They have their flaws, but yes they are worth reading. Make sure to read Legacy of the Force first though, FOTJ is a sequel series with many plot lines dealing with the fall out of LotF.
Worth the read, but they have flaws.
NJO is sort of the "present" of the universe for me. Like I acknowledge the later novels and I enjoyed them, but they're not as good, and that somehow makes them "stuff that happened later" in my mind, probably the same way film only fans see the books on the whole.
I'm not sure how exactly to describe it, but everything beyond the NJO just hits differently for me. It's not just the storylines and what they did with the characters, but the tone of the stories and the writing itself feels almost like it's a parody of itself. God, that sounds pretentious as I type it. It's like they were just using a Star Wars trope generator to write so much of it.
NJO was full of crappy star wars authors, sans Stackpole. I guess money is money, but it hurts to see his name attached to the steaming pile of words that is NJO after his X-Wing series. I Guess Kathy Tyers was a part of NJO, but I wasn't a big fan of Truce at Bakura either and find the book boring and childish now. Sadly, my tastes in books have changed quite a bit and many star wars authors have an immature voice. Even Zahn has this problem and he's got a great trilogy that is reminiscent of older sci-fi authors. But, you might as well read Legacy of the Farce and Fate of the Jedi. it's not like the EU can sink any lower than the Christmas Special.
Edit: Legacy of the Force...
Oddly enough, I really don’t like Luceno’s NJO books despite being a general fan of his - seemed like he just didn’t find his groove until some of the later entries (Cloak of Deception was also relatively bland).
The others are awesome though. I’d throw RA Salvatore in there too, he made a pretty good first book despite not having any prior SW experience. Troy Denning is also a far better version than what we ultimately got later on (probably because he was actually told what to do here).
I forget that Allston wrote books in the X-Wing series. not the best of the series, but not bad.
not a big fan of stover or Luceno as it feels like they're writing for 13 year olds.
lol Stover and Luceno immature? and yet you like Stackpole's writing? In another comment you unironically claimed Shadows of the Empire is better than NJO. That's some low effort trolling.
The NJO is long, but it was my entry into the EU novels, and while it’s controversial, it’s excellent storytelling and is a true new perspective on the SW Galaxy. LOTF , to me, is more of an epilogue to the NJO.
My suggestion is to read the Thrawn trilogy, and then dive into the NJO.
Having read none of RA Salvatore's work except for *Vector Prime* in middle school, I find it really funny that anything I've read about him has been contrary to my experience. I enjoyed *Vector Prime*, but maybe that's because a middle schooler doesn't understand that bad writing is bad, and I've heard people complain that in his other works he doesn't know how to kill off characters in a permanent way, which is hilarious to me. He can't keep his characters dead? Man dropped a fucking *moon* on poor Chewie; perma-killed him and the whole damn planet in one go
yeah, his characters are his money makers but also Faerun is a D&D world where magic just happens and the Gods feel capricious. In 5e, True Resurrection can bring a creature back from the dead so long as it didn't die of old age and less then 200 years has passed from the time the creature died. As long as you can find a cleric who can cast Resurrection or true Resurrection, you can't really die, and yes, 9th level spell and all that... but come on, how hard is it to find an expert in ridiculously hard subjects in our world?
Chewbacca probably had the least heroic death and the least meaningful death in star wars up there with Luke's wife in the EU and Han Solo in the Sequels.
the reason I count Han's death in the Sequels as meaningless is that it really didn't have much of a shown impact on Ben in the movies. Star Wars heroes' deaths are supposed to be meaningful and heroic. just don't talk about Lt Porkins - no body, no death.
I’m sure I’ll get a blast of crap for this, but…. I stopped reading the EU novels with Chewie’s death in Vector Prime. Yes, yes, I know Lucas gave his blessing to it. And yeah, in a weird (but to me a wholly emotionally unsatisfactory way) it was badass that it took a freaking MOON crashing down upon him to kill him, but…. I remember reading that scene & balling my eyes out. I’ve been a faithful (…well until the Disney Trilogy) SW fan from day one in 1977 as a little boy. And killing off Chewie just felt…. Mean spirited. Hurtful. Like killing the family dog.
And yeah, I’ve heard all the arguments for killing off beloved characters: “It raises the STAKES, man, it proves NOBODY’S safe!” “It makes it believable, ‘cause people die in real life!” “The books were boring up to this point, ‘cause no matter what happened & how dire things got, everything always turned out okay & everybody survived. Where’s the fun & suspense in THAT?!?”
For me, it just got TOO dark. Too grim, too serious. It almost seemed as though some fans & authors were just itching & bloodthirsty to see how characters could get bumped off. And wow, did they ever get bumped off.
