Bantam Novel
What are the best Star Wars books?
I am desperate for entertaining book series after re-reading the harry potter series.
I bought the Dark Lord Trilogy (LOE,ROTS, RODV)
I have read bits of all of them prior but never whole.
I also have read the cestus deception, its somewhere in my house i read it a long time ago.
I prefere prequel era books to the post rots books...
However...id much rather read the Bantam era of books.
I have heard bad things about Del Ray series NJO and LOF.
Especially killing of old favorites....
I have read Shadows of the empire a long time ago.
What is in your opinion the best
Prequel Era
and best Classic/post rotj
novels/series in star wars.
Also is Shatterpoint, Shadows of the empire (forgot the plot) and Thrawn series.
Are they good and worth buying?
Shatterpoint is a great read. It focuses on Mace Windu. Shadows of the Empire is a decent read. It is set in between ep V & ep VI and shows some of the things that were done to find Han and Luke's progression as a Jedi and the building of his own lightsabre. The Thrawn Trilogy is one of the biggest reasons for the resurgence in the Star Wars story ... 3 of the best Star Wars books ever written. "Heir To The Empire", "Dark Force Rising", & "The Last Command". They were written by Hugo Award winning author Timothy Zahn. Whenever anyone asks me where to start reading the Star Wars books this is the set I always tell them to start with. Then I recommend the X-Wing books.
Some other good books of the prequel era are "Jedi Trial", "Yoda: Dark Rendezvous", the "MedStar" & "Republic Commando" books are decent also.
As for the Del Rey series you list ... the NJO was a top notch story line ... LOF was a step below it but still a great read especially if you're a Boba Fett fan. In respect to the "killing off of old favorites" ... I will admit to being pretty ticked off when it started but in hind sight it's clear that it HAD to happen. One of the things that makes not only SW books but other books worth reading is the story they are telling you. With the SW books under Bantam there was no longer any kind of "will they make it through this mess" feeling. It was just assumed that they would live and that took a lot of the suspense out of the story. There was also the "SuperWeapon of the week" kind of feel to them. It seemed like with every new story they had to find some recluse Imperial Warlord who had a new kind of "SuperWeapon" to threaten the galaxy with ... the story lines were getting very stale.
All of that changed with the very first book that came out of Del Rey ... Book One of the NJO ... Vector Prime. One of the all time favorite SW characters died in that book and it took away the feeling of immortality that had seemed to surround the main characters ... if this character could die then who knows if others will be able to get out of the jams they get themselves into or actually die themselves. In the end the characters can't live forever ... the Big 3 of Han, Luke, & Leia are getting up there in age, at the end of LOF series Han is in his late 60s and Luke & Leia are in their late 50s ... they don't have many years left in them and while it will be heart breaking to read of their demise it is also unavoidable.
If I were to make a guess I would say that a lot of the problems you are having with the SW books is that you are jumping around in the time line. The books build on themselves ... if you're reading one of the books and you don't know the characters that they are talking about you feel lost in the story and disinterested in it. Just my 2 cents. Read the Thrawn Trilogy ... if you like that series then there are many to read after that one.
May The Force Be With You ...
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Bantam Rooster - "You're the Sun"
