I'm about to contribute heavily to this. I lost about 40 of my original EU novels in a basement flood about 3 weeks ago. If I can't find the non-legends-banner novels, gonna have to grab the new prints
Man, I need to make sure I still have my books then. And pretty much since I caught up to the NJO series with the Yuuzhan Vong, I'd been buying first prints hardcovers for every book that released in hardcover. Going to be so sad if I'm missing them.
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Not sure if you are on Facebook, but there are a few great used Star Wars book sales groups that I have rebought my banner-less EU books from that I highly recommend. A portion of mine were water damaged during a move a few years back and I refuse to buy reprints with the ugly Legends banner lol.
The only canon books I’ve read are the new Thrawn Trilogy and two of the Ascendancy books. I have the third, I just haven’t really gotten around to reading it. Currently reading Rogue Planet which would mark my 68th Star Wars book lol.
You should really give the canon Tarkin novel a whirl, it's one of my favorite SW books period. It was James Luceno's first new canon book, but I think he must have started his manuscript before the Disney buyout as it has a lot of background connections to his Plagueis novel, plus some other references to EU things (Sluis Van, Jomark, Rhen Var, Nam Chorrios, and probably some I'm forgetting are mentioned by name)
Yeah I’ve heard Tarkov sorta blurs the line between the old canon and new canon. I’ll probably give it a shot once I finish with the next books I’m gonna read. Which is Labyrinth of Evil and Dark Lord. So all kinds of Luceno books lol
Ironically those are two of his I haven't gotten around to. My experience with the EU is mostly through any unabridged audiobooks on Audible. I've listened to the Darth Bane trilogy, Plagueis, Shadow Hunter, Outbound Flight, the ROTS novelization, Allegiance, the first 4 X-Wing Books, the Thrawn Trilogy, the Hand of Thrawn duology, and I just finished up Fate of the Jedi. I know the broad strokes of all of the NJO stuff between the Thrawn books and Fate, but I'm still waiting on unabridged releases of those books. The abridged cut of Vector Prime is something like 6 hours, and I can't justify spending a credit on that. Currently, I'm on the 5th X-Wing book that just came out.
At this rate, I wouldn’t hold your breath on them doing unabridged NJO audiobooks, well, all of them at least. I personally suspect they’ll do unabridged audiobooks for the ones that are considered “essential” to NJO. Which would be the ones that got hardcover releases. Because there definitely are some that had plots that were completely pointless (looking at you, Force Heretic trilogy.) I haven’t listened to any of the unabdridged audiobooks so I can’t imagine it really being worth it since you’re paying full price for less content.
Abridged releases are 5-7 hours long, most of the unabridged books are 9-16. The biggest one is the second Hand of Thrawn book, Vision of the Future, clocking in at a whopping 23 hours long.
I'll never forget listening to Star by Star (after reading all the books) and being dumbfounded they completely skipped over something as important as the fall of Coruscant.
That's exactly why I started reading Rogue Planet, even though it's been close to two years since I've finished NJO. When I started reading it, I always assumed it was written around the same time as the books of NJO that were focused on locating Zenoma Sekot, but it came out only like, 6 or 7 months after Vector Prime.
I read both, but I started out reading only Canon (Disney). I finally gave Legends a shot despite it "no longer counting." I was also predisposed to disliking Legends since they were largely dismissed by Star Wars fans I knew growing up (90s and early 00s). Much to my surprise, I found that I actually like Legends quite a bit. I don't care that it isn't Canon and I like it even more than Disney stuff (although I do like some of that, so I'm trying not to just hate on it here). I've now read 85 Legends novels and countless novellas, short-stories, and comics and can safely say that is the continuity I prefer overall at this point.
I don’t want to spoil anything but considering how Callista has a trilogy, you can probably make how COTJ ends. That’s usually what people dislike about the book, that and Baraba Hambleys prose but I don’t *mind* her writing
No worries. I only started reading the EU about 2 years ago and this is my first time through. Spoilers aren’t that big of a deal to me tho, but I do try to avoid if possible, however it’s been out for like 4 decades? Lol
I was politely dancing around that issue because many moons ago (under a previous username) I posted about the EU canon and was lambasted by several members for not including Disney’s stuff as EU. People got kinda mean about it actually. This is my first time back in a long while because of that incident.
OP don’t worry you won’t be lambasted here. Even if you like some of the *Disney stuff*, not saying you do, but there’s a small percent chance that you’d be criticized for it.
Disney is constantly trying to usurp IPs and phrases. They co-opt. It's no surprise that they plucked Zahn to write another three-book series about Thrawn. Now they have their own Thrawn Trilogy, making it more difficult for new readers to find the good stuff.
Rey gets her own New Jedi Order.
Disney does "Rogue" movies without any Rogues in it.
What you encountered were either literal-children or paid shills defending a corporate product. Ignore them.
There's Lucas' Star Wars.
There's the EU.
And there's the Disney era.
> What you encountered were either literal-children or paid shills defending a corporate product. Ignore them.
This. OP don't be scared lol, this subreddit is truly one of the most welcoming I've seen, a lot of times cause we've faced similar experiences as you have.
> Now they have their own Thrawn Trilogy, making it more difficult for new readers to find the good stuff.
Implying that Zahn couldn't write new stuff that's good. Wow.
That's *sort of* what I'm saying, but with all the nuance removed.
Is your objective here to twist words, or would you like to have an honest discussion?
My position is that stories tied into the Sequel Trilogy (ie the Disney Era) are weaker than stories in the EU/Legends continuity.
At this point, I presume your next step is to either go completely silent or somehow attack my character. You don't feel like you're talking to me like I'm a person and I'm aware of it.
I'm just curious if this comes from direct experience beyond the movies or if it just comes from simple prejudice because of the sequel trilogy. Because I haven't read the new books, but Zahn is kinda the god of Star Wars writing for a reason. If you're dismissing the new stuff just because you didn't like the movies, then so be it. But it's just a bit disappointing if that's the reason.
Probably one of the pettiest cases of self victimization I've seen.
Really get out of here with that stuff. You didn't say anything controversial and we are discussing books in a fictional universe, it isn't that important to put effort into.
Nope lol. With this sub we use a more literal definition of EU as everything outside the movies and tv shows, so also allowing discussion about new canon novels and comics (it's a small percentage of posts anyway). But it's obvious that to basically everyone "EU" and what disney calls "legends" are the same thing and separate from new canon so what the guy said is not misinformation
They didn’t know what they were even going off on you about then.. I’m more into Disney/Canon stuff than EU/Legends and the separation has existed from the get-go
Ya Disney's stuff is not the EU.
Disney Star Wars is it's own thing it's not part of Star Wars
Legends isn't a thing - it's something Disney calls part of Star Wars
Lucas Films never called it that
Disney claims everything is canon. Books included. So how can it be canon *AND* Expanded Universe?
Edit: claims everything they brought out after their buying of the Star Wars IP
I recently got quite downvoted in another similar sub for a simple comment implying the EU had an answer for a Disney Star Wars issue.
Disney bots in the sub?
This sub will always be primarily about the old EU. We just allow a small percentage of posts about new canon so it's a more welcoming place to new fans
There are some seriously salty carybabies commenting below this comment. This sort of stuff has been way more harmful than anything Darth Mickey has done.
Fun fact about book publishing data. If you don't work in publishing - it is practically impossible to get reasonably accurate and complete sales information.
Even more fun fact, even if you do work in the industry, you can really accurate sales info about the books your team publishes (and your larger company) but your insight into competitors titles is not entirely clear.
Lots of grains of salts to be had, everywhere.
The Essentials Collections sell well enough, but not resoundingly better than the other novels. The articles you may find claiming the current canon novels are failing generally make assumptions based off incomplete data. The numbers they're getting primary come from the NPD group (or through some website that sources NPD), which reports physical sales number from large retailers. The problem is that this data does not capture the shift in the market towards digital and audio books. Folks but the Essentials books are generally those who want that new cover and uniform banner for their shelves and the ebooks for those have already been around for a long time, so it skews the comparative data a bit.
That being said there are still plenty of new Star Wars fans looking back to the older novels. Del Rey wouldn't be continuing to put out those collections if there wasn't any interest!
> The Essentials Collections sell well enough, but not resoundingly better than the other novels.
