Read the Thrawn Trilogy. Looking for more.

[turtle225]

Hey guys, just read the Thrawn Trilogy and I thought it was fantastic. Really makes Thrawn's Revenge a lot more fun for me not that I know some of these characters a bit better.

At any rate. I'd like to continue my exploration into the EU but I don't know which books to pick up. I've heard that some of the books are awful but never specific names. I'd prefer something within Thrawn's Revenge's timeline, preferably something post Thrawn Campaign.

Anyway, any books you guys would recommend?

[tlmiller]

If you don't mind skipping a lot of half decent stuff but also a lot of garbage, read the Vong books.

[Corey]

Well if you liked the Thrawn trilogy, and wanted to stay within the timeline of the mod/the most relevant source material, then the Hand of Thrawn duology and Survivor's Quest are probably worth reading. Same author, and they're the only real places the EotH gets developed.

[Lord Xizer]

Hey guys, just read the Thrawn Trilogy and I thought it was fantastic. Really makes Thrawn's Revenge a lot more fun for me not that I know some of these characters a bit better.

At any rate. I'd like to continue my exploration into the EU but I don't know which books to pick up. I've heard that some of the books are awful but never specific names. I'd prefer something within Thrawn's Revenge's timeline, preferably something post Thrawn Campaign.

Anyway, any books you guys would recommend?

All the X Wing series are good reads with great characters and stories, (Rogue Squadron, Wedge's Gamble, The Krytos Trap, The Bacta War, Wraith Squadron, Iron Fist, Solo Command(The Courtship of Princess Leia takes place right after Solo Command and is a fun read) and Isard's Revenge are their titles in chronological order, all of them take place before the Thrawn trilogy except Isard's Revenge which happens right after The Last Command) The Jedi Academy trilogy(takes place 2 years after Last Command),Darksaber(Takes place 3 years after The Last Command and has Pellaeon in it), Crimson Empire I, II and III(Is a graphic novel series about a Royal Guardsman), Spectre of the Past, Vision of the Future(The Hand of Thrawn Dualogy) then the New Jedi Order series has some good-but dark- stories, 25 books in that series. The Darth Bane Trilogy is pretty awesome(Takes place about 1,000 years before episode 1), Darth Plageuis(about 80 years before ep I to right after Ep I ends), Shadows of the Empire(Takes place between Empire strikes back and return of the jedi)
There are also some great comics out there too, the CW comics, Jedi vs Sith, the Thrawn trilogy comics etc)
Hope I've been helpful, those are the books I always enjoy reading many times(Again the X Wing series is just fantastic)

[Pali]

Xizer, you forgot Starfighters of Adumar (X-Wing series, set about 9 years after Return of the Jedi). Else, that was a pretty good list - only thing I'd add is the Revenge of the Sith novelization by Matthew Stover, because that book is fantastic enough that I almost forgive the movie's flaws.  Almost.

[Vulcanus]

The novellas Command Decision and Crisis of Faith deal with Thrawn and the EotH, while the novels Outbound Flight, Allegiance and Choices of One have some characters that also appear in Thrawn's Revenge (Hand of Judgement, C'Baoth's nearly-as-insane non-clone version, Thrawn). All are by Zahn and are worthy reads if you like his style or are interested in reading more about how the EotH came to be.

My must-read list in chronological order would be:

KotOR comics. If you need to read one piece of ancient Star Wars history, this is it. Great characters, timeless storytelling.

Darth Plagueis. You may want to read Cloak of Deception and some other pre-Phantom Menace novels to fully appreciate this masterpiece, but it is surely great enough to be a good read on its own. Together with CoD it makes the Phantom Menace SO much better.

Yoda: Dark Rendezvous. Again, if you should read one novel from the Clone Wars, this is it.

Labyrinth of Evil. Direct tie-in to RotS and improves it tremendously.

X-Wing novels and comics. These are just too much fun to be left on the shelf.

Hand of Thrawn duology.

The entire New Jedi Order series. Even with its ups and downs, this is easily the most epic piece of Star Wars EU.

Legacy comics. Once you've read the Unifying Force to end the NJO, you can skip everything in-between (except maybe Mercy Kill if you liked the previous X-Wing series) and move straight to this. Like the NJO, Legacy was arguably too ambitious for its own good, but I view it as a good thing.

And things to avoid: Fate of the Jedi series, Legacy of the Force series, Planet of Twilight, Crystal Star, Approaching Storm.

[Slornie]

Lots of good suggestions above ^

Not really related to the mod's era, but I would also recommend A.C. Crispin's Han Solo trilogy and Death Star by Reaves and Perry, both of which end around ANH.

[turtle225]

Wow guys, thanks for all of the suggestions. I'll probably start with the other books written by Zahn cause I enjoy his style (I've also read Allegiance by him). Then I'll go from there.

It's ironic. I should be abandoning the EU since it is no longer canon, yet I've never been more enticed to explore it. Funny how that works out.

[Delta]

Wow guys, thanks for all of the suggestions. I'll probably start with the other books written by Zahn cause I enjoy his style (I've also read Allegiance by him). Then I'll go from there.

It's ironic. I should be abandoning the EU since it is no longer canon, yet I've never been more enticed to explore it. Funny how that works out.

I know the feeling I started reading Outbound Flight, the Thrawn Trilogy, and half of the X-Wing series before the announcement and it has only toughened my resolve to continue reading. Long live the EU!

A comic suggestion if you read the X-Wing novels is the Rogue Squadron comic series which acts as a prequel to the books, while not essential you'll have appearances from those characters in the novels and it will make the experience that much more enjoyable.

[Lord Xizer]

Xizer, you forgot Starfighters of Adumar (X-Wing series, set about 9 years after Return of the Jedi). Else, that was a pretty good list - only thing I'd add is the Revenge of the Sith novelization by Matthew Stover, because that book is fantastic enough that I almost forgive the movie's flaws.  Almost.

