If you want a laugh, you can't go far wrong with Tag & Bink.

One interesting "Trilogy" is the Jedi Academy one (Jedi Search, Dark Apprentice, Champions of the Force

Counterpoint: the Jedi Academy trilogy is bloody awful. If you see it coming, run the other way.

One interesting "Trilogy" is the Jedi Academy one (Jedi Search, Dark Apprentice, Champions of the Force

Counterpoint: the Jedi Academy trilogy is bloody awful. If you see it coming, run the other way.

Nah, just suffer through it so you have some of the background for I, Jedi.

One interesting "Trilogy" is the Jedi Academy one (Jedi Search, Dark Apprentice, Champions of the Force

Counterpoint: the Jedi Academy trilogy is bloody awful. If you see it coming, run the other way.

Nah, just suffer through it so you have some of the background for I, Jedi.

It does get a little ridiculous but I'm a bit of a completionist so I read it anyways, and I am glad I did since it sets up I, Jedi, and Admiral Daala and Kyp Durron, who are fairly important players in other books

One interesting "Trilogy" is the Jedi Academy one (Jedi Search, Dark Apprentice, Champions of the Force

Counterpoint: the Jedi Academy trilogy is bloody awful. If you see it coming, run the other way.

Nah, just suffer through it so you have some of the background for I, Jedi.

I, Jedi made perfect sense to me without the background.

I highly recommend the Allston X-wing books.

If you want something different from the same old Empire builds a super-weapon schemes, I recommend New Jedi Order and Legacy of the Force.

NJO is nice because it FEELS real. Not just the same main characters are gonna be fine and everything's gonna turn out ok at the end kind of thing. The antagonists are different. Not bad but different.

LotF has an interesting undertone where who's good and who's bad suddenly flip.

Rogue Planet is a prequel for NJO

Choices of One is a nice Zahn story about Jade

Warriorpoet, based on what you've said I would jump on the tales of Bounty Hunters (if you enjoyed the other two 'Mos Eisley' and 'Jabba's Palace' then you'll enjoy Bounty Hunters.)

In addition, a previous post referenced The Han Solo adventures. This was fun back in the day. Also, there is a Lando Calrissian adventure novel. Like its Han Solo counterpart there are 3 shorter stories in each book. Both were fun to read.

I grew tired real fast of reading a lot of EU. To me it felt like the authors wrote some average sci fi and the editor said "Hey, change their names, slap a big 'Star Wars' on the cover and BAM .. we might be able to sell this ****!" But again, it's all subjective.

Contrary to popular opinion, I can not recommend the "Thrawn" books. I read the first one, and found it to be boring and poorly written.

But it's a matter of taste really...

(aside for gifts of "Planet of Twilight" and "Rogue Planet")

I'm sorry these had to be your introduction to the EU. Rogue Planet was "meh" at best, and Planet of Twilight was.....well, let's keep things civil, shall we?

I usually suggest that people start with Shadows of the Empire. It's closely related to episodes V and VI while filling in a lot of the EU background of the major characters. The Thrawn trilogy would be next, but you've got that under your belt.

After that, it really depends on what you're looking for. A lot of people ask me for suggestions for books that don't center around Jedi and the Force. I point them towards the X-wing series and the Han Solo books. The Han Solo trilogy (The Paradise Snare, The Hutt Gambit, and Rebel Dawn) are some of my favorites.

The Truce at Bakura is a good starting place for getting your bearings in the post-Empire era, as is Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor.

If you want lots of the Force and Jedi related stuff, start with the Jedi Academy trilogy (Jedi Search, Dark Apprentice, and Champions of the Force). Most of the characters introduced in these books represent the new generation of Jedi. Then go for some of the supplementary books around that era, like I, Jedi. If you want to go a little further to the 2nd generation of the New Jedi Order, the Young Jedi Knights series of children's books are actually pretty good, believe it or not. And of course there's the New Jedi Order series, but that's a hell of an undertaking, and there's a lot of mixed opinions about it.

Darth Plagueis changed how I view the entire Prequel trilogy. The Republic Commando series is amazing. Traitor is my favorite book from the Yuuzhan Vong series. The Darth Bane series is pretty good also.

Anything Zahn, Kenobi, Darth Plagueis, and New Jedi Order

(aside for gifts of "Planet of Twilight" and "Rogue Planet")

I'm sorry these had to be your introduction to the EU. Rogue Planet was "meh" at best, and Planet of Twilight was.....well, let's keep things civil, shall we?

I usually suggest that people start with Shadows of the Empire. It's closely related to episodes V and VI while filling in a lot of the EU background of the major characters. The Thrawn trilogy would be next, but you've got that under your belt.

