Big fantasy book endeavor

[Dobber]

Star Wars. Yep.

Science fiction has never really drawn me before, as I'm big into high fantasy - GoT, WoT, SoT, Dragonlance, Malazan, Forgotten Realms, etc. But when I finished Malazan I started looking for my next series. I always research this stuff a lot, because you're investing your next six to 12 books into it.

I decided to give Star Wars a shot. I knew full well, after looking into it, that this is a 250-book project, but I saw that at least half of those books were quick little novellas aimed at young adults. And I figured if I didn't like it I could always move on. So next decision was how to read it - in order of publish date, or in order of the Star Wars timeline. I went with timeline.

So I began.

The books start 25,000 years before a New Hope and the dawn of the Jedi Order. I couldn't find that book, so I started with the next one - it's a collection of Sith novellas that take place 10,000 years before a New Hope. Looking back now, I know that the book is about the secret civilization of Sith - they crash-landed on a planet and couldn't get off and over the course of 10,000 years the entire culture flourished. And these Sith become enemies of Luke Skywalker.

Anyway, from there, I read tales of Darth Revan - Jedi turned Sith turned Jedi - and Darth Bane (who wiped out the Sith and started the whole "one master, one apprentice" thing - loved those books). Then things shifted towards the movies - Qui-Gon Jinn as an apprentice to Dooku, and then Obi-Wan Kenobi as a kid and how he becomes an apprentice to Qui-Gon. Some excellent back stories here and it made the first move "Phantom Menace" 10 times better. Yes, there's no excuse for Jar Jar...and yes Anakin should have been 11 or 12 rather than nine when he was found, it would have made the movie way better...but reading all the back stories really did make a difference. You better understand the culture, you better understand the Sith vs. Jedi war, you really get to know Qui-Gon and when he dies you actually feel it in your heart. Whereas just watching the movie without the books you don't feel much at all. At this point I also got the back stories on the Hutts, Darth Maul (awesome character - turns out he didn't die) and Darth Plagueis (great book) - who conquered death itself...but alas, not his own

The books continue on with Anakin as the apprentice to Obi-Wan and it painted a great picture on his struggles with the Dark Side within, and his frustration of being 'too good". He also made some friends, but lost many of them. But getting to better know Anakin made The Clone Wars movie much better. After that, there are tons of books telling back stories and side stories. Some of them, in a nutshell:

- Boba Fett and his struggle to survive after watching his father die. How he latches on with Jabba
- Anakin growing into a great warrior, but still struggling within. And he actually gets a Padawan - whose demise is in the TV show Clone Wars so I'm actually watching those with my daughter
- Republic Commandos - elite-trained clones who not only show how skilled they are as commandos, but you also see into their personalities. Falling in love with a Jedi (and having a child with her), thoughts on desertion, struggles with right and wrong, etc. Another great back story that also gives you a peek at the Mandalorian culture (Boba and Jenga Fett's culture)
- You get to know dozens of other Jedi, making their deaths in Revenge of the Sith much more powerful
- Other characters from many books...and it turns out that they get together after "the Purge" of the Jedi, and I love it when characters you know from various books from the past team up.

By the time it got to Revenge of the Sith, I was never more pumped up about a book than I was about this one. And reading the book I wasn't let down. Fantastic. And I should add that the books based on the movie offered added scenes and backstories. Revenge of the Sith was actually the second of a trilogy - there was a book that took place leading up to those events and then a book describing the fall-out. I watched the movie again after this one and it went from being "okay" to one of my favorites. With 84 books of back stories I guess so!

So here I am, 13 months into this "project" and about 87 books in. The book I'm reading now is Jedi Twilight. It features:
- Jax Pavan, a Jedi who I had not 'met' before, but who was mentioned. His father, Lorn, was a smuggler who had partnered with an awesome droid named I-five. Lorn was killed by Darth Maul, but had put I-five on a path to find and protect Jax. It took I-five over 10 years to recover from a memory wipe and start on this path.
- Den Dhur, a Sullustran (think: Nien Numb) reporter who had befriended I-five in an earlier book called MedStar. He had gone to Coruscant to help I-five find Jax but when they got there, "the Purge" from Revenge of the Sith happened
- Nick Rostu, a Force-sensitive from Mace Windu's planet and a freedom fighter. It was great seeing this character return after reading about him in a book called "Shatterpoint"
- and of course I-five

Anyway, pretty excited about the next group of novels. Apparently Jax Pavan and hopefully most of this crew have a few adventures. As well, the series gets into some Han Solo and Lando back stories, as well as some more Obi-Wan books. Then the original Star Wars trilogy, followed by the many books that tell of Luke and Leia (and re-meet the Sith from that hidden planet, as well as a cool alien from beyond the outer rim called Thrawn). Getting closer to that book that Star Wars 7 will be based on.


Well, this post went a lot longer than I intended!

[austeane]

I once got lost in the Star Wars wiki for about 5 hours. I think I know the general timeline of the whole story, all the way from the discovery of the force to Luke's great grandkids and a parasitic ancient Sith.

[als_revenge]

I still can't wrap my head around 250 books. How the heck is that even possible?

[SixtyPercentOfTheTime]

Wow. That is quite the project. Between work and my kid, I'm so freaking tired at the end of the day that usually I close my eye after 10 pages or so. It would take me years to finish that many books.