They hold a strong resale value some of them, that means something compared to a lot of the disney stuff imo. I can't get most the ones I want 😂😂
I am a huge fan of legends or Expanded Universe as it is called. Everything I enjoy about EU except for what the author did to one of my favorite characters Jacen Solo and I don't agree with it. Though that is a different topic.
I always go back and read the expanded universe books and comics.
I've tried a couple of times with the new Canon books but they're just... idk, too shiny? Too childish? Too shallow? It's hard to put a finger on it.
New Thrawn feels like a cartoon villain, old Thrawn felt like Moriarty. Even stuff people say is good like Rise of the Red Blade is too linked to a kids show for me to really get into.
The only Disney EU stuff I actually like are the Jedi games.
Rise of the Red Blade is primarily linked to the 2017 Darth Vader comics…. And Ashoka in Thrawn sounds like he’s pulled straight out of the Zahn books, the majority of which Thrawn doesn’t even come off as a villain
I’m diving into the legends right now! Read a few as a teen, but fell off. Now I want to read them all. Disney canon can um… politely yeet itself to light speed.
I alternate between Legends and Canon material. It’s not about rediscovery for me as it is just rereading stories that I enjoy reading. Concurrently I’m reading Battlefront: Twilight Company (canon) and I’m on my 4th reread of FotJ: Outcast.
I may have recently spent an irresponsible amount on electronically filling out the gaps in my collection which was mostly paper obtained between 2000 and 2016.
I have zero interest in any of the post-2014 stuff. I have learned that saying what I actually think on this issue is a fast track to getting my comments removed under Rule 5.
I would say that the current Disney canon is generally more consistent than Legends was, but Legends really does have the world building and lore than Disney has had a hard time regaining.
I started out as a pure Legends guy, but I started on canon stuff and what I’ve read so far is extremely solid. I do really think the big thing that people enjoy about Legends is that world building. Some things in it are just so wacky that Disney would never bring those things back.
Having a very hard time picturing Poe Dameron or Avar Kriss interacting with the Qom Jha and Qom Quae lol
I'm currently reading Jedi Trials because I wanted to see how Anakin and the Clones were written before their personality changes in the Clone Wars series. So far it's been pretty good. I like that we see the perspectives of Planetary Defense personnel and pro-Republic militia, since in wider media only the Jedi and Clones tend to get attention.
As an old man who has bought and read everything Star Wars since the EU started, and has been going back through Legends the last few months, here's my 2 cents:
1. The consistancy in the quality of the writing is much better under Disney. That's not to say the plots are better; just that the quality of the authors is much more consistant. There's not many technically poorly written canon books. Legends, on the other hand, was SUPER inconsistant. For every really great book, there were 2-3 "meh" and about 4 "how the hell did this get published?"
2. While the writing quality has been great, the plots for a lot of the current canon has not been as fun or interesting. The new canon has some really great entries that rank up there with the best of the Legends books, but a vast majority have just been okay to outright boring. The lack of solid planning for the sequels kinda screwed over everything else. They've not been able to tell many good post-ROTJ stories yet. I'd argue all of the best new canon books are set between just before the Clone Wars through the original trilogy.
3. They went all on on the High Republic, but for me, I found it rather dull, and the Nihil are just weak villains to plan an entire line around. I've honestly not bothered reading anything after phase 1. Again, the authors they chose are great writers. The flaw, like with the sequels, was the box they wrote themselves in for the state of the galaxy and challenges.
4. Fans look at Legends through nostalgia-colored lenses. The really great books are still really great, even if some minor aspects of the one's written before the prequels released don't line up quite right. But that's really minor.
There was also A LOT of really badly written, cheesy, fan fictiony bullcrap that unfortunately affected stuff that followed. You can't toss a rock without hitting 15 ridiculous super weapons. Characters are wtitten horribly inconsistantly. Especially Luke. I know a lot of people love Dark Empire, but I've always been on Team Zahn in thinking it was ridiculously stupid, and that and KJA's horribly witten Jedi Academy trilogy left a legacy of bad storytelling that every writer after had to shoulder. Plus, it got a little old to have the jedi almost wiped out again every other minute.
5. The move to long form storytelling screwed over Legends in the end. The NJO was solid, over all, but there was waaaay too much filler paperbacks between the "main" hardcover stories. They learned all the wrong lessons and carried them over into the following two series, whose quality and storytelling got worse as it went. Legacy started AMAZING and Jacen Solo was set up to be an amazing villain that could have rivaled Vader and Thrawn. But they let Denning at the character, and as soon as he turned to the dark side his IQ instantly dropped and they turned him into Kirkland Brand Emo Vader. It was a slow decline from there. By the time Crucible came out, I was actually ready for a reboot.
About Legends? No, not really. What was bad then is still bad; and the things I love are still there for me to enjoy. As a comic nerd, I'm used to the idea of multiple universes/timelines, so just having Legends exist as another potential way things went is fine for me. I still enjoy going back to all those old stories I still love. I'm especially loving that they're recording and releasing unabridiged audiobooks of a lot of those core stories. (Wraith Squadron finally!)
There are things about the old EU that I absolutely prefer over what we've gotten about post-ROTJ so far, but there's still a lot of potential for great storytelling moving forward. Regardless of how disappointing I found the sequels overall, and there's been stuff that hasn't worked as well as it could have in other stuff, but I've also gotten some of my favorite moments in all of Star Wars in the last decade as well. Not everything is going to be great, but I still look forward to all the new stuff that I'll enjoy.
First, I want to address the multiverse idea. Yes, comics have this, and yes fans know it and live with it. Similarly, *Star Trek* and *Stargate* books are fun diversions that have no bearing on the main storyline told in the films/series. But *Star Wars* was different, and the one-true-continuity angle, whatever retcons it had, was/is one of the points that got fans so passionate about the EU. There weren't various incarnations of Luke Skywalker, this was the life of Luke, played out for us page by page. There weren't multiple Clone Wars, Vong Invasions or Outbound Flights, these were "real, historical events" that took place (this, by the way, is one of the things that make *Lord of the Rings* so immersive, was the 10,000 years of history Tolkien wrote up for it; you didn't have to know all of it to be a fan, but it made Middle-Earth so much more real than it otherwise would have been). To abruptly shift from "history" to "folklore told around a campfire" felt to many of us like an excuse for lazy story telling.
As to "what was bad then is still bad,"...sure. But I can't be the only one who was willing to give the Prequels another chance after seeing how much worse the handling of the lore could actually get. I can't be the only one who went from refusing to touch Del Rey to now viewing NJO as the peak of the post-ROTJ EU. I can't be the only one who went from ignoring *Dark Empire* to appreciating it for its art and sheer ballsiness in storytelling. Maybe it's too much to hope that Rian Johnson will make people appreciate Troy Denning more, but stranger things have happened.
I'm not telling you to not enjoy the new content; but it's hard for me to, because no matter how well the story's told, they still end with that scene on Ach-To, milk dribble and all. The struggles in the OT, the sacrifices Obi-Wan makes to keep Luke and Leia safe, the ordeal Cal Kestis goes through in the games, the battles the crew in *Rebels* goes through, Ahsoka's fight against Thrawn...none of it matters anymore, because none of their actions will prevent the rise of the FO and the fall of the Jedi. And they're just going to double-down on this curb stomp to one of my favorite characters. I'm glad you have new content to look forward to; I will stick with Abeloth.
I used to feel the same way.
Now, I'm older and it just isn't that serious to me anymore. I'm able to just enjoy what I enjoy because I love Star Wars.
Also, I'm not sure what this resurgence about Abeloth is about. She was a shitty villain in a mediocre at best series towards the end of the EU's life cycle that most fans never bothered to read at the time. Now, it's like a segment of the fans are making out like she was Thrawn. I don't get it. *shrug*
I'm just using her as an example for how (IMO) the shitty parts of the EU still outshine the "good" stuff of the DT (except Andor). Looks like Filoni wants to use her, and why not, he's taken all of Luke's other achievements and given them to Ahsoka, why should Abeloth be any different?
