Star Wars Reads Day

This post is one of the few posts that are not book reviews.  Today is Star Wars Reads Day.  This is a collaboration by everyone who publishes Star Wars books (Del Rey and Scholastic to name just a couple) to have a national day that celebrates both Star Wars and reading.  Since those two are both things that are near and dear to my heart, I have decided to write up this short post about them.

You might be thinking, "But wait, Star Wars is a movie, how can you read about it?"  While I do love the Star Wars movies, there is a whole universe beyond that in the form of novels, comic books, video games, and other multimedia items.  Unlike many franchises, all of these coexist together and tell one cohesive story  (at least much better than can be expected for something that has been going on for 35+ years under many different publishers and even more authors) streching across millenia of Star Wars "history".  This is a awesome boon for someone like me who has a hard time letting characters go.  I will follow a character basically as long as an author will let me.

While I will freely admit there are many bad books out there with franchise names emblazoned on their covers, there are many good Star Wars books.  I am obviously biased because it is something I like so much, but there is a real sense of connectedness to this universe.  Every book ties in to other books, it is really like reading a history of some undiscovered culture in novel form.  To me the movies are just a fraction of this larger universe.

Some of my personal favorites from this universe:

Revenge of the Sith by Mattew Stover:  This doesn't quite count because it is a novellization of a movie but it is different than almost any other movie novelization and due to the fact that it ties so closely to that movie makes it a great jumping off point for someone getting started in the series.  Here is the books version of the opening crawl and possibly one of my favorite introductions to any book ever: http://web.archive.org/web/20080529033558/http://www.starwars.com/episode-iii/release/publishing/f20050330/indexp3.html (It goes the whole page, not just the little bit in italics).


X-Wing: Rouge Squadron by Michael A. Stackpole (and the rest of the X-Wing books):  This is a book set after all the movies about some of the background characters, specifically the pilots.  Despite getting a dance party with ewoks, the war is far from over and this book and series detail some missions and show Star Wars from a different perspective than most of the movies because The Force plays a very small role in these books.  They are much more of the science fiction of Star Wars and much less of the fantasy.  Also, they can be side splittingly funny in parts.

Hard Contact by Karen Traviss: This is about a team of clone commandos behind enemy lines with some jedi action too.  Karen Traviss earned praise from fans (including those in the military) for her gritty and apparently realistic portrayal of what it was actually like to be fighting a war and being a soldier.

Path of Destruction by Drew Karpyshyn (and the rest of the Bane Trilogy): This book takes place a millenia before the movies and features a Sith as the main character. This makes for some really interesting story telling because it is hard to tell who to root for. It too is sort of a unique take on the saga. Showcasing some interesting ideas that are never really explored in the movies.

Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor by Matthew Stover: While this is also by Mr. Stover, this is a completely different story.  Its title and style are more meant to evoke the Star Wars novels of the 80s than the modern day ones.  It is a fun story, very serious but with lots of cool hero moments that really evoke the spirit of the movies.

Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn (and the rest of the Thrawn Trilogy): This is a classic.  It was the first adult star wars novel after a long hiatus.  People were not sure there was even going to be a market for Star Wars books but it sold like crazy when it came out.  It takes place a while after the movies but it is a great jumping in point because that is where many people jumped in.  The antagonist, the aforementioned Thrawn, is a really interesting villian.  (This also ranked 88 on NPRs top 100 Sci-fi and fantasy books)

There are also many other Star Wars books out there, these are only a token few (and some of my favorites).  In the coming months I will be putting reviews of Star Wars books up as I read them.