[Ed.]

How many authours are involved, and how coordinated are they? Are they working from one master timeline? Do you notice major differences in quality between them?

[Dakkster]

I find that Michael Stackpole and Timothy Zahn are usually better than most.

[Fast Tony DeNiro]

Great now I'm gonna have to start reading these now. I always just assumed they were bad fan fiction or something, didn't realize they were actually important to the story.

[Dakkster]

Great now I'm gonna have to start reading these now. I always just assumed they were bad fan fiction or something, didn't realize they were actually important to the story.

You should know that Disney has said that all expanded universe stuff (novels, comic books, games, etc) can and will probably be completely disregarded for the upcoming movies. You don't need to read the books to stay in the know for those. In fact, the books will probably just confuse you.

The books are there for the people who want to be even more engrossed in the universe and it's definitely not bad fan fiction. Some of it is schlock, but the vast majority is standard sci-fi 300 page novels. If you want to start off with something I would recommend either the Rogue Squadron books by Michael Stackpole or, and this is what I recommend the strongest, the Admiral Thrawn trilogy by Timothy Zahn. Those three books are VERY good and they would be my choice to be the next movie trilogy. There are other very good Star Wars novels as well, but the Rogue Squadron and Thrawn Trilogy are what most recommend reading and for good reason too.

[Darren_Kennedy]

This is just plain impressive. I haven't finished ONE book in months

[Dobber]

How many authours are involved, and how coordinated are they? Are they working from one master timeline? Do you notice major differences in quality between them?

It's one timeline, with characters and events interacting...or even events that you read about in one book being reported on the Holonet in a bar that the character in another book walks into. Authors are probably six or seven main ones, and a handful of guest writers (like Terry Brooks wrote Phanton Menace and RA Salvatore wrote Attack of the Clones) up until where I"m at - but you can probably quadruple that number for the later books (post-Luke Skywalker)

There is definitely differences in quality and style, as the novellas are aimed at teens (so I fly through those books in a couple of hours), military-themed books are written by a military expert, etc.

Every question and reference in every movie seems to be addressed in one book or another and when you tie it altogether the movies become so much better

[Dobber]

You should know that Disney has said that all expanded universe stuff (novels, comic books, games, etc) can and will probably be completely disregarded for the upcoming movies. You don't need to read the books to stay in the know for those. In fact, the books will probably just confuse you.

The books are there for the people who want to be even more engrossed in the universe and it's definitely not bad fan fiction. Some of it is schlock, but the vast majority is standard sci-fi 300 page novels. If you want to start off with something I would recommend either the Rogue Squadron books by Michael Stackpole or, and this is what I recommend the strongest, the Admiral Thrawn trilogy by Timothy Zahn. Those three books are VERY good and they would be my choice to be the next movie trilogy. There are other very good Star Wars novels as well, but the Rogue Squadron and Thrawn Trilogy are what most recommend reading and for good reason too.

They're re-writing some areas of the storyline and shifting characters around/adding characters, but the general storyline will be followed. Thrawn will be a part of future star wars movies and I'm sure, eventually, so will the lost Sith. But the books up to the point I'm at right now (Book 89) you can't go back on as this is about one year past Revenge of the Sith and future movies are taking place 30 or 40 years later. So you can definitely read the background on the Sith/Jedi wars of old, the Old Republic, the complacency of the New Republic, the rise of the Empire, some of the background and personalities of certain key clones, the training of Boba Fett, etc. Where I'm at now is some of the surviving Jedi - of course you can't wipe out ALL Jedi in one purge, some are going to survive, and it's fantastic reading up on some old names that you read about like 20 books ago and how they keep fighting.

So the first 120 or so novels and novellas are safe to read for some excellent background and storylines. Timothy Zahn introduce Thrawn in Outbound Flight (Book 45 in the timeline) and he quickly became one of my favorite characters in the Star Wars universe. Can't wait to work my way up to that trilogy and see him again.

Sounds like Disney is planning one Star Wars movie per year after 2015, trilogies, one-offs, backstories, etc

[als_revenge]

I still can't get over 250 books. Or the fact that you couldn't find the first book. Or the fact that I can find a decent list of these books that comes anywhere near 250...

[Dobber]

Here's the list I go by. I ignore the games, comics and graphic novels.

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

It looks like I'm about halfway down, so maybe 200 is a better number. Good! Maybe I can get done before 2016

The first book wasn't out yet when I started. I just haven't gone back to it yet. And there was a Darth Maul book out that still hasn't made it to Kindle, that would have been around book 75 or so

[Dakkster]

They're re-writing some areas of the storyline and shifting characters around/adding characters, but the general storyline will be followed. Thrawn will be a part of future star wars movies and I'm sure, eventually, so will the lost Sith.

If that's true, that's awesome! When/where did they say that? Because I know there was a big uproar about how the novel wouldn't be story canon anymore.

[Dobber]

If that's true, that's awesome! When/where did they say that? Because I know there was a big uproar about how the novel wouldn't be story canon anymore.

I just meant that, with one movie per year for the foreseeable future, they would absolutely come around to bringing in Thrawn and later the lost Sith. They need bad guys! (if you consider Thrawn a bad guy...which I don't...but I have a feeling in the trilogy ahead that I haven't read yet, that he becomes one)