Star Wars Novels

[Guest starvenger]

This is gonna be long...

 

>I'm not really much into reading novels or stuff like that, so what do you guys say about the comic adaptations of said novels or movies like Shadows of the Empire or the Original Trilogy? The Marvel Comics adaptations for the movies weren't that great IMO, but the Shadows TPB is really good, and also Dark Empire (which I'm not sure is also a novel). I've heard the novels for the movies have some good stuff in them that complement the stories, is this true? If so I might check them out.

 

Again, Shadows was an "event". The book focused on Xizor, Black Sun, and basically filled in the plot points between Empire and Jedi (the Boussh outfit, Luke's lightsaber, etc). The comic, as I understand it, focused more on Fett and the Bounty Hunters. And the game focused on the expendable-Han-Solo-near-clone Dash Rendar.

 

My book ratings (in timeline order):

 

Pre-A New Hope

 

Cloak of Deception (James Luceno) - I've got the pb, but I haven't read it yet

Darth Maul - Shadow Hunter (Michael Reaves) - Decent leadup to the Phantom Menace. 6/10

Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace (Terry Brooks) - Brooks is a great author, but he can't turn Jar Jar into Allanon. Still, a solid adaptation. 7/10

Rogue Planet (Greg Bear) - Ties peripherally into the nJo storyline. Better than the prequels, but that's not saying a whole lot. 6/10

The Approaching Storm (Alan Dean Foster) - I'll read this when it hits the pb market. Yes, I'm a cheap bastard.

Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones (R.A. Salvatore) - Same as above.

The Han Solo Trilogy (A.C. Crispin) - Crispin does a great job tying in just about EVERYTHING we know about Han Solo, without screwing up continuity 8/10

The Lando Calrissian Adventures (L. Neil Smith) - I've got the pb, but I haven't read it yet

The Han Solo Adventures (Brian Daley) - I read the first novel, and it's not that great.

 

The Original Trilogy years

 

Star Wars IV: A New Hope (George Lucas/Alan Dean Foster) - Granddaddy of them all. 8.5/10

Splinter of the Mind's Eye (Alan Dean Foster) - Another good novel. A little out of continuity, but at the time Foster had no idea that there'd be a sequel, much less 5. 8.5/10

The Bounty Hunter Wars (K.W. Jeter) - Um, well, Boba Fett's in it. 2/10

Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back (?) - Straight adaptation. Watch the movie instead. 6/10

Shadows of the Empire (Steve Perry) - Ties in stuff, but it's like a poor man's "Untold Tales of Spider-Man". 5/10

Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi (?) - Straight adaptation. Reading about the rancor isn't quite the same. 5/10

 

Post-Jedi - The Expanded Universe

 

The Truce At Bakura (Kathy Tyers) - Ssi-ruk? Ssssucks Sssshit. 4/10

X-Wing 1-4 (Michael A. Stackpole) - A Wedge lover's wet dream. 8.5/10

X-Wing 5-7 (Aaron Allston) - Makes Janson likeable. Almost. 8/10

The Courtship of Princess Leia (Dave Wolverton) - Solid story that helps set up stuff in the Junior Jedi and nJo books 7/10

The Thrawn Trilogy (Timothy Zahn) - Look, just read the damn books 10/10

X-Wing 8: Isard's Revenge (Michael A. Stackpole) - A tad below his first 4. 7/10

The Jedi Academy Trilogy (Kevin J. Anderson) - If you read Anderson's "Tales of the Jedi" comics, it's got some good tie-ins. And while there's an evil force-weilder, at least it makes sense.8/10

I, Jedi (Michael A. Stackpole) - The only Star Wars book written in the first person, I think. A damn good read as well. 9/10

X-Wing 9: Starfighters of Adumar (Aaron Allston) - Allston has a great knack for adding timely humour, and it shows in this book. 8.5/10

Children of the Jedi (Barbara Hambly) - bleh 2/10

Darksaber by (Kevin J. Anderson) - not quite as bleh, but still bad. 3/10

Planet of Twilight (Barbara Hambly) - double bleh 2/10

The Crystal Star (Vonda N. McIntyre) - bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh bleh eggs and bleh. 0/10

Black Fleet Crisis Trilogy (Michael P. Kube-McDowell) - Well, it's got Lando in it. 4/10

