I finally read my first Star Wars book. I read Darth Bane Path of Destruction, by Drew Karpyshyn. It was a pretty good book. I’m not going to review it or anything, I just have a few thoughts about the Star Wars universe. Being my first Star Wars book, I am a bit confused by the lore and timeline. There wasn’t much confusion in Darth Bane. It was a well thought out story and it had enough background so I didn’t get lost. I haven’t played Knights of the Old Republic, so I am pretty ignorant of the timeframe. The only Star Wars I have ever been exposed to is the movies. I refuse to read any books around the time of the movies. O have a hard time with the way I visualize the characters and the characters from the movies. My inner vision conflicts with the faces from the movie, so I can’t enjoy myself. I pop out of my reading state and get distracted by what I remember of the movie. That is why I will not read any of those books. I do admit, I would like to read the book where Luke Skywalker turns evil, but I have no idea what book that is. Oh, and I would like to read the one he dies in.
I am interested in the Star Wars timeline the most. I have so many unanswered questions and there are so many gaps to fill. Just the timeframe between KotOR and Darth Bane rises so many questions. That is the largest space that needs filling. I need to play KotOR to find out the story of Revan and Malak. I wish there was a book that had more detail, but I can settle for playing a game to find out. One of my big questions is:
What happens after KotOR? What happens in those 300 years before SWTOR and will SWTOR answer any of my questions? Drew did a great job of plopping a story down about 2,000 years away from the games, but that is a lot of space I would like to see more stories.
My biggest question about the Star Wars universe is, how did all this start? Who was the first Jedi and Sith? What year before “New Hope” was it? How did this story evolve into a classic good vs. evil? I would like to see a write venture so far back, the story of Star Wars begins. How far back is that? It makes me wonder of the possibilities. Maybe, it is already written and I am just so new to the Star Wars timeline, I don’t know where to find it.
I like the Star Wars universe. It has endless possibilities of heroes and villains. I plan on reading more books and finding out more about it before SWTOR comes out. It took me 3 days to read Darth Bane, I am sure I can fit in a bunch more books. If you have any suggestions of great Star Wars books (not around the movies), I would love to hear them. I heard the X-Wing series is good, but I’m not much of a space combat guy and I think it is around the movie era.
The discovery of the Force and the first Jedi is a LONG way back, and SW:TOR’s timeline that they are slowly unlocking. You know, the narratored videos that are about 10 minutes long each time, will eventually review those points in history. As for the books themselves, that far back I can’t say I know.
Honestly though, you REALLY should give the books that come after Return of the Jedi a chance. The X-Wing Series only has Wedge Antilles and Ackbar in them (except for books 6, 7, and a few small cameos), so you wouldn’t get distracted very much.
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By the way, the first “iconic” good versus evil involves the numerous Sith Lords, another notable one being the Jedi Civil War (KOTOR 1). The Force is discovered THIRTY-TWO THOUSAND years before SWT:TOR!!
http://www.swtor.com/info/holonet/timeline/
Here’s a link to the timeline but I warn you that you will see MAJOR spoilers from KOTOR 1 and 2 if you watch this in entirety. (You want to watch it in reverse by the way, so start with the present.)
Rer´s last blog ..Slurms’ WoW Revisit – Step one- accounting
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You got to read Tales of the Jedi 1 &2 Omnibus. http://www.google.ca/images?hl=en&q=tales%20of%20the%20jedi%20omnibus&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi They explain alot of very early Jedi and sith stuff. They are graphic novels and are so awesome. The best part is you may be able to get them from the library or I can at least. I paid $30.00 for one and felt so guilty, thank goodness for libraries.
Another great Star Wars series but at the other end of the time line is Legacy about the decendant of Luke Skywalker – Cade Skywalker. I loved this too and they had them at my library. I prefer the graphic novels personally so I’m a little biased. http://www.google.ca/images?hl=en&q=star+war+legacy&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=XKxQTKbfCcXtnQeJy9yPBw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CCUQsAQwAw
(sorry for the long links) I just love the cover art they use.
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If i’m not mistaken the stories where Luke turns to the dark side are comic books from dark horse, though it has been some time since i’ve read those.
You may not want to read books from around the time of the movies, but Shadows of the Empire in my memory is one of the best. It takes place between empire and return.
The thrawn trilogy is another strong place to start. Thrawn has become quite an iconic figure in the lore, probably the sole reason the chiss are being added to TOR. The jedi academy trilogy is ok, not fantastic but better than some of the drek like the coruscant nights series.
You say you’re not really a space combat person so its hard to figure out what to recommend, I can’t think of many sw novels without space combat. it is very common. having said that i would recommend the x-wing books, some of their missions do become quite ground based in the later ones.
If we’re talking one shot books instead of trilogies, the courtship of princess leia stands out in my memory.
The yuzhan vong war series that starts with vector prime has its ups and downs, but its too long and too hard to tell some of the books apart from one another, although I can recommend the one that starts the series.
If you’re more into ground combat the obvious place to start is the republic commando series. At first I found the series grating, but the 2nd half of the first book really improves, with the 2nd book being quite good, and while the third is kind of repetitive about one particular moral dilemma its also good. it takes place during the clone wars, but has little to do with any canon figures.
Ok so i’m rambling but i’ve read like every star wars book so I have a lot to say on the subject. I prefer books after the movies, as they’re usually better.
ok timeline. Bane is 1000 years before Luke skywalker, but he’s about 3000 years after Revan.
The thing you have to remember is that for thousands of years various sith empires rose and fell like the tide until darth bane instituted the rule of two, and then you get that line from obi wan about 1000 years of peace in A new hope.
heres a timeline at wookiepedia, but yeah, spoilers. and confusing as hell due to length. however the early timeline information is helpful to some of the things your interested in. also, go play kotor and kotor 2.
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline_of_galactic_history
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Legacy was a comic series and they have them grouped in books now. The story telling is still compelling and the art work is the best. I much prefer to see the illustrations of whats going on than trying to imagine it in my mind.
I second the Thrawn series too.Timothy Zahn did a great job writing them. Chriss are an interesting race too.
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Lots of good suggestions here already, but I’d like to throw in my recommendation of Courtship of Princess Leia. I know you don’t want to read stuff around the time of the movies but that is really good.
If you want a good timeline, you can also find a comprehensive one on wookieepedia.com. That site is also great if you want sone general info on Star Wars events but don’t have all the time in the world to read the all the books and graphic novels. There are literally hundreds out there, it would take forever to read them all.
If you want to know more about the Old Republic era, definitely play kotor 1 and 2. Like, now. If you want to know more about swtor, did you know that a new book based on it was just released? Fatal Alliance is the title, by Sean Williams. I’m actually about halfway through it now at the moment…it’s not bad, for a Staw Wars book or a game tie-in.
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I just read playboy…for the articles of course
Rivs´s last blog ..Why I Blog- and Why is this Blog Here
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Like you go to a strip club for the food?
Rer´s last blog ..Slurms’ WoW Revisit – Step one- accounting
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Actually funny story, the strip club near one of my jobs actually had good food, and cheap too. LOL!
Rivs´s last blog ..Why I Blog- and Why is this Blog Here
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