This really does boil down to "What do you think you'll need?"

Progressions is pretty spot on, but allow me to expand a bit:

--Beyond the Rim--

This is the one adventure I didn't buy, mainly because I don't normally buy adventures. I am tempted, though, as it has some useful NPCs and vessels that have caught my interest from conversations and what I've seen when I borrowed a copy from a friend.

The book does seem idea for a party of Explorers, but it also seems like a good starting point for just about any group makeup that is out making money.

--Jewel of Yavin--

I did buy this one; it was one part a mistake from my FLGS (ordered the wrong book and I didn't want them losing the sale and shipping costs) and one part interest due to the NPCs statted (Lando and Lobot). I will say that this has a nice feel that would fit a group that likes to be subtle and there's something for everyone; a job for pilots, a section where it's brilliant to have a slicer, someone with social graces can work wonders, and much more.

If you want NPCs for a more civilized area, it's not a bad book to grab.

--Suns of Fortune--

As one of my players mentioned, this is THE book for gear for character creation: the gear section really focuses on cheap weapons and armor that will let you go further with your starting 500 credits while providing some higher quality options for later purchase goals. The book also includes a few extra species (including a Human Offshoot, which gives some help with statting humans native to other planets, like the political debaters from Chandrila), plenty of Corellian and a few Nubian made ships (fastest out there, after all!), and mundane items to spice up the life of that Corellian Smuggler With a Heart of Gold.

If you don't want more crunch in your game, there are two really fun things included with Suns of Forture: an overview of the Sector and the Modular Encounters.

The overview is very well done and not horribly dry. It includes a lot of the major planets, written in a way that introducing story hooks for each planet is pretty easy. These notes also include useful things like trade routes and how the Empire is functioning. I like it because it not only gives great information for the sector, but also shows the thought that goes into making planets.

The Modular Encounters are awesome, as they are rife with NPCs and provide idea fodder for short sessions or springboards into a bigger session.

All said and done, I'd buy Suns of Fortune again in a heartbeat, and I would HIGHLY suggest it as one of your purchases if you are just starting out buying books as you get the most bang for your buck.

==Career Splatbooks==

As a quick note, these may be a mixed bag for you. On one hand, they provide a great deal of gear ranging from weapons and armor, ships and vehicles, and a good slew of "mundane" gear focused on the task at hand.

You also get three new career specializations in each one, all with varying abilities that add depth to the career while not breaking the game.

The only "game breaking" thing in each book is the pair of Signature Abilities, as they allow a mechanical way to alter the narrative and the rules at hand (i.e. Last One Standing allows you to kill every Minion in a battle). These are VERY expensive to get, as you need at least 100XP just to line up the talents needed to acquire it, followed by another 30XP to buy the talent itself. Said talent also costs 2 Destiny Points to use before upgrades, making it pretty steep to use (especially if you roll like my players; they often only have 1 Destiny Point, if any, each game).

Essentially, you'd need about 350XP to be "game breaking," and even then, opposition at that point is going to be pretty tough, and the "breaking" only occurs within set perameters, so things really do balance out.

--Enter The Unknown--

The three specializations are pretty well done and add some combat abilities to the Explorer career. The gear is almost a necessity for living out in the wilds (tents, shovels, MREs, bag types, clothing, etc), and the weapons are both great fluff and pretty awesome. Additionally, if you like slugthrowers (I personally do), there's an example for alternate ammunition types, making these weapons a little more plausible for characters.

I also found that the ship collection to be rather awesome as it has a great collection of starting ships and wonderful ideas to build up to.

Fluff wise, there are tips for making adventures fitting for explorers. This is pretty solid overall, but if you're an experienced GM, a lot of it is redundant.

Of the three career books out, this is the one I would highly recommend if you want something that isn't combat heavy but still gives the great elements of the Outer Rim. As a catch-all, it probably offers the most for beginning GMs and players who want more ship and mundane gear options.

--Dangerous Covenants--

If you're looking for a fight, this is the book for you. The three career specializations add new ways of killing everything and a specialization that works as a Politico of the Underworld.

The gear section is a bit light in weapons, but the weapons really add some flavor without going too over the top. The best part of the gear section is really the armor, as it greatly expands on the core book's limited selection by adding things like beat hide armor and the first powered suit.

The ships are meh and not really ideal for character creation, but there's a sweet gunship to use as opposition should the need arise. The most useful part of this section to me as a GM was the collection of rules to "militarize" a vessel by slapping on weapons and bonuses with assigned penalties. Really makes it easy to make a pirate fleet in short order or a guerrilla militia at a moment's notice.

Outside of the crunch that players will love, the GM is given a section dedicated to not only designing adventures (which is relatively short), but ideas and guidelines regarding how much pay is received for the work assigned (i.e. bodyguards are paid X amount for the job, while a soldier is paid Y) and even how many XP should be given out for combat heavy sessions and campaigns.

That said, if you are planning on running a lot of combat, this book is what you'll want to snag, hands down. It's not as useful for the players at the start, and it could be a number grab after a while, but it's pretty useful as a GM toolkit.

--Far Horizons--

I haven't finished reading this one yet, but from what I've read, it's both my least favorite and a solid runner for most useful.

I like the new specialization options, but there's a bit of redundancy (Trader and Entrepreneur are pretty close in capabilities), and the new combat-capable Colonist isn't at the top of my list of options but could grow on me. The new species are interesting, though, but the Gran become redundant if you have (or plan on having) Age of Rebellion.

The ships are relatively mixed between great and eh; my group looked through them for ideas for their ship (they didn't have one yet), and the one that caught their eye the most was shot down as soon as they saw how poorly armored it was. Still some fun ships I can use, especially that HWK-290.

The gear is also mixed. The majority of it is geared for stunning (or capturing) creatures (or sentients) alive, so unless you have players being a Marshal at a colony or want to capture bounties alive, the weapons section is something you can pass over.

The rest of the equipment section has some useful things that expand on what we already see in the core book and add some great things for the new careers (like instruments and a crime scene investigation kit). We also see some specific stand-alone bits of technology that you'd see on a fringe world, like moisture evaporators. From what I can tell, a lot of the gear is really there to help explain how a colony can exist or be a McGuffin for the storyline.

I didn't get a chance to read the last section in detail, but from what I heard and can guess, there's plots for making a "stay at home" style game.

As a GM, it seems like there's some useful information, but there isn't very much that my players are horribly interested in at the moment. If you want more "local fare" in your game, go with this book, otherwise, pick one of the others.

I've probably given you FAR more information that you bargained for, but I'd rather see you get what you can use than not like the product and stop supporting it (because the more of us that still support it, the longer it can possibly last).