Need some Star Wars Novel advice.

I haven't read much of the Star Wars expanded universe stuff, but Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy and most of the stuff he wrote following it is really good. I had no trouble jumping straight into it with no knowledge outside the movies. There are a few developments that you'll quickly catch on to that might spoil some things from other stories (I really don't know), but it's not like you'll be lost.

Ive never read any myself but have friends that have and they seem to like them all. I cant give much advice on what to read first but i can say that there is a novel that goes with the force unleashed games, so if you played those games you may like the books and it may be good to start with something familiar.

No clue ):

As someone who genuinely hates Star Wars, why would you want to read a series of books out of order? lol Ok, the first part of my previous sentence was irrelevant, just wanted to get that out there.

One mostly standalone series that's amazing would be the Republic Commando series. Another great series is the New Jedi Order books. That's a much longer series, but it's really, really good.

I've read/listened to 41 or so Star Wars novels and will probably never catch up with all of the EU. These are my recommendations: Episode III's novelization was amazing. Darth Plagueis is a nerd's wet dream come true (aka best novel ever~). Timothy Zahn's Thrawn books are wonders to behold. Han Solo's trilogy was cool to read. The Infinities comics were intriguing. The only truly bad novel I've read so far is Shatterpoint, the one with Mace Windu. It just didn't feel Star Warsy for me.

Republic Commando series and the Thrawn Trilogy is definitely some awesome reads!

You're gonna get a lot of recommendations for this, but just adding one more voice. Read the Thrawn Triology!

• Heir to the Empire, 1991 (ISBN 0-553-40471-7)
• Dark Force Rising, 1992 (ISBN 0-553-08574-3)
• The Last Command, 1993 (ISBN 0-553-56492-7)

I made a comment on your giveaway about my opinion :)

I can recommend you the Han Solo trilogy by A.C. Crispin and The Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn (Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, )
The Last Command, 1993)

Along with everything that's already been mentioned, I liked the New Jedi Order series.

I have read the knights of the older republic comics and they were pretty decent

Star Wars Death Troops is a book that I couldn't put down! Check it out! unfortunately I lent my copy to a friend and don't have the book anymore

I think I've only read the kid books

Thrawn trilogy, as people have constantly recommended. I also enjoyed "Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina", which is a bunch of short stories about all the characters you see for half a second in the bar in A New Hope, "Shadows of the Empire", set between Empire and Returns, "The Courtship of Princess Leia" set after, and I liked the "Corellian Trilogy" as well, giving some background on Han. I've never read the "Star Wars: X-wing" series, but people have constantly recommended it to me (it is a 10 book series!). Then depending on your age, you might read the Young Jedi Knights books, personally, they seemed childish to me even in my teens. I never got into the prequel books, so I can't recommend on that.

Just in case you didn't know, with the new movies coming out in 2015, NONE of this will be canon any more. It is on record that they're tossing it all out :D. So just warning you.

As bobofatt said earlier, I've heard the Thrawn trilogy is fantastic! And as a guy who used to read some of the books, I'd say don't worry about orders, but do it by series. Most of the books belong to a series, or at least are written by the same author (and those usually go together more because the same person wrote it! Who'd a thunk?), so just read those books together, then go on to another. I don't have a suggestion of exact books to read after Thrawn, but that should help a litt.e

Eyeballs shelf of Expanded Universe books
Okay, let's see. It has been a while since I've read a Star Wars book as the prequels and the never-ending focus on Jedi in general pretty much destroyed my interest, but here is what I remember liking, in no particular order:

The Truce at Bakura
The Courtship of Princess Leia

The entire X-Wing novel series, as well as the comics (though I can't say anything about Mercy Kill as I haven't read that one), though I like the ones by Aaron Allston a bit better as they're a bit more funny. Possibly my favorite set of books. Read them in order.

Thrawn Trilogy:

Heir to the Empire

Dark Force Rising

The Last Command

Jedi Academy Trilogy:

Jedi Search

Dark Apprentice

Champions of the Force

Tales of the Bounty Hunters

Tales from Jabba's Palace

Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina

Tales from the Empire

Tales from the New Republic

If you've played Star Wars Dark Forces: Jedi Knight, read these:

Star Wars - Dark Forces: Rebel Agent

Star Wars - Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire

Star Wars - Dark Forces: Jedi Knight

Tales of the Jedi comic series (rather odd, but interesting)

The Corellian Trilogy:

Ambush at Corellia

Showdown at Centerpoint

Assault at Selonia

Han Solo at Stars' End (book 1 of 3; it might not be to your taste, but I read it enough at one point that I destroyed the cover)

Crimson Empire (comic)

One note: unless you like Star Trek novels, do yourself a favor and avoid The Crystal Star. The author wrote a LOT of ST novels and I remember TCS reading like one. Not only that, but the characters are seriously out of character.

I have a lot of the books for NJO and onward, but never read them. I've heard enough to think they sound rather odd.

Definitely check out the Thrawn trilogy by Timothy Zahn.

X-Wing series. I'm a big fan of Wedge Antilles.

I can definitely agree to the Thrawn trilogy and Death Troopers recommendations, but if you're going to read the Thrawn Trilogy, I might also suggest Zahn's Outbound Flight, a sort of prequel to that trilogy.

My favorite Star Wars series was the Republic/Imperial Commando series. Was really interesting to see clone troopers in a different light and as just normal people instead of cannon fodder. Though, after Karen Traviss wrote Imperial Commando 501st she said she wasn't writing anymore because the Clone Wars TV show was conflicting with stuff in her books. Besides that it was cut short (meaning there is still room for more books) it is by far my favorite Star Wars book series.

It's been a while since I read it, but the Dark Empire series was a really fun comic. Might be a bit unbelievable but thematically sound.

Can't help you at all but definitely I will follow your thread to steal some advices. Specially Star Wars book don't have best reviews but as I heard there are some pearls in the ocean.

Clone Wars era, I'd recommend Hard Contact, Dark Rendezvous, and Shatterpoint. You can skip the Jedi Healer duology and everything by James Luceno.

Darth Bane Trilogy from Drew Karpyshyn (this guy work as scenario writer for Kotor 1, Mass Effect 1&2, Baldur's Gate 2)