Reading Star Wars Books

I was thinking of getting heavy into reading the expanded universe of Star Wars books. Is there like some "timeline" I need to follow or is just kinda read what you want, with all the different types of books and different authors, it gets kinda weird.

I have read Timothy Zahn's books and a couple of the Darth Bane books, but that is it.

Are the books even worth the time to read them?

Honestly, I wouldn't waste your time. Its mostly terrible and will probably be completely non-canon within two years.

But, even within all the crap; there are a couple gems. Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire trilogy is pretty good altogether.

My personal recommendation though is The Han Solo Adventures by Brian Daley. That is excellent. But make sure its the Brian Daley trilogy. Ann C Crispen also did a Han Solo trilogy but it isn't nearly as good. Honestly, Daley's trilogy is the only thing I really recommend. Its a ton of fun.

@blackblade500: I'd say the Han Solo side stories are pretty decent to read. A.C. Crispin's books, like Hutt Gambit. Just some good fun.

Some people prefer Brian Daley's Han Solo books, and they're cool, too. I just have more nostalgia for the Crispin books. ha.

@truthtellah: I think Daley had a much better grasp on the character of Solo than Crispen ever did. Daley really understood the character of Solo when we first meet him in ANH. He is a complete rogue/scoundrel(totally self-centered). Crispen played Solo as way too heroic imo. Some people may like though that Crispen writes a lot about significant events in Solo's life(like winning the Falcon).

Daley's stuff is more "day in the life of" which I feel is far more appealing. Imo Daley's take on Solo was the best representation of the character I've ever read...

I got into Star Wars EU in the 90's when Bantam published everything. I remember enjoying the Zahn trilogy, the Han Solo books like @truthtellah mentioned (I don't think I ever touched the old school Del Rey books), and I always enjoyed the Rogue/Wraith Squadron books as a kid.

I stopped reading after they moved back to Del Rey during the turn of the century. I was in college and didn't have time to read them anymore, plus I wasn't into Star Wars as much as I was when I was a kid (thanks Prequels, jk). Nothing says "knee-deep in trim" like goddamn Star Wars books!

Once I grew up and became more secure with myself, I considered going back multiple times, but I never have the time to do everything I want already. I'm told the universe has become a shit-show to some degree; others disagree...

AC Crispin's books are great. I thoroughly enjoyed the Bounty Hunter Trilogy as well. There are some good short story anthologies also like Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina, Tales of the Bounty Hunters, etc. and I Jedi by Michael Stackpole is solid.

@wjb: In the early 00s it was because every writer was trying to make there Sith Lord the almighty grand being of the universe, but now they've axed most of them and made them non cannon so it's pretty good now

I heard "Splinter of the minds eye" is really good.

If you're into young adult fiction, I read a whole bunch of this when I was in the like 8-14 age range:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Jedi_Knights

But yeah, it takes place well after a bunch of other books have already transpired, though it worked rather well as a standalone series as long as you already know the major characters and factions from the movies. No idea whether this is really one of the critical subseries that is major within the timeline, but it is the first series that really introduced and established the twins that Han and Leia had, whom I've later learned went in some weird directions that are in no way foreshadowed in the series that I read.

I remember Shadows of the Empire not being terrible.

Back out now. This only ends in heartbreak.

True, It got ruined for me with Luca and Clone wars, he leaves the books alone for decades then decides to destroy alot of them. I say alot anything to do with mandalorians. So Republic commandos and Imperial Commando books got destroyed, one book left of Imperial commandos and done..nope destroyed.

I am surprised to see no one actually answers.

Overall there is the BBY and ABY timeline. Battle before Yavin and After Battle of Yavin. Battle of Yavin being the final battle of Star war a new hope.

So if you follow that timeline they started printing them in the front of the books since 2005 onwards. So you could see what year books were set.

This link

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline_of_books

will set you.

However I would advice not going too hard into books involving luke and such as they are just invincible characters for obvious reason. However its still a good read. Books focusing on new or other characters is are interesting.

I enjoyed the Han solo trilogy. Bounty hunter Tales? Aswell as the Republic commando series which turned into Imperial commandos but it was destroyed as I said. Also star wars fans tend to also be purely Jedi fans so if you come out as a Mandalorian fan who likes those books. You will be flayed alive, just because its from the perspective of clone troopers and they develop a negative view on Jedi, doesn't mean the books are saying Jedi are bad. Cmon they are a slave army told to die for a cause and people they dont even know, what do you think? its just a grand scheme of palpatine at work.

Its a deep subject of sadness for me as it broke me on Star wars mostly.

Happy reading. However you may find heartbreak eventually. Everybody does with the EU.