The New Rebellion (Kristine Kathryn Rusch) - Oh, look, MORE evil Jedi. Thankfully, these one's make sense. 6/10

The Corellian Trilogy (Roger MacBride Allen) - An interesting look at the Corellian system, but just kind of there, you know? 5/10

The Hand of Thrawn Duology (Timothy Zahn) - A good way to close out the Bantam era of Star Wars novels. Not as good as the Thrawn Trilogy, but light years better than some of the other stuff. 9/10

 

new Jedi order (cue the porno music)

- I should point out that, on the whole, this is a VERY ambition project. There's 18 parts to this story, and so far, it's been damn good. It's a fairly dark storyline, and if you're the kind of person that doesn't like the bad guys winning, avoid this series. Oh, and does anyone else notice some similarities between the Vong and the residents of Cobra-La?

 

Vector Prime (R.A. Salvatore) - Not a dream! Not a hoax! In this book, a major character DIES! Sure, the Republic wins in the end, but they didn't know that this was little more than an advance scout. 9/10

Dark Tide Duology (Michael A. Stackpole) - Stackpole + Star Wars = Corran Horn getting some face time. The Vong are running roughshod over the New Republic. 8/10

Agents of Chaos Duology (James Luceno) - A focus on Han Solo. Decent enough, but not the best novel in the series. Grab his Robotech stuff instead. 6.5/10

Balance Point (Kathy Tyers) - Much better than the lackluster Truce at Bakura. Enjoyable all-around. 7/10

Edge of Victory Duology (Greg Keyes) - A bit of a red herring, as neither side is really on the edge of victory. Book seems mostly here to set up Star by Star, but gives some great insight into the Vong. 7/10

Star by Star (Troy Denning) - A big and chunky (~600 pages) novel, and features the death of another major character. The turning point for several characters. 8.5/10

Dark Journey (Elaine Cunningham) - Focus on Jaina Solo. The weakest story so far. They needed to touch on this (as seen in Allston's novels), but it just feels like filler. 5.5/10

Enemy Lines Duology (Aaron Allston) - Wedge Antilles, Wraith Squadron, and a novel use for a Super Star Destroyer. OK, there's a Dark Jedi here as well, but this one's actually kinda cool. 8.5/10

 

others

 

Star Wars - The Essential Chronology (Kevin J. Anderson and Daniel Wallace) - A good read, although with EpII some of the stuff has already been retconned. But as it says, it's a "work in progress". A good read if you want to know a lot about the Universe without buying everything. 8/10

Star Wars - The Essential Guide to Characters (Andy Mangels) - Decent stuff, although sometimes Mangels just summarizes what a character did in a book or comic similar to how Dave Meltzer plugs Figure Four in his updates. 6.5/10

Star Wars - The NEW Essential Guide to Characters (Daniel Wallace) - Some of the artwork seems to contradict previous visions of characters, but the rest is damn good, and very informative. 8/10

Tales of the Bounty Hunters (various) - Good stories about characters that Lucas apparently doesn't give a shit about. 7/10

Tales from Jabba's Palace (various) - Another good anthology. It even makes Salicious Crumb interesting. Well, almost. 7/10

Tales from Mos Eisley Cantina (various) - Decent stories, but nothing really stands out. Unless you want to know Greedo's final fate. 6/10

Tales from the Empire (various) - A good anthology. "Side Trip" by Stackpole and Zahn stands out, though. 7.5/10

Tales from the New Republic (various) - A mixed bag, nothing particularly memorable. 6/10

[Guest Vyce]

Cloak of Deception (James Luceno) - I've got the pb, but I haven't read it yet

 

Good that you bought the paperback. It's sort of eh.

 

Darth Maul - Shadow Hunter (Michael Reaves) - Decent leadup to the Phantom Menace. 6/10

 

I didn't dig this for 2 reasons: not enough background on Maul, and unpleasant ending.

 

The Approaching Storm (Alan Dean Foster) - I'll read this when it hits the pb market. Yes, I'm a cheap bastard.

 

Trust me - better to waste your money on the pb instead of the hc. It's another "eh" book, IMO. Probably better than Cloak, though.

 

The Lando Calrissian Adventures (L. Neil Smith) - I've got the pb, but I haven't read it yet

The Han Solo Adventures (Brian Daley) - I read the first novel, and it's not that great.

