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Star Wars Books is a guide to over 600 official books, comics and short stories from the Star Wars galaxy.
Each book, comic or story is catalogued as an event occurring before or after the Battle of Yavin* (the events portrayed in the original 1977 Star Wars film: Episode IV: A New Hope) and categorised according to their relevant Era of Adventure.
*Events occurring during The Clone Wars are catalogued as occurring after The Battle of Geonosis (the events portrayed in Attack of the Clones)

• Where should I begin reading Star Wars books?
• What does Expanded Universe (EU) mean?
• What does canon mean?
• What does retcon mean?
• Where are Episodes 7, 8 and 9?
• What does ABY and BBY mean?

Character questions:
These questions refer to major events and situations that have happened to various characters, especially the main characters from the original film trilogy: Luke, Leia, Han and Chewbacca; in the course of hundreds of published stories.

• When did Han and Leia get married?
• When were Han and Leia's kids born?
• When did Luke fall to the Dark Side?
• When did Luke get married?
• When was Luke's son born?
• When did Chewbacca die?
• When was the Emperor "reborn"?
• When did Anakin Solo die?
• When did Mara Jade die?

Book questions:
These questions refer to specific book or comic stories.

• Will there be any more Tales from... collections?
• Where are Knights of the Old Republic: Volume 5, Dark Times: Volume 3; Rebellion: Volume 4; and Legacy: Volume 6 graphic novels?
• What is the difference between a graphic novel, trade paperback (TPB) and graphic novella?

Site questions:
These questions refer to Star Wars Books (www.SWBooks.co.uk):

• Why are The Clone Wars books, comics and TV series programmes not included in your Timeline?
• What is Star Wars Books' spoiler policy?
• What is Star Wars Books' canon policy?
• What is Star Wars Books' privacy policy?

Answers to general questions:

Where should I begin reading Star Wars books?
With over 400 novels, comics and short stories published so far it can be a daunting task for a newcomer to the world of Star Wars books to know where to begin reading. That is why Star Wars Books have published their own guide to where to begin reading Star Wars books.

What does Expanded Universe (EU) mean?
Expanded Universe (usually abbreviated to EU) refers to all officially licensed material including, but not limited to, books, comics, short stories, video games and toys, that continue the Star Wars story beyond the six movies: The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi; with a sense of continuity. That is, events that occur in Expanded Universe material do not, on the whole, contradict events that have occurred in the films. Where a deliberate contradiction occurs, those materials are not considered part of the Expanded Universe and as such their events never occurred, for example the Infinities comic story adaptation of A New Hope cannot be classed as a part of the Expanded Universe because the events portrayed in that particular story are derived from the premise that Luke Skywalker failed to destroy the Death Star at the battle of Yavin, a clear contradiction with the events portrayed in A New Hope.
(related topic: What does canon mean?)

What does canon mean?
Canon is the term used to define the Expanded Universe information and stories that are considered official by LucasFilm, i.e. endorsed products, or as having occurred within the Star Wars mythos and continuity. To accommodate the various amounts of endorsed products, there are several levels of canon that relate to a product's importance within the Star Wars mythos and continuity to: the higher up the level, the more important the events depicted by the product are. The levels of canon (for novels, books, comics and stories) are:

• G-canon: George (Lucas) canon - events or characters created by George Lucas himself, e.g. the six Star Wars films and their novelizations. This is the highest level of canon and put simply if any event or character in a lower level contradicts events or characters in this level, or vice versa, then events or characters in this level take precedence, i.e. there can be no contradiction of events or characters witnessed in this level and at the same time events or characters in this level can not be relegated to another level.

• T-canon: Television canon - events or characters created by companies directly affiliated with George Lucas, e.g. The Clone Wars TV series produced by Lucas Film Animation and the forthcoming live-action TV series.

• C-canon: Continuity canon - events or characters depicted by non-directly affiliated Lucas sources, such as books publishers Bantam and Del Rey and comics publisher Dark Horse Comics. Almost every novel and story published is classified as C-canon, with the exceptions of those pre-designated as N-canon (see below), and material published pre-1991 which is classified S-canon.

• S-canon: Secondary canon - in most cases this contains books and comics produced pre-1991 (that is not already G-canon) such as the Marvel comic series. For events or characters in this level to be reclassified, they must be referenced in a C-canon event or by a C-canon character, e.g. the character Luminya, who first appeared in Marvel comics but was later used in the Legacy of the Force series, is now classified as C-canon.