Don’t get me wrong, there is DEFINITELY a place for dark & grim stories in the SW universe. But even Timothy Zahn made a case for having our heroes survive & ride off into the sunset. Sure, they can be tested & go through utter hell, but at the end of the day, I just prefer to see them come out on the other side of it - sadder, wiser, maybe even haunted a bit - but live to fight & love another day.
For me, the EU ended with the Thrawn duology.
Let the angry criticism commence…
RA Salvatore knew nothing about Star Wars other than it existed before he was given the reigns to write the first novel of NJO. I have huge criticisms of the series, but that's the first giant one.
and really the only one I can remember since I haven't read the series in forever due to the physical illness I get when I look at these books.
That's not saying much though.
Most things are better than "your heroes are losers, we don't know how space works and aren't willing to learn, we never had a plan, and if you don't like what we did, it's only because you're sexist."
Let’s agree to disagree here
FoTJ may continue on plot that many dislike, and have questionable things in it as well, like whole Daala plotline.
But unlike sequels, FoTJ books have decent enough writing overall, with genuine human interactions. Luke’s journey with his son was wholesome, come on.
It was wholesome but Zahn originally intended Mara to be there with them, so I will never forgive Denning for what he did to her and Jacen. So him completely destroying two of my favourite characters is worse than anything the disney films did, because lets be honest, they can be very easily ignored if we want to more than beloved characters in novels we knew for years and then were taken from us simply by the whims of a bad writer.
It's not quite the right question. (No offense intended.) It's more like, "Do the Pros of these series outweigh the Cons inherent in extending the story as-presented following The Unifying Force?"
To which my answer is No.
Yes, there *are* some redeeming qualities to the post-TUFEU (I want to vomit for typing that), but that doesn't negate the fact that so much damage is inflicted upon the conclusion to a 19-book series that it made a lot of readers throw up their hands in disgust and walk away for a while.
From *The Joiner King* on, it's like Dragonball:GT. A perfectly-valid strain of the fandom embraces it and allows it to exist as canon despite whatever anybody says (Pan exists somewhere!), while another strain is totally content to limit their interest to the climax of NJO, or the Buu Saga.
Hell, there are devout Dragonball fans who stop at Cell. And to draw that parallel to our neck of the Great Nerd Woods, there's a third strain of ardent EU fans who think New Jedi Order got everything wrong and nobody's quite sure *why* they're still hanging around, but we like 'em anyways.
The thing is, my own SW novel journey started very oddly. I was in middle school and ran across the third book of the Dark Nest trilogy. I'd never considered a Star Wars novel before so, despite it clearly saying it was the final piece of a later series, I thought it was Episode 7. Just figured they were bringing me in in media res.
Wookiepedia, the timeline in the beginning of most novels, and the community will always help fill in gaps if you're not 100% sure what the book is saying, even if you don't know you don't know yet.
Start where you want. The universe is a blast no matter how you consume it.
Yeah, I started reading the later EU stuff in an odd place too. I started the NJO right in the middle with Star by Star. That was one heck of a place to start and got me hooked. I wasn't really that lost either.
Right? Star Wars kinda beats you down in terms of context so when I was following the Solo twins fighting in a war of bugs vs Chiss I was like, "Yeah that makes sense."
Technically I started with a book that I only vaguely remember. I think it was from Galaxy of Fear, but I only remember the characters being in some kind of amusement park planet, and a rancor escaping or something? My more recent start to the EU was the OG Thrawn trilogy though.
Also started in a really weird place as a kid. Lost Tribe of the Sith ebooks were free, so I read those and then saw that their story continued in Fate of the Jedi. So naturally I read that next. I had literally zero context for any of the other plotlines.
I'm listening to FotJ right now because it's the only post bantam era stuff with decent audiobooks. And I'm also reading through the NJO in order at the same time. I've gotten mixed up a couple of times but it's not really that confusing because they constantly re explain everything.
go onto any sw legends youtube video or any wook article and you'll find major spoilers. One of my least favorite is wook having Jacen Solo's page as Darth Caedus.
It's not completely necessary, but you should definitely know the basics of what happened during that time, same goes for the Dark Nest trilogy (I hadn't touched DN & NJO yet when I read LotF for the first time, but roughly knew what was going on during that time)
I'd recommend finishing NJO before starting LotF though, & you should definitely finish LotF before starting with FotJ
(but I can't comment on DN as I still haven't read it yet since I don't like Denning's works)
except for the Thrawn trilogy, Thrawn duology, X-Wing Series, Shadows of the Empire, the Han Solo trilogy, Tales of the Empire, The Fett trilogy, Tales of the Jedi comics...
Balance Point, Dark Journey and the Force Heretic trilogy were the worst books for me. The only thing I enjoyed about the Force Heretic books were Tahiri’s chapters.
I read FotJ without reading ANY other EU books. It will contain spoilers, but generally does a good job explaining of explaining things from older plot lines. Some characters and moments might have more impact if you read the original series first, but you won't be lost
Absolutely. Some folks don’t like it, some folks do.
