SWEUread: Reading Order

Rereading the Star Wars Expanded Universe one "Legend" at a time.
 

Reading Order

Obviously, if I'm gonna read 86 novels, or even 8, I'm gonna need a starting point and a roadmap. Thankfully, there are numerous places to find exhaustive lists of Star Wars novels online (here, here, and here are some good ones to start). There are even good posts on what really constitutes "essential" EU reading (I actually agree with the main thrust of this post, even if I might quibble a bit on some of it.)

I don't really care - it's my blog, I'm gonna do what I'd like.

First of all, I should address something at the start, possibly something that should have been addressed in the kick-off: for now, I'm only reading EU novels and only the ones I've previously read (hence the term RE-read). That means that I'm excluding any and all comics, some of the young adult novels, the e-novellas, short story anthologies, and most of the Prequel era novels. This is mostly a matter of convenience, as I have all of the novels that I own readily available. As you'll see, I was primarily interested in the story as it left off after the original movies (post-ROTJ, in Nerdlish). By the time the prequels came out and novels in that era were written, I had sort of already tuned out of needing to read every Star Wars book on the shelf. Thus, I am woefully not up to date on all of the novels chronologically occurring before A New Hope. Maybe as part of this project I'll try to get into some of those books - there are a few I've always meant to read but never actually did.

Anyways, if I'm going for the completionist route and I'm not skipping novels in this reread, I had basically 2 approaches for reading order: read in chronological order by in-universe date, or read in the order the books were published. I'm basically going to go (somewhat) in the order the books were published. This is for a couple of reasons. 1) I'm doing this largely for my own nostalgia, so I can maximize that by rereading in roughly the order I originally experienced the books in, 2) Due to the way the books were published, each book only references events and characters published BEFORE that book until you get to the New Jedi Order (NJO) series, when the publishers and Lucasfilm decided to generate a more unified plot. Thus, if you read in chronological order, you're likely to run into all kinds of moments where a character or event was referenced and you had no clue what they're talking about.

The third reason to at least start in rough publishing order is that the first book, Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn, and its sequels are unquestionably some of the best books in the entire EU and definitely the most indispensable to the rest of the overall story. Since Zahn was the first to write an EU novel, his books really had to lay the foundation for what exactly had happened after the Battle of Endor at the end of ROTJ. Therefore, there is a metric TON of world-building foundation that Zahn lays in his novels, and that material essentially forms the spine that holds up the rest of EU. You can try to start somewhere else, but trust me on this one - you're better off starting where it all began.

With that being said, here is the list of the books I own and the order in which I'm planning to attack them (publishing year noted in parenthesis). For more information on any book, I strongly recommend checking out the list at http://www.swbooks.co.uk/timeline/novel-publishing.htm. As you'll note if you cross-check or are an even bigger nerd than me, I'm not going to go strictly in publishing order. Anything that was part of a trilogy, duology, or other arc will get read in one block - I'm not jumping between stories. Also, in some cases, I'm going to reorder things as I see fit. I am altering the deal - pray I don't alter it any further.

• Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn (1991)
• Dark Force Rising by Timothy Zahn (1992)
• The Last Command by Timothy Zahn (1993)
• The Truce at Bakura by Kathy Tyers (1994)
• The Courtship of Princess Leia by Dave Wolverton (1994)
• The Jedi Academy Trilogy #1: Jedi Search by Kevin J. Anderson (1994)
• The Jedi Academy Trilogy #2: Dark Apprentice by Kevin J. Anderson (1994)
• The Jedi Academy Trilogy #3: Champions of the Force by Kevin J. Anderson (1994)
• The Crystal Star by Vonda McIntyre (1994) *Note: this one I may skip. It's reputation as one of the worst of the EU novels is well-earned.
• Children of the Jedi by Barbara Hambley (1995)
• Darksaber by Kevin J. Anderson (1995)
• The Corellian Trilogy #1: Ambush at Corellia by Roger MacBride Allen (1995)
• The Corellian Trilogy #2: Assault at Selonia by Roger MacBride Allen (1995)
• The Corellian Trilogy #3: Showdown at Centerpoint by Roger MacBride Allen (1995)
• The Black Fleet Crisis #1: Before the Storm by Michael P. Kube-McDowell (1996)
• The Black Fleet Crisis #2: Shield of Lies by Michael P. Kube-McDowell (1996)
• The Black Fleet Crisis #3: Tyrant's Test by Michael P. Kube-McDowell (1997)
• X-wing: Rogue Squadron by Michael Stackpole (1996)
• X-wing: Wedge's Gamble by Michael Stackpole (1996)
• X-wing: The Krytos Trap by Michael Stackpole (1996)
• X-wing: The Bacta War by Michael Stackpole (1997)
• Shadows of the Empire by Steve Perry (1996)
• The New Rebellion by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (1996)
• Planet of Twilight by Barbara Hambley (1997)
• The Han Solo Trilogy #1: The Paradise Snare by A.C. Crispin (1997)
• The Han Solo Trilogy #2: The Hutt Gambit by A.C. Crispin (1997)
• The Han Solo Trilogy #3: Rebel Dawn by A.C. Crispin (1998)
• I, Jedi by Michael Stackpole (1998)
• X-wing: Wraith Squadron by Aaron Allston (1998)
• X-wing: Iron Fist by Aaron Allston (1998)
• X-wing: Solo Command by Aaron Allston (1999)
• X-wing: Isard's Revenge by Aaron Allston (1999)
• Specter of the Past by Timothy Zahn (1997) 
• Vision of the Future by Timothy Zahn (1998)
• X-wing: Starfighters of Adumar by Aaron Allston (1999)
• Young Jedi Knights (YJK henceforth): Heirs of the Force by Kevin J. Anderson & Rebecca Moesta (1995) 
• YJK: Shadow Academy by Kevin J. Anderson & Rebecca Moesta (1995)
• YJK: The Lost Ones by Kevin J. Anderson & Rebecca Moesta (1995)
• YJK: Lightsabers by Kevin J. Anderson & Rebecca Moesta (1996)
• YJK: Darkest Knight by Kevin J. Anderson & Rebecca Moesta (1996)
• YJK: Jedi Under Seige by Kevin J. Anderson & Rebecca Moesta (1996)
• Rogue Planet by Greg Bear (2000)
• New Jedi Order (NJO henceforth): Vector Prime by R.A. Salvatore (1999) 
• NJO: Dark Tide I: Onslaught by Michael Stackpole (2000) 
• NJO: Dark Tide II: Ruin by Michael Stackpole (2000)
• NJO: Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial by James Luceno (2000)
• NJO: Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse by James Luceno (2000)
• NJO: Balance Point by Kathy Tyers (2000)
• NJO: Edge of Victory I: Conquest by Greg Keyes (2001)
• NJO: Edge of Victory II: Rebirth by Greg Keyes (2001)
• NJO: Star by Star by Troy Denning (2001)
• NJO: Dark Journey by Elaine Cunningham (2002)
• NJO: Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream by Aaron Allston (2002) 
• NJO: Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand by Aaron Allston (2002)
• NJO: Traitor by Matthew Stover (2002)
• NJO: Destiny's Way by Walter Jon Williams (2002)
• NJO: Force Heretic I: Remnant by Sean Williams & Shane Dix (2003) 
• NJO: Force Heretic II: Refugee by Sean Williams & Shane Dix (2003) 
• NJO: Force Heretic III: Reunion by Sean Williams & Shane Dix (2003)  
• NJO: The Final Prophecy by Greg Keyes (2003)
• NJO: The Unifying Force by James Luceno (2003)
• Tatooine Ghost by Troy Denning (2003)
• Survivor's Quest by Timothy Zahn (2004)
• Dark Nest Trilogy #1: The Joiner King by Troy Denning (2005)
• Dark Nest Trilogy #2: The Unseen Queen by Troy Denning (2005)
• Dark Nest Trilogy #3: The Swarm War by Troy Denning (2005)
• Outbound Flight by Timothy Zahn (2006)
• Allegiance by Timothy Zahn (2007)
• Choices of One by Timothy Zahn (2011)
• Legacy of the Force (LOTF henceforth): Betrayal by Aaron Allston (2006)
• LOTF: Bloodlines by Karen Traviss (2006)
• LOTF: Tempest by Troy Denning (2006)
• LOTF: Exile by Aaron Allston (2007)
• LOTF: Sacrifice by Karen Traviss (2007)
• LOTF: Inferno by Troy Denning (2006)
• LOTF: Fury by Aaron Allston (2006)
• LOTF: Revelation by Karen Traviss (2006)
• LOTF: Invincible by Troy Denning (2006)

