Picking up from a previous discussion about 'where to begin'

To get the origins of the Emperor Palpatine ie Darth Sideous check out SW Darth Plagueis.
This is a really good book. And it takes you into SW Episode I. Darth Plagueis is alive and operating behind the scenes even during Phantom Menace.

Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter coincides with the events of Darth Plagueis. It as well takes you right into Phantom Menace.

[Edited 9/26/19 7:01am]

[Edited 9/26/19 7:01am]

This book is a must. This one as well takes you right into the events of SW Revenge of the Sith.
This story keeps you on edge because the Jedi Council is right on the edge of discovering who Palpatine really is. And shows some of the underworld of Coruscant.

Some nice recommendations there. Isn't it true that these books are no longer part of the official Star Wars canon though?

EmmaMcG said:

Some nice recommendations there. Isn't it true that these books are no longer part of the official Star Wars canon though?

Yes, that is why they are now titled LEGENDS

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The new universe has a slow output of books. The Thrawn books are really good.

EmmaMcG said:

Some nice recommendations there. Isn't it true that these books are no longer part of the official Star Wars canon though?

The thing about the 'new' direction felt like someone took the air out of me lol They really did not think that through. Star Wars books started up again in 1991, seven years after Return of the Jedi hit the theaters. So from 1991-2013 we had stories and characters places mysteries revealed etc some deep developement. I'm in my mid 40s, I saw SW A New Hope in theaters when it first came out in the 70s. I don't think I have the energy to start over again. So I have been talking with young and older fans who either are not familiar with the 1991-2013 block or who are and loved it.

OldFriends4Sale said:

To be honest, the fact that they're no longer part of the official canon makes very little difference to me. If it's a good story, I'll read it regardless.

I hope to start the Thrawn books before the end of the year. They're on my "to do" list. I've got to finish the Mass Effect series, the last Witcher book and the rest of the Barrytown trilogy (The Commitments, The Snapper and The Van). After those, I plan on checking out those Star Wars books.

Now this book, is a MUST. I don't know why they need to call this on a LeGeNd.
This was George Lucas follow up to SW A New Hope, if it did not do as well as he hoped. This would have been the next movie.

Splinter of the Mind's Eye is a science-fiction novel written by Alan Dean Foster as a sequel to the film Star Wars (1977). Originally published in 1978 by Del Rey, a division of Ballantine Books, the book was written with the intention of being adapted as a low-budget sequel to Star Wars in the event that the original film was not successful enough to spawn the franchise it would ultimately go on to produce.

.

In 1976, Alan Dean Foster was contracted to ghostwrite a novelization of Star Wars. Foster was given some drafts of the script, rough footage and production paintings for use as source material in fleshing out the novel.

.

Foster's contract also required a second novel, to be used as a basis for a low-budget sequel to Star Wars in case the film was not successful. Though Foster was granted a great deal of leeway in developing the story, a key requirement was that many of the props from the previous production could be reused when shooting the new film. Foster's decision to place his story on a misty jungle planet was also intended to reduce set and background costs for a film adaptation. Han Solo and Chewbacca were also left out as Harrison Ford had not signed a contract to film any of the sequels at the time of the novel contract. Lucas's only request upon inspecting the manuscript was the removal of a space dogfight undertaken by Luke and Leia before crash-landing on the planet, which would have been effects-heavy and expensive to film.

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The Kaiburr concept originated in the early drafts of the original Star Wars film, where it featured as a MacGuffin the Jedi needed to retrieve from the Sith. It was also the antecedent of the Kyber crystal which was canonized as the power crystal used in both lightsabers and the Death Star.
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Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia are traveling with R2-D2 and C-3PO to the planet Circarpous IV to persuade its inhabitants to join the Rebel Alliance. A strange energy storm forces them to crash land on the swampy planet of Mimban. They begin looking for a space station to get off the planet but instead find a town, near which agents of the Empire have an energy mine—the cause of the crash. Forced to keep their identities secret, Luke and Leia take refuge in a nearby bar. An old woman named Halla approaches them, identifies Luke as strong with the Force, and shows him a splinter of what she claims to be the Kaiburr crystal, which focuses the Force.
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An additional sequel novel was planned, but by the time Splinter was published, Star Wars had broken box office records. The film adaptation of Splinter of the Mind's Eye was abandoned in favor of Lucas's vision of a big-budget sequel (The Empire Strikes Back). Nevertheless, riding on the success of the film in its first year of release, the book became a bestseller.

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The book was reprinted in 1994 as Classic Star Wars: Splinter of the Mind's Eye, and retroactively placed two years after the original film, or one year before The Empire Strikes Back.[8]

The AP listed Splinter of the Mind's Eye as one of the most essential works of the Star Wars Expanded Universe.
.

With the 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm by The Walt Disney Company, most of the licensed Star Wars novels and comics produced since the originating 1977 film were rebranded as Legends and declared non-canon in April 2014. However, a planet called Mimban was featured in the 2018 anthology film Solo: A Star Wars Story.

[Edited 9/27/19 14:38pm]

OldFriends4Sale said:

Now this book, is a MUST. I don't know why they need to call this on a LeGeNd.
This was George Lucas follow up to SW A New Hope, if it did not do as well as he hoped. This would have been the next movie.