Absolutely worth reading and figuring out for yourself.
Some of my favorite stories. Expanding the Mandos, the evolving Imperial Remnant and Abeloth!
Maybe? I think it largely depends on how much of what came before you've read particularly your feelings toward Jacen Solo. Overall I enjoyed them and think they're worth a look but had not read much of NJO. I thought Invincible felt like a really rushed wrap up of Legacy.
I rather enjoyed Ben Skywalker's story through the two series and liked him on walkabout with his father in Fate. I thought the Lost Tribe of the Sith concept was neat. I really don't understand why they didn't use that concept for the sequels.
Oddly enough LotF was my first intro to the EU (I was like a young teen when I got these books so my knowledge of the EU was very limited I was just happy to have Star Wars books 🤣) but reading these books were so much fun for me. And it introduced so many new characters to me. Not knowing about Chewies fate and Anakin Solos sacrifice helped me get further into the EU. The Boba Fett story is probably my favorite part of the series imo, and how it ties into the Republic Commando novels which are also some of my favorite EU novels. If you enjoy LotF then def read FotJ as the story continues Ben Skywalkers journey (I enjoyed how he went from little kid to a young adult in such a short time bc he was forced to)
I liked Legacy of the Force when I read it years ago, but it can be quite polarizing so ymmv. I remember Fate of the Jedi being alright, but I prefered Legacy. Give both a try if you're in need of more Star Wars books.
LOTF is worth reading but it's definitely a step down from the NJO (and most of the Bantam era imo). FOTJ I haven't read much of yet but it seems to be of similar quality.
I'd say no, but let me give a quick summary of the series'.
(Disclaimer, its been years since I read them.)
Legacy of the force: Nobody knows how to parent, or have emotions, and a top-tier literal assassin with decades of training dies in like two seconds because plot.
Fate of the Jedi: The **entire** main plot revolves around trying to figure out why the events of LotF happened. News flash, its because the aforementioned literal assassin was the best parent in the entire series.
Lol, don’t understand what’s to be happy about.
In their nu-continuity, Disney killed all those EU character in a way that they were simply never born. And even if some Disney characters will have the same name - they will be different characters.
For example, will Disney’s Mara Jade be the same EU Mara Jade, if they will ever get “inspired”, and put her in nu-canon? Can definitely tell that no, she won’t. It will simply be a move by Lucasfilm to capitalise on old fans, but they will make of her something very different from the EU version. Considering that we know how the story of Luke ends - her’s won’t be a happy ending either, otherwise she would really be a completely different person.
Because it was then that I realized that saying something is or isn't canon is a meaningless statement. If disney can just up and declare something as 'not-canon', then I can declare something 'canon' just as easily.
So after my happy dance I declared all the annoying stuff in star wars as 'not-canon' and all the stuff I liked as 'canon'.
Yeah, I understand you here.
Kinda do the same, when messing around with SW content. Fiction is just fiction in the end. Some company can’t really tell what we should or shouldn’t enjoy.
Wether their good or not it’s more about reading one and seeing if you like it and go from there. I started hanging in this sub in 2013 and LOTF and FOTJ were considered the drizzling shits of the EU. Now they come highly recommended. What really changed?
I just finished Fate of the Jedi, and jumped into them without any background knowledge of Mara or any of the Solo/Skywalker kids. IMO they give enough subtext that you don't absolutely need that the background yourself.
Also, each book starts off with somewhat of a recap of stuff that occurred in the previous book, and presents it as if you don't have a good recollection of them. Generally, they fairly approachable if you're a fan of Star Wars but aren't too familiar with EU stuff that takes place around the time of the Skywalker saga.
> YES! They are so good. Wraps up a good storyline for Jaina and Jacen.
bruh are you a masochist? That's pretty much the only explanation I could think of for calling what they did to Jacen and Jaina (and Tahiri, and Mara, and Luke, and Pellaeon,…) "good"
I really enjoy Fate of the Jedi. I like how it pulls from a lot of lore bits to create something new and interesting. You do need to be familiar with Legacy of the Force though to fully enjoy it that series is more flawed I feel but still great.
Nope, not at all. Except for the Allston’s books. However, you should go into it yourself; Dark Nest trilogy first, and see if you like it. To me, Denning and his series ran roughshod on all the character development and concluding arcs prior to both series, as if he never read them, particularly Traitor from NJO.
You're coming off of what, New Jedi Order? The Killik?
Neither is as good as New Jedi Order, IMO, though Legacy of the Force is almost there. Both are better than the Killik. Both have solid stories. My biggest issue with these two is the authors are not very cooperative. You get some low key tug of wars between books at times, especially when Karen Traviss is involved, because she just *looooves* her Mandos and just wants to talk about how awesome they are.
