Best New Star Wars Books

[BeastieRunner]

Howdy!

I am looking for book recommendations for the new Star Wars canon. I have yet to wade in on them.

I am not looking for comic recommendations as I already read pretty much all of them.

What are the best of the new canon novels so far?

[Carabas]

Only one I've read is Ahsoka, but I really liked it.

[Hiromi]

Aftermath Trilogy's the only one I found to be weak so far(unfortunately the events in it are fairly important)

Tarkin, Thrawn, and Bloodlines are all really good

The Rebels prequel book A New Dawn was pretty good

[BeastieRunner]

Only one I've read is Ahsoka, but I really liked it.

Yeah, I've heard that, too. I am not a big fan of her, though.

Aftermath Trilogy's the only one I found to be weak so far(unfortunately the events in it are fairly important)

Tarkin, Thrawn, and Bloodlines are all really good

The Rebels prequel book A New Dawn was pretty good

I was planning on skipping Aftermath because I haven't heard good things about it.

Tarkin and Bloodlines are on my wish list. So is Lords of the Sith.

Thrawn will be next when it goes to mass market paperback.

[Carabas]

Yeah, I've heard that, too. I am not a big fan of her, though.

I hated her at the start but now she's one of my five favourite characters of all Star Wars.

[ChrisIII]

Lost Stars is pretty good, although it's a bit "small universe" (with the characters involved in key OT events).

If you're into SW comics I would try the first volume of Darth Vader by Kieron Gillen. The current comic is OK but seems to be more about action than Vader as a character.

[Zero Hunter]

Lost stars is outstanding. It follows two childhood sweethearts who end up with one an Imperial officer and one a member of the Rebellion. It runs though the entire original trilogy with the two main characters being close to big events. Probably one of the best new cannon books.

Bloodlines is a great book that shows what was going on between RoJ and TFA with Leia and how the new Republic is not much better then the old Republic.

The Aftermath Trilogy kinda stars off a little rough, but I think it gets better as it goes along. It really shows the events that lead to the end of the Empire. Life Debt was better than Aftermath and Empires End was better than Life Debt. It really shows what happens with death of the Emperor and a big chunk of the leadership and how all the remaining Imperial officers infighting to take over and failing.

[BeastieRunner]

Lost Stars is pretty good, although it's a bit "small universe" (with the characters involved in key OT events).

If you're into SW comics I would try the first volume of Darth Vader by Kieron Gillen. The current comic is OK but seems to be more about action than Vader as a character.

I pretty much read all the comics. Love the first Vader run, BTW. Best of the new continuity so far IMHO!

[WebLurker]

I pretty much read all the comics. Love the first Vader run, BTW. Best of the new continuity so far IMHO!

That and the Doctor Aphra spinoff are my favorites in the comics.

As far as novels and other prose fiction goes, there's some pretty good stuff. Lost Stars and Bloodlineare really good, as noted before. A New Dawn is a nice standalone prequel to the Rebels TV show. I really like Before the Awakening, a short story anthology about Rey, Finn, and Poe before TFA. Battlefront II: Inferno Squad is a really interesting read about an elite Imperial special ops team in the aftermath of ANH (and acts as an origin story for the Battlefront II video game if you're into that, although it stands alone nicely).

The Rogue One novelization is really well-written and adds a lot of depth to the characters (if you like Rogue One, the prequel novels Catalyst and Rebel Rising are also good choices). If you're into the "Journey to The Last Jedi" stuff, Leia: Princess of Alderaan and Phasma offer some interesting insights into those characters' backstories. The From a Certain Point of View short story anthology, which tells stories about background characters or people off-camera and how they affected or were impacted by the events of ANH, is really good.

The Aftermath books are pretty weak (IMHO), however there are some interesting ties to Force Awakens in them.

And on a purely personal note, I really like Rey's Survival Guide. It's written like you have a notebook that Rey wrote down information about Jakku, how to live there, and some random biographical details. It might not add that much in the grand scheme of things, but I like the way it makes the movie's world seem a little more tactile.

[ChrisIII]

"Bloodlines" also pretty much cements that the character's growing apart and Ben going to the dark side happened roughly five years before TFA. Rian Johnson was a consultant on the novel, and it's rumored that Leia's outing as Vader's daughter will have something to do with the plot of TLJ, possibly involving Laura Dern's character.

[awayne83]

I second Lords of the Sith. Really highlights how badass Vader (and the emperor) can be when pushed. It also gives a good feel for the strain Vader feels from his relationship with Palpatine, and the dark side in general. The recent comic series focused some on that, an aspect that was all but absent from the first few films.

I would also recommend Dark Disciple if you're a fan of the clone wars series. I believe they took the story lines they weren't able to make into shows for the book. Nice closure to the Ventress character/story arc.

Been meaning to get around to Ahsoka. It always seems to be checked out at the library. I didn't care for her either originally, but she really grew on me over the series.

[Derek Metaltron]

I'm reading and really liking Rogue One: Catalyst as I read it so far, it does a great job of expanding Galen Elso and Orson Kredick's characters and their roles in the Clone Wars and early Imperial period and explaining more of the first Death Star's long term construction.

I can echo Bloodline to be an excellent character piece for Leia and providing clues to events before Force Awakens and the rise of the First Order. Heir to the Jedi is a great Luke Skywalker novel set some weeks after A New Hope and is accessible to just about any Star Wars fan without being defined as a kid friendly book, but it has a great way of letting you get a sense of Luke's worries and feelings about his new status in the Rebellion and his budding connections to the Force.

I really want to check out Lords of the Sith, Tarkin, Rebel Rising and the Chirrut/Baze prequel novel. I'm thinking of sticking From A Certain Point of View on my Christmas list.

[Godzilla2099]

I read two so far:

Dark Lords of the Sith: Four Stars out of Five. Vader is my favorite so I had to read this one. Worth checking out, but there were parts that dragged

Pros:
- Good action scenes.
- Vader kicks a$$
- Cham Syndulla well written

Cons:
- Most of this book is about the rebellion on Ryloth. The Sith weren't the main stars
- Some plot points were really odd (not the good kind). The ending was stale.

Dark Disciple: Two Stars out of Five. I wanted to like this one, I really did. At first I was pumped for this because Quinlan is one of my favorite characters. I also liked Ventress

Pros:
- Action scenes well written
- Certain Areas within the plot were good

Cons:
- spoilers:

Quinlan falls to the dark side but Asajj's Love for him pulls him out? Extremely Lame. I was hoping this wouldn't happen but unfortunately I saw this coming after reading a few chapters. This read like a Twilight Book for Tweens than an actual Star Wars Book

end of spoilers

I haven't read this one yet, but the reviews have been highly praising Tarkin's Book. I'd recommend checking that out if you were looking for one

If you're into SW comics I would try the first volume of Darth Vader by Kieron Gillen. The current comic is OK but seems to be more about action than Vader as a character.

I LOVED the Vader Series by Gillen. The first issue alone was crazy. I can't recommend this new series. Everything from the characterization to the plot feels off.