Nope. I've actually read them only recently. They still kick the living shit out of all new SW material.God I loved those books as a kid. Pretty sure they've aged terribly.
Nope. I've actually read them only recently. They still kick the living shit out of all new SW material.God I loved those books as a kid. Pretty sure they've aged terribly.
Nope. I've actually read them only recently. They still kick the living shit out of all new SW material.
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.
God I loved those books as a kid. Pretty sure they've aged terribly.
Timothy Zahn and Kevin J. Anderson were the cream of the crop for EU material. Everything else (that I read) was trash.
Nope. I've actually read them only recently. They still kick the living shit out of all new SW material.
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.
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 uh Maz Kanata.
I didn't read the Zahn books during that drought by the way.
Darth Maul, Rey, and Kylo Ren are far far far more iconic those characters like Mara Jade and Talon Kardde.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.
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.
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
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
Gracias, will aim to get through those.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:
Canon:
- 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
There are also appearances in a few comics and games, but as far as books go, this is it.
- Thrawn
- Thrawn: Allegiances
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.
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.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.
You're thinking of the Jedi Academy Trilogy by Kevin J Anderson.this was the one where Han was a slave on a mining facility planet in the first book correct?
Is this nostalgia blinding people? Zahn's trilogy is awful, worse than the prequels.
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.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.
We've seen Thrawn in the tv media though! He was great in Rebels.Thrawn, Rogue Squadron, and Republic Commando are some of the best EU stuff we'll never see on the big screen sadly.
We've seen Thrawn in the tv media though! He was great in Rebels.