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| Suggested Reading (or
Where to begin reading Star Wars stories) |
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With more than 400 official short stories, novels and
graphic stories currently published, it can be hard to know where to
begin reading Star Wars books and with new stories being published
every month, it makes reading every story in chronological order a
near impossibility.
This is Star Wars Books' guide to suggested reading
and where to begin reading Star Wars stories.
Note: Since this guide was
originally written (March 2008) new books and stories have been
published, therefore to maintain a relevant guide all
additions/updates will be indicated with a date stamp.
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Contents:
- Introduction
- Suggested stories expanding the
events seen in the Original Trilogy
- Suggested stories expanding the
events seen in the Prequel Trilogy
- Suggested stories expanding a
theme from the films
▲
- Suggested stories set after the
film saga ▲
- Advice for jumping in with The
New Jedi Order, Legacy of the Force or Fate of the Jedi series
▲
- Using this website to further
your reading
- Additional resources
▲
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▲ =
updated / additional material |
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Introduction
Firstly, it may be appropriate to read Thirty
Years of Star Wars Storytelling, Star Wars Books'
own guide to the history of Star Wars story and book publishing.
This will give enough background information to understand how Star
Wars stories have evolved in the last thirty years.
As most of the stories have evolved from events seen in the six
films, this is a good place to decide where to start reading.
However, the films themselves cover a time-span of 36 years within
the Star Wars Timeline and it is
therefore appropriate to separate the films into the two trilogies:
Original Trilogy (OT) covers A
New Hope, The Empire
Strikes Back and Return of
the Jedi; while the Prequel Trilogy (PT) is The
Phantom Menace, Attack of the
Clones and Revenge of the Sith.
It would also be wise to know of the seven Eras of Adventure
that separate the Star Wars Timeline (all are dated as occurring
before or after The Battle of Yavin, the events portrayed in A
New Hope), they are:
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The
Old Republic
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: events occurring between
5,000 and 1,000 years before the Battle of Yavin |
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Rise
of the Empire
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: events occurring between
1,000 years before and up to 2 years before the Battle of
Yavin |
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The
Clone Wars
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: events occurring between
22 years and 19 years before the Battle of Yavin |
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The
Rebellion
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: events occurring between 2
years before the Battle of Yavin and up to 5 years after
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The
New Republic
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: events occurring between 5
to 25 years after the Battle of Yavin |
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The
New Jedi Order
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: events occurring between
25 to 40 years after the Battle of Yavin |
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Legacy
of the Force
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: events that occur 40 years
after the Battle of Yavin and beyond |
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The events of the
Prequel Trilogy occur during the Rise of the Empire era, while the
Original Trilogy is part of The Rebellion era. The new Fate of the
Jedi book series occurs during the Legacy of the Force era.
So, if
you enjoyed the Original Trilogy with the adventures of Luke, Leia,
Han, Chewbacca, R2-D2 and C-3PO, you can explore their furthering
adventures by exploring The Rebellion
era. Conversely, if the Prequel Trilogy was more to your liking with
Anakin, Obi-Wan, Padme, Yoda, Mace and Palpatine then the Rise
of the Empire era is the place to start. These further
adventures that are out with the film saga, that introduce new
characters, new planets, new vehicles, new weapons, etc is known as
the Expanded Universe (EU).
However, since Star Wars stories are available in a variety of
mediums: novel, youth novel, graphic novel (books that collate comic
stories into one volume), comics, e-book and short story, it is wise
to decide which format you would prefer, although most stories are
more readily available as either novels or graphic novels.
Your choice of reading material may also be affected by a story's
availability, that is can it be purchased or borrowed? (many
libraries still contain copies of some of the early published
books). This should be considered when deciding on which approach
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Suggested stories expanding the events seen in the Original
Trilogy
There are only four years between A
New Hope and Return of the
Jedi, and the following stories will help to expand the events
of the Original Trilogy, also known as the Galactic Civil War
period. Between them they will explain who Biggs is (as seen in the Special
Edition version of A New
Hope and also the DVD version); what happened to Darth Vader and
where our heroes went after the victory of the Battle of Yavin; how
Vader discovered the identity of the pilot who destroyed the first
Death Star; how Luke, Leia, Chewbacca and Lando were helped in
locating Han's frozen body; what happened immediately after the
second Death Star was destroyed; and more.
