EU: The Courtship of Princess Leia

A good story but Leia could not be more annoying in this book as she fails to choose between Han Solo and Prince Isolder...

EU: Aaron Allston X-Wing Novels

Following on from my post last month, here are the three books in the X-wing series that were written by Aaron Allston. The books still heavily feature Wedge but instead of Rogue Squadron they follow Wraith Squadron.

I didn't find the new characters as compelling as the Rogues but the stories Allston wrote are still good. Book 7, Solo Command, ends exactly where Courtship of Princess Leia starts, which is cool however there are continuity issues between the two books.

EU: Michael Stackpole X-wing Novels

Quite a while since I last posted any of my novel collection. These four are the original X-wing novels written by Michael Stackpole to tie-in with the old X-wing video games. I thoroughly enjoyed this series that follows the exploits of Wedge Antilles and Rogue Squadron in the first few years after ROTJ.

EU: Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor

I'm not sure this book quite lives up to the epicness of its cover and I guess that's why they say never to judge a book by its cover. That said it is a decent enough read and makes some cool references to Matthew Stover's other Star Wars novels, just don't expect galaxy shaping events from this book.

EU: The Truce at Bakura

This book follows on directly after the events of ROTJ and sees the heroes form a shaky truce with the Imperial forces on Bakura to fight off an invasion from the Ssi-Ruuk, a reptilian race who want to brain wash humans into being their slaves.

EU: The Bounty Hunter Wars Trilogy

An interesting trilogy this one, its set both before and after ROTJ and tells the story of how Boba Fett escaped the Sarlaac Pit and survived. The books tie-in and supplement the events of Shadows of the Empire and the Tales of the Bounty Hunters.

Overall they're a decent read with some great stuff as well as some slower parts. There's also some pretty unusual tech/concepts that you don't see anywhere else in Star Wars such as Kud'ar Mub'at.

EU: Shadows of the Empire

Easily one of the best Star Wars novels, Shadows of the Empire takes place between ESB and ROTJ, it was part of multimedia project similar to the Clone Wars that consisted of this novel, two comic series, a toy line, a video game and a soundtrack even though there was no movie.

The book follows Luke, Leia, Lando and Chewie and introduces two very popular new characters, Dash Rendar and Prince Xizor. I'll say a bit more about both of them when I come to post my action figures of them.

EU: Splinter of the Mind's Eye

This is the birth of the Expanded Universe right here. This book originally came out in 1978 as the plot to a potential follow up to the original movie, at the time they had no idea how successful Star Wars was going to prove to be and this book assumed only a modest budget would be available for the next Star Wars film, so much so that the story doesn't even feature Han Solo as Harrison Ford was not guaranteed to be back. A great little story however that feels much more simplistic and light hearted than most EU and a very familiar feel to the original movie. Note this book is so early that it doesn't even say Star Wars anywhere on the cover.

EU: Ruins of Dantooine

Quite a strange book this one, its a one-off novel based upon the MMO Star Wars Galaxies. Set between ANH and ESB, Luke, Han and Leia make appearances but are not the main characters. The plot of this book is so unmemorable I genuinely can't say anything about it.

EU: Allegiance

A novel by Timothy Zahn set between ANH and ESB with Mara Jade as the main character in her role as the Emperor's Hand.

EU: Tales of Series

Three novels that are actually anthologies of short stories. The first is Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina and each story follows a different character from the famous cantina scene in ANH all with the common plot point of Han shooting Greedo. The second is Tales of the Bounty Hunters and each story follows a different bounty hunter from the line up on the star destroyer bridge in ESB. Finally you have Tales from Jabba's Palace where each story follows a different character from Jabba's Palace or sail barge.

EU: Original Trilogy Novelizations

I remember seeing these versions of these books on sale as a kid when the special editions came out in 1997, at the time I couldn't afford them but the idea of Star Wars books really captured my imagination and I recall being exciting to learn Ep4 had its own subtitle, A New Hope. So when I came to collect all the Star Wars novels years later I decided to track down these versions.

EU: Imperial Commando - 501st

Karen Traviss's last Star Wars novel, this was supposed to be the beginning of another four part book series and the follow up to her Republic Commando novels however shortly before it's release it was announced that due to canon issues between her books and TCW season 2 Karen Traviss was to leave the world of Star Wars books and that the new series, Imperial Commando was going to be reduced to only two books, then shortly after release Imperial Commando 2 was cancelled. A depressing state of affairs, Republic Commando ended so well in Order 66 and there really was no need for the story to continue however 501st was a great read and did a wonderful job of opening the story back up for a new series only for it all to be deemed pointless. Ultimately this book is a scene setter for a scene that will sadly never exist.

EU: Darth Bane: Dynasty of Evil

Received this last week from Amazon, haven't had a chance to read it yet but my Darth Bane trilogy is now complete.

EU: Death Star

Another novel by Michael Reeves, this one is in a similar character driven style as with MedStar and Coruscant Nights and is set entirely aboard the Death Star. the book follows character from as high up as Tarkin and Vader to the lowly construction workers. Some very cool scenes including Tarkin's final thoughts, the reaction of the gunner when he first fires the super laser and a couple of workers arguing about the plans for the Death Star as they can't quite believe they're being asked to install an exposed exhaust port.

EU: Death Troopers

Interesting one this, its a Star Wars horror novel. Not sure that I found it particularly scary, did have a certain creepiness to it but I would say its more disgusting than frightening. Still its a cool idea and the horror cliches definitely fit well in the Star Wars universe and I'm looking forward to the sequel or prequel, whatever it is that's meant to be coming out.

EU: The Force Unleashed Novelization

Much like the movie novelizations, this book retells the story from The Force Unleashed video game but with added insight into character's thoughts etc, what's interesting about this book however is that it's based on a video game and rather than telling new stories about those characters or situations it's literally just a novel adaption of the game, a testament I guess to how good the story is in the game that it is also able to hold up as a novel. Best thing this book adds to the story? More wookiees!

EU: The Han Solo Trilogy

As promised in the last EU post, this is the 'real' Han Solo trilogy. Every question ever asked and not asked about Han Solo is answered across these three books, where'd he come from, how'd he met Chewbacca, how'd he win the Millennium Falcon from Lando Calrissian, what has Jabba the Hutt got against him?

EU: The Lando Calrissian Adventures and The Han Solo Adventures

Two trilogies condensed into two books. These some of the very earliest Expanded Universe novels and as such they come across as very weird in places and not particularly Star Wars-esque, I mean just look at some of the titles in the Lando trilogy, 'Lando Calrissian and the Mindharp of Sharu', it's as strange as it sounds. The Han Solo books are definitely the better of the two trilogies but neither stands out as must reads, unless like me you just have to read everything.

Next EU post will be the REAL Han Solo trilogy...

EU: Coruscant Nights Trilogy

From the same author as the Medstar dulogy and Darth Maul: Shadowhunter, Michael Reeves. Whereas Medstar was M.A.S.H but in Star Wars, this dark and moody trilogy is a Film Noir set on Coruscant in the wake of Order 66.