• N-canon: Non-canon (aka Infinities) - specifically events or characters that contradict events or characters in any other level. This level includes issues #1 to #20 of Dark Horse Comics' Tales series (available as Star Wars Tales: Volumes 1 thru 5) and other non-continuity material.

Where possible Star Wars Books does not refer directly to any story's canon level (except for N-canon materiel, see our Infinities section), instead proposing that every story should be enjoyed for its own merits whether it be a recently published novel or a thirty year-old comic story.

What does retcon mean?
Retcon is an acronym for retroactive continuity, that is attempting to establish a correlation between two or more sources that may have inadvertently contradicted each other; this is not the same as non-continuity or n-canon events, a simple writing mistake has occurred and a solution or patch is devised to resolve the contradiction. As an example imagine the contradiction suggested when one character details their plans to take over the galaxy in Book 1, but Comic 1 (set years before Book 1) witnesses this character being killed; how can the contradiction be resolved? Obviously nor Book 1 nor Comic 1 can be rewritten, so using other publishing sources such as StarWars.com's Databank or Star Wars Insider magazine, retcon stories are created that resolve such dilemmas.

Where are Episodes 7, 8 and 9?
To be blunt and put simply, there are no Episodes 7, 8 or 9 and nor will there be.

What does ABY and BBY mean?
These are abbreviations for After the Battle of Yavin (ABY) and Before the Battle of Yavin (BBY), the Battle of Yavin being the events witnessed in the first Star Wars film made, i.e. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and the destruction of the Death Star. All events within the Star Wars universe are described as occurring either before or after the Battle of Yavin. Other variants of these abbreviations include ASW4 and BSW4 meaning After Star Wars [Episode] 4 and Before Star Wars [Episode] 4.
For clarity, and where possible, Star Wars Books does abbreviations.

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Answers to character questions:

When did Han and Leia get married?
Han and Leia tied the knot 8 years after the Battle of Yavin as portrayed in the novel The Courtship of Princess Leia (1994) by Dave Wolverton.

When were Han and Leia's kids born?
Han and Leia have had three children. The eldest are twins Jacen and Jaina, both born 9 years after the Battle of Yavin, as depicted in The Last Command (1993) by Timothy Zahn. Then 10 years after the Battle of Yavin, Anakin was born, named after his grandfather, as seen in Dark Empire II (1994-1995) by Tom Veitch. Unfortunately he died while only a teenager.

When did Luke fall to the Dark Side?
Luke Skywalker fell to the Dark Side 10 years after the Battle of Yavin in an attempt to defeat the "reborn" Emperor of Dark Empire (1991-1992) by Tom Veitch. Luke was returned to the Light by the intervention of his sister Leia.

When did Luke get married?
During the events of Vision of the Future (1998) by Timothy Zahn, 19 years after the Battle of Yavin, Luke proposed to Mara Jade and their wedding was captured in Union (1999) by Michael A. Stackpole.

When was Luke's son born?
Luke and Mara Jade-Skywalker were blessed with a son, Ben (named after Luke's mentor Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi) 26 years after the Battle of Yavin during the Yuuzhan Vong invasion of The New Jedi Order in Edge of Victory II: Rebirth (2001) by Greg Keyes.

When did Chewbacca die?
Chewbacca, Han Solo's life-long friend and co-pilot, died 25 years after the Battle of Yavin saving the life of Han's youngest son Anakin in Vector Prime (1999) by R. A. Salvatore.

When was the Emperor "reborn"?
This was during the time when Luke Skywalker fell to the Dark Side. (as portrayed in Dark Empire (1991-1992) by Tom Veitch). It was discovered that Emperor Palpatine was still alive, albeit as a clone. Palpatine had established a secret cloning facility that enabled himself to be "reborn" whenever he liked. Luke Skywalker eventually killed the last clone of Palpatine and destroyed the cloning facility 10 years after the Battle of Yavin.

When did Anakin Solo die?
Anakin Solo, the youngest of Han and Leia's children, died 27 years after the Battle of Yavin in Star by Star (2001) by Troy Denning during a mission to destroy the nest of the Yuuzhan Vong's Jedi hunter-killer creatures, the Voxyn.

When did Mara Jade die?
Mara Jade, wife of Luke Skywalker and mother of Ben Skywalker, was killed approximately 40 years after the Battle of Yavin by her nephew Jacen Solo, who had fallen to the Dark Side, in Sacrifice (2007) by Karen Traviss.

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Answers to book questions:

Will there be any more Tales from... collections?
It is unlikely that there will be any more Tales from... compilation novels such as Tales from the Empire because these particular books did not sell that well.

