Now while the aftermath books are canon they’re pretty bad IMO. And here are just some reasons

1. The characters. Most if not all of the characters are goody-goodys who just cant die. Only one fully main character actually dies along with two secondary characters and the villain.

2. Empire ended a year after Endor. IMO thats pretty stupid. A galaxy wide empire with a huge military falls to some terrorists in a year? And what about the SSDs? There used to be twelve. By the time of the battle of Jakku there were only two and one had been captured by pirates. Pirates? Seriously? And how could the new republic form a fleet in one year, thats biger than the empire’s fleet? This has got to be my biggest gripe about the books.

3. The books themselves are pretty boring, I only read them because they were all there was to read that was canon (Thrawn wasn’t out yet). Tbh the interludes were more interesting than the actual story.

what about you guys? Did you guys enjoy them? And are there any other good/bad canon books now.

Tarkin

Thrawn

Catalyst

Lost Stars

Bloodlines

All pretty good books. I mean, Thrawn is kinda a given, but Tarkin was surprisingly good and Lost Stars as well.

Catalyst is pretty much required reading to understand what on earth is going on with the first few minutes of Rogue One. Like if there was ever a "required Summer Reading" for a Star Wars movie, Catalyst would be that book.

Bloodlines is amazing, and fixes one of the bigger issues anyone should have with the old EU. Namely "Why would Luke and Leia go around telling everyone 'hey we're related to Darth Vader!'"

18 minutes ago, BiggsIRL said:

Tarkin

Thrawn

Catalyst

Lost Stars

Bloodlines

All pretty good books. I mean, Thrawn is kinda a given, but Tarkin was surprisingly good and Lost Stars as well.

Catalyst is pretty much required reading to understand what on earth is going on with the first few minutes of Rogue One. Like if there was ever a "required Summer Reading" for a Star Wars movie, Catalyst would be that book.

Bloodlines is amazing, and fixes one of the bigger issues anyone should have with the old EU. Namely "Why would Luke and Leia go around telling everyone 'hey we're related to Darth Vader!'"

Read all of them except Bloodlines amd Lost Stars. From what I hear Lost Stars is rubbish. I’ll definitely give bloodlines a try

Certainly not Rubbish. The Audiobook is certainly the weakest of the 4 I have (Tarkin, Thrawn, Lost Stars, A New Dawn) and I chalk that up to a mix of story and narrator.

but certainly not rubbish.

56 minutes ago, Drasnighta said:

Certainly not Rubbish. The Audiobook is certainly the weakest of the 4 I have (Tarkin, Thrawn, Lost Stars, A New Dawn) and I chalk that up to a mix of story and narrator.

but certainly not rubbish.

Guess I’ll give it a try. How does it match up to the aftermath books?

1 hour ago, Jabby said:

Guess I’ll give it a try. How does it match up to the aftermath books?

I haven’t read them - just these four - but I’ve read a lot of rubbish over the years ?

If it's one thing I've learned (call it wisdom if you like), it's not NEVER read any Star Wars books.

Trust me, your life will be better for it.

7 hours ago, BiggsIRL said:

Tarkin

Thrawn

Catalyst

Lost Stars

Bloodlines

All pretty good books. I mean, Thrawn is kinda a given, but Tarkin was surprisingly good and Lost Stars as well.

Catalyst is pretty much required reading to understand what on earth is going on with the first few minutes of Rogue One. Like if there was ever a "required Summer Reading" for a Star Wars movie, Catalyst would be that book.

Bloodlines is amazing, and fixes one of the bigger issues anyone should have with the old EU. Namely "Why would Luke and Leia go around telling everyone 'hey we're related to Darth Vader!'"

Did i miss something in Rogue One? I thought its beginning was fairly self explanitory. What dose catalyst bring to help the movie? I have not read it, and i would like to know to see if i want add it to the 'when you remember to sit down and read' stack of books.

Catalyst is good, but hardly necessary to understand anything in Rogue One. The combination of Tarkin and Catalyst does a lot to develop Imperial characters, and fills in a lot of the gaps between prequels and OT.

The Tarkin novel was bipolar to me. Everything going on in the background added a lot of quality Star Wars lore, but the main plot was basically a Tarkin/Vader buddy cop story I could have done without.

3 minutes ago, jmswood said:

Catalyst is good, but hardly necessary to understand anything in Rogue One. The combination of Tarkin and Catalyst does a lot to develop Imperial characters, and fills in a lot of the gaps between prequels and OT.

The Tarkin novel was bipolar to me. Everything going on in the background added a lot of quality Star Wars lore, but the main plot was basically a Tarkin/Vader buddy cop story I could have done without.

