Seems everyone is going Star Wars mad. I posted over on my strategy gaming blog at the weekend that Star Wars Empire at War was 50% on Steam. Wifey currently has us a third of the way through all six Star Wars movies (one each weekend). The movies have just been released on bluray. Star Wars The Old Republic MMO is being held at arms length lest I lose some more of my spare time to Star Wars. To top it all, I recently posted on a book forum I visit occasionally that I intended to read all released Star Wars books in chronological order. I’ve just finished my latest read; making the most of a poorly child to do so, and now I’m poised on the edge of a Star Wars reading marathon.
I think the ‘read all Star Wars books’ plan was a little ambitious, as there are just so many of them. So instead I’m going to focus on only books set after Return on the Jedi (with one or two notable exceptions), and only full novels, no short stories. Also, only traditional fiction novels; no technical manuals, role playing rule books, art books, ‘making of’ books, etc. Just stories. Star Wars stories. Set after the fall of the Empire. The so called ‘New Republic’ era will be the basis of my challenge.
That means I’m skipping the adventures of Han Solo and the adventures of Lando Calrissian. It means the Old Republic era is being consigned to the scrap heap and that the Clone Wars is to be avoided. I’m less interested in what happened before Endor, and most interested in the founding of the New Republic, the death throes of the Empire, the aftermath of the Rebellion, Thrawn, Mara Jade, the New Jedi Order… It still gives me a a huge volume of material to plough through. I better get started!
I did mention there were a couple of notable exceptions. The first is Death Star. This book covers the later stages of the battle station’s construction until its destruction at the hand of Luke Skywalker at the Battle of Yavin.
The second is Splinter of the Mind’s Eye which was the first-ever Expanded Universe novel to be written and published.
The third is Shadows of the Empire, which features the super-cool Prince Xizor of Black Sun, the Awesomeness of Darth Vader, and is widely considered to be one of the best EU books ever written.
I’m going to read these three first, and then start with The Truce at Bakura and take it from there.
I’ll see you in approx 100 books time. 
Sir, i salute you. A short while ago i have started doing the same. Ever since buying “Rogue Planet” on cassette tape (this was years ago) I’ve been hooked on Star Wars audiobooks. Don’t get me wrong, i still read books but when it comes to Star Wars i love listening to them, The music, sound effects the person that reads the books doing all the voices. It all adds to the experience. I’m pretty much done with the prequel and rebellion era books. I’m getting to “unknown territories” so to speak. Everything that happened after Return of the Jedi (except for the Thrawn trilogy) is new to me. I’m pretty excited to see where it will all go. I hope you have a blast in the Galaxy far far away. Keep it up and have fun
Never even considered the audio books. I might have to take a look and see if I can get a few for my iPod. It might make my book marathon a little easier to bare.
I never considered Star Wars books to be any good. Am I wrong in this assessment? I mean, I never bothered to read any, but I think that they would be childish or simple… Sorry to fans. If wrong, can you recommend me one to start with?