Despite being a long term fan of the movies, I was pretty reluctant to get into x wing. I have been in for about a year Now and not looking back.

With a plethora of books and also the TV series it all looks a bit daunting. Where is a sensible place to start with the expanded universe (and can someone please enlighten me on the RNG acronym)?

RNG= random number generator.

Avoid the EU at all costs!

Despite being a long term fan of the movies, I was pretty reluctant to get into x wing. I have been in for about a year Now and not looking back.

With a plethora of books and also the TV series it all looks a bit daunting. Where is a sensible place to start with the expanded universe (and can someone please enlighten me on the RNG acronym)?

Personally, i would recommend starting with the X-Wing series of books to ease yourself into it, then reading Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy. Many people consider the Thrawn Trilogy to be some of the best that the EU has to offer, and even those that don't still acknowledge them as exceptionally good books.

As for TV shows, Rebels is of course decent, and if you want to see a look at what the Prequels could have been but weren't, watch The Clone Wars.

Ultimately, though, i would be very cautious when getting into the EU. A lot of it is just absolute, irredeemable trash. Personally, the only EU books i've enjoyed have been the X-Wing series and the Thrawn Trilogy. And even some books in the X-Wing series were super iffy.

Actually, Tales of the Bounty Hunters is pretty good.

Pick your favorite pilot and read the book they originate in! For example, Dash Rendar is in Shadows of the Empire.

Aside from explicit series/sets (e.g. the Zhan trilogy or the X-Wing series), much of the EU can be experienced in any order, so there's not a lot of pressure to start at some specific book.

I was much the same as yourself, I have seen the movies a million times but didnt know where to start, thought I love Boba Fett, so just started with the Tales of the Bounty Hunter books

I've read most of the Rebellion and post-RotJ era EU books. My recommendations would be to start with the X-Wing series, from Rogue Squadron through The Bacta War. They're fun, space opera/quasi military sci-fi with plenty of dogfights to inspire your X-Wing games.

Then, move on to the Thrawn Trilogy, which many people for a long time considered the "sequel trilogy". They're pretty good and follow the main characters from the original trilogy.

Then read I, Jedi , for reasons that will become apparent after you finish the above novels.

From there, you can read on (Wraith Squadron books or the second Thrawn duology) but in general the quality goes down. There are a couple of less than stellar series that continue the stories of Luke, Han, and company. And then the New Jedi Order, which is completely different from everything else. It it 19 books long, has a little bit of everything, and is always a subject of fierce debate when brought up. I personally loved it, but many despise it.

Or you can move back to the Rebellion era (between Ep 4 and 5). In that time frame you've got the wonderful Scoundrels, Honor Among Thieves, and Allegience/Choices of One (a two book series).

You can follow the characters you like most.

I'd personally recommend the X-wing series, as it's quite well done, and will mean something to anyone posting here.

The original Zahn Heir to the Empire series that kicked off the EU is decent, and though it contains some cringe-worthy moments, there are fewer than some later series.

Some of the Tales books are pretty good -- Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina and Tales from Jabba's Palace are both solid.

The Thrawn Trilogy and the Rogue/Wraith Squadron novels are THE place to start.

Beyond that, most of the EU novels are forgettable pulp., with such "memorable" storylines as:

'Dinosaur aliens that power their ships with the harvested souls of the living, and 'From beyond the known galaxy aliens that eschew all technology for biological derived tech that is all powerful.'

The Thrawn Trilogy and the Rogue/Wraith Squadron novels are THE place to start.

Beyond that, most of the EU novels are forgettable pulp., with such "memorable" storylines as:

'Dinosaur aliens that power their ships with the harvested souls of the living, and 'From beyond the known galaxy aliens that eschew all technology for biological derived tech that is all powerful.'

Don't forget "The Empire was building a tiny starship that could destroy a sun named the Suncrusher and was indestructible and was in built in a laboratory in the middle of a ton of black holes and Luke's first apprentice steals it and goes on a rampage."

or, "Luke loses his Force powers and joins a cult."

Or, "Marty Stu - er, Corran Horn - chews Luke out for bad teaching when that apprentice steals the Suncrusher and decides to go learn the Force on his own."

Or, "Han Solo decides to kidnap Leia after a leader the New Republic needs as an ally proposes to her, and then imprisons her on a planet he won in a game of chance. Oh, and then she marries him."

Frankly, the EU is more bad than good. The Stackpole X-Wing novels, the Timothy Zahn Heir to the Empire novels, and some of the games are what I'd recommend.

The gold standard: Timothy Zahn's : Heir to the Empire trilogy. Zahn is my favorite hard science fiction writer and a big reason why I 'got into' star wars.

Other Star wars novels by Zahn can be inserted anywhere after this.

(Outside of star wars start with his Conquerors or Cobra series)

Brian Daley, another amazing science fiction writer who passed far to early wrote the Han Solo adventures. In addition to being good science fiction it really captures what the Han Solo character is/was. (Don't confuse this with the Han Solo trilogy, which was ok but nothing to this series).

Dave Wolverton wrote the courtship of princess Leia, it has a slightly different feel than some of the other books but I liked it a lot. Try "On my way to paradise" for another sci-fi work of his that will leave you thinking long after reading it.

X-Wing series was OK, but it is relevant to the game so I'll include it.

Honestly, if you want to learn more generic information about ships and EU characters go strait to the West End Games roleplaying source books. There are fan websites that let you download a lot of the material for free or the sourcebooks themselves.

