Star Wars Extended Universe?

[kg4ghn]

Any other Star Wars geeks here that has read any of the Star Wars EU books? I have read >20 of them and enjoy them a lot.

Favorite characters:

Good guy: Han Solo
Bad guy: Grand Admiral Thrawn
Jedi: Mace Windu
Sith: Darth Bane


/discuss

 

[Barbash]

I have listened to the audio CDs of all of the Legacy Of The Force books and have listened to the first four books in the Fate of the Jedi.

Really enjoyed the Legacy books and the fall of Jacen Solo and so far the Fate series has been pretty good as well.

Any recommendations for other series?

 

[kg4ghn]

I haven't read many of the books that take place after the movies, I more like the timeline of the movies and before.

My favorite is the Han Solo Trilogy which is about Han's life from when he was a little boy up to that fateful day in Mos Eisley Cantina with Obi Wan and the young Luke. The 4 Republic Commando books are very good. Heir to the Empire is about Grand Admiral Thrawn and are very good as well.

One of my favorite single books is Shatterpoint and is about Mace Windu.

I've been reading more medieval fantasy lately, but I think it may be time to revisit the Star Wars universe for a while.


ETA: There is also a trilogy about Boba Fett after he gets out of the sarlaac pit that I thought was good as well.

 

[xillion]

The Star Wars Legacy comic is great. The final issue, #50, comes out next month. Why they are ending it is a mystery to me, the whole run has been great.

I also enjoyed all of the Tales of the Jedi comics as well as the Dark Empire series.

 

[letsdisinfect]

I read all of those books when I was in middle school. I remember really enjoying the Thrawn series (Heir to the Empire) and the Jedi Training Academy trilogy.

I probably stopped reading around them 97 or so. Maybe I'll get back into em...

 

[SalvadorMontenegro]

When I was a lot younger, I read a few of the books. I remember Tales of the Bounty Hunters, Tales of the Mos Eisley Cantina, maybe Tales of Jabba's Palace (?) and Shadow of the Empire, which was actually made into a video game on Nintendo 64. I also read a bunch of novels geared towards younger people. I don't remember what they were called. The main villain wanted Darth Vader's glove, or something. I believe the glove ended up mauling his hand when he put it on. I think there was someone with only one eye, as well. It was a fun series. I'd forgotten all about it until now. I may have read a few of the other novels, as well.

 

[jlanger]

I've read a great deal of them, so many I don't even remember the titles!

Legacy of the force was great, Darth Caedus was actually a great insight into the feelings of a Sith and actually seem to address some of the reasons why Anakin became Vader.

the Darth Bane books were really good IMO.

The New Jedi Order was very prolific and I think I have all of those books, though the death of Chewie and (SPOILER ALERT) the death of Anakin Solo was actually somewhat sad.

I'm kinda liking the new Fate of the Jedi books as well.

 

[kg4ghn]

the Darth Bane books were really good IMO.

The New Jedi Order was very prolific and I think I have all of those books, though the death of Chewie

The Darth Bane books were excellent.

I think I remember reading that George Lucas got pissed that somebody had killed Chewie. Apparently only Lucas himself is supposed to kill main movie characters. I can understand that though, he may have had something in mind for future movies.

 

[Johnny_Z]

I never understood the love for Thrawn. He knows about art therefor he's better than Palpatine and Vader combined times a million. BS. That whole trilogy was about how crappy the movie characters were and how the characters in the books where so much better.

Never bothered to read any other EU books after than.

If it isn't on screen, it isn't Star Wars.

 

[SalvadorMontenegro]

The Darth Bane books were excellent.

I think I remember reading that George Lucas got pissed that somebody had killed Chewie. Apparently only Lucas himself is supposed to kill main movie characters. I can understand that though, he may have had something in mind for future movies.

Here is my question about this:

How is this sort of thing done? There are a lot of guys writing books about Star Wars. Let's say I'm one of them. Let's say I decide I want to kill off or alter a major character. Obviously, as an author, it's my right to do what I want with my characters. If I want to turn Luke Skywalker to the dark side, I can do that. However, my choice might not be respected by the other Star Wars authors. In future books, they may not have Luke on team dark side.

So, this guy kills off Chewbacca. Is his decision honored by the other authors? Does he do this after discussing it with other Star Wars writers? Is there a board that approves such decisions? If I want to make Luke evil, do I have to go to this board and petition them?

I don't know enough about this. I'm assuming that other authors honored the guy who killed off Chewie by not including Chewie in their post-Chewie death books.

 

[Barbash]

Here is my question about this:

How is this sort of thing done? There are a lot of guys writing books about Star Wars. Let's say I'm one of them. Let's say I decide I want to kill off or alter a major character. Obviously, as an author, it's my right to do what I want with my characters. If I want to turn Luke Skywalker to the dark side, I can do that. However, my choice might not be respected by the other Star Wars authors. In future books, they may not have Luke on team dark side.

So, this guy kills off Chewbacca. Is his decision honored by the other authors? Does he do this after discussing it with other Star Wars writers? Is there a board that approves such decisions? If I want to make Luke evil, do I have to go to this board and petition them?

I don't know enough about this. I'm assuming that other authors honored the guy who killed off Chewie by not including Chewie in their post-Chewie death books.

Not sure how it is decided, but as for Chewie's death it has been kept through all the series since. Infact they brought on his son as a sub character in a few of the books I have read.