In chronological order these stories are:
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Suggested stories expanding the events seen in the Prequel Trilogy
The
Phantom Menace is set 32 years before The Battle of Yavin while Revenge
of the Sith is set 13 years later and these suggested stories
will expand the role of Darth Maul as a Sith Lord; Valorum's
weaknesses as Supreme Chancellor; why Jango Fett was chosen as the
clone template; as well as furthering Sidious's/Palpatine's
machinations to become Emperor.
They are in chronological order:
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Chronologically,
the events of the Clone Wars occur
between Attack of the Clones
and Labyrinth of Evil,
but it is not necessary to read any of the books from the Clone
Wars to understand and follow the plotlines discussed in the
above selected stories.
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Suggested stories expanding a theme from the films
There are four themes mentioned that are never really explored
within the films: the Sith, The Clone Wars, the
Padawan/Master relationship and the Dark Times. There are
enough Expanded Universe stories written about these four themes
that it is possible to expand them further than the films could:
select a theme: The
Sith|The
Clone Wars▲|The
Padawan/Master relationship|The
Dark Times▲
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= additional material |
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Suggested
stories expanding a theme from the films: The Sith
Who were the Sith? Why do they hate the Jedi so much? And why do
they have the Rule of Two?
The first two graphic novels, Tales of the Jedi
Volumes 1 and 2, collect between them 8 stories set between 5,000
and 4,000 years before the Battle of Yavin. These stories describe
who and where the Sith come from and why they hate the Jedi.
The two Darth Bane novels are the story of Darth Bane,
the Sith Lord who formed the Rule of Two and why he took the Sith
into hiding 1,000 years before The
Phantom Menace. Further reading from this time period can be
found in The Old Republic era.
They are in chronological order:
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Suggested
stories expanding a theme from the films: The Clone Wars
Where did Anakin get his scar? How did General Grievous and Count
Dooku kidnap the Chancellor?
At the conclusion to Attack of
the Clones, Yoda says "begun, this clone war has" and
so a war that would split the galaxy into two sides, Republic and
Separatist, started on a dusty planet known as Geonosis. The
Republic clone army, lead by the Jedi, fought the Separatist droid
army for three long years with both sides trying to obtain the upper
hand as the fighting went from planet system to planet system. It
was, of course, to no avail as both sides were controlled by one
man, Chancellor Palpatine aka Darth Sidious.
There are many stories from the Clone
Wars and they are published in all the different formats. To
make it easier, the suggested reading list is divided into the two
most popular formats: novels and graphic novels, as either one in
sufficient in itself to fill the three-year gap of the Clone
Wars until its shocking conclusion in Revenge
of the Sith.
There is one further suggestion, the Clone
Wars animated micro-series is an excellent way to grasp the
events of the Clone Wars and it
also includes the kidnapping of Chancellor Palpatine by General
Grievous and Count Dooku (his rescue by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin
Skywalker form the first act of Revenge
of the Sith).
Further reading from this time period can be found in The
Clone Wars era.
These
are the suggested novels to read and they examine the Clone
Wars from several angles. The Republic Commando
books are a look at the war from the soldier's point of view, while Shatterpoint,
The Cestus Deception, Jedi Trial and Dark
Rendezvous all focus on one Jedi's interpretation of the war
each: Mace Windu, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Yoda
respectively. While the Medstar duology concentrates
on the unseen side of war as the story revolves around a mobile
medical unit serving in one of the most inhospitable planets at the
height of a battle.
They are in chronological order:
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Below are the suggested graphic novels to read. Whilst they mainly
concentrate on the story of Jedi knight Quinlan Vos's attempts to
infiltrate Count Dooku's inner sanctum, they also include the reason
why Anakin has a scar on his face in Revenge
of the Sith, as well as examining both Obi-Wan Kenobi's and
Anakin Skywalker's strengths and weaknesses as leaders of soldiers
and as warriors themselves.
