Star Wars EU books: downers
- Thread starter jediscout
- Start date
firesprite
Master Member
Well, I hate to point this out, but without conflict, the books would be really, really boring. Do we want our heroes to have a happily ever after? Sure... but that doesn't make for very entertaining reading.
Kerr Avon
Master Member
There's a few pages from the comic at The lost Indiana Jones-Star Wars crossover was really depressing
Kerr Avon
Master Member
Ultimately, at the end, yes. I do. I like that the Harry Potter series ends with the simple fact that Voldemort is dead and never coming back again. That's not to say that they won't have issues in the future after that, but after all that struggle and loss, yes, I want a happy ending damnit.
Straker
Sr Member
Someone say my name?
Bruce! Thank GOD you're here to make the EU stuff better!
I have to agree. XD I think at some point Luke, Han, Leia? yeah they all need to be left in the distant past and some few hundred years should be skipped over in which we learn that they all died running a peaceful galaxy so a new threat can come to a new generation of heroes. I gave up reading EU stuff years ago. The Heir to the Empire books were good and a few others were interesting but man, when the writers started coming up with stories for EVERY minor background character like the Elvis haired black dude with the ice cream maker from ESB or that one guy Obi Wan very VERY briefly spoke to in the bar in Mos Eisley as if they ALL needed to have an epic story that just happened to play into the main events of the main characters...I checked out. it seems to me that a lot of writers missed the point of the stories and really started cluttering things up. George was already good at doing that I don't think he needed any help XD
Paul Andrew
Master Member
I read them religiously until about the second book of the Fate of the Jedi series. Just frustrated that it doesn't matter how much the good guys accomplish things just seem to get worse on a galactic scale. It would be different if I felt like there was something to hope for on the horizon, but after almost 20 years of EU, I'm starting to wonder.
neosporing
Sr Member
i never realized this, but do all of these different EU books and authors all follow the same storyline? i.e. who married who... who died.. new characters...who is good and bad...ysalamari salami (whatever they were called)
is it only one person is allowed to write an EU book at a time and everyone has to agree to 'take the baton' from the last author? or do different authors storylines conflict with others?...
is it only one person is allowed to write an EU book at a time and everyone has to agree to 'take the baton' from the last author? or do different authors storylines conflict with others?...
Last edited:
Solo4114
Master Member
I read a bunch of EU stuff in the early to mid 90s. Past that, I stopped caring.
From what I read, the only books worth reading are:
- The original Thrawn trilogy
- The Jedi Academy trilogy
- The X-wing/Rogue/Wraith squadron books.
- The Han Solo omnibus (the ones written by Brian Daley)
Everything else was either meh or crap. Most of them crap.
I think it's generally a safe bet to read stuff by Timothy Zahn, since (to me) he seems to capture the spirit of the films the best. Kevin J. Anderson is pretty good too. And Brian Daley adapted the scripts for the radio dramas. Other than that? Screw 'em. There really ain't much else there.
The universe itself is interesting, but continuing to explore these characters instead of just at some point saying "And they lived happily ever after" is kinda goofy.
In my book universe, the Vong don't exist, the NJO never happened (outside of some generalities about the Jedi order after the Jedi Academy series), and our heroes all died peacefully in their beds, surrounded by their loved ones, including their children who are all alive and not evil.
You want more Star Wars action? Go waaaay back into the past, or fast forward waaaaay into the future.
They've been generally pretty good re: continuity, as I recall. The worst breaks from "continuity" actually came from the prequel films. The stuff that was written in the early 90s (the original Thrawn trilogy) alluded to stuff that happened during the Clone Wars era, which probably required some post-film "adjustments" to EU books to make it all fit.
From what I read, the only books worth reading are:
- The original Thrawn trilogy
- The Jedi Academy trilogy
- The X-wing/Rogue/Wraith squadron books.
- The Han Solo omnibus (the ones written by Brian Daley)
Everything else was either meh or crap. Most of them crap.
I think it's generally a safe bet to read stuff by Timothy Zahn, since (to me) he seems to capture the spirit of the films the best. Kevin J. Anderson is pretty good too. And Brian Daley adapted the scripts for the radio dramas. Other than that? Screw 'em. There really ain't much else there.