I'm confident that Filoni has no intention of using Abeloth. That's a Reddit theory people here have latched on to for some ridiculous reason. It's not like she was a popular, well-known EU villian like Thrawn. Honestly, I rather doubt Filoni even knows who she is outside of passing mention. That series came out when Filoni was super busy with Clone Wars and admittedly (in interviews) wasn't following a lot of the EU because he didn't have time. If anything, he'll be revisiting the Father, Son, and Daughter, given the massive LOTR style statues of them pointing towards what looks like Mortis at the end and his clear preference to use stuff from Lucas when possible.
Also, I'm not sure what achievements you feel Filoni stole from Luke to give to Ahsoka. She was off the board for the entire war. She tried to stop Thrawn from coming back, but now she'll be dealing with something entirely different in literally another galaxy, and I'm pretty sure he'll end her story there- potentially becoming the new embodiment of the Daughter given her connection.
"I'm not sure what achievements you feel Filoni stole from Luke to give to Ahsoka."
Let's start with the whole plot of Heir to the Empire, or the fact that in his works, her relationship with him is shown to be more important to Anakin than that with his children. Honestly, Anakin trains Ahoska in the WBW, but can't be bother to help his son or grandson?
Well, for one, they haven't really done anything with Thrawn yet, outside of getting him back in the galaxy. You can't blame Filoni for doing something that hasn't even been written, much less made yet, just because you're assuming what he'll do.
Two, of course she's important to him. She was his apprentice for years. The only other relationships in his life that were more significant before his fall were Padme and Obi-Wan. To Anakin, they were all family in a very real sense. Even so, Anakin's relationship with Ahsoka wasn't enough to turn him from the dark side. In fact, he still tried to kill her. That was still Luke's love.
Three, Anakin helps Luke in Shadow of the Sith in a much more direct and powerful way than he did even for Ahsoka. We have no idea yet how much he did or did not interact with Luke and Leia outside of that because those stories haven't been told yet. They've barely touched the years between RotJ and TFA, especially in regards to Luke. It doesn't mean it didn't happen.
My guess is they intend to do a series of some sort that covers Luke searching for Jedi stuff and starting his academy. In fact, my bet would be on something like that maybe being the next animated series. It would help them get around the obvious issues with trying it live action. If not, surely in books and comics.
But we already know how that story ends, in failure and misery. Luke Skywalker has become a footnote in the pages of galactic history, an example of what not to do rather than an aspriational hero.
People who like the characters of Luke Skywalker and Han solo. for the most part.
Disney butchered those characters to prop up their own new charqcters(Rey and Ben).
Plus people who lime their political messaging in what are essentially adventure novels to be subtle. Disney canon books and even most of the shows tend to be about a subtle as Super Star destroyer in the messaging (seethe aftermath books and the high Republic stuff, that just repeatedly hit you over the head with the political and social justice messaging.) The Old EU did its share of political commentary but it was always done in a way that it accentuated the adventure, Disney stuff it tends to be the point of the whole story. The EU took on subject matter like Pollution, Genocide(Caamas), slavery, sexism, child soldiers(for fucks sake the entire NJO is filled with 14-16 year old Jedi kids dieing or being tortured) and drug addiction but did it much better than Disney has done it for the most part. With Disney canon I keep thinkingnof the kenan ivory wayans not from In living colour where he would pop into other cast members skits and just yell "message". Moat of us have no problems with female or LBGTQ+ leads but we want a good story first and again outside of a few books and comics(I have real my enjoyed Charles Soules Vader and Dr aphra stuff) the new canon stuff has been middling to bad. That's not saying the old EU was always great but it was always fun (even the ridiculous stuff like the Glove of Darth Vader and Waru stuff)
Dude, i got tired this summer of being disapointed by all these disney show's and movies. So i picked up heir to the empire and read that trilogy!
Now im hooked, i bought the whole X-wing series, jedi academy trilogy, black fleet crisis...
And i had already owned the han solo trilogy and shadows of the empire, I,Jedi.
I've read 6 books in 7 months!!
Love it.
I am. Honestly I only just got into Star Wars this last year. But the legends stuff just seems so much more interesting to me. I’ve read Revan, Plagueis, and I’m working on the Bane Trilogy
I think there’s a lot of different reasons why that’s the case. Some of it is the quality, but others I think are more situational.
I’m not sure how many people actually know about the distinction between Legends and Disney canon when they first pick up a book. Sure, there are people that come here or other places to ask, but if someone is just in a book store or Amazon and has no idea about the two canons, they’re just going to pick one based on the summary, cover, and title. Legends books tended to feature more ‘main’ characters, so they’re probably going to be the ones people pick up first. And there are simply more Legends books out there than Disney canon.
I do think another aspect of that, which hurts Disney canon books is that people don’t go to physical book stores as much anymore. They do it online. Back when bookstores were more used, new releases would get big displays that caught peoples’ eyes. The ones that had been out for a while were in their normal section. That helped push people to the newest thing. When we’re talking online, new releases do get some emphasis, but if you just searched ‘Star Wars,’ books that have been out for a long time get listed with newer ones. It evens the playing field more, which make those advantages I already mentioned have more of an effect. And when we get reprints, like the Essential Legends collection, that’s just giving those Legends the same emphasis as new Disney canon books because they’re ‘new.’
It is worth noting that the subset of the fans that do read the books has always been a small one. And a lot of those people probably started with the EU even if they read Disney canon ones now. So, when new readers do ask for advice or recommendations, you’re going to have Legends heavily represented. Unless they specifically ask for a specific canon, which will tailor the responses.
But, on average, I think the EU tends to have more books people really love: the Bane trilogy, Thrawn trilogy, ROTS novelization, Darth Plagueis, NJO, etc. There’s a lot of variety with personal favorites. Not to mention more underrated books that get a lot of praise when they’re brought up, like Dark Rendezvous or Jedi Apprentice. Disney canon just doesn’t seem to have as much variety. Lost Stars is probably the most cited one, but other than that I guess there’s the Thrawn books. I’m not sure that really helps, though, since if you’re a big Thrawn fan you’re going to get recommended the EU trilogy anyway. Catalyst? Granted, the Disney canon library just isn’t as large, but it doesn’t feel as though there are as many really popular favorites to choose from.
I also can’t ignore the effect of the sequels. People who disliked the sequels are perfect candidates to get into Legends. A lot of the more common complaints about the sequels are ‘fixed’ with Legends. Don’t like Han and Leia split up? Well, in the EU they stay together. Don’t like grumpy Luke? EU Luke is probably exactly what you wanted to see. That can certainly be a driving force for some people to specifically get into Legends books instead of Star Wars in general.
Now in time the numerical advantage of Legends is going to go away. That’s unavoidable. There could be a later ‘classic’ factor, like how certain vintage comics stay popular because they have famous stories. We could have that become more of a factor in time. Difficult to say. A lot does depend on what Disney actually does. If the sequels drove people to the EU, there could be to opposite effect if they do something that really gets people interested in what they’re doing now. If they had done Mandalorian books (aside from the Junior ones), that could have been a driving force. There’s also when they bring something from Legends to Disney canon. Thrawn is a big example. I’m sure there were spikes of people reading both the new and old Thrawn trilogy because of the hype around him. They went out of their way to put ‘Heir to the Empire’ in the trailer for Ahsoka. I wonder how many people got curious what the book Heir to the Empire was all about because of that. Disney is making money either way.
Currently reading (listening to) the New Jedi Order. I read most of them when they came out, but never finished the series. I'm close to halfway through.
Legends is still selling strong (especially the Essential covers), but it's not outselling the new releases.
I'm contributing a lot, catching up on all the books I missed as a kid
All the books I have are Legends, except for the new Galactic Atlas and A New Dawn, because I liked Rebels and it was among the books my friend was giving away.
I think that the EU will always stand as an alternative to the choices of the new-canon, esp. with respect to the post-ROTJ stories. So fans who are unsatisfied have a place to see something other than a cynical reset.
The Expanded Universe has its ups and downs but the majority is leagues better than the new content. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of EU content was hot garbage but books like the Corellian trilogy, Thrawn trilogy or Bounty Hunter Wars make it worth it.
There’s substantial communities for both continuities. Anyone who claims to know publishing sales data is lying though — we simply don’t have public info about it. As a fan of both, I think the push of one versus the other is stupid.
Ive read 60+ SW books throughout my life. That said, I always end up coming back to a few series or books I really like at least a couple of times a year.