Where are Knights of the Old Republic: Volume 5, Dark Times: Volume 3; Rebellion: Volume 4; and Legacy: Volume 6 graphic novels?
Readers and collectors of these comic book series graphic novel adaptations may discover that their graphic novel collections for any of these series witnesses a numeric jump in Volume numbers with an apparent missing Volume. This is due to the nature of the Star Wars: Vector story arc that crossed over all four of these series to the point that the Vector storyline constitutes each of these 'missing' Volumes. However rather than publish each of the comic books series related Vector story separately as Knights of the Old Republic: Volume 5, Dark Times: Volume 3 etc, publisher Dark Horse Comics have collated the complete Vector story arc into two separate graphic novels: Vector: Volume 1 and Vector: Volume 2. This is because the Dark Times and Rebellion arcs of the Vector storyline were each told in just two issues, not enough by themselves to warrant individual graphic novel releases. Thus Vector: Volume 1 constitutes both Knights of the Old Republic: Volume 5 and Dark Times: Volume 3; while Vector: Volume 2 is also Rebellion: Volume 4 and Legacy: Volume 6.

What is the difference between a graphic novel, trade paperback (TPB) and graphic novella?
The terms graphic novel and trade paperback (also known by its acronym, TPB) refer to the same item, the terms are interchangeable although where possible, Star Wars Books will use the term graphic novel rather than trade paperback.
To increase readership of comic book stories, comic publishers will often collate several issues of a comic book series (usually around six issues depending on the number of pages each comic book contains) that form a cohesive story arc or two or more self-contained stories from the comic series' overall storyline into a graphic novel. Thus, as the average comic book series can consist of 50 or more comic books, then around 8 graphic novels are published for that series (normally known as Volumes, i.e. Volume 1, Volume 2, etc). This allows comic story readers the option of either purchasing individual comic books or waiting until the graphic novel is released. However, not all comic book issues are reprinted in a graphic novel, hence Dark Horse Comics' ongoing Omnibus Editions which endeavours to reprint those comic stories that have never been printed in a graphic novel as well as out-of-print and hard-to-find graphic novels. A standard graphic novel is the same size as its comic book cousin at around 7" x 10" (170mm x 260mm) and contains just over 100 pages - note that an Omnibus Edition graphic novel is slightly smaller at 6" x 9" (150mm x 230mm) but will contain several hundred pages.
A graphic novella is a graphic novel that contains one standalone story that has not been previously available in comic book form (although some may contain more than one story such as Clone Wars Adventures). A graphic novella is smaller at just 5¼" x 7½" (130mm x 190mm) and normally only has about 80 pages. Graphic novella stories are designed to be "parent friendly" with stories suitable for children (see our Guide to Children's Books for some suggestions and recommendations).
Prices for graphic novels reflect the number of pages: thus the most expensive are Omnibus Editions, while the cheapest are graphic novellas.

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Why are The Clone Wars books, comics and TV series programmes not included in your Timeline?
The reasons why the events depicted in new The Clone Wars books, comics and TV series programmes (material produced 2008 and beyond) are not included in Star Wars Books' Timeline are two-fold:

• Continuity problems - particularly events in the TV series (and its related film and books adaptation) have caused with pre-existing material. As an example, Anakin Skywalker is shown to receive his scar from Asajj Ventress 31 months after the Battle of Geonosis in the comic story Dreadnoughts of Rendili (available as Clone Wars - Volume 6: On The Fields of Battle), yet in The Clone Wars movie (and subsequent TV series ), which is set about a year after the Battle of Geonosis, Anakin clearly has his scar.

• Episodes of the TV series are not shown in any chronological order. While the books and comics have attempted to date their events, it is only possible to fit a small number of TV episodes around events described in the books and comics, the majority of TV series episodes do not yet have an official timeframe (other than sometime during the Clone Wars).

Once these issues have been cleared up, not expected until the TV series completes its final run in a few years time, events from The Clone Wars TV series, books and comics will not be added to Star Wars Books' Timeline.

What is Star Wars Books' spoiler policy?
Star Wars Books' spoiler policy is that all for all major book and comic stories not yet published, and where a story summary, synopsis, review or discussion may divulge significant plot points, a warning similar to the one below will be placed on that story's listing page:

This warning will remain in situ for at least six months after the story's publication.

What is Star Wars Books' canon policy?
Where possible Star Wars Books does not refer directly to any stories canon level (except for N-canon materiel, see our Infinities section), instead proposing that every story should be enjoyed for its own merits whether it be a recently published novel or a thirty year-old comic story.

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