Nope. I've actually read them only recently. They still kick the living shit out of all new SW material.
-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
-
We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.
Zahn Trilogy Is The Best Star Wars Trilogy Post-1983.
- Thread starter UltraMagnus
- Start date
OP
OP
I second that. I'm re-reading right now and it's still quite good. The characters are great and the plot devices, say what you want about them are not derivative of the OT the way the current movies are. Having the Republic and Imperials for example trying to find the Katana Fleet is at least something different and new.
The reveal that
Hidden content
Zahn's implied version of the Clone Wars is so much better. His version of the future post ROTJ was so much better.
TFA and TLJ are quite lame compared to these books.
TFA and TLJ are quite lame compared to these books.
So freaking true. While not perfect and clearly products of their time, the Thrawn Trilogy remains one of the primary reasons I'm still a die-hard Star Wars fan. Brisk prose and memorable characterization make them a must-read for anyone remotely interested in Star Wars outside of the films, even as non-canon entries
I'm also reading through these right now, and I can confirm that they hold up extraordinarily well. The actual writing itself kicks the crap out of more than 85% of the new canon reading from a pure pacing standpoint. Stackpole is a master of grabbing your attention early and not letting it go. I've been hoping that at some point he gets approached to do another pass in the new canon similar to Zahn, but he hasn't written a Star Wars novel for nearly two decades, so I doubt we'd ever get him back. Reminds me that I need to get back to working on that blog about all the non-canon material. Remember folks, for every Thrawn Trilogy and X-Wing series, there's a Courtship of Princess Leia and Darksaber right around the corner...
How dare you!
I'm also reading through these right now, and I can confirm that they hold up extraordinarily well. The actual writing itself kicks the crap out of more than 85% of the new canon reading from a pure pacing standpoint. Stackpole is a master of grabbing your attention early and not letting it go. I've been hoping that at some point he gets approached to do another pass in the new canon similar to Zahn, but he hasn't written a Star Wars novel for nearly two decades, so I doubt we'd ever get him back. Reminds me that I need to get back to working on that blog about all the non-canon material. Remember folks, for every Thrawn Trilogy and X-Wing series, there's a Courtship of Princess Leia and Darksaber right around the corner...
Yus. Stackpole is second only to Zahn.
But lumping in Courtship of Princess Leia with Darksaber is just... no. It's about on Truce at Bakura level.
Whereas, Darksaber is like Crystal Star bad.
But lumping in Courtship of Princess Leia with Darksaber is just... no. It's about on Truce at Bakura level.
Whereas, Darksaber is like Crystal Star bad.
KJA is never the cream of anything.
Character wise, Mara Jade, Palleon, Daala & Thrawn were decent, the rest of it can die in a fire.
For me the only good stuff in the old EU are the ancient Sith stories.
You know, it's probably time I read these books. I'll add them to my Kindle reading list. I have never read (or been interested in) any Star Wars EU content, but this is routinely cited as the "real" episodes 7-9. Time to see what all the fuss is about!
Ridiculous. The Zahn books are terrible by any standard except "Star Wars EU Novels." They're clunky, horribly paced sci-fi stories (like nearly all the SW EU novels, one of their biggest failings - Star Wars is not sci-fi) with nothing to add to the SW universe, he gets the movie characters completely wrong through the whole thing, and while Thrawn is a great character concept he never does anything of note or pays off in the way he should. The Zahn books aren't even prequel caliber.
The fuss is about a bunch of people who read shitty C-tier sci-fi novels when they were 12 during the longest drought of Star Wars material in the brand's history, and didn't know any better. The only interesting part of the Zahn books is baseline idea for Thrawn's character, and he has been rescued and done better in the Rebels TV series so the Zahn books no longer have even that to offer. The fawning over these three books is one of the most thoroughly inexplicable parts of Star Wars fandom.
OP
OP
Yes they added nothing new to the Star Wars universe aside from ... Thrawn, and Coruscant, and Mara Jade, and Talon Kardde, and Palleon, and Bel Ibis, and C'Boath, and the Noghri. But yeah, nothing new aside from that, lol. I mean look at all the iconic characters the six Star Wars films since ROTJ have managed to introduce like ... uh, Jar Jar. And Ric Olie. And Rose Tico. And General Greivious. And uh Maz Kanata. And the Rogue Squadron guys who I can't remember the names of. All fascinating new additions.
I didn't read the Zahn books during that drought by the way.
I have no idea who any of those things you listed are except Thrawn, Mara, and Coruscant, and that last one was merely named by Zahn, not created. The rest of those names mean nothing beyond reminding me of stupid plot points in those awful books, which I read at release and again about 10 years ago just to make sure I wouldn't like them better a second time around. Nope, they were even worse than I remembered.
The fact that you list Rose in the same breath as Jar Jar tells me all I need to know about how seriously to take your opinion on this, though, so thanks for that.