The universe itself is interesting, but continuing to explore these characters instead of just at some point saying "And they lived happily ever after" is kinda goofy.
In my book universe, the Vong don't exist, the NJO never happened (outside of some generalities about the Jedi order after the Jedi Academy series), and our heroes all died peacefully in their beds, surrounded by their loved ones, including their children who are all alive and not evil.
You want more Star Wars action? Go waaaay back into the past, or fast forward waaaaay into the future.
They've been generally pretty good re: continuity, as I recall. The worst breaks from "continuity" actually came from the prequel films. The stuff that was written in the early 90s (the original Thrawn trilogy) alluded to stuff that happened during the Clone Wars era, which probably required some post-film "adjustments" to EU books to make it all fit.
firesprite
Master Member
For me, the best EU writers are Tim Zahn, Mike Stackpole, and Karen Traviss. I'm still sad that they're taking all the hard work Karen put in and chucking it out. All three of these writers have awesome characters and some great storylines that are worth reading.
cayman shen
Master Member
Well a) just don't write the damn novels. Story's over. But since that's bad business, how about b) making the "further adventures of" stories smaller, more personal, so the increasing galactic dangers don't dwarf the accomplishments of ROTJ. I mean, the books make taking down a Death Star look like a skirmish. But ongoing, episodic adventures (like the old Marvel series, which ruled
) I could see, and some of the books have done that very well. Heck, look at Splinter of the Mind's Eye as an example of this smaller scale conflict working.
Well a) just don't write the damn novels. Story's over. But since that's bad business, how about b) making the "further adventures of" stories smaller, more personal, so the increasing galactic dangers don't dwarf the accomplishments of ROTJ. I mean, the books make taking down a Death Star look like a skirmish. But ongoing, episodic adventures (like the old Marvel series, which ruled
This is why I really like the Old Republic books. They deal mainly with the sith, and it's usually a one on one story. The Darth Bane books should be made into films. I'm halfway through Revan now and it's pretty cool. More about Revan remembering his past than about big battles.
firesprite
Master Member
Well a) just don't write the damn novels. Story's over. But since that's bad business, how about b) making the "further adventures of" stories smaller, more personal, so the increasing galactic dangers don't dwarf the accomplishments of ROTJ. I mean, the books make taking down a Death Star look like a skirmish. But ongoing, episodic adventures (like the old Marvel series, which ruled
I don't necessarily disagree, but let's be honest... I don't think there are many people who don't realize by now that Lucas will milk the Star Wars franchise for all it's worth. But here's the thing, LucasFilm has some of the most stringent guidelines for being allowed to write in that universe of any of the franchises and even so, some of them are extremely hit or miss.
After I read Stackpole's X-Wing books, the Thrawn series, and Karen Traviss' stuff, I've pretty much sworn off Star Wars EU novels. I really think the only thing that could lure me to buy a new one these days was if Mike came back to write a new trilogy or something.
Last edited:
KJA is recognized by most fans to have written the worst of the SW novels. You should rethink the EU, well at least the ones people mentioned. That's why he's never written another SW book since I think, Darksaber.
Firesprite said:
I think Karen Traviss just got p*ssed off they were changing her stuff. Even though, going in, writers know they are playing in someone else's sandbox, she took it really personally. The only thing that really changed her stuff was that Lucas said Mandalore is peaceful. I still think they could have retconned that and said something like the "true Mandalorians", like Boba Fett (and the crew from the RC novels), disagreed with the government and moved to another planet which they renamed Mandalore. Since she said there was no way to fix things, I can only assume Lucas vetoed anything like that. It sucks because her version was so much better! :unsure
Straker
Sr Member
I get that, but you can still write about the characters within that universe without having huge looming galactic threats constantly and immediately after ROTJ. Additionally there are periods in the history with LONG stretches of peace that aren't written about. Just say that there was another few hundred years of peace after ROTJ and move the story further forward with new characters and you're all set. Having a geriatric set of characters continuously fight essentially in the same story over and over again gets boring, hence the reason why most people feel the EU stories kinda blow.
Similar threads