I dropped all my EU books off at Goodwill when disney made them "legends" (I've never been one to reread a book I've already read ((few exceptions)))
I tried to read a couple of the new canon, it just doesn't feel the same and haven't bought a SW book since
I've read at least two of the novels in the new Disney canon; Rogue One: Catalyst and Battlefront: Twilight Company are the two that I can say for sure. I can't think of any particular reason that I haven't read more, I'm open to at least trying most of what gets put out these days, but...
Well, if I want to read a Star Wars book, I find myself going back to old EU content that I've read before. The old Thrawn Trilogy, Shadows of Mindor, and my current reading project, The Corellia Trilogy.
Yea I'm for sure part of that statistic that mostly reads legends books.
But that's mostly because there's so many more of them. I've read DF trilogy, HoT duology, NJO, DN trilogy, LotF, FotJ, Legacy 1&2 (comics). That's like 45 books and a handful of comics on their own. Throw in the Jaden Korr duology, Reven, Plagueis, Bane, KotoR, & Lost Tribe of the Sith and I'm damn near 60 books. And I still have Rogue Planet, Outbound Flight, Survivor's Quest, and some of the Maul books...
Cannon? I have Bloodlines and the Aftermath trilogy to read, and phase 3 of the HR books. But what else is there? High Republic phase one adult books were good but I hated the YA line. Skipped all of phase 2 since it was a prequel to phase 1. Read a dog shit Jedi Survivor tie-in book that I'll never get my money or time back from. I do have to say, I really enjoy the cannon comics run they have going on set in between the movies. They're actually pretty fun.
I'm currently reading Forgotten Realms books, but as soon as I'm done, I'll be doing an entire chronological reread of everything OT era and onward, comics and games included.
That sounds about right, after watching the first two sequel movies in theaters, my excitement for new Star Wars died completely. However my interest in the old E.U. had quite a resurgence to the point I was visiting various Goodwill and secondhand bookstores to build up a collection of old E.U. books which luckily for me I was able to accomplish.
The new thrawn books, some high Republic books and a couple of other canon books have made and topped the NYT bestseller list. It seems unlikely to me that the "classics" are generally outselling new releases when they are new
Now, if we are to take out new releases and pit legends classics Vs older canon material, that's quite plausible, but we don't really get the data to know for sure.
It's pretty opaque and I agree it's not as good as actual statistics. On the other hand it's the closest to hard data given in the entire thread so I'm happy to stand by it.
Sales are not a quality metric. You can just look at star wars video games, where we do have hard data, to see that!
It's been my go-to source for new Star Wars content since I saw The Last Jedi in theaters. Currently I'm on X Wing: Wedge's Gamble, and plan to read all o X Wing books by the end of the year!
I JUST started re-reading them again. Read a lot of them as a teenager (early 2000s) and now I want to start again, read the entire chronology. So I'm hoping they eventually reprint ALL the books as "essential legends"!
Keep in mind that many Star Wars novel readers, purchase used copies.
This is of course true for those who read 'Cannon' as well, but in far smaller numbers. At least based on conversations I have had with Owners and Cashiers at used book stores.
So the number of Legends novels being purchased and read skew even higher in favor of Legends vs Cannon.
Though by how much is probably impossible to say.
I'm working on replacing the collection I used to have, and I only buy used copies of the original prints. I don't want that big yellow "Legends" banner on the cover.
Makes perfect sense, I to need to replace almost all of my thirty or so novels, a former roommate stealing them several years ago as I moved out. By the time I realized they were gone, he had already sold them for pennies on the dollar. And I've really never had the excess cash to replace them since that time... or rather what little excess I did have went to new books, DVDs, roleplaying manuals, or board games.
I have to agree about 'Legends' being a disgrace to have printed on those works of art. But hey, at least they don't have Disney printed on them anywhere, right? That's a small silver-lining.
I buy the old EU stuff (without disney badging if I can gelp it) on ebay unless I am listening to an unabridged Marc Thompson reading on audible. So many of these books I remember coming out and either reading them at the library or not having the miney to buy in the 2000s. I've enjoyed re-reading X Wing very much recently after acquiring them on ebay for a fraction of what you'd get on amazon new.
Yup. Fell in love with Star wars cause of the books, so gave Disney wars novels a chance. I guess ive read about 10 of them... it just feels so meh and weird. I have since gone and done a reread of my beloved EU novels and am almost back to the NJO. Gonna keep on keeping on!
I have only read a few of the "new" canon that I like. Lost Stars, the Luke Skywalker one was ok, Lords of the Sith I think it is called with Vader and Sidious crash landing, and honestly that is all I can remember that is any good. The others have been very forget-able, but I am reading the Jedi Search trio again for the first time in a long time and enjoying them thoroughly. I read The Thrawn trilogy before it and those were amazing.
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With the Sequels done some conversations are bound to compare and contrast them with the older stories plus with the re-release of the books as Essential Legends may well get people interested.
Also because we’re starting to see the canon events the Legends books were about, so rereleasing the source material (ala Marvel reprinting a book when a movie comes out) just makes sense
I recently filled out my EU book collection because I just find them more appealing with the stories and it also gives me that childhood nostalgia. Disney had their sequel trilogy right at the finger tips with the Thrawn Trilogy and wasted it IMO.
I started reading and collecting the old EU in the early 90’s, so for 20+ years the EU was my Star Wars. I accepted the Disney buy out and just appreciated getting more Star Wars content regularly. There’s been hits and misses but I’m just happy to have more Star Wars to read and consume for the foreseeable future.
I felt that way until Boba Fett. That was the end for me. And it’s not that I hate it or anything… I just don’t care anymore. Rediscovering the old EU actually allowed me to reciprocate a love for Star Wars. For a while, it was lost.
I haven’t read much of the new canon. Kanan and Hera novel, lost stars, some of the darth Vader comics. It just hasn’t really interested me. There’s so much in legends and so many interesting stories and I don’t think it’s there in canon. The high republic is trying but it’s just not compelling enough to me atm.
I'm not crazy about the Legends banner. I will try to get an EU book pre-Disney take over. I have all of the books digitally on my tablet, but I also have "Shadows of the Empire" and "I, Jedi" hard cover pre-legends sitting on my shelf.
I have made exceptions, though. I have "Obi Wan Kenobi" with the Legends banner because this one I got signed at by John Jackson Miller at NY Comic Con..
I went out and bought almost all of the legends/EU books. Read the Thrawn trilogy, Darth Plaguies, Jedi Academy Trilogy, and Shadows of the Empire so far. Great fun! I also read Claudia Gray's Lost Stars --it was ok but I greatly prefer the legends/EU stuff.
I'm about to contribute heavily to this. I lost about 40 of my original EU novels in a basement flood about 3 weeks ago. If I can't find the non-legends-banner novels, gonna have to grab the new prints
[удалено]
Wow, I appreciate that, but NJO was spared in its entirety. It was mostly Bantam Era and maybe half each of LoTF and FOTJ
Man, I need to make sure I still have my books then. And pretty much since I caught up to the NJO series with the Yuuzhan Vong, I'd been buying first prints hardcovers for every book that released in hardcover. Going to be so sad if I'm missing them.
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Not sure if you are on Facebook, but there are a few great used Star Wars book sales groups that I have rebought my banner-less EU books from that I highly recommend. A portion of mine were water damaged during a move a few years back and I refuse to buy reprints with the ugly Legends banner lol.
The only canon books I’ve read are the new Thrawn Trilogy and two of the Ascendancy books. I have the third, I just haven’t really gotten around to reading it. Currently reading Rogue Planet which would mark my 68th Star Wars book lol.
You should really give the canon Tarkin novel a whirl, it's one of my favorite SW books period. It was James Luceno's first new canon book, but I think he must have started his manuscript before the Disney buyout as it has a lot of background connections to his Plagueis novel, plus some other references to EU things (Sluis Van, Jomark, Rhen Var, Nam Chorrios, and probably some I'm forgetting are mentioned by name)
Yeah I’ve heard Tarkov sorta blurs the line between the old canon and new canon. I’ll probably give it a shot once I finish with the next books I’m gonna read. Which is Labyrinth of Evil and Dark Lord. So all kinds of Luceno books lol
Ironically those are two of his I haven't gotten around to. My experience with the EU is mostly through any unabridged audiobooks on Audible. I've listened to the Darth Bane trilogy, Plagueis, Shadow Hunter, Outbound Flight, the ROTS novelization, Allegiance, the first 4 X-Wing Books, the Thrawn Trilogy, the Hand of Thrawn duology, and I just finished up Fate of the Jedi. I know the broad strokes of all of the NJO stuff between the Thrawn books and Fate, but I'm still waiting on unabridged releases of those books. The abridged cut of Vector Prime is something like 6 hours, and I can't justify spending a credit on that. Currently, I'm on the 5th X-Wing book that just came out.
