I finally, FINALLY finished The New Jedi Order series and picked up all three books in the Dark Nest series, starting with The Joiner King. Now, I only started it yesterday, but I'm already almost half way through. Maybe it's because I like insects, maybe it's because the New Jedi Order was like 12 books long, but I really like The Joiner King so far. The rough summary is that the survivors of the mission to Myrkr begin to hear a call for help through the force and abandon their duties in patching together a galaxy still reeling from the war with the Yuuzhan Vong. When the Skywalkers and Solos investigate, they find that an insectile race long thought extinct and one survivor of Myrkr who has become a part of their hive mind. I know I'm way behind on books since the Legacy of the Force series just ended, but nobody ever talks about anything in here so I'll spam it with Star Wars prattle.

Annnndddd I'm the only one who reads Star Wars books. Fantastic.

Well, read The Joiner King dammit! It's really good for a Star Wars book. I'll admit a lot of SW books tend to drag on or eventually becoming boring, but some keep you in the story the whole way through and this is one of them. All the major plot points are resolving (I'm almost to the end now) and I'm really interested in seeing how this storyline unfolds for two more books.

Actually, reading up on Wookiepedia on the Yuuzhan Vong war beforehand might be helpful before you attempt to read the Dark Nest books, if you do so. There's a lot that happens in that span of time that would make The Joiner King confusing in places without that knowledge.

Well, if you're gonna knock the Fett escape, knock the really bad one from the Marvel comics where he escapes, loses his memory, is mistaken for a droid by jawas and then ends up saving Han from falling into the sarlacc but then falls in again himself when he regains his memory and tries to kill Han. Unfortunately, both stories of his escape are considered canon. You kind of have to pick and chose what you personally want to hold as canon with SW, I tend to ignore the entire Marvel comics run (because a lot of the plots, characters and situations are silly) and anything young-adult oriented. SW expanded universe is also sort of at a "golden age" at this point; the books are fairly well written and have interesting story arcs dealing with new heroes as well as old (though the old heroes are literally in their mid-60's by Dark Nest and probably should think about stopping all this running around the universe fighting off evil routine and let their kids handle it), the current comics are really good (at least Dark Times, Knights of the Old Republic and Legacy are. Republic itself was good too) and we're about to get the Clone Wars movie. A lot of earlier EU stuff is less interesting and sometimes weirdly far-fetched, as if some authors weren't sure of where the Star Wars universe's acceptable weirdness levels cap off. Also, and this is just a personal opinion, it annoys me that earlier EU stuff doesn't have any mention of any of the species introduced in the prequels nor references to events that happened during them. Obviously, they couldn't since the prequels didn't exist at the time, but now they seem weirdly out of place.

I finished The Swarm War the other day, finishing the trilogy in about a week and a half. They were by far the best SW books I've read recently, upon finishing one, I had to immediately start the next to see what happened next (cliche statement, but true.) I'm glad Troy Denning wrote all three so that the series maintained the same style instead of jumping from style style as it sometimes did in the New Jedi Order series.

And Viper, if you want to know some other good ones, I suggest Shatterpoint (about Mace Windu hunting down a rogue apprentice of his on his homeworld, it's like the Star Wars Vietnam), the novelization of Revenge of the Sith (which adds way more detail than the movie does) and Darth Bane: Path of Destruction (obviously detailing Darth Bane's rise to power) Those are some of the best I've read recently. I'd suggest the New Jedi Order books too, but that series goes on a looonnggg time, but it is also an important part of the EU history, the Vong invasion permanently alters a lot of things in the universe.

Something I was thinking about today though; how did the dark nest know about R2 having holos of Anakin and Padme? Did I read the explanation and just don't remember? Or is it a plot point for later books in the Legacy of the Force series? I mean, I assume one of the colony's joiners knew about them but I don't remember them saying who exactly that was.

Tebor wrote:

I don't read the books, but I think I posted awhile ago that I really, really, really want to read the book where one of Solo's kids kills Mara Jade and then the following books to see where that arc goes. That is bloody brilliant and excited me the moment I heard about it. Great room for drama.

That would be Jacen in the Legacy of the Force series, the series I'm about to begin. I don't think that happens until towards the end of the series though so you might want to start from the beginning of LOTF. Though to get the full story on Jacen and how he gets where he is when he kills Mara, you should probably read Traitor which is about his imprisonment and torture for months by the Yuuzhan Vong and his meeting Vergere, the teacher who sends him down the dark path. The Dark Nest also really shows his increasing dettachment from his family and the Jedi order in favor of doing things his way. And from what tidbits I've read about recent LOTF books, his story only gets better.

Well, I know that right after Mara's death, Luke does get pretty enraged and gets into a really heavy battle with Jacen, but I also know that Jacen pretty much forms a splinter government that he controls and wages war against the Galactic Alliance, the current government of the galaxy. And yeah, Jaina is really pissed at him, even by the Dark Nest trilogy.

Well, Legacy of the Force just ended, I don't remember what the next arc is called or if it has actually been announced. I totally just spoiled the end of the series to myself by trying to look something up on Wookiepedia about Ben Skywalker, but I think you'd be pleased with the closure of the story.

monachetti wrote:

i read the new jedi order series. i liked it a lot. i read a bunch of ones prior to that series, too, but i quit star wars when i moved on to the wheel of time. since reading that a couple times, everything else seems too simplified. i would like to read some books that follow yoda or obi wan between the movie trilogies though...are any of those out there yet?

Anything involving Obi-Wan usually also involves either Anakin or Qui-Gonn as well, but a The Cestus Deception is a good Obi-Wan Anakin one during the period between Episode II and III, and Dark Rendezvous is a Yoda story during the same period (I haven't read it myself though.)