Reading Recommendation: Star Wars Books
Megan Crouse of Den of Geek has done us all a favor and created a star map to canon completion….
Lest I be accused of anything besides giving a point in the right direction for folks interested in Star Wars reading: “If you read one SW article today, go here to check out…”
Star Wars Books: A Guide to Canon Novels in Chronological Order
Looking to fill in some gaps in the Star Wars story? Here’s where to start with the canon books.
This is intended as a concise, simple guide for newcomers to Star Wars books: https://t.co/2lNmOs8Y1w
— Megan (@blogfullofwords) February 26, 2021
Let me straight with you guys. I did read much of the old “Star Wars Expanded Universe” (now called Legends). And while I enjoyed quite a bit of it, I was always frustrated by — what I perceived as — a disconnect with what I saw on screen; the EU had a tendency to read too much like my Star Trek novels (!) and often left me wondering why certain characters did things completely out of character.
And, there were some, actually many, books I just couldn’t get through.
But then there were other novels, like the Darth Vader trilogy (published around the time of Revenge of the Sith), that fit just so and greatly enhanced my enjoyment of The Saga as a whole.
In any case, when Star Wars reset the canon, I had already given away a lot of my old EU books to used bookstores (I kept selected pieces). And I was very reluctant to start over. However, I am glad that I did.
Some of the new canon read like real “sacred Jedi text,” and books like Lost Stars, A Crash of Fate, Catalyst, and Dark Disciple are definitely worth the occasional clunker. Yes, admittedly, there are a couple that still fall flat for me.
***An aside: If I have ONE minor gripe, it’s when one new canon author seems uninformed as to what another writer has done or is doing. And I lay that at the feet of the story group. Again, this is a minor gripe about particular “facts” or “Easter Eggs,” and really don’t do anything besides irk my OCD. There are also inconsistencies in the movies that bug me in the same way. I live with all of these things, but they trip-up my reading and watching.***
That said (or read), I wish I had a chance to have a primer like Crouse’s article before I started.
She wrote of the canon:
If you want to read the canon books in chronological order, where do you start? And where do they fit with regards to the movies? This list includes both adult and YA novels and does not include audio dramas, direct movie adaptations, or middle-grade books. Reading all of the books in chronological order is a big endeavor, especially since more come out every year. Whether you want to start at the beginning or jump around depending on what era you care about, here’s our guide to what’s what…
Now, go grab A New Dawn and start your literary journey.
After all, there’s still time before the beginning of The Bad Batch on Disney+ and a whole lot of months before Star Wars return to the big screen.
Thanks again to Megan Crouse for compiling the article and giving new readers a nice starting point.
What is your favorite novel from the new canon?