 

[SalvadorMontenegro]

Not sure how it is decided, but as for Chewie's death it has been kept through all the series since. Infact they brought on his son as a sub character in a few of the books I have read.

A book killing off Chewie must have generated major sales. The author would make a good deal of money. All the other authors must be thinking, "Why didn't I kill off Chewie?" You'd think this would start a precedent. Maybe not, though. I guess the genre of Star Wars novels is small enough that an incident like that would not generate sales from people outside the fan base. What I mean is, if you don't normally read Star Wars books, you're probably not going to be more inclined to read one where Chewbacca is killed off. I don't know. It's confusing for me. I picture some sort of large governing body of the Star Wars universe that approves and disapproves of the decisions writers make regarding the fates of the Star Wars characters.

 

[Barbash]

A book killing off Chewie must have generated major sales. The author would make a good deal of money. All the other authors must be thinking, "Why didn't I kill off Chewie?" You'd think this would start a precedent. Maybe not, though. I guess the genre of Star Wars novels is small enough that an incident like that would not generate sales from people outside the fan base. What I mean is, if you don't normally read Star Wars books, you're probably not going to be more inclined to read one where Chewbacca is killed off. I don't know. It's confusing for me. I picture some sort of large governing body of the Star Wars universe that approves and disapproves of the decisions writers make regarding the fates of the Star Wars characters.

It's called the Galactic Senate

 

[The Last Chimney]

My favorite is the Han Solo Trilogy which is about Han's life from when he was a little boy up to that fateful day in Mos Eisley Cantina with Obi Wan and the young Luke.

...

ETA: There is also a trilogy about Boba Fett after he gets out of the sarlaac pit that I thought was good as well.

Those were my favorites, too!

I loved these books! I probably have about 30 or so boxed up somewhere, though I mostly stopped reading them partway through the New Jedi Order.

I liked Thrawn too, although I think he's one of the more popular villains only because most of them tend to be uninteresting. A couple of the more interesting ones were Jiliac and the IG-88 droids.

The best EU books in my opinion were definitely the ones from the Han Solo trilogy, taking place before the original movie trilogy. I think I'm going to go reread those...

Wraith Squadron and Starfighters of Adumar were great, too!

 

[xillion]

Check out the link below to find out how Lucasfilm keeps track of what is going on with every SW story.

http://www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/magazine/16-09/ff_starwarscanon

Here is my question about this:

How is this sort of thing done? There are a lot of guys writing books about Star Wars. Let's say I'm one of them. Let's say I decide I want to kill off or alter a major character. Obviously, as an author, it's my right to do what I want with my characters. If I want to turn Luke Skywalker to the dark side, I can do that. However, my choice might not be respected by the other Star Wars authors. In future books, they may not have Luke on team dark side.

So, this guy kills off Chewbacca. Is his decision honored by the other authors? Does he do this after discussing it with other Star Wars writers? Is there a board that approves such decisions? If I want to make Luke evil, do I have to go to this board and petition them?

I don't know enough about this. I'm assuming that other authors honored the guy who killed off Chewie by not including Chewie in their post-Chewie death books.

 

[kg4ghn]

Here is my question about this:

How is this sort of thing done? There are a lot of guys writing books about Star Wars. Let's say I'm one of them. Let's say I decide I want to kill off or alter a major character. Obviously, as an author, it's my right to do what I want with my characters. If I want to turn Luke Skywalker to the dark side, I can do that. However, my choice might not be respected by the other Star Wars authors. In future books, they may not have Luke on team dark side.

So, this guy kills off Chewbacca. Is his decision honored by the other authors? Does he do this after discussing it with other Star Wars writers? Is there a board that approves such decisions? If I want to make Luke evil, do I have to go to this board and petition them?

I don't know enough about this. I'm assuming that other authors honored the guy who killed off Chewie by not including Chewie in their post-Chewie death books.

I do believe the books have to be approved by LucasArts. The authors do work with each other. I imagine it would be hard to write a Star Wars book because you would really have to research any characters, locations, etc and make sure you don't mess up the storyline. All of the facts from all of the books are supposed to be the same and work within each other. Of course with something as big as Star Wars, with that many different people writing, there are small differences here and there but they try to minimize them. For example, there are a couple of different stories of how Boba Fett came to be who he is and how he got his Mandalorian armor.

 

[kg4ghn]

Those
Wraith Squadron and Starfighters of Adumar were great, too!

I haven't read these, I believe I might pick them up.

 

[bossdog79]

The entire Rogue Squadron series is great. I absolutely love the series that followed Boba Fett after escaping the sarlacc. One of my favorite sets of the books has the be during the Vong war, seeing Thrawn's people come out of hiding to kick tail was great.

 

[Barbash]

The entire Rogue Squadron series is great. I absolutely love the series that followed Boba Fett after escaping the sarlacc. One of my favorite sets of the books has the be during the Vong war, seeing Thrawn's people come out of hiding to kick tail was great.

Vong War is the next set I want to pick up.

Thanks guys you have me filling up my Amazon cart with new Audio Books for my travels.

 

[bossdog79]

Of course the greatest EU piece is being written as we speak...can't wait for The Old Republic to be released in the spring. Don't know if any of you are MMO people but it looks amazing. Check out the two trailers on youtube sometime.