 

Read all of them. They're fun, although they have a VERY different feel to them. All of them, if I'm not mistaken, were written before the original trilogy was completed. As such, the Star Wars universe & the characterizations just feel odd / off, of course, because this was before the novels got churned out like an assembly line and thus there wasn't really a "Star Wars feel" to anything being written. Especially the Lando Calrissian books. If you can get past all of that, they're fun books. Buy them in paperback at your local used book store.

 

The Original Trilogy years

 

X-Wing 1-4 (Michael A. Stackpole) - A Wedge lover's wet dream. 8.5/10

 

Probably the closest we Wedge fans will ever get to having a novel be totally devoted to him.

 

new Jedi order (cue the porno music)

- I should point out that, on the whole, this is a VERY ambition project. There's 18 parts to this story, and so far, it's been damn good. It's a fairly dark storyline, and if you're the kind of person that doesn't like the bad guys winning, avoid this series. Oh, and does anyone else notice some similarities between the Vong and the residents of Cobra-La?

 

I give them all the credit in the world for trying something new here to do with the expanded universe. Of course, when it's all said and done, I don't know what the hell will be left, unless we're looking at future novels featuring the Solo kids and any rugrats that Skywalker / Jade churn out.

 

And the Vong DO remind me of the Cobra-La noblemen.

[Guest raptor]

What's everybody's problem with Dash? I didn't get a Han rip-off vibe at all. Then again, a lot of X-Men fans don't like Gambit (who is one of my favorites) because they say he's a Wolverine rip-off.

[Guest Spaceman Spiff]

What's everybody's problem with Dash? I didn't get a Han rip-off vibe at all. Then again, a lot of X-Men fans don't like Gambit (who is one of my favorites) because they say he's a Wolverine rip-off.

Well, let's see:

 

--he's Correllian

--he's got the "scoundrel" vibe going

--his ship is somewhat similar to the Falcon

 

That's why.

[Guest Pilgrim]

I have to agree with starvenger's book ratings. There are quite a few good books available, especially Zahns contributions and the X wing series.

 

In all honesty though i've found that i simply hate the latest lot, the new jedi order. I just about managed to read vector prime but after that i stopped buying them.

 

I know that there were bad books in the bantam series, the crystal star anyone, but the new jedi order just plain sucks.

 

Has anyone read any of Zahns other books?

[Guest The Flying Dutchman]

My favorite books written for Star Wars are the ones by Kevin J. Anderson and Timothy Zahn. The Thrawn Trilogy and the Hand of Thrawn Duology are absolutely phenomenal. Thrawn is one of the greatest characters in the Star Wars universe and his evil genius in the first trilogy left me stunned every time. The Jedi Academy Trilogy is also a very good series. Kyp Durron is a pretty cool character to come out of that series.

 

As for the plot holes in Episodes I and II due to the books...quite frankly, the books are FAR superior to the movies so I consider them to override anything said in those movies. I prefer the legend of Anakin becoming Darth Vader to actually seeing in the movies how he becomes him, if anyone can understand that logic.

[Guest Spaceman Spiff]

Star by Star (Troy Denning) - A big and chunky (~600 pages) novel, and features the death of another major character. The turning point for several characters. 8.5/10

Really? Who?

 

I'm never going to buy it anyway.

 

Feel free to PM me if you'd like.

[Guest J*ingus]

As for the plot holes in Episodes I and II due to the books...quite frankly, the books are FAR superior to the movies so I consider them to override anything said in those movies. I prefer the legend of Anakin becoming Darth Vader to actually seeing in the movies how he becomes him, if anyone can understand that logic.

That's one of the strangest things I've ever read. George Lucas, sole creator of the entire Star Wars universe, makes the movies, while any random writer who they sent a check to makes the books. I can understand liking one more than the other, but to actually consider the books to be the dogma of Star Wars, while the movies are expendable?

 

Personally, I've only read the Thrawn trilogy. They were okay, but nothing great enough to make me want to buy any more of the novels.

[Guest starvenger]

As for the plot holes in Episodes I and II due to the books...quite frankly, the books are FAR superior to the movies so I consider them to override anything said in those movies. I prefer the legend of Anakin becoming Darth Vader to actually seeing in the movies how he becomes him, if anyone can understand that logic.