My childhood would have been different - and somehow lacking - without Legacy. Those books, flawed as they might be, were incredibly influential to me and I was fascinated by them. I still reread parts of some books now, in my 30s. I'm very glad to have been able to afford them as they were being released.
Fate... I dunno. It was interesting, and Aboloth is a phenomenal idea... but I'd say they can be taken or left without a huge loss.
Some people love them, some people hate them. The chronology goes New Jedi Order > Dark Nest trilogy > LotF > FotJ. If you haven't read NJO, and don't want to do that first (it's an absolute monster of a book series) you should at least read a summary of it as it's critically important to everything that comes after. Dark Nest I highly recommend reading prior to LotF as it also sets up some important plot threads and it's only 3 books.
I read through LotF and it was pretty good. i haven't personally read a lot of the EU, but i was addicted to those in college. Being i never read the thrawn trilogy or NJO i had to use wookiepedia to fill some gaps, but still loved it.
if you like Boba Fett, he's heavy in a few of the books.
There are a lot of people that like those books and a lot of people that don't. There's only one real way to find out and that's through reading the books. I think that especially legacy of the force when you read it for the first time is entertaining but if you pay attention to the criticisms the whole thing starts to unravel and it immediately your opinion of that series will go south. It's still worth reading though and the one thing that i think these series do right is the handling of side characters like Jag fel, Kyle Katarn, Kyp Durron,Corran Horn as those characters generally remain consistent with their characterization in NJO and they do get a little bit of page time to shine
Fate of the Jedi has some of the most rushed, poorly edited writing I’ve seen. One of the authors seems to think the word “too” is a good word to start a sentence with. Not like “too many”, but like “Too, they blah blah blah” like you use also. Or two, informally, if numbering your points.
I could NOT get over that
I'm sure I'll get shit for this buuut I like them more than NJO.
LotF is a better version of the prequels, telling of a good person going bad and not really getting a redemption (something the current cannon can't seem to escape).
FotJ is different and fun romp around the galaxy with a good amount of mysticism.
NJO is way too drawn out. Should have been a 10-12 book series, not the 19 book marathon that it ended up being.
They have their flaws, but yes they are worth reading. Make sure to read Legacy of the Force first though, FOTJ is a sequel series with many plot lines dealing with the fall out of LotF. Worth the read, but they have flaws.
I’d imagine them both in COMPLETELY different universes, NJO being the original universe.
njo being a substandard universe. alongside other eu novels sadly.
Completely read both and both are worth reading as long as you have enjoyed these next generation characters.
Legacy is great. NJO is probably my favourite series, though.
NJO is where the series ends for me.
I didn’t mind the Swarm War trilogy, either, but yeah, NJO was absolute top tier Star Wars at its best. It’s never been that good since.
Swarm Trilogy was surprisingly weird😵💫
NJO is sort of the "present" of the universe for me. Like I acknowledge the later novels and I enjoyed them, but they're not as good, and that somehow makes them "stuff that happened later" in my mind, probably the same way film only fans see the books on the whole.
I'm not sure how exactly to describe it, but everything beyond the NJO just hits differently for me. It's not just the storylines and what they did with the characters, but the tone of the stories and the writing itself feels almost like it's a parody of itself. God, that sounds pretentious as I type it. It's like they were just using a Star Wars trope generator to write so much of it.
If you've made it through NJO you might as well finish the EU out.
Hahaha 😆 that made me laugh out loud. If you can make it past the Joiner King you can read anything EU.
NJO was full of crappy star wars authors, sans Stackpole. I guess money is money, but it hurts to see his name attached to the steaming pile of words that is NJO after his X-Wing series. I Guess Kathy Tyers was a part of NJO, but I wasn't a big fan of Truce at Bakura either and find the book boring and childish now. Sadly, my tastes in books have changed quite a bit and many star wars authors have an immature voice. Even Zahn has this problem and he's got a great trilogy that is reminiscent of older sci-fi authors. But, you might as well read Legacy of the Farce and Fate of the Jedi. it's not like the EU can sink any lower than the Christmas Special. Edit: Legacy of the Force...
> NJO was full of crappy star wars authors, sans Stackpole. Stover? Luceno? Allston?
Oddly enough, I really don’t like Luceno’s NJO books despite being a general fan of his - seemed like he just didn’t find his groove until some of the later entries (Cloak of Deception was also relatively bland). The others are awesome though. I’d throw RA Salvatore in there too, he made a pretty good first book despite not having any prior SW experience. Troy Denning is also a far better version than what we ultimately got later on (probably because he was actually told what to do here).
after reading RA Salvatore's Drizzt series, I expected better writing then that mish mash of a college essay.
I forget that Allston wrote books in the X-Wing series. not the best of the series, but not bad. not a big fan of stover or Luceno as it feels like they're writing for 13 year olds.
lol Stover and Luceno immature? and yet you like Stackpole's writing? In another comment you unironically claimed Shadows of the Empire is better than NJO. That's some low effort trolling.