Some notes on omissions and order:

• As mentioned, I do not have many books that occur in the Prequel era - Outbound Flight and Rogue Planet are the only ones on the list. They're mainly included because they have some plot points very pertinent to other EU books (Rogue Planet) or because they're essentially backstory to post-ROTJ EU content (Outbound Flight) and not really all that concerned with the Prequel Era characters and events. As mentioned, depending how burned out I am by the time I finish this, maybe I'll look into doing a first-time read through all of the books I haven't read.
• I omitted all of the Tales of the .... short story anthologies.  Don't have 'em, didn't read 'em.
• I omitted Splinter of the Minds Eye entirely - technically, it's the first EU novel (published between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back), but it's so far from what really became the EU that it was almost a "Legends" novel before the EU became Legends. Also, as Alan Dean Foster didn't know that Vader was Luke's father and Leia was his sister at the time, the book gets really squicky with Luke pining over Leia. In a similar vein, the early Han Solo and Lando Calrissian novels were excluded - I haven't read them, but they are really outside of what became the EU in a lot of senses.
• The less said about the Glove of Darth Vader series the better. Utter, complete trash. Just no. They may have officially become some type of "canon" but in my own headcanon, they never happened.
• I omitted the Bounty Hunter Wars trilogy (The Mandalorian Armor, Slave Ship, Hard Merchandise). I read the first one (and maybe the second): these are the only books that made adolescent Jeremy actually NOT finish a trilogy or series. I thought they were incredibly boring and frankly have never really understood the fandom obsession with Boba Fett all that much. He's a cool supporting character in the movies, but I have less than zero desire to find out more, frankly.
• There had to be a little shuffling around to keep the NJO series together and some of the others (the second set of X-wing novels, for instance). The main consequence was throwing the YJK books right before NJO but after a bunch of books published after them. This shouldn't be a problem for a number of reasons - the YJK books are chronologically after all of the other pre-NJO novels, so no spoilers are lost. Primarily, though, the YJK books are kids'  novels and were sort of "outside" the main EU fabric at the time they were published. They really are necessary and helpful to read before NJO and LOTF, though, as those characters have starring roles and there are a lot of callbacks. Also, I think the last novel on the list (Invincible, the capstone of the LOTF series) loses half of its impact if you didn't read (or grow up with, in my case) the YJK stories first.
• Just taking a look at it, there's gonna be some good stretches and some tough ones. I'm most excited to reread the original Thrawn Trilogy (Heir to the Empire, etc), as it's been a really long time since I've gone back into those. I look at those books almost as the third Star Wars trilogy that never was (Episodes VII-IX, if you will). They are really the only 3 books I really REALLY want to get through before The Force Awakens comes out - the rest I will slog through as time allows. The stretch from Jedi Academy until the X-wing series could get a little bleak for me - lots of books I didn't love the first time and some that I did but now realize were probably not that good. The books I'm definitely least looking forward to rereading (beyond The Crystal Star, as noted) are the Dark Nest Trilogy - I'll expand on why greatly if I ever get there. Suffice it to say, those books (and LOTF to a somewhat lesser degree) were the reason I stopped reading Star Wars books.

I expect that I'll probably have a preview post before each book to give my memories of the book before rereading, which will make it more interesting after I've reread the book to look back on.