Not really, but I understand how you feel. Lots of fans feel disappointed by the direction that Lucas has taken with the prequels. Still, it could be worse. Bob Harras could be running the show, and we'd find out that Obi-Wan is actually Vader, and Anakin is actually Kenobi, and Boba Fett is actually a clone, and... oh wait.

[Guest The Flying Dutchman]

Jingus, I think you misunderstood e. Don't get me wrong. I absolutely love the original trilogy. But Episodes I and II don't seem right to me. George Lucas originally had no intentions of making the prequels. Obviously, that thought changed. There were two things at the beginning of Star Wars that were very interesting...

 

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away...

 

Episode IV: A New Hope

 

Right off the bat, Lucas got rid of the normal sci fi convention of it taking place in the future. Being in the past made it different and also added a more legendary feel to it (IMO).

 

George Lucas has also said the intent of making it be Episode IV was so the audience could feel as if it had been suddenly immersed into a huge legendary story. I'd say it worked quite frankly.

 

What I'm trying to say here is that the prequels weren't intended to be in the first place and the books came out before them.

 

Of course, if you really want to split hairs over it, just rationalize one of the discrepancies this way...

 

Mara Jade said Vader's hand was cut off by the Emperor for failure to capture Skywalker because that's what the Emperor told her. The Emperor is a big fat liar.

[Guest starvenger]

Mara Jade said Vader's hand was cut off by the Emperor for failure to capture Skywalker because that's what the Emperor told her. The Emperor is a big fat liar.

That particular one I think was an oversight on the editor's part, as I think an earlier book had mentioned that he was more machine than man, hence the need for the suit.

 

Still, retconning a retcon is getting into the Bob territory...

[Guest The Flying Dutchman]

Vince Russo should book Star Wars.

[Guest starvenger]

We should run a poll:

 

Who would destroy the Star Wars franchise fastest - The BOB and his cronies, Marvel Execs, Vince Russo, Joel Schumacher, Rob Liefeld or George Lucas?

[Guest J*ingus]

Russo, easily. His idea of "good writing" is crazy swerves that don't make sense, done at a breakneck pace, and sprinkled throughout with sexual situations and rampant cursing. The sad thing is, he'd agree with what I just said.

[Guest starvenger]

The sad part is that Russo probably would have come up with the exact scenario for Chewie's death in nJo. Except that Chewie and Han would be pimpin ho's and Luke and Leia would be gettin' it on before that.

 

But it was a facetious question anyways. Each person, in their own way, would find some way to fuck up the franchise.

[Guest gthureson]

The biggest problem with the prequels is this:

 

Anakin Skywalker is not a sympathetic character.

 

 

I know what some people are saying, "But he shouldn't be, he becomes the big villain!"

 

The prequels should be a tragedy. The Episodes IV - VI are the hero's story, where the good guys win, and everything works out.

 

The prequels are a story of a fall from grace, and they should feel like it. For it to work, one has to like Anakin Skywalker, and honestly believe he has it in himself to be this great force for good that everybody else thinks he can be.

 

Than be shocked (it can be done, even if you know he becomes Vader), as events unfold that drive him from the light, and into the manipulations of Palpatine and eventually becoming a Sith Lord and the destroyer of the Jedi.

 

That ain't happening. Anakin Skywalker is a sullen, moody, whining, unlikeable character. I have seen very few redeeming qualities in him since the character was introduced. He was unlikeable as a 9 year old. He is unlikeable as a 19 year old (or however old is supposed to be.) The audience is going to be happy when he is renamed Darth Vader and puts on the mask. Because then he will be the great villian they remember, rather than this weak flawed hero that is prancing across the screen right now.

 

Lucas freely admits he stole liberally from the writings of Joseph Campbell for Star Wars in how to tell a hero's tale.

 

Well, he should have gone back to his source material and seen how Campbell figures the way the story of the tragic hero who becomes the villain is told.

 

Because it can be done well. The prequels just ain't doing it, though, and the movies are suffering greatly for it.

[Guest Vyce]

Lucas freely admits he stole liberally from the writings of Joseph Campbell for Star Wars in how to tell a hero's tale.

He should have spent his time ripping off Kurosawa again.

 

At least Kurosawa, and Mifune, could get together and create / portray a true tragic, flawed hero.

 

But wait, who am I kidding? Lucas is a hack. He's been a hack for 20 years.