I didn't know the new book was out yet. Good to know!

EDIT: Ahh....March 3rd! Not April.

"Official" books

New Dawn - http://www.amazon.com/New-Dawn-Star-Wars/dp/055339147X/

Tarkin - http://www.amazon.com/Tarkin-Star-Wars-James-Luceno/dp/0345511522/

Heir to the Jedi - http://www.amazon.com/Heir-Jedi-Star-Kevin-Hearne/dp/0345544854/

Lords of the Sith - http://www.amazon.com/Lords-Sith-Paul-S-Kemp/dp/0345511441/

Dark Disciple - http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Disciple-Star-Christie-Golden/dp/0345511530/
Aftermath: Journey to The Force Awakens - http://www.amazon.com/Aftermath-Star-Journey-Force-Awakens/dp/034551162X/

Almost all the EU books are poor.

Thrawn trilogy is great, most of what came after was painful.

So what its getting overwritten by episode VII?

So did Splinter of the minds eye when episode V came out and it didn't stop people reading and enjoying it.

I like S&V and imperial, what are the best EU books to start reading?

Don't have to be fighter craft based.

I honestly thought this was going to be a post asking about how best to use Engine Upgrade.

Now I want to go and read all the new Canon books.

So what its getting overwritten by episode VII?

Well, nothing so far. The EU is now "Legends" and it's canon...until it's not. So, with nothing much having come out, there isn't much that's been overwritten.

Read Tarkin. Great book. And it's canon.

It's not part of the EU canon though, so isn't really relevant to this discussion.

More relevant to the conversation, the Young Han Solo Trilogy (especially Hutt Gambit) has some really good scummy stuff in it and the original one has at least a bit of that as well.

The Thrawn Trilogy is the natural starting point for anyone reading EU stuff, the X-wing series is excellent. The other main trilogies (Jedi Academy, Black Fleet Crisis, Corellian Trilogy) don't really have much in the Scum/Imp category, unless you count Lobot's weird adventures in BFC.

Read Tarkin. Great book. And it's canon.

It's not part of the EU canon though, so isn't really relevant to this discussion.

But the EU canon isn't the EU canon either; it's the Legends canon.

EU simply means Expanded Universe. Some of it can be canon and some of it can be Legends. It is all expanded universe that expands outside of the frame of the movies/tv shows.

I understood the question to be, not so much "where should I start reading in the Legends books" but "where should I start from all the books that are out there" - since that is pretty much what EU has always meant up till now (Disney) to most people I would think.

ninj'd

EU simply means Expanded Universe. Some of it can be canon and some of it can be Legends. It is all expanded universe that expands outside of the frame of the movies/tv shows.

Semantics.

So Tarkin was pretty good?

EU simply means Expanded Universe. Some of it can be canon and some of it can be Legends. It is all expanded universe that expands outside of the frame of the movies/tv shows.

Well Legends universe canon then *shrug*, though why that wouldn't be called the Expanded Universe still when we've got a new unified universe with equal levels of canon Disney Star Wars universe (not trying to make that any sort of official title) is beyond me. I always figured the Legends label was just something to further separate EU material from Disney's take on Star Wars, as opposed to co-opting the name entirely.

The best book for Scummers is definitely Hutt Gambit, though most of the Tales books would get honorable mentions.

EU simply means Expanded Universe. Some of it can be canon and some of it can be Legends. It is all expanded universe that expands outside of the frame of the movies/tv shows.

Semantics.

So Tarkin was pretty good?

I really liked it. It was very interesting seeing behind Tarkin and seeing how he was raised. It really put some depth in to this character that was really missing from ANH. Also his world was fairly well detailed which was cool to see. Also it has Vader and Tarkin working together to stop some rebels and develops their relationship that you see in the movie later.

I wouldn't count out anything because it's not canon anymore. A good book is still a good book. The Thrawn books are some of my favorite reads. IIRC, Zahn was the only author originally allowed to use the main characters in books. He did at least three others that tell Thrawn's back story. They are good too if you like his character. Not great though.

Was buried in only one post that I noticed, if OP is interested in S&V, need to start with Shadows of the Empire. Not a great book judged on its own merits but introduces the major player in the S&V faction. Gotta have the back-stories for Xizor, Guri, and Dash as well as some extra on bounty hunters etc. As a matter of fact, I may re-read that book this weekend. Single volume and a quick read.

Zahn's Thrawns are an obvious recommendation too. Actually just starting The Last Command as bed-time reading for my 7 and 9 year old sons. Wanted them to meet Thrawn and Mara and company before Episode VII comes out.