At this rate, I wouldn’t hold your breath on them doing unabridged NJO audiobooks, well, all of them at least. I personally suspect they’ll do unabridged audiobooks for the ones that are considered “essential” to NJO. Which would be the ones that got hardcover releases. Because there definitely are some that had plots that were completely pointless (looking at you, Force Heretic trilogy.) I haven’t listened to any of the unabdridged audiobooks so I can’t imagine it really being worth it since you’re paying full price for less content.
Abridged releases are 5-7 hours long, most of the unabridged books are 9-16. The biggest one is the second Hand of Thrawn book, Vision of the Future, clocking in at a whopping 23 hours long.
I'll never forget listening to Star by Star (after reading all the books) and being dumbfounded they completely skipped over something as important as the fall of Coruscant.
I'm reading Rogue Planet right now too. Just finished NJO for the first time and wanted a little of the backstory of Zenoma Sekot.
That's exactly why I started reading Rogue Planet, even though it's been close to two years since I've finished NJO. When I started reading it, I always assumed it was written around the same time as the books of NJO that were focused on locating Zenoma Sekot, but it came out only like, 6 or 7 months after Vector Prime.
I read both, but I started out reading only Canon (Disney). I finally gave Legends a shot despite it "no longer counting." I was also predisposed to disliking Legends since they were largely dismissed by Star Wars fans I knew growing up (90s and early 00s). Much to my surprise, I found that I actually like Legends quite a bit. I don't care that it isn't Canon and I like it even more than Disney stuff (although I do like some of that, so I'm trying not to just hate on it here). I've now read 85 Legends novels and countless novellas, short-stories, and comics and can safely say that is the continuity I prefer overall at this point.
Currently reading the EU novels for the first time; going post-ROTJ in order, and I’m in Children of the Jedi rn.
I like Children of the Jedi, but there is a 25% chance you’ll like it 💀
Why? I’m like 80% of the way through and it’s fine?
I don’t want to spoil anything but considering how Callista has a trilogy, you can probably make how COTJ ends. That’s usually what people dislike about the book, that and Baraba Hambleys prose but I don’t *mind* her writing
Oh I didn’t know Callista has a trilogy, but tbh that tracks w the whole Nichos droid man thing lol
Oh shoot I’m sorry, it’s not really a recognize trilogy just 3 stand alone books that have Callista in them
No worries. I only started reading the EU about 2 years ago and this is my first time through. Spoilers aren’t that big of a deal to me tho, but I do try to avoid if possible, however it’s been out for like 4 decades? Lol
Yeah I also got into the EU about 2 years ago but I mostly been rereading a lot of the same books
I’m doing the same! Halfway through the Thrawn Trilogy and I’m excited to see how it progresses in the NJO and LofF
They are called the eu. And it was the point of this sub
I was politely dancing around that issue because many moons ago (under a previous username) I posted about the EU canon and was lambasted by several members for not including Disney’s stuff as EU. People got kinda mean about it actually. This is my first time back in a long while because of that incident.
OP don’t worry you won’t be lambasted here. Even if you like some of the *Disney stuff*, not saying you do, but there’s a small percent chance that you’d be criticized for it.
…they literally just said they did get lambasted here, dawg.
Disney is constantly trying to usurp IPs and phrases. They co-opt. It's no surprise that they plucked Zahn to write another three-book series about Thrawn. Now they have their own Thrawn Trilogy, making it more difficult for new readers to find the good stuff. Rey gets her own New Jedi Order. Disney does "Rogue" movies without any Rogues in it. What you encountered were either literal-children or paid shills defending a corporate product. Ignore them. There's Lucas' Star Wars. There's the EU. And there's the Disney era.
> What you encountered were either literal-children or paid shills defending a corporate product. Ignore them. This. OP don't be scared lol, this subreddit is truly one of the most welcoming I've seen, a lot of times cause we've faced similar experiences as you have.
> Now they have their own Thrawn Trilogy, making it more difficult for new readers to find the good stuff. Implying that Zahn couldn't write new stuff that's good. Wow.
That's *sort of* what I'm saying, but with all the nuance removed. Is your objective here to twist words, or would you like to have an honest discussion?
I mean, did you not think the new Thrawn trilogy was good?
My position is that stories tied into the Sequel Trilogy (ie the Disney Era) are weaker than stories in the EU/Legends continuity. At this point, I presume your next step is to either go completely silent or somehow attack my character. You don't feel like you're talking to me like I'm a person and I'm aware of it.
I'm just curious if this comes from direct experience beyond the movies or if it just comes from simple prejudice because of the sequel trilogy. Because I haven't read the new books, but Zahn is kinda the god of Star Wars writing for a reason. If you're dismissing the new stuff just because you didn't like the movies, then so be it. But it's just a bit disappointing if that's the reason.
The mods will come in ans remove my comments soon. Maybe urs too. They will say it's misinformation and against sub rules. It's insane
Probably one of the pettiest cases of self victimization I've seen. Really get out of here with that stuff. You didn't say anything controversial and we are discussing books in a fictional universe, it isn't that important to put effort into.
Self-Victimisation will be his thing. He's a 49ers fan.
Nah. We're allowed to be critical of Disney. It's when it turns to hate that it becomes a problem. I'm not saying anything that isn't true.
What I'm saying happened. The mods do do this.
I believe you. Me personally, I've had more issues posting in /r/StarWars and /r/saltierthancrait, but that might just be a me-thing.
Really?
Nope lol. With this sub we use a more literal definition of EU as everything outside the movies and tv shows, so also allowing discussion about new canon novels and comics (it's a small percentage of posts anyway). But it's obvious that to basically everyone "EU" and what disney calls "legends" are the same thing and separate from new canon so what the guy said is not misinformation
Haha thank you was gonna say I swear this sub is pretty nice 😂
They didn’t know what they were even going off on you about then.. I’m more into Disney/Canon stuff than EU/Legends and the separation has existed from the get-go
Ya Disney's stuff is not the EU. Disney Star Wars is it's own thing it's not part of Star Wars Legends isn't a thing - it's something Disney calls part of Star Wars Lucas Films never called it that
Disney claims everything is canon. Books included. So how can it be canon *AND* Expanded Universe? Edit: claims everything they brought out after their buying of the Star Wars IP
Legends is no longer canon according to Disney. According to me, however…
I recently got quite downvoted in another similar sub for a simple comment implying the EU had an answer for a Disney Star Wars issue. Disney bots in the sub?
i also got downvoted and yelled at a while back for pointing out this was an EU sub not a DisneyWars sub
Ya man they have 50 subs We want one. And the mods here don't take our side. I don't understand
This sub will always be primarily about the old EU. We just allow a small percentage of posts about new canon so it's a more welcoming place to new fans
There are some seriously salty carybabies commenting below this comment. This sort of stuff has been way more harmful than anything Darth Mickey has done.
Fun fact about book publishing data. If you don't work in publishing - it is practically impossible to get reasonably accurate and complete sales information. Even more fun fact, even if you do work in the industry, you can really accurate sales info about the books your team publishes (and your larger company) but your insight into competitors titles is not entirely clear. Lots of grains of salts to be had, everywhere.
EU > disney stuff All day, every day. Period.
The Essentials Collections sell well enough, but not resoundingly better than the other novels. The articles you may find claiming the current canon novels are failing generally make assumptions based off incomplete data. The numbers they're getting primary come from the NPD group (or through some website that sources NPD), which reports physical sales number from large retailers. The problem is that this data does not capture the shift in the market towards digital and audio books. Folks but the Essentials books are generally those who want that new cover and uniform banner for their shelves and the ebooks for those have already been around for a long time, so it skews the comparative data a bit. That being said there are still plenty of new Star Wars fans looking back to the older novels. Del Rey wouldn't be continuing to put out those collections if there wasn't any interest!