After that, it really depends on what you're looking for. A lot of people ask me for suggestions for books that don't center around Jedi and the Force. I point them towards the X-wing series and the Han Solo books. The Han Solo trilogy (The Paradise Snare, The Hutt Gambit, and Rebel Dawn) are some of my favorites.

The Truce at Bakura is a good starting place for getting your bearings in the post-Empire era, as is Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor.

If you want lots of the Force and Jedi related stuff, start with the Jedi Academy trilogy (Jedi Search, Dark Apprentice, and Champions of the Force). Most of the characters introduced in these books represent the new generation of Jedi. Then go for some of the supplementary books around that era, like I, Jedi. If you want to go a little further to the 2nd generation of the New Jedi Order, the Young Jedi Knights series of children's books are actually pretty good, believe it or not. And of course there's the New Jedi Order series, but that's a hell of an undertaking, and there's a lot of mixed opinions about it.

Rogue Planet was meh, but it is actually a very good intro to NJO. YJK is very good despite being childrens books. Also good if you want to read NJO and know more about the main characters.

I'd also like to say, if you read the Prequel trilogy, it is better than watching. For instance, I remember the book of AotC featured character development of Jango, making him not just some random guy in cool armor that gets his head chopped off.

Everything is a matter of taste I suppose but, I will echo Shadows, which is probably the only book I have seen near universally recommended. If you liked the Thrawn trilogy, the Hand of Thrawn duology is excellent. Bounty Hunter Wars are excellent, except for the Zuckuss and 4-LOM "I don't care about what has been written before" personality changes(which required a retcon that Zuckuss is schizophrenic... I don't even). I'll also recommend the Black fleet crisis books. They're a little bloated with all the characters and side stories but as long as you ignore the completely pointless Luke side story they show a truly unique and threatening alien species(without the full retard, edgemaster-ness of the vong) and a well written villain in Nil Spaar.

By all means, keep reading the X-Wing books! You'll eventually get to meet Tetran Cowall, Colonel Vessery, and Turr Phennir and all the books should be entertaining reads. Shadows of the Empire will introduce you to the pilots in the YT-2400 and Starviper expansions but I can't really comment on the book's quality as I haven't read it in a long time. But, in honor the the YT-2400 and Starviper expansions I just ordered, I'm about to rectify that.

I am surprised not many have mentioned the Han Solo trilogy. Set before the original trilogy, no skywalkers in sight and introduces some interesting characters from hans early life.

I enjoyed the Jedi academy trilogy although I know a lot didn't !

Kenobi is a good read as well I like John Jackson Miller's stuff, I don't remember his other ones off the top of my head though

Wow, thanks for all the feedback! And sorry it's taken me so long to reply - work & personal life have been super-busy the last 3 weeks, and this one is no exception so far. (Hence why I'm up 3 hours past bedtime...)

I recently reread the novelization of Shadows of the Empire, as well as reading Allegiance by Timothy Zahn for the first time. I enjoyed both of them; the Zahn novel follows a group of Stormtroopers on the run from the Empire. It takes place between Episodes 4 and 5. I would recommend it.

For US$10/month, you can subscribe to Marvel Unlimited. MU now includes _all_ the Star Wars Legends comics. If you have a portable screen 6 inches or larger, I highly recommend!

People knock on the Vong, but if you want to see actual total war in the Star Wars universe New Jedi Order is where it's at. The Rebellion was tiny and surgical by comparison. Also you get to see a huge cross-section of most of the late EU characters.

One interesting "Trilogy" is the Jedi Academy one (Jedi Search, Dark Apprentice, Champions of the Force, and "I,Jedi") if you go that route make sure you read "I,Jedi" after you read the actual Trilogy, it is sorta simultaneous as the trilogy but covers events from all 3 of the other ones, and it focuses quite a bit on Corran Horn from the Rogue Squadron books

Other wise if you liked the Thrawn Trilogy I would recommend the Hand of Thrawn set or Outbound Flight (and whichever book covers the finding of the Outbound Flight wreckage by Luke)

Legacy of the Force and Fate of the Jedi weren't terrible in my opinion (and honestly I wish what episodes 7-9 were about)

I've actually been wanting to get back to the Vong stuff and cherry-pick some of the better things from it to read. So far I've only read Vector Prime, Star by Star (both kind of . . . "meh") and the Rebel Dawn series (the one with Wedge and Lusankya - THAT is awesome Are there any more books in the series that are similar in tone to that one and have less "jedi save the word, because they're the bestest" ?