EU simply means Expanded Universe. Some of it can be canon and some of it can be Legends. It is all expanded universe that expands outside of the frame of the movies/tv shows.

Semantics.

So Tarkin was pretty good?

I really liked it. It was very interesting seeing behind Tarkin and seeing how he was raised. It really put some depth in to this character that was really missing from ANH. Also his world was fairly well detailed which was cool to see. Also it has Vader and Tarkin working together to stop some rebels and develops their relationship that you see in the movie later.

This sounds really cool. No conflictions with his character in The Clone Wars?

I found Tarkin largely forgettable - shocker - he was raised in a grim and hard environment where it was kill or be killed and applied the same level of ruthlessness to anything else he did. Tarkin is a fairly one dimensional character and his official backstory now has really done nothing to change that imo.

I would still suggest people read it but probably the fewer expectations the better

This sounds really cool. No conflictions with his character in The Clone Wars?

None at all. It directly references those events in the show.

I really enjoyed all Zahn's books, not just the big three. The outbound flight pair and the end of the war one are great stories and he has the best handle on the characters (he created a lot of the best EU people).

Stackpole stuff on the other hand is terrible, was really disappointed with both rogue and wraith series. Dude cannot write dialogue and the expostion is just dull. Best entry to all that lore is the comic series, still Stackpole stories but covers up the faults of just having text. Halfway thru it gets really good, you really get attached to the pilots as they arrive and die off.

Shadows of the Empire was a multimedia thing, the book and comic and game all tell parts of the story. It's dated but still a fun pulpy adventure

NJO (the 20 book post war/new war) got waaay better towards the end when all the writers had a clear idea of the plot. There's some horrendous Karen Travis guff in the middle and Han Solo: The Emo Years is a bit hard to take but it all coalesces into an epic finale that was worth the slog. Also, it's not really the grimdark ending people make it out to be; that'd be the legacy series of comics with Lukes angry loner grandson and ugly new ships for everyone.

and thats my 2 cents for books.

I think you mean angry stoner grandson.

For S&V the A.C. Crispin Han Solo trilogy is nice, and IMO one of the more well written series.

Was buried in only one post that I noticed, if OP is interested in S&V, need to start with Shadows of the Empire. Not a great book judged on its own merits but introduces the major player in the S&V faction. Gotta have the back-stories for Xizor, Guri, and Dash as well as some extra on bounty hunters etc. As a matter of fact, I may re-read that book this weekend. Single volume and a quick read.

So, if I've played the game about a million times do I need to read the book? I've been debating picking it up.

On a side note, has anyone read Allegiance or Choices of One by Zahn? I believe they are both view from the Empire's side. The first being about a Stormtrooper squad, the second about Mara Jade.

Forgot about Fool's Bargain also by Zahn. It was a novella about the 501st, Vader's Fist. I remember it being pretty good. But I'm biased toward Zahn. His Cobra series got me into reading Sci-fi when I was about 12.

Was buried in only one post that I noticed, if OP is interested in S&V, need to start with Shadows of the Empire. Not a great book judged on its own merits but introduces the major player in the S&V faction. Gotta have the back-stories for Xizor, Guri, and Dash as well as some extra on bounty hunters etc. As a matter of fact, I may re-read that book this weekend. Single volume and a quick read.

So, if I've played the game about a million times do I need to read the book? I've been debating picking it up.

nah - just read this: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Wars:_Shadows_of_the_Empire

The Jodo Cast (X-wing podcast) just slammed "Heir of the Jedi". Makes me wonder if it's worth reading now.

From my reading of it (Heir), I think there is probably at least one thing that will very very slightly come into play somewhere in the next films. Hated the 1st person point of view and while the major points of the plot were predictable, overall the story wasn't terrible. I think it could be better as an audio book. The New Dawn audio sample I heard had lots of cool sound effects and such - if that is the case with Heir, it might make it more tolerable in regards to the first person stuff.

The main thing with these new books to consider is "why this story, why now?" - since there is an overlord entity controlling all things story and canon now, with E7 on the horizon, we know these books aren't spoiling anything but they must be setting up something, however minor - right?

even one of the stormtrooper about to raid docking bay 84 or whtaeve it is 'lets solo escape' because hes annoyed as hes been demoted from ATAT driver to stormtrooper... why you ask... because in a simulator he makes the ATAT kneel down when attacked by airspeeders so they cant be tripped up... the imperials dont want this weakness revealed so hes sent to a stormtrooper unit to keep him quiet... which makes no sense at all, they'd just kill him and claim it was an accident.

That would be something he should be promoted for, not demoted. Rather than go on a tirade about how stupid that story sounds, I will resolve to just not read it.