I really liked tarkins backstory on the Carrion though

2 hours ago, jmswood said:

Catalyst is good, but hardly necessary to understand anything in Rogue One. The combination of Tarkin and Catalyst does a lot to develop Imperial characters, and fills in a lot of the gaps between prequels and OT.

The Tarkin novel was bipolar to me. Everything going on in the background added a lot of quality Star Wars lore, but the main plot was basically a Tarkin/Vader buddy cop story I could have done without.

The Tarkin book was what made me swear never again to waste time and money on Star Wars novels.

5 hours ago, Green Knight said:

If it's one thing I've learned (call it wisdom if you like), it's not NEVER read any Star Wars books.

Trust me, your life will be better for it.

26 minutes ago, Green Knight said:

The Tarkin book was what made me swear never again to waste time and money on Star Wars novels.

You’re apparently condemning dozens of books by multiple authors for one poor experience. Did you read any other Star Wars books before Tarkin?

I don’t hesitate to concede that Star Wars books are not universally good. However, there is so much variety I’m optimisitic there is a Star Wars book for everyone.

5 hours ago, Green Knight said:

If it's one thing I've learned (call it wisdom if you like), it's not NEVER read any Star Wars books.

Trust me, your life will be better for it.

I used to love the Xwing books!

6 minutes ago, Ginkapo said:

I used to love the Xwing books!

Me too!

It got a little samey after a while, but I read the first 5-6 at least twice.

Back in the day.

2 hours ago, Green Knight said:

The Tarkin book was what made me swear never again to waste time and money on Star Wars novels.

It wasn't Jimmy's best and he knows it. After Catalyst, he realized he just doesn't like writing in that era of Star Wars. No full fledged Empire, but no Jedi either.

15 hours ago, Jabby said:

Read all of them except Bloodlines amd Lost Stars. From what I hear Lost Stars is rubbish. I’ll definitely give bloodlines a try

Lost Stars has some good characters, but some of the scenes seem a bit too romance-novel ish...worth a read, but not a perfect book.

3 hours ago, Ginkapo said:

I used to love the Xwing books!

The X-Wing books were pretty good, and Timothy Zahn's 5 Thrawn books too (Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, The Last Command, Specter of the Past, Vision of the Future).

Oh how I wish for Legends stories to be movies sometimes...

4 hours ago, ImperialCaptain2017 said:

The X-Wing books were pretty good, and Timothy Zahn's 5 Thrawn books too (Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, The Last Command, Specter of the Past, Vision of the Future).

Oh how I wish for Legends stories to be movies sometimes...

I liked all of Zahn’s Thrawn books (old and new). The Heir to the Empire books were my first star wars novels. I haven’t read the x-wing books but ive been hearing so much about them

I've read Aftermatch. I wish I didn't...

I love all those books and never had an issue with them in fact I enjoyed them and can't wait for the next ones. I don' understand all the hate.

On 1/14/2018 at 4:24 PM, fistfulofforce said:

I love all those books and never had an issue with them in fact I enjoyed them and can't wait for the next ones. I don' understand all the hate.

Same here. I've read all the new canon books and none of them have been "bad" to me (Except maybe "Join the Resistance" but it got kinda good at the end). Obviously some are better than others, and they are not all mind-blowing, but they are at least enjoyable.

And as far as specially talking about Aftermath, I don't get the hate. I loved it. Especially Jas, Sinjir, and Mr. Bones....oh, and Sloan. Love me some Sloan. Snap got a little annoying at times, but he is 17, of course he is annoying. Also, I know he is not the badass he was in the old books (and I love the old books too) but I like this version of Wedge....


*except the Legends of Luke Skywalker, a few of the most recent junior novels, and the second half of crimson squad, and the comics that came out yesterday...but I'm working on it

On ‎01‎/‎06‎/‎2018 at 12:08 AM, Jabby said:

2. Empire ended a year after Endor. IMO thats pretty stupid. A galaxy wide empire with a huge military falls to some terrorists in a year? And what about the SSDs? There used to be twelve. By the time of the battle of Jakku there were only two and one had been captured by pirates. Pirates? Seriously? And how could the new republic form a fleet in one year, thats biger than the empire’s fleet? This has got to be my biggest gripe about the books.

I'm behind on my reading so I have to admit that I haven't read any of the books yet....but this part actually makes sense.

You have a galaxy wide empire. It's a tyrannical empire with billions of oppressed people. The #1 and #2 of the empire are killed (along with countless other higher up officers, etc). A noticeable portion of their military is destroyed. A gigantic space station/super weapon is destroyed. This was all done by a rag-tag band of rebels using antiquated, left over ships for the most part. It's the equivalent of half a dozen Midwest yokels with shotguns taking over the capital and white house while disabling Andrews Air Force base and the Pentagon and also taking out half the presidential succession list.