Also if you want back story for OT characters, or at least Han Solo, the Han Solo Adventures(Han Solo at Stars End, Han Solo's Revenge, and Han Solo and the Lost Legacy) by Brian Daley are really good. And my favorite "back story" books are The Han Solo Trilogy(The Paradise Snare, The Hutt Gambit, and Rebel Dawn) by A.C. Crispin. If you want to read all six in chronological order read The Paradise Snare and The Hutt Gambit, and then read the Han Solo Adventures, and then finish with Rebel Dawn. It will tell you all about Han's life from early teens to the Mos Eisley cantina on the day he meets Luke.

I highly recommend the Allston X-wing books.

If you want something different from the same old Empire builds a super-weapon schemes, I recommend New Jedi Order and Legacy of the Force.

NJO is nice because it FEELS real. Not just the same main characters are gonna be fine and everything's gonna turn out ok at the end kind of thing. The antagonists are different. Not bad but different.

LotF has an interesting undertone where who's good and who's bad suddenly flip.

Rogue Planet is a prequel for NJO

Choices of One is a nice Zahn story about Jade

The Truce at Bakura is a good starting place for getting your bearings in the post-Empire era, as is Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor.

[...]

If you want to go a little further to the 2nd generation of the New Jedi Order, the Young Jedi Knights series of children's books are actually pretty good, believe it or not. And of course there's the New Jedi Order series, but that's a hell of an undertaking, and there's a lot of mixed opinions about it.

Everything is a matter of taste I suppose but, I will echo Shadows, which is probably the only book I have seen near universally recommended. If you liked the Thrawn trilogy, the Hand of Thrawn duology is excellent. Bounty Hunter Wars are excellent, except for the Zuckuss and 4-LOM "I don't care about what has been written before" personality changes(which required a retcon that Zuckuss is schizophrenic... I don't even). I'll also recommend the Black fleet crisis books. They're a little bloated with all the characters and side stories but as long as you ignore the completely pointless Luke side story they show a truly unique and threatening alien species(without the full retard, edgemaster-ness of the vong) and a well written villain in Nil Spaar.

Okay, so my short list at this point is -

Shadows of the Empire Read

Allegiance (anything Zahn!)

Marvel Unlimited (happen to know if they support Gen1 iPads?)

New Jedi Order (total war in SW universe sounds amazing, and I want to learn about the Vong)

Bounty Hunter Wars

Jedi Academy

Hand of Thrawn Starting to read now! (2016-4-15)

Tales of the Bounty Hunters Read

Outbound Flight

Legacy of the Force

Fate of the Jedi

Han Solo Adventures

Han Solo trilogy

New Jedi Order (glad to hear there's some peril in the EU, not just "aaaaand, Corran dodged again" shenanigans!)

Choices of One (again, yay Zahn!)

Truce at Bakura Read

Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor Read

Black Fleet Crisis (one of the things I loved most about Thrawn was that he was a good, well-written villain who was fully fleshed-out, and at times, I couldn't tell if he was going to be overcome or not, so yay for believable villains!)

Kenobi

Any particular order in which to read these? I'd prefer to do it maintaining internal chronology, which I can sort out via Wikipedia I imagine.

Just kidding, I will say enjoy your summer break because you won't have them when you grow up.

I'm a schoolteacher.

Edit: Couldn't quote everyone to satisfy my OCD-esque need to give credit where credit is due, but thank you all!

Edit edit: Forgot to list Tales of the Bounty Hunters and Kenobi!

Aaron Allston's installments of the X-Wing Series (Wraith Squadron trilogy, Starfighters of Adumar) are my favorite books in the EU. They inject a lot of humor into the setting, and that's a good feeling.

Wraith squadron just had great characters. I enjoyed the whole X-Wing series, but Allston's books were the best ones in my opinion. The escalation of the villain threat is something I really enjoyed throughout those books too; building up to Warlord Zzinj himself was excellent. Although...

I really like "The Courtship of Princess Leia" It is a good story, introduces the now truly canon Dathomiri Night sisters, the Hapans, and generally shows Han Solo acting like a pirate and then like a truly good person underneath. Its one of my favorites and I've read most.

I really was annoyed with "Courtship of Princess Leia". The end of Allston's trilogy led into this, and it was a huge let-down in how it handled Zzinj.

Aaron Allston's installments of the X-Wing Series (Wraith Squadron trilogy, Starfighters of Adumar) are my favorite books in the EU. They inject a lot of humor into the setting, and that's a good feeling.

Wraith squadron just had great characters. I enjoyed the whole X-Wing series, but Allston's books were the best ones in my opinion. The escalation of the villain threat is something I really enjoyed throughout those books too; building up to Warlord Zzinj himself was excellent. Although...