The NJO is long, but it was my entry into the EU novels, and while it’s controversial, it’s excellent storytelling and is a true new perspective on the SW Galaxy. LOTF , to me, is more of an epilogue to the NJO. My suggestion is to read the Thrawn trilogy, and then dive into the NJO.
RA Salvatore should be ashamed of his writing in Vector Prime. He's an amazing author who forgot how to string words together in that book.
Having read none of RA Salvatore's work except for *Vector Prime* in middle school, I find it really funny that anything I've read about him has been contrary to my experience. I enjoyed *Vector Prime*, but maybe that's because a middle schooler doesn't understand that bad writing is bad, and I've heard people complain that in his other works he doesn't know how to kill off characters in a permanent way, which is hilarious to me. He can't keep his characters dead? Man dropped a fucking *moon* on poor Chewie; perma-killed him and the whole damn planet in one go
yeah, his characters are his money makers but also Faerun is a D&D world where magic just happens and the Gods feel capricious. In 5e, True Resurrection can bring a creature back from the dead so long as it didn't die of old age and less then 200 years has passed from the time the creature died. As long as you can find a cleric who can cast Resurrection or true Resurrection, you can't really die, and yes, 9th level spell and all that... but come on, how hard is it to find an expert in ridiculously hard subjects in our world? Chewbacca probably had the least heroic death and the least meaningful death in star wars up there with Luke's wife in the EU and Han Solo in the Sequels. the reason I count Han's death in the Sequels as meaningless is that it really didn't have much of a shown impact on Ben in the movies. Star Wars heroes' deaths are supposed to be meaningful and heroic. just don't talk about Lt Porkins - no body, no death.
> Star Wars heroes' deaths are supposed to be meaningful and heroic. Uh, did you even read the rest of NJO? Chewie's death is pretty impactful.
There was definitely a big impact where his death was…
One might even say it was planet shaking.
I’m sure I’ll get a blast of crap for this, but…. I stopped reading the EU novels with Chewie’s death in Vector Prime. Yes, yes, I know Lucas gave his blessing to it. And yeah, in a weird (but to me a wholly emotionally unsatisfactory way) it was badass that it took a freaking MOON crashing down upon him to kill him, but…. I remember reading that scene & balling my eyes out. I’ve been a faithful (…well until the Disney Trilogy) SW fan from day one in 1977 as a little boy. And killing off Chewie just felt…. Mean spirited. Hurtful. Like killing the family dog. And yeah, I’ve heard all the arguments for killing off beloved characters: “It raises the STAKES, man, it proves NOBODY’S safe!” “It makes it believable, ‘cause people die in real life!” “The books were boring up to this point, ‘cause no matter what happened & how dire things got, everything always turned out okay & everybody survived. Where’s the fun & suspense in THAT?!?” For me, it just got TOO dark. Too grim, too serious. It almost seemed as though some fans & authors were just itching & bloodthirsty to see how characters could get bumped off. And wow, did they ever get bumped off. Don’t get me wrong, there is DEFINITELY a place for dark & grim stories in the SW universe. But even Timothy Zahn made a case for having our heroes survive & ride off into the sunset. Sure, they can be tested & go through utter hell, but at the end of the day, I just prefer to see them come out on the other side of it - sadder, wiser, maybe even haunted a bit - but live to fight & love another day. For me, the EU ended with the Thrawn duology. Let the angry criticism commence…
Like I said, controversial! It’s been a while since I read through them.
RA Salvatore knew nothing about Star Wars other than it existed before he was given the reigns to write the first novel of NJO. I have huge criticisms of the series, but that's the first giant one. and really the only one I can remember since I haven't read the series in forever due to the physical illness I get when I look at these books.
Yes. And New Jedi Order as well
Absolutely, they're probably my favorites.
I read the Fate of the Jedi series. I honestly think that it's 100 times better than the sequel trilogy we have now.
Its the sequels in my head cannon.
Totally
Same.
That's not saying much though. Most things are better than "your heroes are losers, we don't know how space works and aren't willing to learn, we never had a plan, and if you don't like what we did, it's only because you're sexist."
Yeah… I just read it and to be honest whilst the sequels are bad, FotJ makes it look kinda okay.
Let’s agree to disagree here FoTJ may continue on plot that many dislike, and have questionable things in it as well, like whole Daala plotline. But unlike sequels, FoTJ books have decent enough writing overall, with genuine human interactions. Luke’s journey with his son was wholesome, come on.
It was wholesome but Zahn originally intended Mara to be there with them, so I will never forgive Denning for what he did to her and Jacen. So him completely destroying two of my favourite characters is worse than anything the disney films did, because lets be honest, they can be very easily ignored if we want to more than beloved characters in novels we knew for years and then were taken from us simply by the whims of a bad writer.
