit it's nice to see a video game character even mentioned in novel form, and thus finally canonized, but why isn't he kicking vong ***?

HE ASPLODED

.

Kyle?

he will be off making door cameras and mspaint pictures of lunacy mad fun!

http://www.starwars.com/databank/character/kylekatarn/index.html

Straight from the horse's mouth, the EU never really tells us.

Kyle has a small role in the Dark Nest trilogy, as well. Except this time he actually does stuff.

Haha, "rugged good looks"

Where is this dark nest trilogy? When was it published, where is it set? Why isn't it ON MY SHELF? I have a dozen or so books set before NJO that I haven't actually read.

It's post-NJO and in your local bookstore.

Maybe he forgot his force powers again.

How are all these new books anyway? I read a bunch of the first ones (Zhan and Anderson's trilogies, some of the X-wing series, the 'Tales of..." Anthologies) back in junior high, said "Oh god, I'm such a nerd." and quit. Recently tore through Zahn's trilogy again and was surprised how much I could still enjoy these books. (Although his overuse of the word "sardonic" got to me after a while.) So what's the deal on these new ones- are they worth checking out? Do a range of new characters drive the story through a range of unique twists and turns, or do they follow the "This week, our heroes faced [regurgitated foe/peril], and there was much flipping and lightsabreing."-sort of plotline?

(he also overuses the word "dryly" in all his books)

Zahn is good. His problem is that he makes all the characters as smart as he is. It makes for entertaining reading, but not very convincing dialogue.

Yeah, Kyle's name gets dropped in about 3 NJO books by nerd-pleasing authors, but he never does anything.

I haven't read the Dark Nest Trilogy yet.

To Thrawn- 'Dryly', huh.. I don't believe I noticed that. Zahn does indeed know how to entertain, though. The dialogue is indeed a bit dry at times- the character interactions and interior monologues are where it's at.

A fine writer indeed. Which of his other works would you reccomend?

A lot of the books are pure crap, but others are very, very good.

The Thrawn trilogy and the X-Wing series are the best to start with, so if you're interested in reading more, I'd suggest finishing the X-Wing series.

I, Jedi is good because it follows some events after the X-Wing series, and it does a good job of summarizing the Jedi Academy trilogy, so if you read this, you don't have to read that (I really, really didn't like the Jedi Academy trilogy.)

After those, read the Hand of Thrawn duology and Survivor's Quest, more of Zahn's work, and if you're interested in reading prequel-era stuff, pick up Outbound Flight (AFTER reading Survivor's Quest) and Rogue Planet (whenever), because those tie in to later books. I also highly suggest reading the Republic Commando novels, because they're excellent, but have yet to have much of an impact on the rest of the EU.

If you want, it might be worth reading the Truce at Bakura and the Courtship of Princess Leia (two seperate books). I didn't particularly like either of them, but the events that take place in them impact later books (though you could just skip them entirely)

After that, you can star the NJO and then the Dark Nest trilogy, as well as the upcoming Legacy series. The NJO causes some controversy over some major, galaxy-altering events that take place, but I found them to be thoroughly entertaining. The Dark Nest trilogy follows immediately after the NJO. It isn't terribly spectacular, but it was enjoyable, and bridges the gap between the NJO and Legacy.


So there you have it. That isn't entirely in chronological order, but those are all of the really good books (IMO), if you're interested in reading them.

Darksaber!

Thanks for the summary. Now that I think of it, I remember that I read Truce at Bakura and Courtship- I recall counting both as 'reasonable' back in the day. (Damn, I sure was picky for a kid.) I finished the X-wing series as well, exept for that last book. (Think they went way overboard with that Kettch stuff though.)

As for those Commando books, I remember my cousin raving about 'em. Sounded all right. I'll give this dark nest thing a look and peer into the New Jedi Order when I get around to it, then. Working on the Hand of Thrawn story arc right now since I enjoyed the last Zhan books. Good stuff- it's definitely turing me into an Imperial sympathiser. (Or at least a Pellaeon sympathiser. My hat's off to you, poor old fellow.)

And now for my reccomendation- A year or so ago, I saw one of the old Han Solo paperbacks (Han Solo's Revene) when I was looking for copies of the screenplay novels. It was a first edition (woot?) so I snagged it. Read it over a couple of those slow winter days and thouroughly enjoyed it. It was that sort of campy, gritty, classic Star Wars fun. Had a couple great moments where Chewbacca was telling the story too- and you certainly can't lose there.

Post of the year.

That's why they are so entertaining. Anywhere else, you always know the galaxy is going to be exactly the same by time the book is done. This time theres actually something at stake!

easy come easy go eh?

"I found a lightsaber in my garage that makes me a Jedi!"

[QUOTE=Numenor King]easy come easy go eh?

"I found a lightsaber in my garage that makes me a Jedi!"[/QUOTE]

Makes perfect sense!

I heard the Tales books are pretty good, such as Tales of the Bounty Hunters and Tales of Mos Eisley.

I've read almost all of the NJO. Some of my favorites are Vector Prime and the next two after that (I forget what they are. One's written by Stackpole and features Corran Horn as I feel the hero of the book) The Unifying Force is interesting, as is Traitor. The rest are just reading to fill in the gaps. I also like the Dark Nest trilogy as well.

Which was the one with the secret imperial research station inside a black hole cluster? I liked that one.

DCM: best SW fiction ever.

This one is more relevent even though I already quoted it:

The Dark Nest trilogy isn't post-NJO, it is NJO.

Also, about that... I don't know how much sci-fi you all have read, but the collective-minded-insect-species theme has been repeated many times. Odd, eh?

While we're on-but-slightly-off the topic of science fiction, could I reccomend that everybody go and check out Ray Bradbury's 'Martian Chronicles' if you have not already done so? That book rocked my face off. It's kind of annoying not having a face, but the read was certainly worth it.

Matterialize, it is called post-NJO because NJO was purely about the YV invasion. Seriously. NJO is a series within the EU that has series inside it.

I appreciated that. I have read few worse books.

I disagree. I see the Dark Nest trilogy as a continuation of the NJO. Call it post-Yuuzhan Vong, not post-NJO.

Like the L.G.M.'s?

Of course it's a continuation. What should they do with anything after the NJO? Pretend it didn't happen?
The NJO always consisted only of the books about the YV invasion.

True that, look at all of the books about Yuuzhan Vong between Vector Prime and the Unifying Force - they all have "New Jedi Order" plainly on it.

The Dark Nest says "Starring the heroes of the New Jedi Order!"

and "Dark Nest" on it.

Clearly, not NJO.