Recently
my friend Molly asked an interesting question: “If I want to
explore the Star Wars
expanded universe, where do I start?” That started me thinking, and
here's my response.
-Nate
Breaking in to the Expanded Universe
1.
Start with the young adult books.
In
my opinion, the most consistently good books have been the ones
intended for young adults. I especially enjoyed Lost
Stars, but also liked
Queen's Shadow,
Ahsoka,
and Rebel Rising.
Those books provide more depth for some of the great heroines in the
Galaxy Far, Far Away, and bridge gaps between Episodes I and II, the
Clone Wars
and Rebels
cartoons, and the flashbacks and main story of Rogue
One. Lost
Stars tells a story
about friends who become caught up in the Galactic Civil War, against
the backdrop of events from all three Original Trilogy movies and
beyond.
2.
Speaking of the cartoons, they're great.
Clone
Wars
may have had some clunker episodes, and Rebels
was a little slow in building momentum, but the animated series have
provided some of the greatest moments in Star
Wars
outside of the movies themselves. I will admit that I haven't watched
Resistance,
and am waiting to see what I think of Rise
of Skywalker
before I do so.
3.
The adult novels have been, in my opinion, hit-or-miss.
I've
enjoyed some of them, especially Catalyst,
which is a prequel to Rogue One. I also liked the three Aftermath
novels, which tell what happened right after the Battle of Endor. The
same goes for A New Dawn,
which tells more about how Kanan Jarrus and Hera Syndulla first met.
Others I've found to be too dark in tone, such as Lords
of the Sith and even
Heir to the Jedi.
4.
If you're okay with reading old, non-canon books, there are some
great ones.
The
Han Solo trilogy by Brian Daley is perhaps the best, in my opinion.
A.C. Crispin's Han Solo trilogy is good, too, if a little too
grandiose at times. There's also a special place in my heart for the
Lando Calrissian trilogy, which is full of strangeness but I loved
it—and it explains some of the references made in Solo:
A Star Wars Story. Most
of the other stuff, even if I liked some of it, has been swept away
by Disney, and just doesn't seem worth it to me.