They are in chronological order:
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In the
summer of 2008 LucasFilm Animation, LucasBooks and LucasArts
launched their new multimedia project Star Wars: The Clone
Wars. This includes an animated film and TV
series, novels, comics,
children's books
and videogames (plus toys, games and other merchandise). At present
these stories portray a new "more official" account
of events between Attack of the
Clones and Revenge of the Sith
that makes little or no reference or acknowledgement of the
previously published stories (those listed above), e.g. Anakin's
Padawan Ahsoka Tano does not appear in any of the above listed
stories. This makes listing these new stories harder within the
overall context of the Clone Wars period, but here are some
recommendations:
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5th Mar. 2009] |
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Suggested
stories expanding a theme from the films: The Padawan/Master
relationship
Ever since the term Padawan was first heard or read in The
Phantom Menace, people have wanted to find out more and no
single author has done more in furthering this knowledge than Jude
Watson. Jude has written over 30 books revolving around the
Padawan/Master relationships of Qui-Gon Jinn/Obi-Wan Kenobi and
Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker in two separate series: Jedi
Apprentice (total of 20 books) and Jedi
Quest (11 books). So if you would like to expand your reading on
this subject matter then these two series are where to begin, just
be aware that the books are written for the youth market of 9-12
year olds and early releases can be hard to find.
A more recent publication is the Legacy
of the Force/Secrets of the Force duology which tells of two
stories that spans nearly 70 years between them as events in the
past come to have consequences for the future.
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Suggested
stories expanding a theme from the films: The Dark Times
What are the Dark Times? When was the Dark Times?
Also known as the Jedi Purge, the Dark Times were a consequence of
Palpatine's Order 66 as seen in Revenge
of the Sith. For those lucky few Jedi who directly survived
Order 66, it was a difficult time as Darth Vader and his agents were
hunting them down. Most survivors would go into hiding as Obi-Wan
Kenobi and Yoda did, but for a few it was a time to try to strike
back. It was during this time that the seeds of rebellion were sown.
This period of the Star Wars timeline has only recently been
expanded by the storytellers and currently consists mainly of three
major story series': the Dark
Times comic book series, the Coruscant
Nights novel trilogy, and the 10-book youth novel series Last
of the Jedi.
These stories cover a very short period of time, roughly up to 1
year after Revenge of the Sith:
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Suggested stories set after the film saga
While you can concentrate on stories that expand the films and
the themes contained there in, it is also possible to begin reading
stories after watching just the films. This usually means the
stories set after the six films and are the continuing adventures of
the film heroes. This is the most popular method of starting to read
Star Wars stories.
Just as there are themes contained within the films, there are also
stories set after the films that are thematic in content: the role
of the X-Wing elite fighter squadrons of the Rebel Alliance played
in attempting to establish peace in post-Palpatine's Empire; Luke's
attempts to form a new Jedi Order and its Academy; and the recurring
threat of the remaining Imperial leaders and warlords are three of
the main themes. Almost all of these themed stories occur during The
New Republic era.
select a theme: X-Wing
stories|new
Imperial threats and return of the Emperor|the
Jedi Academy|The
New Jedi Order▲
These
are regarded as the three main plotlines established after the film
saga, although there are other stories to read during this period,
our Annals of The New Republic
will allow you to understand their main plotlines and suggest
further reading for these other stories.
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= additional material |
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Suggested
stories set after the film saga: X-Wing stories
The role that Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles and their X-Wing
squadrons played following the films is captured in two series that
are set just two years apart.
X-Wing: Rogue Squadron:
following the events of Return
of the Jedi, the X-Wing heroes find themselves playing the roles
of both soldiers and diplomats as they travel around the galaxy
trying to bring the peace promised by Palpatine's death. All 12
comic book stories of this series are captured in just three Omnibus
editions:
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X-Wing:
Just two years later, when it was believed that the elite squadron
would be never required again, Wedge Antilles has to reform Rogue
Squadron to save the fledging New Republic. The X-Wing pilots would
be instrumental in capturing Coruscant from the remnants of Imperial
control, securing supplies of desperately needed medical supplies,
and defeat the threat of an Imperial warlord. These stories are
contained within the 9 book X-Wing series:
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Suggested
stories set after the film saga: new Imperial threats and return of
the Emperor
Only five years have passed since the death of Emperor Palpatine
and Darth Vader, but still remnant Imperial forces threaten the
newly formed New Republic government. If any of these Imperial
remnants were to find a strong leader then the fledging peace and
democracy would surely collapse.