A friend of mine really liked the Jedi and liked Kevin J Andersons series and stand-alones including the Jedi Trilogy and Darksaber. This was less my interest and I did not enjoy these books very much, but are better than some of the stand alone fluff.

If you want to read where star wars almost ended up, pick up Splinter of the Minds Eye by Alan Dean Foster... this ALMOST was the star wars IV sequel.

Shadows of the Empire (Stephen Perry) was good but not great. The tie in (bad pun, hmm - maybe this is where the name came from) material (including WEG stuff) is what made this stand out.

The Tales XXX XXXX (of the bounty hunters; from jabbas palace; from the empire; from the new republic; from the mos Eisly cantina) are collections of short stories and some are pretty good. I highly recommend the new republic and empire and bounty hunters.

Enjoy

A) Start with Skippy, the Jedi Droid.

B) Realize there will be more like that

C) Stop reading EU stuff

Kidding aside, the Zahn stuff is good, no EU stuff I read was great, and very little of it felt like Star Wars to me personally.

I'd toss in Kenobi as worth the read. Mostly, I'd say the above is pretty spot on. There is some good stuff, a lot of mediocre stuff, and some just plain trash (i.e., avoid anything that is a computer game novelization).

I'm surprised there are no suggestions to read the growing list of officially sanctioned new-canon titles.

Lords of the Sith

Dark Disciple

Rise of the Empire

Lost Stars

Battlefront: Twilight Company

Heir to the Jedi

Aftermath trilogy

Bloodline

Edit - that said, the Tales books were my favorite in high school. Mos Eisley and Bounty Hunters were the only two I had, but were pure entertainment. The few X-Wing novels I read were enjoyable, too.

Also, I added Lost Stars on Samophlange's suggestion.

P.P.S. - I've turned this into a personal list of neo-canon novels to read based on suggestions in this thread for future reference.

Lost Stars is by far, at least in my opinion, the best new canon book so far.

Having read most of the canon novels, as well as much of the old, I am really enjoying the new moreso. While, at times, some of the writing styles are not for everyone, I find the characterizations and interactions very believable.

I agree with many of the above. Start with the Xwing series, Thrawn trilogy, and the Tales books (Tales of the Empire and New Republic are the best imo).

Then avoid Crystal Star, it's by far the biggest pile of trash in the EU. Followed by anything Kevin J Anderson wrote.

My favorites:

#1 Thrawn Trilogy.

#2 Shadows of the Empire.

#3 Old Republic: Deceived and Fatal Alliance.

#4 Darth Bane--Path of Destruction.

#5 I, Jedi.

I read a few others, but these stand out for me.

I need to read Scoundrels.

I quite enjoyed the last two that were written, Crucible and X-Wing: Mercy Kill. I really preferred Aaron Allstons X-Wing books and was glad that he was the one to cap it all off.

If you just want to dip your toes into the EU (there are ALOT of books), read the X-Wing series and the Thrawn Trilogy in chronological order.

I reccomend Republic Commando series by Karen Traviss. I've read most of the above mentioned books and agree with the opinion, that Zahn's (Thrawn) and Stackpole's (X-Wing) books are the best. If you played Republic Commando game and loved it - you will love the books as well.

Despite being a long term fan of the movies, I was pretty reluctant to get into x wing. I have been in for about a year Now and not looking back.

With a plethora of books and also the TV series it all looks a bit daunting. Where is a sensible place to start with the expanded universe (and can someone please enlighten me on the RNG acronym)?

Thrawn trilogy.

Don't bother with anything else.

1: Lost Stars

2: Thrawn trilogy

3: X-wing series

Oh, and if you haven't done so already:

Play the X-Wing PC Game series from the 90's!

It I after all what the Miniatures game was based on. X-Wing and TIE Fighter look a little dated now, but both still pls really well and the campaigns are superb.

X-Wing details the Rebel Alliance's build up to the events of A New Hope (and immediately following it if you get the expansions), while TIE Fighter remains probably the best Star Wars video game of all time, set around the Empire Strikes Back and told from the Imperial point of view. X-Wing: Allliance holds up the best of the series, with a free fan-made updated graphics pack available.

I'm playing X-Wing Alliance again at the moment. Fanbloodytastic game.

Ahhhh this is a trick question as the old EU is now called Legends and only the new EU is Canon

there was some good stuff in legends but its no longer canon (but also a lot of crap)...

from Legends try out

the first 1/2 of the rouge squadron books

and the Thrawn trilogy

I would do the new canon in this order

Watch all the clone wars then watch rebels (impotent to know a lot of the character that my pop up here and there)

then read a New Dawn (aftewr watchinf rebels) and Lost Stars (any time)

Dark Disciple and Lords of the Sith (only if you have seen all of the clone wars)

Heir to the Jedi, Tarkin, are easy reads

the Aftermath trilogy isnt every ones cup of tea but its is setting a lot of the new EU

ohhhh and Perfect weapon is interesting to read straight after watching The Force Awakens

I agree that the new books are pretty good. I'd just skip most of the EU. I've only read them as an adult and not as a kid, so I don't have any rose colored glasses that some people do.

The Thrawn Trilogy is the best. It's OK. I'm hoping Disney will take it, re-write it into something better, and do something with it on the screen. It has potential to be really amazing.

I tried listening to the X-wing series on audio book and couldn't get past 30 minutes of it. I just didn't like it at all.

The Bounty Hunter Wars was pretty bad. I was all excited about it having Dengar, but it was just Boba Fett porn.