My recommended order starting out would be the Thrawn Trilogy then the X Wing Series, that will give you all the world building you need for the rest of the early EU.... IE the good stuff.
Then you can just read anything set before the Hand of Thrawn duology in any order. The Hand is basically the conclusion to the post Rot J era but you can read it basically any time after Thrawn + Xwing Series.
The Senate
I'd also add the Jedi Academy trilogy to the list. However, the series is... let's just say contested among EU fans. I personally like it but I will admit it's a very very flawed series. In addition to the novels that have been mentioned, I'd also recommend the X wing comics, the Dark Empire trilogy, and the crimson empire trilogy. The X wing comics provide backstory for the novels, Dark Empire is an iconic part of the EU, and Crimson Empire follows up on the events of Dark Empire.
Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?
Jedi Academy is hit or miss, its a worthy read though if only to balance out the opinions in I Jedi.
The Senate
I also give it credit for creating Exar Kun. And without Kun there would be no Tales of the Jedi. And no Tales of The Jedi means no KOTOR. So yeah the Jedi Academy trilogy is actually pretty important
edited 11th Jan '18 1:54:53 PM by GraymanofBelka
Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?
Millennium Falcon was definitely the weakest of the Luceno books I've read, but coming after the Legacy of the Force it was a pretty light, fun read and a lot faster-paced than I'm used to seeing in a Star Wars book. I see our trope page says that it's a Whole-Plot Reference to The Maltese Falcon, and while I haven't seen the movie in like a decade-and-a-half I can definitely see the influences from that genre in the set of characters who were exclusive to that book.
I'm a couple chapters into Outcast at the moment, and it doesn't hide the fact that this series is going to attempt a bunch of Author's Saving Throws towards the one prior. I've read that Fate of the Jedi gets pretty bloated later on, but for now I like the premise of Luke and Ben flying around space learning weird and esoteric stuff about the Force and the history of the galaxy.
My Megaman and MegaTen liveblogs
Double post since I've finished the first third of Fate of the Jedi but since it's been two months I think it's kosher.
I'm...actually having a pretty decent time reading so far, not just because the premise is much more palatable than Legacy of the Force's was. It seems like the authors have learned some of the right lessons from that and made appropriate adjustments; namely in how they're not trying to force an epic space battle or lightsaber duel at the end of every book and they've been much, much better at keeping continuity with appropriate continuity nods (to the point where Omen felt like it was overcompensating a bit) and utilizing the other authors' characters when necessary. I appreciate the easing back on the dial and deciding to instead shed some light on the more esoteric and fantastical parts of the setting and lore, but let's see how long that lasts now that the main antagonists are finally making a move. Does feel like it's overcommitting with all the different subplots, though.
Fortunately my concerns are overall a lot less dire than they were for Legacy of the Force. The existence of the Lost Tribe of the Sith is one that sticks out the most though; namely the idea that an isolated enclave of Sith not only managed to survive, but thrive for millennia without inevitably tearing itself apart due to the Sith's historical bad case of Chronic Backstabbing Disorder even without Bane's Rule of Two being in the equation, or that their emphasis of physical beauty kind of ignores the fact that the dark side is supposed to ultimately corrupt you both physically and mentally. I guess these can be handwaved by the assumption that they typically don't immerse themselves as deeply in it for that kind of corruption to manifest, though. They certainly don't seem to be as outwardly powerful as guys like Vader, Palpatine, Exar Kun, or that one guy from the Bioware games who was basically a walking disaster area if I remember right.
My other quibble that comes to mind is smaller: it's stated that the character of Bazel Warv is physically incapable of speaking English Basic yet halfway through Abyss he suddenly starts doing so. Given the context (he does this right after stepping outside of a ysalamiri bubble) I thought he was manifesting some strange Force power that the other crazy Jedi have, but no one reacts all that strangely to it and there's no suggestion that Translation Convention is at play. Maybe it's cleared up in a future book, maybe the writers just got tired of having to write around that particular quirk, Iunno.
edited 18th Mar '18 6:00:25 PM by ComicX6
My Megaman and MegaTen liveblogs
The Senate
So I've just read the Han Solo adventures by Brian Daley. Overall this was a fun look at the old EU. You get to see the origin of things like the z 95 headhunter, Xim the Despot, and the Corporate Sector. They're also really fun, engaging adventures in their own right if not particularly deep.
Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?
Would that it were so simple.
I adore Brian Daley's books primarily because they have that primordial quality of being Star Wars books written long before Legends or Disney were in the picture, like it came from the same subculture that made Star Wars what it was.
edited 16th Apr '18 10:32:26 AM by CrimsonZephyr
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
The Senate
Isn't there a later book that follows up on Gallandro (I think it was one of the Young Jedi Knights books).
Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?
Yes, it's the Young Jedi Knights book "Return to Ord Mantell", the first in a three-book arc that features Gallandro's daughter.
The Senate
On the topic of Han Solo novels has the third AC Crispin one been rereleased yet I can't find it anywhere.
edited 17th Apr '18 6:02:08 PM by GraymanofBelka
Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise?
I always had an issue with the Legends claiming Palpatine was Made of Evil The Antichrist of Star Wars-it actually makes him less evil in my eyes because he didn't choose to be a top-tier prick, it was something he was born with like some sort of psychological illness. It ultimately makes him come off as a high-functioning puppet of Satan the Dark Side. It kind of goes against the Dark Side's very ethos of being something that you fall into and corrupts, which implies there's something good to ruin in the first place. And saying someone is basically a living dark side avatar since the womb feels contradictory
Sure, a Freudian Excuse would be just as bad, but saying someone was born evil or is Made of Evil is Not So Different from a lot of the intent behind a Freudian Excuse. Freudian Excuse implies "the guy is only bad because bad things happened to him" while Made of Evil or born evil implies "the guy is only bad because he was made that way outside of his control". It still implies Sheev is only a monster because of the Dark Side making him that way without his consent, instead of "Sheev is a monster because he chose to be so". Choice is pretty important in evil, at least that's how I always saw it
Would that it were so simple.
Giving him a Freudian Excuse would be worse — it would eventually morph into trying to justify the Empire's existence. There really is no ideal way to write Palpatine — make him three dimensional, you risk writing a back-door justification of totalitarianism, write him one-dimensional, you run into the Problem of Evil thing where an individual is born a monster in a setting where, generally, Rousseau Was Right. Since he's the only guy in the canon who seems just totally devoted to being evil, it's less of an issue, and worth it if it means fewer people identify with the character.
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
I never bought into Freudian Excuse being to be taken as a literal excuse, to be honest - it's supposed to explain why a character is acting the way they are, not actually justifying it.
Even if Palpatine had a Freudian Excuse, he's still a totalitarian dictator who doesn't give a shit about anyone but himself.
Giving a character depth doesn't automatically make them likeable or sympathetic - if anything, there's a good chance they'll become even more disturbing.
edited 12th Jun '18 6:23:42 AM by DrunkenNordmann
Welcome to Estalia, gentlemen.
Unfortunately, Draco in Leather Pants and Rooting for the Empire are both things, and they are actually serious problems in the Star Wars fandom. There are people who think the First Order are right, Kylo Ren did nothing wrong, and Finn should be executed as a traitor. This isn't helped by Disney (and before them Lucasfilms) being happy to hype up Evil Is Cool without remembering that they're horrific fascist murderers. Thankfully, Palpatine's lack of any excuse for his actions has mostly kept him from getting whitewashed in the same way. It's probably why that hypothetical prequel novel about him got canceled.
edited 12th Jun '18 8:27:49 AM by Discar
That guy with the face
Look at Thanos from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He watched his people die out due to overpopulation. There's his excuse, he wants to prevent it. That doesn't stop him from being a Bad Boss Omnicidal Maniac who wants to erase half the population. It just means he has a reason for wanting to do what he does.
Qui odoratus est qui fecit.
That all you got?
I prefer the Plagueis method; Palpatine was a shit from birth even before he became a Sith.
That is the face of a man who just ate a kitten. Raw.
