Who are the best authors for the Star Wars books? I have been wanting to read these for a long time but there are so many different authors now I don't know who to start with.

Timothy Zhan with his Thrawn trilogy is pretty dang good. There are a few other good ones, but his are probably some of the best.

Timothy Zhan

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Charlene Newcomb stories about Alexandra "Alex" Winger

Timothy Zhan with his Thrawn trilogy is pretty dang good. There are a few other good ones, but his are probably some of the best.

 

Tim is a yutz...if I have to read "Sardonic" one more time, I swear, I will strangle him at the next convention.

 

(plus he tried to sell me his Sega master system for $150 when I was busy hangin' out with Hart Fisher. Although, Tim is a pretty funny guy, and he does know how to construct a plot, I don't care for his writing and over-use of some of his favorite words of the month).

Who are the best authors for the Star Wars books? I have been wanting to read these for a long time but there are so many different authors now I don't know who to start with.

 

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Star+Wars+Authors there ya go, Champ.

 

Stackpole has some good ones. James Lucerno, RA Salvatore, Aaron Allston and Troy Denning, to name a few. I've read few Star Wars books that were just bad...some of them were ho-hum...the X-Wing series had me bored by about book 5.

 

 

...and don't get me started on Joe Schrieber, that guy irritates me.

Edited December 14, 2011 by OzeebaWifa

Timothy Zahn is my favourite author but really, it just depends! Every novel is more or less good, the Thrawn trilogy is my favourite set of books and quite liking the Old Republic series of books (I wonder why!!!)

I recommend any book by Matthew Stover or Karen Traviss. They each have a very fresh and unique take on the SW universe. Stovers's Episode III novelization makes the film look like an adaptation itself, and Traviss' novelization of The Clone Wars movie makes the film actually feel essential to the saga as a whole.

James Luceno.

James Luceno and even though he wrote a game, not a book, Chris Avellone, whom wrote KotOR II and almost all the backstory on the Mandalorian Wars, etc.. Edited March 24, 2012 by Rayla_Felana

Anyone but Troy "i like lightsabers up my bum" Denning, all he does is worship jedi, he's to the Jedi what Traviss was to the Mandaorians ('Tatooine Ghost' the only exception).

Alan Dean Foster's Splinter of The Mind's Eye was really good. And I'd also recommend Kevin J. Anderson.

You're going to get as many different opinions as there are books. Personally I think the X-Wing series is one of the best in the ExU with a couple of weak points.

Tom Veitch : Tales of the Jedi and Dark Lords of the Sith. my favorite audiobooks

Although, Tim is a pretty funny guy, and he does know how to construct a plot, I don't care for his writing and over-use of some of his favorite words of the month).

He used "beckon call" so often in the first couple Thrawn books that I started doubting whether the phrase "beck and call" was legit.

 

But his books are still among my favorite of the EU.

Edited March 24, 2012 by Toonimator

Anyone but Troy "i like lightsabers up my bum" Denning, all he does is worship jedi, he's to the Jedi what Traviss was to the Mandaorians ('Tatooine Ghost' the only exception).

 

This has to be the best thing i have ever read on these forums.

 

On topic. Stover! Shatterpiont was amazing. Shadows of Mindor was amazing. Trator was amazing. His ROTS novelization was better than the actual movie.

 

of corse Id mention Zahn as well. but everone else already has for me.

Edited March 24, 2012 by TheBentOne

Personally, I would read anything by Tim Zhan, Kathy Tyers, or Michael Stackpole.

 

If you're thinking of reading anything by Kevin J. Anderson, just put a cigarette out in your eye. You'll get to the same level of agony and save yourself a LOT of wasted time.

 

I'd also avoid Karen Traviss. I haven't actually read any of her stuff, but after reading reviews of her treatment of characters (especially poor Jaina Solo), her views on Jedi (and everything else, for that matter), I just think she's a pretty distasteful person and I choose not to go there.

If you're thinking of reading anything by Kevin J. Anderson, just put a cigarette out in your eye. You'll get to the same level of agony and save yourself a LOT of wasted time.

Gotta agree... I was super-excited by The Jedi Academy Trilogy when it first debuted, and read the first installment quickly. There were some concepts in it I liked--having the Academy on Yavin IV? Awesome!--but others, not so much.

 

He was like a rabid fanboy whose peculiar ideas on what he wanted for the Galaxy Far, Far Away didn't go beyond "wouldn't it be cool if...?" to any sort of 'critique' stage, self-critique or otherwise.

 

"Hey, how about a lightsaber where if you push another button or twist something on the hilt, the blade jumps from 3-feet long to 6-feet long? Wouldn't that be AWESOME?!" /facepalm

 

"Hey, how about we have a secret installation hidden away for years & years where the Death Star was built--and they have a working prototype of the Death Star there, along with a tiny ship that doesn't just destroy planets, it blows up stars! And there's a an Imperial admiral who's a LADY and was in love with Grand Moff Tarkin! And there's some weird alien bird-chick who's young and naive and thought she was building a giant ice-cream maker instead of a Death Star and she falls in love with Wedge Antilles! COOOOOOOOL!"

 

"Hey, so, we're all agreed Yavin IV is a great place for the Academy, right? Right. Let's have those old temples be tributes to ancient Sith Lords, and the spirit of one of them is trapped in one of the pyramids and starts influencing Luke's students. Neat, huh?"

 

...and then when you get BEYOND the Jedi Academy Trilogy, KJA goes bananas. And while the idea of Jacen & Jaina Solo having adventures while training isn't necessarily bad, they seemed rather silly. I only read the first one as an actual book, but you've got Yavin IV, former Rebel base, home to Luke's academy for over a decade...and there's still an old TIE Pilot living there as a hermit, stranded back when the first Death Star blew up. And of course Jacen, Jaina, and Chewie's nephew Lowbacca all find him.

 

KJA basically was handed the reins of the EU for a time (he even wrote an illustrated guide to the galaxy), and it seemed every new book by another author was trying to out-silly his work.

Zahn or Stackpole, one of my fav books of the whole series has been "I, Jedi".

Timothey Zahn is an egotistical ***. He specifically stated that Star Wars was "his" universe and not Lucas'.

 

That said, he is the guy who wrote novels based off the Episode 7, 8, and 9 screen plays, so if you want to figure out what Lucas intended to happen in those, you have to read his stuff.

 

There is also Micheal A. Stackpole who is pretty good. His stuff is for a more mature audience, but it's still my favorite books in the Star Wars universe

 

There is also that Anderson guy, don't remember his full name.

snip

 

Oh, and don't forget the whole thing with the Spice Mines of Kessel. Spice giving people psychic powers, and its the byproduct of a dangerous predator unique to the planet. . . where have I heard this before?

 

Hint: He went on to write the prequels to the Dune books.

Timothey Zahn is an egotistical ***. He specifically stated that Star Wars was "his" universe and not Lucas'.

 

That said, he is the guy who wrote novels based off the Episode 7, 8, and 9 screen plays, so if you want to figure out what Lucas intended to happen in those, you have to read his stuff.

 

I've never heard the above quote attributed to Zahn before. And his novels were most certainly not based off of screenplays -- much less ones that don't even exist. However, I have hear many people say that if there were to be Episodes 7, 8, and 9, that the screenplays should be based off of his Thrawn Trilogy.