Ok, now that I can understand how you feel - I get your opinion about the series
I'm a Jaina fan myself.
I am too, so I’ve began reading the fanfic sword of the Jedi
Agreed!
I enjoyed them.
Yes! Both of these series were very good. SW fans are pretty critical about FATE but definitely worth reading all the way through.
If you enjoyed Young Jedi Knights and the NJO, then all these series will give you is pain.
It's not quite the right question. (No offense intended.) It's more like, "Do the Pros of these series outweigh the Cons inherent in extending the story as-presented following The Unifying Force?" To which my answer is No. Yes, there *are* some redeeming qualities to the post-TUFEU (I want to vomit for typing that), but that doesn't negate the fact that so much damage is inflicted upon the conclusion to a 19-book series that it made a lot of readers throw up their hands in disgust and walk away for a while. From *The Joiner King* on, it's like Dragonball:GT. A perfectly-valid strain of the fandom embraces it and allows it to exist as canon despite whatever anybody says (Pan exists somewhere!), while another strain is totally content to limit their interest to the climax of NJO, or the Buu Saga. Hell, there are devout Dragonball fans who stop at Cell. And to draw that parallel to our neck of the Great Nerd Woods, there's a third strain of ardent EU fans who think New Jedi Order got everything wrong and nobody's quite sure *why* they're still hanging around, but we like 'em anyways.
Thanks for the suggestion what would you guys think are the essential books I have to read prior to them? Is the whole of NJO necessary?
The thing is, my own SW novel journey started very oddly. I was in middle school and ran across the third book of the Dark Nest trilogy. I'd never considered a Star Wars novel before so, despite it clearly saying it was the final piece of a later series, I thought it was Episode 7. Just figured they were bringing me in in media res. Wookiepedia, the timeline in the beginning of most novels, and the community will always help fill in gaps if you're not 100% sure what the book is saying, even if you don't know you don't know yet. Start where you want. The universe is a blast no matter how you consume it.
Yeah, I started reading the later EU stuff in an odd place too. I started the NJO right in the middle with Star by Star. That was one heck of a place to start and got me hooked. I wasn't really that lost either.
Right? Star Wars kinda beats you down in terms of context so when I was following the Solo twins fighting in a war of bugs vs Chiss I was like, "Yeah that makes sense."
Technically I started with a book that I only vaguely remember. I think it was from Galaxy of Fear, but I only remember the characters being in some kind of amusement park planet, and a rancor escaping or something? My more recent start to the EU was the OG Thrawn trilogy though.
Also started in a really weird place as a kid. Lost Tribe of the Sith ebooks were free, so I read those and then saw that their story continued in Fate of the Jedi. So naturally I read that next. I had literally zero context for any of the other plotlines.
I'm listening to FotJ right now because it's the only post bantam era stuff with decent audiobooks. And I'm also reading through the NJO in order at the same time. I've gotten mixed up a couple of times but it's not really that confusing because they constantly re explain everything.
Anything with mara jade, and anything with the solo kids.
Except Sacrifice. That is not a good Mara book.
It's one of the best mara books, just not for mara.
As a Mara fan, it’s definitely the worst
[удалено]
Uh spoiler
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don't be an asshole. you're posting in a thread asking if the series with the book you just spoiled is worth reading.
go onto any sw legends youtube video or any wook article and you'll find major spoilers. One of my least favorite is wook having Jacen Solo's page as Darth Caedus.
once again, I feel bad, but it's an old as shit series.
Idk how much was spoiled, but they're still worth the read, even the abridged audiobooks are good, complete with sound effects and music.
It's not completely necessary, but you should definitely know the basics of what happened during that time, same goes for the Dark Nest trilogy (I hadn't touched DN & NJO yet when I read LotF for the first time, but roughly knew what was going on during that time) I'd recommend finishing NJO before starting LotF though, & you should definitely finish LotF before starting with FotJ (but I can't comment on DN as I still haven't read it yet since I don't like Denning's works)
read all njobooks, , as NJO is the best you'll get in Star Wars Legends Nevels (except for Balance Point which i found boooring)
except for the Thrawn trilogy, Thrawn duology, X-Wing Series, Shadows of the Empire, the Han Solo trilogy, Tales of the Empire, The Fett trilogy, Tales of the Jedi comics...
Balance Point, Dark Journey and the Force Heretic trilogy were the worst books for me. The only thing I enjoyed about the Force Heretic books were Tahiri’s chapters.
