Venturing into Non-Sith Related EU, Opinions

Knight Joined: 30 Apr 2011 Posts: 222

As the title implies, I am considering going outside of the Sith related stories in the EU and I have a few books in mind. However, I would like input from more seasoned EU readers. My considerations are:

Coruscant Nights Trilogy: I have read Shadow Hunter many time and love the lower levels of Coruscant. Those scenes in AotC were my favorites.

Tales from Mos Eisley Cantina

Tales of the Bounty Hunters

Tales from Jabba's Palace

Feedback is greatly appreciated.

Master Joined: 22 Dec 2010 Posts: 1796 Location: Carcosa

The stories in the tales from books are hit and miss. The only ones I remember being any good are the Boba Fett stories by Daniel Keys Moran. He also wrote the one about Labria at the Mos Eisley Cantina.

I like Coruscant Nights but they're not very good with continuity, if that sort of thing bothers you. Most people seem to think the second and third book decline in quality compared to the first. I liked them all and Shadow Hunter. Vader is pretty prominent in them so there's some Sith involvement.

And you can't go far wrong with the Thrawn books, or Stackpole/Allston's X-Wing books.
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I am a Star Wars fan. That doesn't mean that I hate or love Jar Jar. That doesn't mean I hate or love Lucas, or agree or disagree 100% with him. That doesn't mean I prefer the PT over the OT, or vice versa. That doesn't mean I hate the EU, or even love all of it. These are not prerequisites. Being a man is not a prerequisite. Being a geek is not a prerequisite. The only prerequisite is that I love something about Star Wars. I am a Star Wars fan.

Knight Joined: 30 Apr 2011 Posts: 222

Thank you both for the replies.

Continuity isn't a huge issue for me, I just enjoy a good story. As far as the Thrawn books go; I give them an honest go before, but I didn't find them to my liking. I've gotten the feeling that those books have become something like the golden standard or something, but they just didn't catch my interest.

I think I will get Tales from Jabba's Palace simply because Ree-Yee's tale is in there, and his was the first action figure I ever owned. Not to mention that Jabba's palace was my favorite part of RotJ.

Also, if it helps in making suggestions: I am not a fan of all the starships and such either. I can be a very difficult person to appease most of the time.

Hmm. Not a fan of starships...Yes, you don't exactly make it easy! Wink

What does appeal to you?
_________________
I am a Star Wars fan. That doesn't mean that I hate or love Jar Jar. That doesn't mean I hate or love Lucas, or agree or disagree 100% with him. That doesn't mean I prefer the PT over the OT, or vice versa. That doesn't mean I hate the EU, or even love all of it. These are not prerequisites. Being a man is not a prerequisite. Being a geek is not a prerequisite. The only prerequisite is that I love something about Star Wars. I am a Star Wars fan.

Master Joined: 22 Dec 2010 Posts: 1796 Location: Carcosa

I definitely recommend Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, The Last Command, Specter of the Past, and Vision of the Future. Those are probably my five favorite SW novels, along with Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor and Traitor.

None of which really involve the Sith, in my esteemed opinion (YMMV).

Edit: Missed reply. Um, I guess all of the ones I named except Traitor involve starship battles to some degree. Traitor deals heavily with philosophy and the Force. The antagonists don't use the Force. It's part of a 19 book series, and it's book 13 in that series, though...

Edit 2: Regarding Daniel Keys Moran's short stories, he wrote two Fett stories in Tales from Jabba's Palace and Tales of the Bounty Hunters, and one about Labria in Tales from Mos Eisley Cantina. The best of the three is the one from Tales of the Bounty Hunters, which wasn't edited from his manuscript -- apparently KJA didn't let them. His other two were somewhat edited. I think his original concept for the Jabba's Palace Fett story was that the sarlacc was a sapient creature, but he had to change that.

Knight Joined: 30 Apr 2011 Posts: 222

I apologize for the inconvience I maybe causeing some of you, having to rack your brains and all, but I do not apologize for my fickleness.