For anyone who hasn't wasted hours of their life on this awful trilogy, please don't be swayed by this thread into doing so. No matter what you think of the Star Wars movies beyond the OT, it's not worth the time it'll take.
Darth Maul, Rey, and Kylo Ren are far far far more iconic those characters like Mara Jade and Talon Kardde.
You said Bel Ibis is more iconic than REY.
It is beyond laughable to suggest this.
OP
OP
Actually I think in a general sense the OT and prequels both struggle big time to create memorable new characters.
Rey is by default important by being basically the new Jedi of this new trilogy, but take away that crutch and are any of these new characters that interesting?
Empire introduced Yoda, who's a ground breaking character on top of Lando. Jedi introduced Jabba and the Emperor (effectively).
In six movies since ROTJ probably the most popular new character from any of the newer movies aside from Rey is probably ... Darth Maul, who in the context of the movies is given virtually zero characterization, lol.
Zahn deserves some credit here even if you want to say Thrawn and Mara Jade are his only interesting new characters ... that's two more than Lucas or the Abrams/Johnson have managed. And those two are legitimately new character types for the Star Wars universe, they're not built on the crutch of recycling tropes we've seen from previous characters (wisened/kooky old master, smuggler/scoundrel, Sith asshole, Queen/princess, or plucky young Jedi upstart).
I remember loving the Thrawn trilogy as a kid. Thanks for reminding me to pick up the audiobooks.
I've been VERY slowly going through the first book but I have been enjoying it a lot.
To be precise when the story is focusing on Thrawn, it is at its best, TBH I don't care much of the main gang so much, that while their plots are quite good, i'd much rather be reading about Thrawn's gambits and plans to destroy them.
I sadly forgot to order Thrawn, but following the trilogy I'll get to Hand of Thrawn and that book.
Someone recommended the X-Wing books so I'll try to track those down too. Any other Thrawn books/novels I should track down too? He's becoming among my fav. Star Wars characters along with Genndy's Grievous and Cad Bane.
EDIT: Amazon pls...
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WTKF27U/ref=series_rw_dp_sw
To be precise when the story is focusing on Thrawn, it is at its best, TBH I don't care much of the main gang so much, that while their plots are quite good, i'd much rather be reading about Thrawn's gambits and plans to destroy them.
I sadly forgot to order Thrawn, but following the trilogy I'll get to Hand of Thrawn and that book.
Someone recommended the X-Wing books so I'll try to track those down too. Any other Thrawn books/novels I should track down too? He's becoming among my fav. Star Wars characters along with Genndy's Grievous and Cad Bane.
EDIT: Amazon pls...
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WTKF27U/ref=series_rw_dp_sw
Thrawn is amazing, and the tone and quality of writing was fantastic, but TLJ Luke is way more interesting and compelling than "I'm gonna trust this shady ass clone" Luuuuuke.
Bearing in mind that where in the timeline these books take place determines how much Thrawn is actually in each piece, the full Thrawn Bibliography is as follows:
Expanded Universe:
- The Thrawn Trilogy
- Heir to the Empire
- Dark Force Rising
- The Last Command
- The Hand of Thrawn Duology
- Specter of the Past
- Vision of the Future
- Misc
- Outbound Flight
- Survivors Quest
- Tales from the Empire
- Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire
- Thrawn
- Thrawn: Allegiances
The true sequel trilogy to me. I highly advise people to listen to the audio book version, the narrator whose name I forgotten does great voice impersonations.
A sequel to "Thrawn", "Thrawn: Alliances", comes out at the end of the month too and features Thrawn and Vader teaming up with flashbacks of Thrawn and Anakin from the Clone Wars.
There's also a comic adaptation of "Thrawn" that I think just ended as well.
I think that trilogy is overrated as hell but it's still pretty good and better than what we've been getting lately.
Darth Maul has been given more depth than most Star Wars characters. TCW and Rebels made him one of the most well developed Sith in the saga. There is no way to say someone like C'Boath has more depth than than the rich history Maul has on screen.
And that post was replying to his claim that Palleon, and Bel Ibis and C'Boath are more iconic than any prequel or sequel characters. It is insane to say any of the 3 are more iconic than Maul.
Need to re-read them myself but recall loving them too in the 90's.
I too felt it was much stronger than the current wave of movies by far, but I have considered that I was like 12 years old when I read them and whether my adult self would find them as great. Still have the same hardcovers on my shelf, I'll probably re-read them after Episode 9 to compare.
I too felt it was much stronger than the current wave of movies by far, but I have considered that I was like 12 years old when I read them and whether my adult self would find them as great. Still have the same hardcovers on my shelf, I'll probably re-read them after Episode 9 to compare.
I'm not sure if i liked the overall story but Thrawn and Mara Jade are much more convincing Star Wars characters than anything I've seen in the new trilogy or the spinoffs.