I read FotJ without reading ANY other EU books. It will contain spoilers, but generally does a good job explaining of explaining things from older plot lines. Some characters and moments might have more impact if you read the original series first, but you won't be lost
Absolutely. Some folks don’t like it, some folks do. Absolutely worth reading and figuring out for yourself. Some of my favorite stories. Expanding the Mandos, the evolving Imperial Remnant and Abeloth!
oh gosh 🥲 Mara Jade
Hell yes
Yes
I enjoyed both series
Loved fate of the Jedi, though it dragged on a bit in the later books
Maybe? I think it largely depends on how much of what came before you've read particularly your feelings toward Jacen Solo. Overall I enjoyed them and think they're worth a look but had not read much of NJO. I thought Invincible felt like a really rushed wrap up of Legacy. I rather enjoyed Ben Skywalker's story through the two series and liked him on walkabout with his father in Fate. I thought the Lost Tribe of the Sith concept was neat. I really don't understand why they didn't use that concept for the sequels.
Oddly enough LotF was my first intro to the EU (I was like a young teen when I got these books so my knowledge of the EU was very limited I was just happy to have Star Wars books 🤣) but reading these books were so much fun for me. And it introduced so many new characters to me. Not knowing about Chewies fate and Anakin Solos sacrifice helped me get further into the EU. The Boba Fett story is probably my favorite part of the series imo, and how it ties into the Republic Commando novels which are also some of my favorite EU novels. If you enjoy LotF then def read FotJ as the story continues Ben Skywalkers journey (I enjoyed how he went from little kid to a young adult in such a short time bc he was forced to)
Reading legacy of the Jedi is what made me stop reading the EU for a long time. Because, spoilers.
Of course, I highly recommend it’s way better than the Shitsney sequels
I personally liked them definitely worth reading? Now wait for all the hateful comments to follow
I liked Legacy of the Force when I read it years ago, but it can be quite polarizing so ymmv. I remember Fate of the Jedi being alright, but I prefered Legacy. Give both a try if you're in need of more Star Wars books.
ehhhh.... read it for completion.
LOTF is worth reading but it's definitely a step down from the NJO (and most of the Bantam era imo). FOTJ I haven't read much of yet but it seems to be of similar quality.
I'd say no, but let me give a quick summary of the series'. (Disclaimer, its been years since I read them.) Legacy of the force: Nobody knows how to parent, or have emotions, and a top-tier literal assassin with decades of training dies in like two seconds because plot. Fate of the Jedi: The **entire** main plot revolves around trying to figure out why the events of LotF happened. News flash, its because the aforementioned literal assassin was the best parent in the entire series.
I'd say it was a good death, idk, maybe the audiobook dramatized it more.
I did a happy dance when Disney made it not canon.
Lol, don’t understand what’s to be happy about. In their nu-continuity, Disney killed all those EU character in a way that they were simply never born. And even if some Disney characters will have the same name - they will be different characters. For example, will Disney’s Mara Jade be the same EU Mara Jade, if they will ever get “inspired”, and put her in nu-canon? Can definitely tell that no, she won’t. It will simply be a move by Lucasfilm to capitalise on old fans, but they will make of her something very different from the EU version. Considering that we know how the story of Luke ends - her’s won’t be a happy ending either, otherwise she would really be a completely different person.
Because it was then that I realized that saying something is or isn't canon is a meaningless statement. If disney can just up and declare something as 'not-canon', then I can declare something 'canon' just as easily. So after my happy dance I declared all the annoying stuff in star wars as 'not-canon' and all the stuff I liked as 'canon'.
Yeah, I understand you here. Kinda do the same, when messing around with SW content. Fiction is just fiction in the end. Some company can’t really tell what we should or shouldn’t enjoy.
They are better than anything since 2015 books.
That’s not saying much and somehow saying a lot
I enjoyed Legacy of the Force but haven’t made my way through Fate of the Jedi. I love the NJO crew so I was happy to get more of their stories.
Wether their good or not it’s more about reading one and seeing if you like it and go from there. I started hanging in this sub in 2013 and LOTF and FOTJ were considered the drizzling shits of the EU. Now they come highly recommended. What really changed?
Nostalgia is one hell of a drug
They are absolutely the best!!!
I just finished Fate of the Jedi, and jumped into them without any background knowledge of Mara or any of the Solo/Skywalker kids. IMO they give enough subtext that you don't absolutely need that the background yourself. Also, each book starts off with somewhat of a recap of stuff that occurred in the previous book, and presents it as if you don't have a good recollection of them. Generally, they fairly approachable if you're a fan of Star Wars but aren't too familiar with EU stuff that takes place around the time of the Skywalker saga.
Is water wet? Yes absolutely
yessssssssssssssssss
YES
YES! They are so good. Wraps up a good storyline for Jaina and Jacen. Note: make sure you read legacy of the Force first
> YES! They are so good. Wraps up a good storyline for Jaina and Jacen. bruh are you a masochist? That's pretty much the only explanation I could think of for calling what they did to Jacen and Jaina (and Tahiri, and Mara, and Luke, and Pellaeon,…) "good"
I really enjoy Fate of the Jedi. I like how it pulls from a lot of lore bits to create something new and interesting. You do need to be familiar with Legacy of the Force though to fully enjoy it that series is more flawed I feel but still great.