Now keep in mind that the Empire is not a well oiled machine. Nepotism and corruption are out of control. Beyond that, no one gets to learn from their mistakes and become better at their jobs. 1 minor mistake typically ends with a death sentence, so leadership is inexperienced and scared. A giant power vacuum forms with no solid leadership to keep the order, so things could quickly get out of control. The Empire would likely splinter and various admirals, generals, etc would likely turn into warlords trying to gain power. So now the Empire starts fighting itself, which means less people dedicated to keeping the people in line and the criminals on the run.

With a very visible defeat to the Empire (loss of the 2nd death star, a SSD, several SDs, and thousands of troops along with the emperor and Vader), just 4 short years after the rebels wiped out the last death star, it's not hard to see how the people would rise up against the Empire. Oppressed masses would take arms to join the rebels. People that remembered the old Republic and hated the tyranny of the Empire would want to revive the old government. Criminals, smugglers, and pirates would definitely take advantage of the situation. A rising rebellion, a young new government forming, a fracturing empire fighting amongst itself. Keep in mind that there are several LARGE pirate forces that have fleets of their own that rival that of the Rebels and would likely rival that of some of the Empire's warlords. We're talking capital ships, support crafts, dozens of squadrons. The RPGs detail out detachments (so mere fractions) of these forces being larger than what we can field in standard Armada matches.

The rebels have a sizable fleet at Endor. They've been gaining support, ships, shipyards, etc over the years. More and more Imperials have been switching sides. If you imagine that the slaves and various indentured servants working the Imperial shipyards have been slowing down work as best they can, then you can imagine how they could overthrow their guards and start building ships for the rebels. All the shipyards that remained neutral throw in with the new Republic. With the Imperial infighting, it's easier for the rebels to capture shipyards, liberate retired vessels from the boneyards, etc. With the Empire fighting itself. The rise of the Rebellion. The newly inspired criminal factions. The new allies to the Rebellion. It doesn't surprise me that the new Republic could form and surpass the Empire in short order. On top of all that the Empire doesn't include the First Order. By Jakku, a decent portion of the military leadership has left the Empire and started working towards the First order. They would have taken ships, troops, etc with them. What remains of the Empire at that time was likely very small in comparison to what they once had.

There was maybe 12-16 SSDs in the Empire. The rebels destroy several in battle, the First Order leadership takes several with them, doesn't leave much left. A year seems pretty quick to have that level of turnaround, but when you consider thousands of planets rising up against the Empire, new production for the Republic, ships lost in warlord combat between various Imperial factions, the fact that some Imperial ships/forces likely would take the opportunity to switch sides, the loss of ships to the First Order, the loss of ships to combat or capture against the rebels and various criminal factions, it's not impossible to imagine a scenario where this could happen.

The Republic doesn't have much left after Jakku though. Both sides had HUGE forces, and both sides lost a LOT. Both sides basically threw everything they had left at that battle and very little survived.

I read the first of the Aftermath books when it came out. I hated it. The story had no redeeming qualities and no good characters. Wedge could have been replaced with literally anyone, and it would have made no difference. I've never got around to reading the second or third books because every time I do I think about how bad Aftermath was. Tarkin wasn't great, but it was galaxies away from Aftermath. Th first of the Disney Canon books I've really enjoyed was Thrawn, but that's just Zahn being his normal awesome self.

I've tried to give the new canon a try, but 90% of it comes off as a cheap and gimmicky imitation of the original.

12 hours ago, Alpha17 said:

I read the first of the Aftermath books when it came out. I hated it. The story had no redeeming qualities and no good characters. Wedge could have been replaced with literally anyone, and it would have made no difference. I've never got around to reading the second or third books because every time I do I think about how bad Aftermath was. Tarkin wasn't great, but it was galaxies away from Aftermath. Th first of the Disney Canon books I've really enjoyed was Thrawn, but that's just Zahn being his normal awesome self.

I've tried to give the new canon a try, but 90% of it comes off as a cheap and gimmicky imitation of the original.

Do you think it may be that - like me - you’re simply OLDER than you were when enjoying the books/stories of old, and the majority of these are solidly Young-Adult aimed titles?

That to me is why Thrawn really stood out versus the others.

3 minutes ago, Drasnighta said:

Do you think it may be that - like me - you’re simply OLDER than you were when enjoying the books/stories of old, and the majority of these are solidly Young-Adult aimed titles?

That to me is why Thrawn really stood out versus the others.

As a young adult myself i also found the aftermath books trash for very similar reason although they are more pronounced as you read the whole series( which I did). Tarkin, however, i quite enjoyed but Thrawn was a whole new level of good. But thats Zahn for you. The first Star Wars books I actually read were the Thrawn trilogy. I had an old copy of the series and I still have it after all these years (not that many tbh).