I did forget it! Whoops! Thanks for the reminder it is a good novel, also Yoda Dark Rendezvous!

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

I've only read novels by Timothy Zahn. The Hand Duology is excellent, I even preferred it to the Thrawn Trilogy since the trilogy is more your typical Star Wars story of warring factions and force users. In comparison, the Hand Duology is a lot more politically intricate and we get to see how Luke and Mara have to survive against a combination of natural hazards, intricate traps, and normal foes with tricks up their sleeves - no lightsaber duels in these novels. There are some characters featured in the novels who originated elsewhere, like Corran Horn and Soontir Fel, but the novels explain everything you need to know.

I've also read Survivor's Quest, which is a nice story focussing on an exploit of Luke and Mara alongside the Chiss as well as Stormtroopers and Chak Fel from the Empire of the Hand to explore the crash site of Outbound Flight. Not as twisty and intricate a story as the others, but it does have its moments, and again the Jedi have to face off against well-equipped and tactically-minded normal opponents instead of lightsaber dueling. There's also the novella Fool's Bargain which is included in the paperback version and features the Hand Stormtroopers as the main characters. If you're like me and prefer to see what the grunts get up to (especially if they're highly-equipped good-guy Stormtroopers), it's a nice simple story, and it gives a little insight into how the Empire of the Hand works militarily and politically.

I've yet to read Outbound Flight, and I'd also like to read Allegiance and Choices of One, but I have read the Crisis of Faith novella included in the 20th anniversary edition of Heir to the Empire. It's a decent war story and it's great to see a protagonist Thrawn commanding the Empire of the Hand in a game of out-predicting an equally intelligent and foresighted opponent. If you're a fan of Thrawn or want to see more of the Empire of the Hand, it's a must.

[Pali]

Outbound Flight is very, very good.  I highly recommend it.

Just remember that Zahn is not the only good Star Wars author.  Matthew Stover, Michael A. Stackpole, Aaron Allston, James Luceno, Drew Karpyshyn, A.C. Crispin and many others have written quite worthy additions to the saga.

[Lord Xizer]

On the comic/graphic novel side try the Crimson Empire trilogy, X Wing Omnibus, Jedi vs Sith, Clone Wars 1-9 and Apocalypse Endor

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Outbound Flight is very, very good.  I highly recommend it.

Just remember that Zahn is not the only good Star Wars author.  Matthew Stover, Michael A. Stackpole, Aaron Allston, James Luceno, Drew Karpyshyn, A.C. Crispin and many others have written quite worthy additions to the saga.

Well my focus on Zahn is because I too ventured into the post-RotJ EU with the Thrawn trilogy and then I got interested in the Empire of the Hand which only seems to get any love in Zahn's works. I've started reading Outbound Flight now, and after only finishing chapter 2, I can tell I'm going to like it.

[Pali]

Choices of One has a good bit of Empire of the Hand stuff going on, but it's mostly in the background, and is never explicitly referred to as such - but it's a fine novel, as is Allegiance, and I definitely recommend both as well.  The only other place I know of that the Chiss really crop up is during the New Jedi Order series, though the Empire of the Hand itself doesn't get talked about much - there's some sense in the NJO that the EotH has largely been absorbed into the Chiss Ascendancy, with the Fel family living with the Chiss and serving in the Chiss military as well as the Chiss playing some role in the fight against the Vong, but it's not explicit.  Many years later, near the end of the Fate of the Jedi series (which overall isn't the greatest, though it has its moments - any time with Jaina Solo kicking ass is a good time), you get a few ships showing up as "the vanguard of the Empire of the Hand" for a battle, but nothing really comes of it.

So if you're craving more Empire of the Hand... I'm sorry to say, but in the end, you're going to be somewhat disappointed, unless I've just missed a bunch of stuff (and since I've barely read any comic books/graphic novels, that's quite possible).  Little truly deals with them directly, which is in large part why Corey and the rest of the team had to create most (all?) of the EotH roster from scratch.  It's a shame because, by the time of the NR/IR peace treaty 15 years after Endor, according to the Hand of Thrawn duology the EotH had significantly more territory and firepower than the IR did; such a group should've become a major player in the stories to come, but didn't.  We can assume that they, along with the Chiss, had their own front open against the Vong - particularly since the Hand was created in large part to prep for the Vong invasion - but we get almost no coverage of it.  I'd have loved to see more of an empire formed under Thrawn's principles and guidance at work, particularly as a counterpoint to the corruption of the New Republic/Galactic Alliance.  Voss Parck always struck me as a fascinating character that I wanted more of; non-racist Imperials who are committed more to the job than to themselves are the best Imperials.

[Lord Xizer]

It is a great shame the EotH gets so little coverage.

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

Choices of One has a good bit of Empire of the Hand stuff going on, but it's mostly in the background, and is never explicitly referred to as such - but it's a fine novel, as is Allegiance, and I definitely recommend both as well.  [...] So if you're craving more Empire of the Hand... I'm sorry to say, but in the end, you're going to be somewhat disappointed, unless I've just missed a bunch of stuff (and since I've barely read any comic books/graphic novels, that's quite possible).  Little truly deals with them directly, which is in large part why Corey and the rest of the team had to create most (all?) of the EotH roster from scratch.

Indeed, and a fine job they've done with them. I was actually a little disappointed that Crisis of Faith featured TIE Fighters instead of Clawcraft. The only thing I know of that you've missed that features the Hand and its mythology is the Star Wars Gamer short story Red Sky, Blue Flame by Elaine Cunningham.

And hey, when it comes to seeking source material, it could be worse - I could be a Pentastar fan