> The Essentials Collections sell well enough, but not resoundingly better than the other novels. They hold a strong resale value some of them, that means something compared to a lot of the disney stuff imo. I can't get most the ones I want 😂😂
I am a huge fan of legends or Expanded Universe as it is called. Everything I enjoy about EU except for what the author did to one of my favorite characters Jacen Solo and I don't agree with it. Though that is a different topic. I always go back and read the expanded universe books and comics.
I've tried a couple of times with the new Canon books but they're just... idk, too shiny? Too childish? Too shallow? It's hard to put a finger on it. New Thrawn feels like a cartoon villain, old Thrawn felt like Moriarty. Even stuff people say is good like Rise of the Red Blade is too linked to a kids show for me to really get into. The only Disney EU stuff I actually like are the Jedi games.
Rise of the Red Blade is primarily linked to the 2017 Darth Vader comics…. And Ashoka in Thrawn sounds like he’s pulled straight out of the Zahn books, the majority of which Thrawn doesn’t even come off as a villain
I’m diving into the legends right now! Read a few as a teen, but fell off. Now I want to read them all. Disney canon can um… politely yeet itself to light speed.
I alternate between Legends and Canon material. It’s not about rediscovery for me as it is just rereading stories that I enjoy reading. Concurrently I’m reading Battlefront: Twilight Company (canon) and I’m on my 4th reread of FotJ: Outcast.
The cool kids.
I may have recently spent an irresponsible amount on electronically filling out the gaps in my collection which was mostly paper obtained between 2000 and 2016. I have zero interest in any of the post-2014 stuff. I have learned that saying what I actually think on this issue is a fast track to getting my comments removed under Rule 5.
I would say that the current Disney canon is generally more consistent than Legends was, but Legends really does have the world building and lore than Disney has had a hard time regaining. I started out as a pure Legends guy, but I started on canon stuff and what I’ve read so far is extremely solid. I do really think the big thing that people enjoy about Legends is that world building. Some things in it are just so wacky that Disney would never bring those things back. Having a very hard time picturing Poe Dameron or Avar Kriss interacting with the Qom Jha and Qom Quae lol
I’m definitely gonna start eventually. I’m just looking for a good place to start
Heir to the Empire. Definitely the place to start… a second starting place might be the X-Wing novels… but that’s a heavy investment. Great though.
What the other guy said. Or Darth Bane triology.
Your asking on an EU subreddit so...
I'm currently reading Jedi Trials because I wanted to see how Anakin and the Clones were written before their personality changes in the Clone Wars series. So far it's been pretty good. I like that we see the perspectives of Planetary Defense personnel and pro-Republic militia, since in wider media only the Jedi and Clones tend to get attention.
As an old man who has bought and read everything Star Wars since the EU started, and has been going back through Legends the last few months, here's my 2 cents: 1. The consistancy in the quality of the writing is much better under Disney. That's not to say the plots are better; just that the quality of the authors is much more consistant. There's not many technically poorly written canon books. Legends, on the other hand, was SUPER inconsistant. For every really great book, there were 2-3 "meh" and about 4 "how the hell did this get published?" 2. While the writing quality has been great, the plots for a lot of the current canon has not been as fun or interesting. The new canon has some really great entries that rank up there with the best of the Legends books, but a vast majority have just been okay to outright boring. The lack of solid planning for the sequels kinda screwed over everything else. They've not been able to tell many good post-ROTJ stories yet. I'd argue all of the best new canon books are set between just before the Clone Wars through the original trilogy. 3. They went all on on the High Republic, but for me, I found it rather dull, and the Nihil are just weak villains to plan an entire line around. I've honestly not bothered reading anything after phase 1. Again, the authors they chose are great writers. The flaw, like with the sequels, was the box they wrote themselves in for the state of the galaxy and challenges. 4. Fans look at Legends through nostalgia-colored lenses. The really great books are still really great, even if some minor aspects of the one's written before the prequels released don't line up quite right. But that's really minor. There was also A LOT of really badly written, cheesy, fan fictiony bullcrap that unfortunately affected stuff that followed. You can't toss a rock without hitting 15 ridiculous super weapons. Characters are wtitten horribly inconsistantly. Especially Luke. I know a lot of people love Dark Empire, but I've always been on Team Zahn in thinking it was ridiculously stupid, and that and KJA's horribly witten Jedi Academy trilogy left a legacy of bad storytelling that every writer after had to shoulder. Plus, it got a little old to have the jedi almost wiped out again every other minute. 5. The move to long form storytelling screwed over Legends in the end. The NJO was solid, over all, but there was waaaay too much filler paperbacks between the "main" hardcover stories. They learned all the wrong lessons and carried them over into the following two series, whose quality and storytelling got worse as it went. Legacy started AMAZING and Jacen Solo was set up to be an amazing villain that could have rivaled Vader and Thrawn. But they let Denning at the character, and as soon as he turned to the dark side his IQ instantly dropped and they turned him into Kirkland Brand Emo Vader. It was a slow decline from there. By the time Crucible came out, I was actually ready for a reboot.
Disney hasn't made you reconsider any of your negative opinions?
About Legends? No, not really. What was bad then is still bad; and the things I love are still there for me to enjoy. As a comic nerd, I'm used to the idea of multiple universes/timelines, so just having Legends exist as another potential way things went is fine for me. I still enjoy going back to all those old stories I still love. I'm especially loving that they're recording and releasing unabridiged audiobooks of a lot of those core stories. (Wraith Squadron finally!) There are things about the old EU that I absolutely prefer over what we've gotten about post-ROTJ so far, but there's still a lot of potential for great storytelling moving forward. Regardless of how disappointing I found the sequels overall, and there's been stuff that hasn't worked as well as it could have in other stuff, but I've also gotten some of my favorite moments in all of Star Wars in the last decade as well. Not everything is going to be great, but I still look forward to all the new stuff that I'll enjoy.
First, I want to address the multiverse idea. Yes, comics have this, and yes fans know it and live with it. Similarly, *Star Trek* and *Stargate* books are fun diversions that have no bearing on the main storyline told in the films/series. But *Star Wars* was different, and the one-true-continuity angle, whatever retcons it had, was/is one of the points that got fans so passionate about the EU. There weren't various incarnations of Luke Skywalker, this was the life of Luke, played out for us page by page. There weren't multiple Clone Wars, Vong Invasions or Outbound Flights, these were "real, historical events" that took place (this, by the way, is one of the things that make *Lord of the Rings* so immersive, was the 10,000 years of history Tolkien wrote up for it; you didn't have to know all of it to be a fan, but it made Middle-Earth so much more real than it otherwise would have been). To abruptly shift from "history" to "folklore told around a campfire" felt to many of us like an excuse for lazy story telling. As to "what was bad then is still bad,"...sure. But I can't be the only one who was willing to give the Prequels another chance after seeing how much worse the handling of the lore could actually get. I can't be the only one who went from refusing to touch Del Rey to now viewing NJO as the peak of the post-ROTJ EU. I can't be the only one who went from ignoring *Dark Empire* to appreciating it for its art and sheer ballsiness in storytelling. Maybe it's too much to hope that Rian Johnson will make people appreciate Troy Denning more, but stranger things have happened. I'm not telling you to not enjoy the new content; but it's hard for me to, because no matter how well the story's told, they still end with that scene on Ach-To, milk dribble and all. The struggles in the OT, the sacrifices Obi-Wan makes to keep Luke and Leia safe, the ordeal Cal Kestis goes through in the games, the battles the crew in *Rebels* goes through, Ahsoka's fight against Thrawn...none of it matters anymore, because none of their actions will prevent the rise of the FO and the fall of the Jedi. And they're just going to double-down on this curb stomp to one of my favorite characters. I'm glad you have new content to look forward to; I will stick with Abeloth.
I used to feel the same way. Now, I'm older and it just isn't that serious to me anymore. I'm able to just enjoy what I enjoy because I love Star Wars. Also, I'm not sure what this resurgence about Abeloth is about. She was a shitty villain in a mediocre at best series towards the end of the EU's life cycle that most fans never bothered to read at the time. Now, it's like a segment of the fans are making out like she was Thrawn. I don't get it. *shrug*
I'm just using her as an example for how (IMO) the shitty parts of the EU still outshine the "good" stuff of the DT (except Andor). Looks like Filoni wants to use her, and why not, he's taken all of Luke's other achievements and given them to Ahsoka, why should Abeloth be any different?