Splinter of the Mind's Eye is a science-fiction novel written by Alan Dean Foster as a sequel to the film Star Wars (1977). Originally published in 1978 by Del Rey, a division of Ballantine Books, the book was written with the intention of being adapted as a low-budget sequel to Star Wars in the event that the original film was not successful enough to spawn the franchise it would ultimately go on to produce.

.

In 1976, Alan Dean Foster was contracted to ghostwrite a novelization of Star Wars. Foster was given some drafts of the script, rough footage and production paintings for use as source material in fleshing out the novel.

.

Foster's contract also required a second novel, to be used as a basis for a low-budget sequel to Star Wars in case the film was not successful. Though Foster was granted a great deal of leeway in developing the story, a key requirement was that many of the props from the previous production could be reused when shooting the new film. Foster's decision to place his story on a misty jungle planet was also intended to reduce set and background costs for a film adaptation. Han Solo and Chewbacca were also left out as Harrison Ford had not signed a contract to film any of the sequels at the time of the novel contract. Lucas's only request upon inspecting the manuscript was the removal of a space dogfight undertaken by Luke and Leia before crash-landing on the planet, which would have been effects-heavy and expensive to film.

.

The Kaiburr concept originated in the early drafts of the original Star Wars film, where it featured as a MacGuffin the Jedi needed to retrieve from the Sith. It was also the antecedent of the Kyber crystal which was canonized as the power crystal used in both lightsabers and the Death Star.
.
Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia are traveling with R2-D2 and C-3PO to the planet Circarpous IV to persuade its inhabitants to join the Rebel Alliance. A strange energy storm forces them to crash land on the swampy planet of Mimban. They begin looking for a space station to get off the planet but instead find a town, near which agents of the Empire have an energy mine—the cause of the crash. Forced to keep their identities secret, Luke and Leia take refuge in a nearby bar. An old woman named Halla approaches them, identifies Luke as strong with the Force, and shows him a splinter of what she claims to be the Kaiburr crystal, which focuses the Force.
.
An additional sequel novel was planned, but by the time Splinter was published, Star Wars had broken box office records. The film adaptation of Splinter of the Mind's Eye was abandoned in favor of Lucas's vision of a big-budget sequel (The Empire Strikes Back). Nevertheless, riding on the success of the film in its first year of release, the book became a bestseller.

.

The book was reprinted in 1994 as Classic Star Wars: Splinter of the Mind's Eye, and retroactively placed two years after the original film, or one year before The Empire Strikes Back.[8]

The AP listed Splinter of the Mind's Eye as one of the most essential works of the Star Wars Expanded Universe.
.

With the 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm by The Walt Disney Company, most of the licensed Star Wars novels and comics produced since the originating 1977 film were rebranded as Legends and declared non-canon in April 2014. However, a planet called Mimban was featured in the 2018 anthology film Solo: A Star Wars Story.

[Edited 9/26/19 12:09pm]

Thank you for starting this thread, from what you've posted here I think this is where I'll start.

EmmaMcG said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

Yes, that is why they are now titled LEGENDS

.

The new universe has a slow output of books. The Thrawn books are really good.

To be honest, the fact that they're no longer part of the official canon makes very little difference to me. If it's a good story, I'll read it regardless. I hope to start the Thrawn books before the end of the year. They're on my "to do" list. I've got to finish the Mass Effect series, the last Witcher book and the rest of the Barrytown trilogy (The Commitments, The Snapper and The Van). After those, I plan on checking out those Star Wars books.

You will get so caught up in the Thrawn Trilogy you will have more than enough time for the rest of your reading list.

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BUT you will need to add a few short stories after reading them. Because they shed light on things brought up in the Trilogy novels.

Tales From Jabba's Palace: Sleight of Hand: The Tale of Mara Jade by Timothy Zahn

Not to harp on it much further, but knowing the catalog of characters and stories that are female, non human, non(european like people) the fans who complain about the new stuff and get called men with mommy issues or grown boys living in their mothers basement, know and love the characters from the 1991-2014 period. A large number of these characters are female. And the fans would have LOVED to see them on film in action.

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1st and foremost Princess Leia Organa Solo ie Jedi Knight Leia. Fan were ready to see the daughter of Anakin the Mal'aru'ush the one with the fire of Anakin welding a lightsaber and using the Force.

2nd Mara Jade former Emperors Hand and Jedi Master

3rd Roganda Ismaren Emperors Hand, Jedi Apprentice who survived Order 66

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4th Lady L first seen in the Marvel comics in the 1980s brought back into the story via the novels. Trained in the ways of the Dark side by Darth Vader and a part of the Imperial court.

5th Madam Director Ysanne Isard Director of Imperial Intelligence. Like Lord Vader she was given an Executer class Super Star Destroyer the Lusankya. And wore a crimson colored Imperial suite.

Jedi Knight and Historian Jocasta Nu (survived Order 66)

Jedi Master An'ya Kuro (the Dark Woman)

Sly Moore UmbaranForce Adept who was employed by Supreme ChancellorPalpatine as his Senior Administrative Aide during the final decades of the Galactic Republic. In secret, Moore was also an acolyte of the dark side, trained in the ways of the Force by Palpatine,

Aurra Sing was a female Palliduvan bounty hunter who operated prior to and during the Clone Wars. She was present on Tatooine, where she watched the Boonta Eve Classic podrace, during the Trade Federation's invasion of the planet Naboo.

[Edited 9/27/19 14:33pm]

Mara Jade

Darth Vader confronts Jedi Master An'ya Kuro, the "Dark Woman", on Cophrigin V.