Timothy Zahn is my favorite Sci-Fi author and a big part of the reason I got into star wars. One of the top hard science fiction writers out there. Start with Heir to the empire and anything by Zahn. X-wing is okay. The Han Solo books by Brian Daley are good, so is courtship by Wolvertine.

Timothy Zahn is my favorite Sci-Fi author and a big part of the reason I got into star wars. One of the top hard science fiction writers out there. Start with Heir to the empire and anything by Zahn. X-wing is okay. The Han Solo books by Brian Daley are good, so is courtship by Wolvertine.

If you want to get off topic, I can give you some awesome series by any of the authors mentioned above.

What is liked in the old canon is highly subjective to tastes. A lot of stuff is good if you're interested in certain things, but mediocre if you're not. Thrawn/X-wing is really the only things that are close to being universally liked. If you're interested in Clone Wars stuff, you might like Republic Commando which is pretty well written if not slightly over-enthusiastic about Mandalorians (but if you like those, that just makes it better). If you want more traditional SW, Thrawn and X-wing are the way to go. There's some other good stuff in there (like Choices of One for instance), but those are the "big series". Your mileage will vary with individual books. I hear Kenobi was pretty good. If you want to go way back in time, a lot of the books about Revan are pretty good.

Generally though anything by Timothy Zahn or Aaron Allston is pretty solid. I don't really know anything about the new canon so I can't comment on new canon books.

I just finished reading the 9 X-Wing books for the first time. I'd recommend them.

That said;

The Stackpole books are harder to read. They bog down and the battles don't flow very well. His characters are a bit shallow.

The Allston books are written very well, and I couldn't put any of them down once I started. The characters feel alive.

Also read the Thrawn Trilogy and A New Dawn. Both excellent. Next in the queue are Tarkin and Lords of the Sith.

Edit: Just discovered there is now a 10th X-Wing book by Allston (2012). To Amazon I go!

I mean, the golden standard is usually The Thrawn Trilogy (Heir to the Empire/Dark Force Rising/The Last Command) and the X-wing series.

Its an older canon, but it checks out.

I need to pickup the NJO books, I miss the Vong war.

In my experience I haven't come across any of the EU novels that were entirely unreadable. I was actually rather put out that the EU was more or less nuked for new canon. I'd read all of the Legacy and Fate of the Jedi series and enjoyed them. I was looking forward to more stories of Luke and Ben.

My recommendation is start with "Heir to the Empire" which let all of this stuff out of the bag so to speak.

On some level "EU sucks" is just as much a reflex action at this point as is "Prequels suck." It used to be reading EU stuff got you "geek cred" now bagging on EU stuff is where you get the cred in my observation. That noise can go pound sand.

Go to the bookstore or the library and pick something that sounds good to you. It is easy enough with internet access and the info on the covers to know where any book fits in a longer series of books. This stuff is common enough that you can find pretty decent deals on stacks of books on eBay and in various used book retailers and most of it is still in print. It needn't be any more difficult than I'd like to read this.

There aren't to many that are canon right now, though some things (like Thrawn) will eventually come back. If you dont care about canon, I would suggest the Thrawn Trilogy, it's a good place to start. Anything by Timothy Zahn is good. There are hundreds of the old EU books. Read whatever you like.

In my experience I haven't come across any of the EU novels that were entirely unreadable. I was actually rather put out that the EU was more or less nuked for new canon. I'd read all of the Legacy and Fate of the Jedi series and enjoyed them. I was looking forward to more stories of Luke and Ben.

On some level "EU sucks" is just as much a reflex action at this point as is "Prequels suck." It used to be reading EU stuff got you "geek cred" now bagging on EU stuff is where you get the cred in my observation. That noise can go pound sand.

I'll say that there are two Star Wars books that I couldn't finish. I usually do audio book, so that might have some difference (thought not all were audio). The first book I couldn't finish was the X-wing series. I just couldn't keep track of who was who and who died or did what or.....I just couldn't get past the 30 min mark. I know it's well loved by most, but I just couldn't do it. The next is a new canon book and was the one with Luke and the lady in it. It was bad. I didn't like it at all.