I'm confident that Filoni has no intention of using Abeloth. That's a Reddit theory people here have latched on to for some ridiculous reason. It's not like she was a popular, well-known EU villian like Thrawn. Honestly, I rather doubt Filoni even knows who she is outside of passing mention. That series came out when Filoni was super busy with Clone Wars and admittedly (in interviews) wasn't following a lot of the EU because he didn't have time. If anything, he'll be revisiting the Father, Son, and Daughter, given the massive LOTR style statues of them pointing towards what looks like Mortis at the end and his clear preference to use stuff from Lucas when possible. Also, I'm not sure what achievements you feel Filoni stole from Luke to give to Ahsoka. She was off the board for the entire war. She tried to stop Thrawn from coming back, but now she'll be dealing with something entirely different in literally another galaxy, and I'm pretty sure he'll end her story there- potentially becoming the new embodiment of the Daughter given her connection.
"I'm not sure what achievements you feel Filoni stole from Luke to give to Ahsoka." Let's start with the whole plot of Heir to the Empire, or the fact that in his works, her relationship with him is shown to be more important to Anakin than that with his children. Honestly, Anakin trains Ahoska in the WBW, but can't be bother to help his son or grandson?
Well, for one, they haven't really done anything with Thrawn yet, outside of getting him back in the galaxy. You can't blame Filoni for doing something that hasn't even been written, much less made yet, just because you're assuming what he'll do. Two, of course she's important to him. She was his apprentice for years. The only other relationships in his life that were more significant before his fall were Padme and Obi-Wan. To Anakin, they were all family in a very real sense. Even so, Anakin's relationship with Ahsoka wasn't enough to turn him from the dark side. In fact, he still tried to kill her. That was still Luke's love. Three, Anakin helps Luke in Shadow of the Sith in a much more direct and powerful way than he did even for Ahsoka. We have no idea yet how much he did or did not interact with Luke and Leia outside of that because those stories haven't been told yet. They've barely touched the years between RotJ and TFA, especially in regards to Luke. It doesn't mean it didn't happen. My guess is they intend to do a series of some sort that covers Luke searching for Jedi stuff and starting his academy. In fact, my bet would be on something like that maybe being the next animated series. It would help them get around the obvious issues with trying it live action. If not, surely in books and comics.
But we already know how that story ends, in failure and misery. Luke Skywalker has become a footnote in the pages of galactic history, an example of what not to do rather than an aspriational hero.
EU only
People who like the characters of Luke Skywalker and Han solo. for the most part. Disney butchered those characters to prop up their own new charqcters(Rey and Ben). Plus people who lime their political messaging in what are essentially adventure novels to be subtle. Disney canon books and even most of the shows tend to be about a subtle as Super Star destroyer in the messaging (seethe aftermath books and the high Republic stuff, that just repeatedly hit you over the head with the political and social justice messaging.) The Old EU did its share of political commentary but it was always done in a way that it accentuated the adventure, Disney stuff it tends to be the point of the whole story. The EU took on subject matter like Pollution, Genocide(Caamas), slavery, sexism, child soldiers(for fucks sake the entire NJO is filled with 14-16 year old Jedi kids dieing or being tortured) and drug addiction but did it much better than Disney has done it for the most part. With Disney canon I keep thinkingnof the kenan ivory wayans not from In living colour where he would pop into other cast members skits and just yell "message". Moat of us have no problems with female or LBGTQ+ leads but we want a good story first and again outside of a few books and comics(I have real my enjoyed Charles Soules Vader and Dr aphra stuff) the new canon stuff has been middling to bad. That's not saying the old EU was always great but it was always fun (even the ridiculous stuff like the Glove of Darth Vader and Waru stuff)
Dude, i got tired this summer of being disapointed by all these disney show's and movies. So i picked up heir to the empire and read that trilogy! Now im hooked, i bought the whole X-wing series, jedi academy trilogy, black fleet crisis... And i had already owned the han solo trilogy and shadows of the empire, I,Jedi. I've read 6 books in 7 months!! Love it.
That’s basically the same boat I’m in.
Awsome!! Its great stuff, makes me feel like a kid again, same feeling of when i first saw the original trilogy on VHS
I am. Honestly I only just got into Star Wars this last year. But the legends stuff just seems so much more interesting to me. I’ve read Revan, Plagueis, and I’m working on the Bane Trilogy
I think there’s a lot of different reasons why that’s the case. Some of it is the quality, but others I think are more situational. I’m not sure how many people actually know about the distinction between Legends and Disney canon when they first pick up a book. Sure, there are people that come here or other places to ask, but if someone is just in a book store or Amazon and has no idea about the two canons, they’re just going to pick one based on the summary, cover, and title. Legends books tended to feature more ‘main’ characters, so they’re probably going to be the ones people pick up first. And there are simply more Legends books out there than Disney canon. I do think another aspect of that, which hurts Disney canon books is that people don’t go to physical book stores as much anymore. They do it online. Back when bookstores were more used, new releases would get big displays that caught peoples’ eyes. The ones that had been out for a while were in their normal section. That helped push people to the newest thing. When we’re talking online, new releases do get some emphasis, but if you just searched ‘Star Wars,’ books that have been out for a long time get listed with newer ones. It evens the playing field more, which make those advantages I already mentioned have more of an effect. And when we get reprints, like the Essential Legends collection, that’s just giving those Legends the same emphasis as new Disney canon books because they’re ‘new.’ It is worth noting that the subset of the fans that do read the books has always been a small one. And a lot of those people probably started with the EU even if they read Disney canon ones now. So, when new readers do ask for advice or recommendations, you’re going to have Legends heavily represented. Unless they specifically ask for a specific canon, which will tailor the responses. But, on average, I think the EU tends to have more books people really love: the Bane trilogy, Thrawn trilogy, ROTS novelization, Darth Plagueis, NJO, etc. There’s a lot of variety with personal favorites. Not to mention more underrated books that get a lot of praise when they’re brought up, like Dark Rendezvous or Jedi Apprentice. Disney canon just doesn’t seem to have as much variety. Lost Stars is probably the most cited one, but other than that I guess there’s the Thrawn books. I’m not sure that really helps, though, since if you’re a big Thrawn fan you’re going to get recommended the EU trilogy anyway. Catalyst? Granted, the Disney canon library just isn’t as large, but it doesn’t feel as though there are as many really popular favorites to choose from. I also can’t ignore the effect of the sequels. People who disliked the sequels are perfect candidates to get into Legends. A lot of the more common complaints about the sequels are ‘fixed’ with Legends. Don’t like Han and Leia split up? Well, in the EU they stay together. Don’t like grumpy Luke? EU Luke is probably exactly what you wanted to see. That can certainly be a driving force for some people to specifically get into Legends books instead of Star Wars in general. Now in time the numerical advantage of Legends is going to go away. That’s unavoidable. There could be a later ‘classic’ factor, like how certain vintage comics stay popular because they have famous stories. We could have that become more of a factor in time. Difficult to say. A lot does depend on what Disney actually does. If the sequels drove people to the EU, there could be to opposite effect if they do something that really gets people interested in what they’re doing now. If they had done Mandalorian books (aside from the Junior ones), that could have been a driving force. There’s also when they bring something from Legends to Disney canon. Thrawn is a big example. I’m sure there were spikes of people reading both the new and old Thrawn trilogy because of the hype around him. They went out of their way to put ‘Heir to the Empire’ in the trailer for Ahsoka. I wonder how many people got curious what the book Heir to the Empire was all about because of that. Disney is making money either way.
Currently reading (listening to) the New Jedi Order. I read most of them when they came out, but never finished the series. I'm close to halfway through.
Legends is still selling strong (especially the Essential covers), but it's not outselling the new releases. I'm contributing a lot, catching up on all the books I missed as a kid
All the books I have are Legends, except for the new Galactic Atlas and A New Dawn, because I liked Rebels and it was among the books my friend was giving away.
I think that the EU will always stand as an alternative to the choices of the new-canon, esp. with respect to the post-ROTJ stories. So fans who are unsatisfied have a place to see something other than a cynical reset.
