I was big into the novels in high school and college, and read as much of the Bantam era as I could get my hands on-- especially loved the X-Wing books, the short story "Tales From" books, and Zahn's Thrawn books-- and kept up with the New Jedi Order in real time as it was being published by Del Rey. I fell out of love with the EU about halfway through Legacy of the Force (they did my baby girl Tahiri real dirty and I'm still mad about it) and the only thing I read after that was X-Wing: Mercy Kill until Disney made it all Legends. Since then I only dip in very occasionally to the new canon when it seems to align with things I enjoyed in Legends, like Zahn's new Thrawn trilogies.
For recommendations, I can always rec the X-Wing series, and the Tales From books. I just love a story that fleshes out more of what the non-Jedi get up to in the Galaxy Far Far Away. Anything Aaron Allston wrote is pretty much going to be a good time-- he's the only reason I got as far into Legacy of the Force as I did, and his X-Wing books simply can't be beat. Oh! Also Matthew Stover's novelization of Revenge of the Sith, and NJO: Traitor if someone decided they were going to tackle the NJO. (I can't rec the whole NJO series, it's just so damn big and had a handful of books that I just didn't vibe with, but there are several books in the series that I really enjoyed. Traitor and the Enemy Lines duology specifically.)
Hmmm, if I were going to rec something published in the '00s... honestly I would love to have a reason to reread the NJO to see how it holds up 20+ years later, but it's nineteen books and that's a LOT, and it's really not designed to dip in and out so it's hard to rec it. Traitor was just SO GOOD though! And so was Stover's Revenge of the Sith novelization-- he just has such a way of pulling you inside the characters' moral struggles. (the quote in my icon above is from the opening chapter and it gets me every time)
Oh shit, Zahn's Outbound Flight!!!!! That's the one I would absolutely rec from the 2000s, because it was the first time I saw linguistics and language learning as a plot point in the EU, something that's usually handwaved with protocol droids, and it's still absolutely delightful to me. Plus it's a standalone novel (though there are elements that tie in to Survivor's Quest, it's not essential) so a much quicker read.
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2023-09-04 12:38 am (UTC)For recommendations, I can always rec the X-Wing series, and the Tales From books. I just love a story that fleshes out more of what the non-Jedi get up to in the Galaxy Far Far Away. Anything Aaron Allston wrote is pretty much going to be a good time-- he's the only reason I got as far into Legacy of the Force as I did, and his X-Wing books simply can't be beat. Oh! Also Matthew Stover's novelization of Revenge of the Sith, and NJO: Traitor if someone decided they were going to tackle the NJO. (I can't rec the whole NJO series, it's just so damn big and had a handful of books that I just didn't vibe with, but there are several books in the series that I really enjoyed. Traitor and the Enemy Lines duology specifically.)
Hmmm, if I were going to rec something published in the '00s... honestly I would love to have a reason to reread the NJO to see how it holds up 20+ years later, but it's nineteen books and that's a LOT, and it's really not designed to dip in and out so it's hard to rec it. Traitor was just SO GOOD though! And so was Stover's Revenge of the Sith novelization-- he just has such a way of pulling you inside the characters' moral struggles. (the quote in my icon above is from the opening chapter and it gets me every time)
Oh shit, Zahn's Outbound Flight!!!!! That's the one I would absolutely rec from the 2000s, because it was the first time I saw linguistics and language learning as a plot point in the EU, something that's usually handwaved with protocol droids, and it's still absolutely delightful to me. Plus it's a standalone novel (though there are elements that tie in to Survivor's Quest, it's not essential) so a much quicker read.