Grand Admiral Thrawn was
unique. The only non-human to ever achieve the ultimate rank of an
Imperial Grand Admiral, his survival following the Galactic Civil
War was missed by the intelligence services of the New Republic and
so, gathering his loyal forces, he came close to destroying the
'rebels' once and for all:
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Just one year later, as the New Republic was still
reeling from the Thrawn catastrophe, a new and greater threat
emerges: the Emperor has returned! Our heroes must discover the
whereabouts of this cloned Emperor and for Luke, this encounter
would be his darkest moment:
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Suggested
stories set after the film saga: the Jedi Academy
When Luke discovered that Leia was his sister and
Force-sensitive in Return of the
Jedi, he made it his purpose to find other Force-sensitive
people in the Galaxy. Initially hampered by the immediate
post-Empire events, he eventually found the time 7 years later when
The New Republic had been established. Thus he began his quest to
find other potential Jedi's and to establish an academy where they
could be trained. This would be difficult to begin with as most of
the existing records of Jedi training methods had been destroyed by
the Empire. The following books recount this quest for Luke and the
hazards, hardships, successes and failures he encountered:
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The continuing adventures of the Jedi Academy and in
particular the training of Han and Leia's three children, Jacen,
Jaina and Anakin, are covered in the Junior
Jedi Knights and the Young
Jedi Knights youth novel series'.
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Suggested
stories set after the film saga: the New Jedi Order
The New Jedi Order is a single story
arc spread over nineteen novels, two comic stories, three e-books
and three short stories, so reading all would require a demanding
amount of time. However five of the nineteen novels were first
published as hardbacks: Vector Prime,
Balance Point, Star
by Star, Destiny's Way and The
Unifying Force; and between them they constitute the
"core" story, that is it is possible to understand the
main plot arc of this era from these five novels. However it is
recommended that the following four paperback novels are also read
as they contain plot elements and events that are expanded in the Legacy
of the Force series: Conquest, Rebirth,
Traitor and The
Final Prophecy. Thus the recommended nine books are, in
chronological order:
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[Added:
5th Mar. 2009] |
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Advice for jumping in with The New Jedi Order, Legacy of the Force
or Fate of the Jedi series
Both The New Jedi Order
era and the Legacy of the Force era
(this era encompasses the new Fate
of the Jedi series) have plotlines that are based upon
situations and character developments created in preceding eras:
namely The New Republic for The
New Jedi Order, The New Jedi Order
for Legacy of the Force and Legacy
of the Force for situations/characters in Fate
of the Jedi. The Suggested stories set after the
film saga guide will give you reading recommendations so that
you would be cognisant of the key events leading up to the Legacy
of the Force and Fate of the
Jedi series.
However, if you wanted to begin reading with The
New Jedi Order series, that would require the reading of nearly
two dozen books from The New
Republic era before tackling the books of The
New Jedi Order, so the reading of our summary
of The New Republic era (Chronicles of the New Republic)
offers an easier method of acquiring knowledge of the salient events
of The New Republic era
without having to read 23 separate books.
Similarly, the same applies to jumping in with the Legacy
of the Force books series. That is having an advantageous
knowledge of the events of The New Jedi
Order will assist in the understanding of the Legacy
of the Force era. Of course you could read the recommended
nine books of The New Jedi Order before starting the Legacy
of the Force or alternatively, just as with reading the summary
of The New Republic era (Chronicles
of the New Republic) maybe more practical than reading two dozen
books, you could read our summary of
The New Jedi Order era (Chronicles of the New Jedi Order)
rather than reading the nine recommended novels. Of course you can
return to any of the recommended novels at any
time.
As for the new nine book Fate of
the Jedi series we have produced a Beginner's
Introduction that recaps all the major events that have occurred
in the 40 years on the Star Wars timeline between the conclusion of Return
of the Jedi and the end of the Legacy
of the Force era.
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[Updated: 5th
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Using this website to further your reading
Every Star Wars story listed on this website has been catalogued
according to the Era of Adventure it is set in.
And, just like this page, every story's entry is cross-referenced by
Related Stories, that is by either overall plotline or
by character development. A related story may be one or more of the
films, it may be another novel, a graphic novel or a short story.
This allows the reader to find what stories are connected to the
story they are reading, and particularly in the case of short
stories, allows them to discover other stories that they may have
missed.