The best way I would compare them is that these books have better plotting, but the new trilogy (so far) has better characterts. However both are good in their own way in what they're trying to accomplish. The Zahn trilogy is more of a direct followup to the movies while the sequel trilogy is 30 years into the future. In fact the biggest issue I have with the sequel trilogy is how little changed in 30 years compared to the 30 year gap between the prequels and original trilogy.
Thrawn, Rogue Squadron, and Republic Commando are some of the best EU stuff we'll never see on the big screen sadly.
For years my friend praised these books - and still does - until I finally caved in and picked them up. For as much praise as this trilogy continuously received, not only from my friend but many like him on the internet, I for sure expected to enjoy the trilogy more than I do. The truth is that I felt each installment bored me more than the last, so much so that I am 100 pages away from completing the last book but have no compelling reason to. I lost so much interest by that point that I no longer cared to know what happened (coupled with the fact that these aren't canon so it kind of makes me feel like I'm wasting my time).
What didn't I like? I'm not entirely sure, but the conflict that was set up, especially with the dark fleet, felt so uninteresting. The creatures that create voids in the force I didn't mind too much and I did appreciate the twist with the Noghri being manipulated to think that that Empire saved them from extinction when it was actually the Empire that created the mess to begin with.
Despite these things I felt largely let down. I'm not sure whether my issue is how the story is told or what the story is, but page turners, they were not. The trilogy has some interesting ideas sprinkled throughout, including the assassins Palpatine apparently kept on hand and in the dark from knowing each other, as well as the extent to which Palpatine had influence in the galaxy, but everything in between was a slog to get through. For every interesting tidbit I came across I was immediately met with a boring chapter about the diplomatic mission. While it all makes sense, it wasn't interesting.
Maybe I should finish the last book since I only have a hundred or so pages, but I really don't want to. So disappointing to know that as a huge Star Wars fan I disliked one of the more recommended book series. I'm sure I'm in the minority here, just like the people who dislike The Last Jedi. :)
Oh, and one last thing.
What didn't I like? I'm not entirely sure, but the conflict that was set up, especially with the dark fleet, felt so uninteresting. The creatures that create voids in the force I didn't mind too much and I did appreciate the twist with the Noghri being manipulated to think that that Empire saved them from extinction when it was actually the Empire that created the mess to begin with.
Despite these things I felt largely let down. I'm not sure whether my issue is how the story is told or what the story is, but page turners, they were not. The trilogy has some interesting ideas sprinkled throughout, including the assassins Palpatine apparently kept on hand and in the dark from knowing each other, as well as the extent to which Palpatine had influence in the galaxy, but everything in between was a slog to get through. For every interesting tidbit I came across I was immediately met with a boring chapter about the diplomatic mission. While it all makes sense, it wasn't interesting.
Maybe I should finish the last book since I only have a hundred or so pages, but I really don't want to. So disappointing to know that as a huge Star Wars fan I disliked one of the more recommended book series. I'm sure I'm in the minority here, just like the people who dislike The Last Jedi. :)
Oh, and one last thing.
Despite my dislike for this trilogy, I love Rebels and Thrawn in the show, including how it ends. I suppose the continuity of it all is what pleases me and I'm sure the story of Thrawn would be written better if it were to take place around the same time period of the books.
I loved the star wars legacy volume 1 comics.
Shit is tight besides there being one crossover event that ties in to the final part.
Shit is tight besides there being one crossover event that ties in to the final part.
You're thinking of the Jedi Academy Trilogy by Kevin J Anderson.
I enjoyed those books as a kid, but looking back they were a mess. I liked that some stuff regarding The Maw from the first book was used in the Solo movie though.
Best thing about the JA Trilogy imo was that it was the springboard for I, Jedi, which was my favorite EU book back in the day.
I don't think it's nostalgia-blindness. An appreciably high number of people have been huge fans of this trilogy since before the prequels even existed.
I was hoping for something in-between these two: a disenfranchised Luke, bitter about the Jedi ways constant failings, sets out to remake the Jedi or come up with something new. Looks like that business will be on Rey now.
We've seen Thrawn in the tv media though! He was great in Rebels.
Legends Trilogy?
Probably. Its beats the hell out of the corellian trilogy, the dark fleet one, the jedi academy one and is overall better than the han solo one. The dark nest doesn't get a mention.
I'm partial to the hand of thawn duology myself.
Rogue Squadron and New Jedi Order as best series of novels.
Probably. Its beats the hell out of the corellian trilogy, the dark fleet one, the jedi academy one and is overall better than the han solo one. The dark nest doesn't get a mention.
I'm partial to the hand of thawn duology myself.
Rogue Squadron and New Jedi Order as best series of novels.
I guess they're OK as far as branded genre pulp goes? Loved them as a kid. Could no longer see the appeal as an adult. Most of the other SW EU books were pretty trashy but I read them anyway. I think the short story collections (Tales from.. ) are probably the other highlight of this series.