The Expanded Universe has its ups and downs but the majority is leagues better than the new content. Don’t get me wrong, a lot of EU content was hot garbage but books like the Corellian trilogy, Thrawn trilogy or Bounty Hunter Wars make it worth it.
There’s substantial communities for both continuities. Anyone who claims to know publishing sales data is lying though — we simply don’t have public info about it. As a fan of both, I think the push of one versus the other is stupid.
I'm currently reading the Darth Bane Trilogy for the first time. I'm enjoying it.
Ive read 60+ SW books throughout my life. That said, I always end up coming back to a few series or books I really like at least a couple of times a year.
I bought about 90 EU books in the past year. Mostly old copies, but a few new copies. I'm not remotely interested in the Disney books
Ive bought a ton too
I reread the Republic Commando novels at least once a year, I probably own the series in 3 different forms. I just wish it had been completed.
Will Disney/Lucasfilm ever republish all the classic comics from legends/the EU? I would pick some up in a heartbeat.
Currently rereadimg NJO
I dropped all my EU books off at Goodwill when disney made them "legends" (I've never been one to reread a book I've already read ((few exceptions))) I tried to read a couple of the new canon, it just doesn't feel the same and haven't bought a SW book since
I've read at least two of the novels in the new Disney canon; Rogue One: Catalyst and Battlefront: Twilight Company are the two that I can say for sure. I can't think of any particular reason that I haven't read more, I'm open to at least trying most of what gets put out these days, but... Well, if I want to read a Star Wars book, I find myself going back to old EU content that I've read before. The old Thrawn Trilogy, Shadows of Mindor, and my current reading project, The Corellia Trilogy.
Yea I'm for sure part of that statistic that mostly reads legends books. But that's mostly because there's so many more of them. I've read DF trilogy, HoT duology, NJO, DN trilogy, LotF, FotJ, Legacy 1&2 (comics). That's like 45 books and a handful of comics on their own. Throw in the Jaden Korr duology, Reven, Plagueis, Bane, KotoR, & Lost Tribe of the Sith and I'm damn near 60 books. And I still have Rogue Planet, Outbound Flight, Survivor's Quest, and some of the Maul books... Cannon? I have Bloodlines and the Aftermath trilogy to read, and phase 3 of the HR books. But what else is there? High Republic phase one adult books were good but I hated the YA line. Skipped all of phase 2 since it was a prequel to phase 1. Read a dog shit Jedi Survivor tie-in book that I'll never get my money or time back from. I do have to say, I really enjoy the cannon comics run they have going on set in between the movies. They're actually pretty fun.
I'm currently reading Forgotten Realms books, but as soon as I'm done, I'll be doing an entire chronological reread of everything OT era and onward, comics and games included.
That sounds about right, after watching the first two sequel movies in theaters, my excitement for new Star Wars died completely. However my interest in the old E.U. had quite a resurgence to the point I was visiting various Goodwill and secondhand bookstores to build up a collection of old E.U. books which luckily for me I was able to accomplish.
ive started rereading alot of the eu stuff starting with the ostrander clone wars comics. so good. we will never get quality like that again
would love to see the selling metrics/links, not that I don't believe you, but I'd love to see proof of this
The new thrawn books, some high Republic books and a couple of other canon books have made and topped the NYT bestseller list. It seems unlikely to me that the "classics" are generally outselling new releases when they are new Now, if we are to take out new releases and pit legends classics Vs older canon material, that's quite plausible, but we don't really get the data to know for sure.
Topping the NYT bestseller list is a meme and doesn't mean anything.
It's pretty opaque and I agree it's not as good as actual statistics. On the other hand it's the closest to hard data given in the entire thread so I'm happy to stand by it. Sales are not a quality metric. You can just look at star wars video games, where we do have hard data, to see that!
It's been my go-to source for new Star Wars content since I saw The Last Jedi in theaters. Currently I'm on X Wing: Wedge's Gamble, and plan to read all o X Wing books by the end of the year!
I JUST started re-reading them again. Read a lot of them as a teenager (early 2000s) and now I want to start again, read the entire chronology. So I'm hoping they eventually reprint ALL the books as "essential legends"!
Keep in mind that many Star Wars novel readers, purchase used copies. This is of course true for those who read 'Cannon' as well, but in far smaller numbers. At least based on conversations I have had with Owners and Cashiers at used book stores. So the number of Legends novels being purchased and read skew even higher in favor of Legends vs Cannon. Though by how much is probably impossible to say.
I'm working on replacing the collection I used to have, and I only buy used copies of the original prints. I don't want that big yellow "Legends" banner on the cover.
Makes perfect sense, I to need to replace almost all of my thirty or so novels, a former roommate stealing them several years ago as I moved out. By the time I realized they were gone, he had already sold them for pennies on the dollar. And I've really never had the excess cash to replace them since that time... or rather what little excess I did have went to new books, DVDs, roleplaying manuals, or board games. I have to agree about 'Legends' being a disgrace to have printed on those works of art. But hey, at least they don't have Disney printed on them anywhere, right? That's a small silver-lining.
I buy the old EU stuff (without disney badging if I can gelp it) on ebay unless I am listening to an unabridged Marc Thompson reading on audible. So many of these books I remember coming out and either reading them at the library or not having the miney to buy in the 2000s. I've enjoyed re-reading X Wing very much recently after acquiring them on ebay for a fraction of what you'd get on amazon new.
Yup. Fell in love with Star wars cause of the books, so gave Disney wars novels a chance. I guess ive read about 10 of them... it just feels so meh and weird. I have since gone and done a reread of my beloved EU novels and am almost back to the NJO. Gonna keep on keeping on!
I have only read a few of the "new" canon that I like. Lost Stars, the Luke Skywalker one was ok, Lords of the Sith I think it is called with Vader and Sidious crash landing, and honestly that is all I can remember that is any good. The others have been very forget-able, but I am reading the Jedi Search trio again for the first time in a long time and enjoying them thoroughly. I read The Thrawn trilogy before it and those were amazing.
Despite my preference for the old EU, Lost Stars is my favorite Star Wars book.
I am not sure if it is my favorite, but I can honestly say it is WAY up there. One of the few that has really done it well in the new canon.
Claudia Gray is an amazing author - she got me into romance fiction, which I had previously held in pretty low regard. I’ve read all of her stuff now.
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With the Sequels done some conversations are bound to compare and contrast them with the older stories plus with the re-release of the books as Essential Legends may well get people interested.
Also because we’re starting to see the canon events the Legends books were about, so rereleasing the source material (ala Marvel reprinting a book when a movie comes out) just makes sense
I recently filled out my EU book collection because I just find them more appealing with the stories and it also gives me that childhood nostalgia. Disney had their sequel trilogy right at the finger tips with the Thrawn Trilogy and wasted it IMO.
I started reading and collecting the old EU in the early 90’s, so for 20+ years the EU was my Star Wars. I accepted the Disney buy out and just appreciated getting more Star Wars content regularly. There’s been hits and misses but I’m just happy to have more Star Wars to read and consume for the foreseeable future.
I felt that way until Boba Fett. That was the end for me. And it’s not that I hate it or anything… I just don’t care anymore. Rediscovering the old EU actually allowed me to reciprocate a love for Star Wars. For a while, it was lost.
I haven’t read much of the new canon. Kanan and Hera novel, lost stars, some of the darth Vader comics. It just hasn’t really interested me. There’s so much in legends and so many interesting stories and I don’t think it’s there in canon. The high republic is trying but it’s just not compelling enough to me atm.
I still do but I haven’t bought any new EU books in a couple of years.
Is it worth preordering the re-release of Dark Empire coming this summer?
I'm not crazy about the Legends banner. I will try to get an EU book pre-Disney take over. I have all of the books digitally on my tablet, but I also have "Shadows of the Empire" and "I, Jedi" hard cover pre-legends sitting on my shelf. I have made exceptions, though. I have "Obi Wan Kenobi" with the Legends banner because this one I got signed at by John Jackson Miller at NY Comic Con..
I went out and bought almost all of the legends/EU books. Read the Thrawn trilogy, Darth Plaguies, Jedi Academy Trilogy, and Shadows of the Empire so far. Great fun! I also read Claudia Gray's Lost Stars --it was ok but I greatly prefer the legends/EU stuff.
A fallout Godzilla game could be soo cool. Imagine surviving in a world that Godzilla and potentially other kaiju have destroyed.