Fully Booked The best Star Wars novels in the galaxy

Along time ago, in a Carnegie library in Pella, Iowa, I discovered The Empire Strikes Back on VHS. It was my first step into a larger world, and I was immediately enamored. I soon learned that there were Star Wars books, and purchased the first title I saw, X-Wing: Rogue Squadron by Michael A. Stackpole. I tore through it, and knew that I needed more. The library, once again, supplied. I checked out everything that I could get my hands on.

After a while, though, the stories all began to feel the same, and I fell out of love with Star Wars books, and even Star Wars itself a bit. But when the sequel trilogy arrived, my interest was reignited. I dove back into the world of Star Wars books—here are the titles that I feel are standouts.

The High Republic is a whole new series set in an era that hasn’t been explored before—200 years before the prequel films. There aren’t any recognizable characters, which is part of what makes it great. (Yoda is around, but on a space sabbatical?) It’s a time of peace and expansion for the Republic and Jedi. This prosperity is marred by the anarchistic Nihil. Start with the action-packed Light of the Jedi by Charles Soule, but don’t sleep on the Young Adult title Into the Dark by Claudia Gray, which is my favorite of the bunch.

When Disney bought Lucasfilm, all of those books that I read years ago were no longer considered canon. This included my favorite, Heir to the Empire, which featured a new antagonist: Grand Admiral Thrawn. They decided to reintroduce Thrawn into the Star Wars universe in the TV show Rebels and in new books beginning with Thrawn by Timothy Zahn. I really enjoyed this book, and its two sequels are even better! My favorites, though, are the Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy, also by Zahn. There’s little connection to the greater universe in this Thrawn origin story, and none of the bestknown aliens and ships from that galaxy far, far away. But there’s something just very Star Wars about it. It’s adventurous, exotic and makes the galaxy seem limitless. Also, Thrawn is possibly the most interesting Star Wars character there is.

I am not a fan of The Rise of Skywalker, but Shadow of the Sith by Adam Christopher goes a long way to fill in information that should’ve been in the movie. It’s set 20 years after Return of the Jedi, and it features Luke and Lando on a mission together to find a family that are being hunted by the Sith. The connections to other Star Wars stories—in the comics and elsewhere—are a great payoff. I recommend it to anyone who was underwhelmed by the film.

—Brian Visser, Iowa City Public Library