My overall impression of the EU stuff is.....it's OK at best. The Thrawn Trilogy is the most OK of them all. I was sorely disappointed in the Bounty Hunter Wars. Shadows of the Empire were OK. I would suggest reading them as it's got Dash Rendar and Xizor in it.

I do like the new stuff and would recommend these books:

-Lost Stars

-A New Dawn

-Tarkin

The rest were OK. I didn't mind Aftermath on audio book as much as some people seem to hate it. It wasn't great, but it wasn't as bad as the two I couldn't finish.

X-wing would be pretty confusing as an audio book. TBH though, the first 4 X-wings you can pass if you want. The plot is pretty good but the actually execution isn't best. Especially because as you said, it flonts tons of characters around and then never really expands upon them. I highly recommend trying the Allston books (Wraith Squadron, Iron Fist, Solo Command, and Starfighters of Adumar). They aren't necessarily dependent on the first 4 books and they present a good story with good writing. Starfighters of Adumar is an especially good book. It delves into some philosophical and ethical questions about war, while still being a good 'ole SW experience. It's also a standalone book. I highly recommend atleast trying it if you're not gonna bother with the Wraith trilogy.

X-wing would be pretty confusing as an audio book. TBH though, the first 4 X-wings you can pass if you want. The plot is pretty good but the actually execution isn't best. Especially because as you said, it flonts tons of characters around and then never really expands upon them. I highly recommend trying the Allston books (Wraith Squadron, Iron Fist, Solo Command, and Starfighters of Adumar). They aren't necessarily dependent on the first 4 books and they present a good story with good writing. Starfighters of Adumar is an especially good book. It delves into some philosophical and ethical questions about war, while still being a good 'ole SW experience. It's also a standalone book. I highly recommend atleast trying it if you're not gonna bother with the Wraith trilogy.

Not to mention the fact that Wedge, Tycho, Wes, and Hobbie are absolutely epic together.

X-wing would be pretty confusing as an audio book. TBH though, the first 4 X-wings you can pass if you want. The plot is pretty good but the actually execution isn't best. Especially because as you said, it flonts tons of characters around and then never really expands upon them. I highly recommend trying the Allston books (Wraith Squadron, Iron Fist, Solo Command, and Starfighters of Adumar). They aren't necessarily dependent on the first 4 books and they present a good story with good writing. Starfighters of Adumar is an especially good book. It delves into some philosophical and ethical questions about war, while still being a good 'ole SW experience. It's also a standalone book. I highly recommend atleast trying it if you're not gonna bother with the Wraith trilogy.

That's good to know. Everyone raves about the books, but I just didn't care for the first. Maybe it's the later books that really ramp up? I might just have to skip four of them. Or read a quick snyposis.

Then again, I am listening to Dune audiobook with my son. He's already picked out the next book series, which is the Harry Potter one. I might just download that for him and let him read/listen to them on his own. I'm fine with just the movies.

I'm reading a book series now and usually have enough podcasts queued up that I'm fine, but I do want to read/listen to Bloodlines next. Oh, and then my son and I both want to listen to Aftermath 2: Life Debt.

Pretty sure there will never be another Star Wars book as good as Matt Stover's Mace Windu's Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness aka Shatterpoint. Because, uh, yeah, "Heart of Darkness was pretty good, we should do that but with Jedi" is A++.

Beyond that, what do you normally read and how high are your standards? If, e.g., you come to Star Wars expecting to find things on the level of Ann Leckie, Seth Dickinson, Richard Morgan, Joe Abercrombie or Lois McMaster Bujold, well. Just turn around and walk away. If you can accurately calibrate your expectations for brainless popcorn fun that's not as good at being brainless popcorn fun as the movies are, then by all means, dive in. With a handful of exceptions, skilled SFF authors don't do Star Wars work.

For that matter, if most of your reading has been for-hire work in franchise IPs, sure, dive on in.

Zahn is popular for a reason although...sometimes it gets Real Goddamn Stupid. The X-Wing series is solid, though I did prefer Allston's books to Stackpole's. Stay far away from Kevin J Anderson. Of the new stuff, Rucka's Smuggler's Run is an easy recommendation, as the hyper-competent ISB agent is plenty entertaining. Although, of course, going up against Han means she loses, so.