For example, let us imagine someone beginning their reading with Heir
to the Empire (as suggested in Suggested
stories set after the film saga: new Imperial threats and return of
the Emperor) and after reading all three books of this trilogy
they wanted to further their reading. Locating Heir
to the Empire's entry (either from this page or by searching),
there are eight Related Stories listed: one
time-framed as occurring prior, two are the trilogy's sequels, and
five occur after Heir to the
Empire. Simply clicking on any one of these Related
Stories allows the reader to discover what stories are
related by either plotline or by character development.
Another facility offered on this website is the Everyone Has A
Story feature. This expanding series focuses on a single
character and lists all the stories that they appear in. Again, in
our Heir to the Empire
example, we find that on that book's entry a link for Grand
Admiral Thrawn. Clicking on the link takes us to Thrawn's Everyone
Has A Story page and we discover that as well as the current
trilogy and two of the previous novels listed in Heir
to the Empire's Related Stories, there are a
further four stories featuring Grand
Admiral Thrawn. All of which occur prior to Heir
to the Empire and of which three are short stories. Thus the
reader has the option to further their reading by following these
links.
Of course, these Related Stories are stories that are
related to the current book being read. We can use other facilities
to further our reading: the index page to every Era of
Adventure lists every book and graphic novel published from that
Era in chronological order and we can see that the next story
following the Heir to the Empire book trilogy is Dark
Empire, a graphic novel. However, if we take a look at the Timeline
entry for this Era (The New
Republic) we find that there is a short story and another novel
set before Dark Empire
(the novel in this instance has been sub-listed within the X-Wing
series of The New Republic,
listed at the beginning of the index page). Thus, the reader can
decide whether to advance to Dark
Empire, read the short story and other novel, or if they prefer
they can forgo the graphic novel and move on to the next novel (Jedi
Search, the first in the Jedi Academy trilogy).
The choice is with the reader.
This raises the point of whether to read every story or just to
focus on those published in a particular format. The Timeline
also includes two special entries: the Novels
Timeline and the Graphic
Novels Timeline. Both of these list, in chronological order, the
published stories of their respective formats and are updated, as is
the rest of this site, when new stories are published.
For more information using this site, please read our Help
page.
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Additional resources
Unfortunately over the past 30+ years that Star Wars stories have
been published, many books have become harder and harder to find as
they are no longer in print, this makes it more difficult to
actually read these titles. However there are other ways of
obtaining the salient facts such a book contains. One is to use our
Chronicles* (summaries) of three major eras: Chronicles
of the Old Republic (covering events up to 1,000 years before
the Battle of Yavin); Chronicles
of the New Republic (covering events between 5 years after and
25 years after the Battle of Yavin); Chronicles
of the New Jedi Order (covering events between 25 years after
and 40 years after the Battle of Yavin); and our Beginner's
Introduction to Fate of the Jedi (covering events between 5
years after and 40 years after the Battle of Yavin). Another is to
invest in one or more of the reference books that are available:
Star
Wars: The New Essential Chronology by Daniel Wallace and Kevin
J. Anderson is an almost complete history from the Tales of
the Jedi (5,000 years before The Battle of Yavin) to the end
of the New Jedi Order (almost 30 years after The Battle of Yavin).
Featuring stories from every movie, book, comic and cartoon (up to
2005) this compendium is an absolute essential in any Star Wars fans
library. Unfortunately it does not list the books that each story
refers to but it does contain an excellent index that allows for
story researching.
Similarly,
Star Wars: The Comics
Companion (2006) by Ryder Windham and Daniel Wallace lists
almost every Star Wars comic ever printed (up to 2006), including
some of the earliest comic
strips from the LA Times (1981-1984). More importantly, it
includes many stories that have yet to be published as a graphic
novel, such as The
Devaronian Version, that allows for expansion of storylines and
plots.
Whilst
both of the previous books concentrate on the stories, Star
Wars: The New Essential Guide to Characters (2002) by Daniel
Wallace is an encyclopaedic guide to over 130 characters that
inhabit the Star Wars galaxy. It charts those characters' life
stories and their involvement and contribution to the Star Wars
galaxy.
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Of course, another way
is to use some of the facilities of this website.
*Chronicles are generalisations of events
occurring in each particular era and may not reference all published
material |
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[Updated:
5th March 2009]
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