My argument was that being born evil or Made of Evil is Not So Different from a Freudian Excuse because you can't blame Palpatine for being evil in the first place if he was born that way-it's not like you can control how you were born. By saying he's the space anti-christ you're basically saying its not his fault he's an asshole, it's brain chemistry and space Satan doing it because of destiny. Which makes him less evil because either way it takes that choice away. It's like getting mad at Aku for being evil when he is literally Made of Evil and physically incapable of being good, except at least Aku was never human to begin with and more believable
You could easily have a middle road of Sheev being normal, it's just that he thinks that since he has these magic powers Might Makes Right and the dark side just worsens that philosophy. Which is what I always assumed from the movies, and from a lot of real life assholes who think their privilege/power/fame is a get out of jail card.
That's what always made Palpatine feel compelling and scary to me-he's someone who could actually exist, it's just that the setting lets him go farther than any dictator of our universe could ever dream. Him being Made of Evil space anti-christ takes away from that as much as Freudian Excuse, I'm fine if it's just him agreeing with the Might Makes Right ideology. Both from the harsh politics around him and the supernatural order that says "we have these Evil Is Cool powers, we should profit off it". Because that's basically what the Sith are. They're the guys who think that because they have Force powers, they're entitled to power. Which again, feels more real and thus more effective than "I'm sad about something" or "Space Satan told me to"
tl;dr-saying someone is evil because they were evil takes away from their villainy just as much as a Freudian Excuse does because you're saying they didn't choose to be. If not even more because at least a Freudian Excuse still has some choice. Palps can just as easily be evil because that path benefited him, which is the whole appeal of the dark side in the first place. At least, that's my morality on it
edited 12th Jun '18 4:23:46 PM by RJ-19-CLOVIS-93
Would that it were so simple.
Better to simply not do the Devil's work for him, and make a character have traits that viewers could identify with.
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
Agreed. Having Palpatine's backstory be more similar to the assholes of the real world who show Privilege Makes You Evil is more effective than simply stating he was born evil. Which I guess the book sort of did as well, but it leans more to the "born evil" explanation and just goes with the whole "Space Devil". I've kind of always had a problem with the Devil is a concept since it's often easy to use as an excuse for why evil is even a thing instead of it being our own damn fault
Would that it were so simple.
Nah, see, I think any attempt to try and explain "why is Palpatine this way" is missing the point of his character. That's the point of people like Darth Vader, but not him. The Emperor is all about "what." What did he do to gain power. What are his powers? What must the heroes do to defeat him? He's not a character so much as an obstacle to be overcome, and honestly, that's how it should be.
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
I know. It's just that if you are going to make a backstory for him, which is what Darth Plagueis is supposed to be along with figuring out who Plagueis was, you can't use that same approach. Which is why I even care about it.
Actually, that's probably why we barely get any information about Plagueis and why it took so long to approve of it in Legends. Exploring Plagueis would mean that Palpatine's backstory would no longer be a mystery, which goes against what you said
Would that it were so simple.
Palpatine's backstory in Plagueis is still more about what Palpatine did, told with greater clarity because we're seeing the dark underbelly of society that the Sith inhabit, than any explanation as to what made him who he was and why. There is a sense that Luceno was thinking along the lines that I described, and didn't want to make such a fundamentally evil character sympathetic or relatable. I don't know how else to put it — there are segments of the fandom that unironically love the Empire for its fascism, and making the Emperor even slightly sympathetic throws red meat for the oiliest of those fans.
It's part of the reason I deeply despise the Darth Bane books. By making the Sith Lord the center of the action and by keeping the narrative focus strictly on him, there's a sense of Karphyshyn being too enamored by his violence and making it as edgy as possible.
edited 14th Jun '18 6:17:18 AM by CrimsonZephyr
"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
fuckANN
So are the black fleet and corellian trilogies worth checking out?
You're going to pay a price for every bloody thing you do and everything you don't do. You don't get to choose to not pay a price.
Is it just me, but doesn't Legends Plagueis looks like a Muun Voldemort? The fact he's an Immortality Seeker only strengthens this