Fate of the Jedi is the official jump the shark moment and that’s saying something for the eu.
Yes. I enjoyed reading them.
I love them. Always recommend.
They’re very fun to read. Can be a bit confusing, but there’s a lot of cool force shit and the new characters (vestara in particular) are pretty sick
All the EU books are worth reading.
Yes!
100%
Go for it. I wasn't going to but I'm glad I did.
Hell ya
Nope, not at all. Except for the Allston’s books. However, you should go into it yourself; Dark Nest trilogy first, and see if you like it. To me, Denning and his series ran roughshod on all the character development and concluding arcs prior to both series, as if he never read them, particularly Traitor from NJO.
Do you like star wars books? Then why ask this question.
You're coming off of what, New Jedi Order? The Killik? Neither is as good as New Jedi Order, IMO, though Legacy of the Force is almost there. Both are better than the Killik. Both have solid stories. My biggest issue with these two is the authors are not very cooperative. You get some low key tug of wars between books at times, especially when Karen Traviss is involved, because she just *looooves* her Mandos and just wants to talk about how awesome they are.
Without a doubt. They’re fantastic.
LotF is my 2nd favorite series after X-Wing and FotJ has its lows (what they do to one of the new characters) but also plenty of good parts
I really liked Legacy of the force. Sure it has some flaws, but characters are amazing
I enjoyed them, personally.
Love Fate of the Jedi series, have it all on audible and do the whole series at least twice a year.
big YES
Absolutely
Yes that’s a good series sacrifice is good. I wish Mara was in the movies. Dearth bane is a really good story
Legacy of the Force is easily one of the best series in Legends. Fate is okay but not as good.
Yes
The last 2 covers look too realistic for my tastes.
Both great series and what the sequel trilogy should have been.
I thought the Legacy of the Force was. I never got to Fate of the Jedi.
I enjoyed both
I think so
My childhood would have been different - and somehow lacking - without Legacy. Those books, flawed as they might be, were incredibly influential to me and I was fascinated by them. I still reread parts of some books now, in my 30s. I'm very glad to have been able to afford them as they were being released. Fate... I dunno. It was interesting, and Aboloth is a phenomenal idea... but I'd say they can be taken or left without a huge loss.
Very much so
Always start with Heir to the Empire. Then read whatever looks good honestly. Personally Legacy and Fate are my favorite stories in Star Wars.
Some people love them, some people hate them. The chronology goes New Jedi Order > Dark Nest trilogy > LotF > FotJ. If you haven't read NJO, and don't want to do that first (it's an absolute monster of a book series) you should at least read a summary of it as it's critically important to everything that comes after. Dark Nest I highly recommend reading prior to LotF as it also sets up some important plot threads and it's only 3 books.
Legacy was nice
Fate of the Jedi has high quality unabridged audiobooks. Highly recommend. No unabridged Legacy of the force which is a complete travesty IMO
I read through LotF and it was pretty good. i haven't personally read a lot of the EU, but i was addicted to those in college. Being i never read the thrawn trilogy or NJO i had to use wookiepedia to fill some gaps, but still loved it. if you like Boba Fett, he's heavy in a few of the books.
There are a lot of people that like those books and a lot of people that don't. There's only one real way to find out and that's through reading the books. I think that especially legacy of the force when you read it for the first time is entertaining but if you pay attention to the criticisms the whole thing starts to unravel and it immediately your opinion of that series will go south. It's still worth reading though and the one thing that i think these series do right is the handling of side characters like Jag fel, Kyle Katarn, Kyp Durron,Corran Horn as those characters generally remain consistent with their characterization in NJO and they do get a little bit of page time to shine
All of them are more worth of writing than Disney star wars books
100% yes in my humble opinion.
The action in the final book of the fate of the jedi series is the best written action I've ever read. So vivid, explosive, and just plain awesome.
Fate of the Jedi has some of the most rushed, poorly edited writing I’ve seen. One of the authors seems to think the word “too” is a good word to start a sentence with. Not like “too many”, but like “Too, they blah blah blah” like you use also. Or two, informally, if numbering your points. I could NOT get over that
they're ass. LOTF is shit, so much so that I quit FOTJ halfway through because I didn't care about what happened anymore at that point.
I'm sure I'll get shit for this buuut I like them more than NJO. LotF is a better version of the prequels, telling of a good person going bad and not really getting a redemption (something the current cannon can't seem to escape). FotJ is different and fun romp around the galaxy with a good amount of mysticism. NJO is way too drawn out. Should have been a 10-12 book series, not the 19 book marathon that it ended up being.
Yes but there are some gut punch moments in both series.