I really like "The Courtship of Princess Leia" It is a good story, introduces the now truly canon Dathomiri Night sisters, the Hapans, and generally shows Han Solo acting like a pirate and then like a truly good person underneath. Its one of my favorites and I've read most.

I really was annoyed with "Courtship of Princess Leia". The end of Allston's trilogy led into this, and it was a huge let-down in how it handled Zzinj.

I can see not liking how a certain character's story wrapped up(Zzinj) but overall I think Courtship is great! It introduces so much and I feel is very well written(it didn't break any literary ground, but it wasn't poorly written or predictable) The main bad guys(night sisters) are believably powerful and a credible threat without a deathstar and the way Han Solo is written is totally in character, adds depth to his character, and is right in line with the Original Trilogy. A must read for any EU fan, nay, any Star Wars fan!

I'll jump on the Shadows of the Empire recommendation, especially if you enjoyed the game back in the day.

I recently enjoyed it in audio format, though not as an audiobook, as it only exists in an abridged version.

Instead I installed a better text-to-speech engine on my phone, and an app that can read you ebooks.

If you don't mind having Luke's X-Wing read out 'lukes-sex-swing' you're golden.

I'll jump on the Shadows of the Empire recommendation, especially if you enjoyed the game back in the day.

I recently enjoyed it in audio format, though not as an audiobook, as it only exists in an abridged version.

Instead I installed a better text-to-speech engine on my phone, and an app that can read you ebooks.

If you don't mind having Luke's X-Wing read out 'lukes-sex-swing' you're golden.

There's a good drinking game to be had when reading Star Wars books - every time they reference the original trilogy (dialogue or event) take a swig. You'll be hammered in a few chapters.

Gratitutous references aside, there's some interesting reads out there. Everyone's already covered the Thrawn trilogy and the X-wing novels. I've only recently started this latter series and I'm on the 5th book now. I also second the recommendation for Hand of Thrawn, I actually think this is better than the trilogy and is probably one of the best written.

The Rogue Squadron comic series by Dark Horse is worth a read, even though the artwork's all over the place. Dark Horse's Republic serious which then became Dark Times was good (with the latter having some of the best Star Wars art by Doug Wheatley), and Dark Horse's Empire also had some great OT era stories (including a Leia story inspired by the 1977 Star Wars Radio Drama). This series then became Rebellion, which was... inconsistent. If I was to point out specific arcs in Empire, I recommend the Biggs Darklighter story and 'To The Last Man' (a 3-part Star Wars version of the movie classic Zulu).

Other comics worth a read:

Tag and Bink (very funny, you'll look at some movie scenes very differently after reading!)

Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison (a Vader focused story obviously, hard to summarise without giving away the plot)

Star Wars: Purge (Darth Vader goes Jedi hunting in the wake of Order 666)

Jedi Council: Acts of War (set before TPM, the jedi are manipulated into war with an aggressive alien race)

Finally, the manga for ANH is great, they've really captured the energy of the movie.

its been suggested to death but I'll repeat it. Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire trilogy sey the standard for decades and gave us several great characters.

Also one I'd particularly recommend because it's hard to say it didn't happen as it made its own era in the Canon is the graphic novels of Star Wars Legends.

Seeing the galaxy 100+ years after End or was a really interesting experience and it's does a good job of having the main characters play in a morally gray area for much of it.

Anything Zahn as other have mentioned but my shortlist is:

Shadows of the Empire: A great example of a well executed multi-media project. The game, graphic novel and novelization are all really good. The Force Unleashed tried to recreate this idea but ultimately fell short in my opinion.

Outbound Flight: A standalone Zahn book set in the prequel era. I couldn't put this one down.

Legacy of the Force Series: This is 9 books written by three authors (Karen Traviss among them) and is basically the last great epic of the legacy EU. I see a lot of inspiration being pulled from this series in TFA [based on lots of speculation of course]. Its a tragic story and many main characters suffer cruel fates.

Death Star: Another standalone book. Interesting tale on the lives of some everyday crew members during the construction of the Death Star leading right up to the Battle of Yavin

Honourable Mentions:

Darth Plagueis: I haven't actually read this one myself but I have only heard good things about it. It seems they've re-canonized some details from this story and I am curious to see if he ends up making an appearance in the sequel trilogy. One of the cooler mysteries of the prequel trilogy for sure.

New Star Wars Marvel Comics: I know someone else mentioned Marvel unlimited and I know you asked for legacy content but the new comics have been very good. Star Wars does a good job of capturing the essence of the main characters, Darth Vader is a serious badass in his series, Princess Leia provides some context to the immediate aftermath of Ep IV and Kanan is the surprise of the lot - an original story [quite tragic so far] and probably my favourite of all of them.