Examples of quality technical writing, and good stories:

 

New Jedi Order 13: Traitor:

New Jedi Order 19: The Unifying Force

Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor

Clone Wars book 2: Shatterpoint

 

Average writing and good stories:

Thrawn trilogy, and pretty much anything written by Timothy Zhan.

I Jedi.

The Courtship of Princess Leia

Revan Novel

Darth Bane: Path of Destruction

 

Below average writing, but good stories:

The other two Darth Bane books.

Darth Maul Duology.

New Jedi Order 9: Star by Star

Fate of the Jedi

 

Below average writing and below average story.

Almost anything written by Karen Traviss and Troy Denning. Some of KT's Republic Commando novels are bearable, as is some of Troy Denning's work in Fate of the Jedi.

(Jorander, I thought you left with the Wipe. I haven't seen you D: )

 

Examples of quality technical writing, and good stories:

 

New Jedi Order 13: Traitor:

New Jedi Order 19: The Unifying Force

Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor

Clone Wars book 2: Shatterpoint

 

Average writing and good stories:

Thrawn trilogy, and pretty much anything written by Timothy Zhan.

I Jedi.

The Courtship of Princess Leia

Revan Novel

Darth Bane: Path of Destruction

 

Below average writing, but good stories:

The other two Darth Bane books.

Darth Maul Duology.

New Jedi Order 9: Star by Star

Fate of the Jedi

 

Below average writing and below average story.

Almost anything written by Karen Traviss and Troy Denning. Some of KT's Republic Commando novels are bearable, as is some of Troy Denning's work in Fate of the Jedi.

 

I agree except I think Thrawn should be up top. And, I suggest you read Darth Plageuis, great read. Unless you are a actionmonger, there is aciton but not as much as most SW Books. Its just a great stroy and good writing.

(Jorander, I thought you left with the Wipe. I haven't seen you D: )

 

 

 

I agree except I think Thrawn should be up top. And, I suggest you read Darth Plageuis, great read. Unless you are a actionmonger, there is aciton but not as much as most SW Books. Its just a great stroy and good writing.

 

I'm nearly done with the Darth Plageuis book and I have to agree. It's very likely the most political/non-action book I've EVER seen in the SW universe. That said, it's also, I think, one of the most well thought out in terms of the modern Sith and their views on the Force and their reasons for doing what they do. If I didn't know they were dagnasty evil, I'd almost agree with them.

 

Also how it travels up to the time line of Episode 1 from so far before is pretty interesting. It actually makes the story of Episode 1 meaningful, which I didn't think would ever happen.

Darth Bane: Path of Destruction is so far my favorite SW book. I've probably read it at least 6 times. There are some other good ones, but it's just so full of Sith and Old Republic lore AND being very well written makes it hard to beat. I go back to it while trying to get through other SW books.

(Jorander, I thought you left with the Wipe. I haven't seen you D: )

 

 

 

I agree except I think Thrawn should be up top. And, I suggest you read Darth Plageuis, great read. Unless you are a actionmonger, there is aciton but not as much as most SW Books. Its just a great stroy and good writing.

 

I am still around, it is just that the game is out so I don't post nearly as much, the only reason I am not playing now, is I am waiting for some friends of mine to catch up so I can quest with them. The reason I didn't put Thrawn up there with Quality writing as well as good story, and have it as average writing and good story, is because Timothy Zhan, concerning the technical handlings of the written English language, is not as skilled as Stover or Luceno.

 

He is still good, and the stories he tells are still of incredibly high quality and worthy of recognition. But I personally don't believe he is a true master of the art, not like Stover or Luceno anyway, even though I recognize that he basically breathed life into the EU. As soon as I have the spare coin, I am going to pick up a copy of Darth Plagueis, but I already blew my two previous months' worth of book budget on a deluxe copy of Book of Sith: Secrets of the Dark Side.

Edited January 22, 2012 by Jorander

He is still good, and the stories he tells are still of incredibly high quality and worthy of recognition. But I personally don't believe he is a true master of the art, not like Stover or Luceno anyway, even though I recognize that he basically breathed life into the EU. As soon as I have the spare coin, I am going to pick up a copy of Darth Plagueis, but I already blew my two previous months' worth of book budget on a deluxe copy of Book of Sith: Secrets of the Dark Side.

 

I love Stover, but he only does Stand Aloens. Which isn't necessarily bad thing, Shatterpoint is my favorite Stand Alone book. He also made RoTS seem meaningful.

 

I've never a Luceno book before Plageuis, but I've been interested in plageuis for a while, he has seemed such a mystery and now he I lvoe his novel.

 

(Though, after reading the book, the movie becomes laods better.)

the new-jedi order series is what got me into the books. really slow to start though, as it kinda takes 5 books to establish the story and become immersed in the vong mythology, but by the time you finish up 'star by star', you'll probably be crying, haha. later in that series 'traitor' and 'destiny's way' are absolutely amazing. other than that, timothy zhan is always a safe bet, but he doesn't do a lot of SW books these days. he did create the most famous chiss of all time, my alt's namesake (Mitth'raw'nuria), admiral thrawn.

 

the novelization of 3 made me wish i had never even watched anything in the movie except for the lightsaber battles, lol. it's really good.

 

if you're into the fun of the larger stories of fleet actions, the duology inside of NJO, Rebel Stand and Rebel Dream are both extremely well written and fun reads. imagine super star destroyer vs. yuuzhan vong worldship. epic battle with an even more epic ending.

 

jedi academy series also very good.

 

 

books to avoid like the rak'ghoul plague: the joiner trilogy. set between NJO and the 9 book 'legacy' series, it basically tries pathetically to make a decent story read out of the 5 years between the two series. it is so boring and poorly written, this is the only mini-series i could not bring myself to finish. if you actually enjoyed this please say so. not for flaming purposes though, lol. just curious what redeeming qualities anyone could find with that train wreck.

oh yeah the legacy series as well. imagine a descendant of the skywalker clan learning jedi killing techniques from boba-fett. yeah, it's that awesome.

 

i like the current series, but its hard to tell where it's gonna end up...

The first book of the Bane trilogy is excellent.

 

Couldn't agree more! I was a bit disappointed after reading the trilogy because it started so nice and the ending was meh...

 

Darth Banes first book was defintely the best!

In relation to the game, The Malgus and Revan books are both entertaining, but not worth reading for anything other than game lore. Also, the Bane Trilogy is entertaining, and the Vader book too, but long term they are all forgettable.

 

The Thrawn Trilogy is what started the whole EU.

 

Zahn did an excellent job capturing the feel of the original trilogy. He handles the characters masterfully, and adds a few of his own that have become as well loved as the originals.

 

I have read probably 90% of the EU novels, and Zahn's are the only ones that truly stand out.

I agree with the poster above, the Timothy Zahn novels are the best imo.

The Thrawn Trilogy really stands out in my opinion.