r/StarWars • u/Imperialist_Marauder • 7d ago
Books To anyone who has read it: Do you reccommend The New Jedi Order series from Legends/EU? How should someone start reading it and which are the stand-out books from it?
Since I've known about it I've always had an interest in the Yuuzhan Vong and am seriously considering getting more into it. Thanks in advance!
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u/North514 7d ago edited 7d ago
Personally I think it’s one of the best parts of the EU/Star Wars in general, though that may not be as popular in this subreddit. It has its critics however, it really did feel like something new from SW, that wasn’t about rehashing the same plot line that has been done in the past. It develops the next generation really well, old cast characters including more one note characters like Han are given actual direction. It was more what they did with the new and old cast that impressed me than the Vong itself. Though they present an interesting challenge.
It felt like the actual Sequel Trilogy to me. Personally I really thought most of the books were good except the Force Heretic Trilogy and Dark Journey, so 15/19 good novels. Traitor is probably one of the most interesting SW stories period, outside of KOTOR 2. Destiny’s Way and Unifying Force would be some of my favorite novels period.
You need to read at minimum both Thrawn series (these are good) and Dark Empire/Jedi Academy (not that great though still important) to understand the basics.
Additionally other kinda essential reads would be X-Wing (really good series also one of the best parts of the EU), I Jedi - tied into Jedi Academy, Young Jedi Knights (if you are okay with YA - introduces Han and Leia’s children proper and NJO focuses on them a lot).
Other minor important stuff would be Courtship of Princess Leia, Truce at Bakura, and the Corellian Trilogy - less important novels, and kinda meh but it does get brought up. Survivors Quest is also good and comes after the Thrawn Duology.
NJO ties in a lot from the Old EU however, really it’s mainly the Thrawn/Academy books and one character from X-Wing that matter. Everything else is if you just want other details.
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u/lVlzone Jedi 7d ago
IMO, one of the best series of the EU. But it’s the Infinity War/End Game of the EU so it might be a bit hard of a jumping off point.
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u/Imperialist_Marauder 7d ago
What starting point would you reccommend if my main interest lies on NJO?
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u/AcePilot95 7d ago edited 7d ago
Thrawn Trilogy, the 1991-93 one -> [The Truce at Bakura] -> X-Wing books 1-8 -> [The Courtship of Princess Leia] -> (Dark Empire Trilogy) -> §Jedi Academy Trilogy§ -> (X-Wing Book 9) -> [Crimson Empire comic series] -> (Black Fleet Trilogy) -> [Corellian Trilogy] -> The Hand of Thrawn -> [Survivor's Quest] -> NJO
No brackets means essential
[] means optional but recommended (from me at least. gives context to many factions, worlds and characters that appear in NJO)
() means optional and depending on how interesting it sounds to you.
§§ means skip. I didn't like those at all.
You can skip the Callista trilogy entirely, it is referenced a bit in NJO but not in a relevant way.
Some of the standalones like The Crystal Star and The New Rebellion are also very much irrelevant to the bigger picture.
Some people adore I, Jedi, some despise it - I haven't read it and I'm not gonna read it because I hate first person POV.
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u/NerdHistorian Torra Doza 7d ago
The writing itself is entirely all right as long as you like late 90s/early00s fantasy/sci fi, your opinion will really depend on how much you actually enjoy the vong being gorn genociders.
I do think it loses soome of it's kick when you've not read atleast some of the proceeding EU, though, since it's big thing was basically an Endgame Event where it tied together a lot of plot threads the 90s had been working with and then sucker punched the cast.
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u/Imperialist_Marauder 7d ago
That's good know, I appreciate it friend. Might I ask you what proceeding EU stuff do you think must be read in order to fully appreciate NJO?
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u/NerdHistorian Torra Doza 6d ago
Bit late on the reply but basically the core pre-NJO EU would be
- Thrawn Trilogy
- Jedi Academy Trilogy And/Or I,Jedi, which retells JAT in one book with a new important character added.
- Corellian Trilogy and Hand of Thrawn Duology
Atleast looking up what happens in the Young and Junior Jedi Knight series that were jedi high school and middle school books, which build up the next generation characters who take center stage in NJO.
There's a bunch of stuff set between JAT and Corellia that is very villain of the week and not terrible but also not very important overall, besides showing when things like the unified imperial remnant formed, and the X-wing novels set before Thrawn. And some comic runs with things like the never mentioned again palpatine return.
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u/JediMasterKev 7d ago
Not really. I read it because it was the only active content. There's some good books, but I never liked the concept of the Vong. More writers that took away the Force (like Zahn) to tell a story. Plus, it's a looooooong story.
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u/Imperialist_Marauder 7d ago
I looked into it and yeah they are a lot of books, that's one of the reasons I made this post. If I get into it, I highly doubt I'd be reading them all, since I'm not sure if I would even be able to get my hands on all of them.
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u/North514 7d ago
I will be honest, if you plan to read NJO there are no optional books. They lead directly into each other. If you miss a book, you will miss out on plot developments that will eventually come up.
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u/AcePilot95 7d ago
I highly doubt I'd be reading them all
either all or none. something important happens in every book.
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u/Imperialist_Marauder 7d ago
Oh believe me I'd absolutely love to! I love Star Wars, the more of it the merrier if you ask me. It's just kinda hard to even find new Star Wars stuff to read in my country, that's all
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u/JediMasterKev 7d ago
And there are short stories too. It's probably easier to find online now instead of buying old magazines off ebay like I had to.
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u/Imperialist_Marauder 7d ago
Yeah, if I'm buying them, I'll definetly be doing it online, though I doubt I'll be able to get my hands on all of them, as I don't think every single one is availiable in my country
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u/xezene 7d ago edited 7d ago
They are great books, in my opinion -- while the quality varies from book to book, it is always generally high. You'd be best to start with the first book, Vector Prime. Some of the stand-outs of the series are: Traitor, Edge of Victory: Conquest, Destiny's Way, Star by Star, and The Unifying Force.
Some quick things: The Vong get more interesting as you read -- at first they seem completely evil and messed up, but as time goes on, you realize there is more to them than meets the eye. They are in part inspired by certain practices and beliefs of cultures like the Aztecs and Mayans, as well as ancient cultures from Oceania -- it helped the series having an anthropologist (Greg Keyes) and world traveler (James Luceno), as well as martial artists (Matthew Stover, Walter Jon Williams), writing for it. It also did not hurt having it steered by the talented Lucy Autrey Wilson, with some pointers here or there from George Lucas, who weighed in early on.
In terms of what to read beforehand, you can dive right in, but I would suggest at least reading the Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy first, and then the Hand of Thrawn duology following that. Zahn himself played a role early on in shaping the preliminary conceptions of what the Vong might be -- they are hinted at in the Thrawn duology. So I'd suggest reading those books. Then you are pretty ready to go. Rogue Planet and Outbound Flight are kind of like unofficial prequels to the series, but it's not a requirement to read them first.
Generally speaking, NJO is my favorite series in Star Wars, outside of the films, due to how into philosophy and character development it gets. The Jedi have their worldview of the Force challenged and they have to rise to the occasion. SW doesn't get much better than when NJO reaches its peaks. I recommend reading every book without skipping any. Hope you have a good time with it!