As I said, the books do not need to even involve the Sith, I want to explore outside of them. I have an interest in a lot of the lesser known characters, or ones that aren't "main players", a reason I am asking about the Tales of/from series. I would also be interested in Storm/Clone Trooper based books, ones that deal with specific squads/legions/battalions etc (Wished they made a novel based around the Gloom Walkers). I have no interest in the bigger story arcs such as NJO, Legacy, or Fate series.

Is it possible to read The Jedi Academy Trilogy as a stand alone and still know what is going on? I did read and enjoy I, Jedi, although I found that chracterization of a certain spirit to be rather underwhelming.

I Don't think there'll be much novels you'll like in the EU.
Maybe you could check out some of the comic series....
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Knight Joined: 30 Apr 2011 Posts: 222

Okay, so I have gone back through Amazon.com and found the Republic Commando series. I enjoy the author's writing style (from what I have read of the previews), and I can appreciate what is going on (being in the Army myself and a war veteran). It is very likely that I will be picking these books up. I would just like other peoples' take on these stories, if anyone feels obliged.

On the whole, I'd think you like it. It deals a lot with the clone slavery issue, but it has that real, down to earth feeling. While I've not been in the army myself, I've spent a lot of time around people who have to feel quite safe in saying it stay true to military protocol and ethos so you'd feel comfortable.

And no need to apologist! I like a challenge.
_________________
I am a Star Wars fan. That doesn't mean that I hate or love Jar Jar. That doesn't mean I hate or love Lucas, or agree or disagree 100% with him. That doesn't mean I prefer the PT over the OT, or vice versa. That doesn't mean I hate the EU, or even love all of it. These are not prerequisites. Being a man is not a prerequisite. Being a geek is not a prerequisite. The only prerequisite is that I love something about Star Wars. I am a Star Wars fan.

Knight Joined: 13 Apr 2011 Posts: 397 Location: western NY

the 4 Republic Commando novels are great. Traviss' writing style really captures all individual characterizations beautifully without any quirks getting mixed up between the individuals and she did an amazing job giving each CLONE their own identities. Plus all the Mando vocabulary is a joy to read and learn a bit of. Very Happy

The fifth and last book "Imp Commandos 501st" was unnecessary though, I think you can skip it, I wish I had.

I should point out that a few of the books referenced so far in this thread (even from the thread starter) feature Sith quite prominently.

The Coruscant Nights trilogy does a lot with Darth Vader.

The Jedi Academy Trilogy was the first time the novels featured Exar Kun. His spirit had a direct influence on many students, to the point where one was declared a Dark Lord of the Sith.
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The place: Babylon 5.

Republic Commando was a great book, and if you want to get away from the Sith and zero in on the Clones, you'll love it. That said, I loved the series up until 501st, at that point I got turned off. Seemed like Karen lost focus on that one.

As for the Coruscant Nights books, I enjoyed all of them. They were a nice read that was different from the usual stuff. It's not the best series or books out there, and it's probably not for everyone, but I love reading and Star Wars so I thoroughly enjoyed them.

If you really want to jump away from the mainstream, I'd suggest the Medstar Duology. It sounds really lame, but it was a great read. Kind of like MASH only set in the Clone Wars and with more action.

Tales of the Bounty Hunters was my favorite of the Tales books because I loved the bounty hunters from ESB. All of the Tales books are really well suited for fans of the original trilogy. They're not epics, but they're fun.
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Knight Joined: 13 Apr 2011 Posts: 397 Location: western NY

Tales of the Bounty Hunters was all great except the IG-88 story which is just new levels of stupid.

Tales of the New Republic was bad. All of them reprinted from the RPG journal books and really just didn't read well at all.

Tales from Jabba's Palace and Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina were hit n miss at best, 90% forgettable at worse. Most of those stories just seemed so contrived that they were hard to take seriously. (and I HATE the Greedo and Lak Sivrak stories SO MUCH that it hurts my brain to try and block them out)

Master Joined: 22 Dec 2010 Posts: 1796 Location: Carcosa