Which Books to read before TLJ

Raydo

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Hey there,

Im on night shift currently and have quite a bit of down time to read. I haven't read too many of the disney canon books, and none that took place after Return of the Jedi. In preperation for the new movie, what books do you think I should catch up on if im focusing on the time period between Return and TLJ. Any books I should focus on first or any you think deserve to be ignored? Thanks for the help!
 

Drav

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This is NOT set in the period that you asked for, and I'm sorry, but the Thrawn book is really good, so I would recommend that one.
I'm planning on reading the Aftermath Trilogy, which should focus on the crucial information we need between Ep VI and EP VII. But I heard it was relatively poorly written so I did not bring myself to start it yet. It was also I believe one of the first books released in the new canon. I might give it a go tonight.
 

Raydo

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This is NOT set in the period that you asked for, and I'm sorry, but the Thrawn book is really good, so I would recommend that one.
I'm planning on reading the Aftermath Trilogy, which should focus on the crucial information we need between Ep VI and EP VII. But I heard it was relatively poorly written so I did not bring myself to start it yet. It was also I believe one of the first books released in the new canon. I might give it a go tonight.

Actually picked up Book 1 of Aftermath after I wrote the post last night. I had heard similar things, but im not incredibly picky as a reader.
 

Drav

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Did you have a chance to read it yet? I would be curious how it is.
 

Calixis

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Did you have a chance to read it yet? I would be curious how it is.
Aftermath is garbage on the basis of writing alone. Pretty much the only reason to slog through Chuck's awful prose, character butchering and desperate attempt to shove his OC's to the forefront is because it's the designated 'set up the sequel trilogy' series. You'd be better served getting the bullet points off somebody.

That leaves Bloodlines (AKA Leia faffs about with politics) and Phasma (AKA we actually need to develop her). Neither of them are as offensive as Aftermath, so I'd say they're worth having a gander at. That's about it for post-RotJ novels.
 

Brandon Rhea

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The people who say that the Aftermath books are "poorly written" generally focus on two things:

1. It's written in present tense. That makes it different. Some people don't like that, which is fine. But it's not the same as "poorly written" so don't let those people fool you.
2. It is very diverse and includes a host of LGBTQ characters. Some people who hate it don't like that there's that much diversity.

Otherwise, it just comes down to personal story preferences in which case it won't be everyone's cup of tea. Just don't go in expecting a trilogy about Han, Luke, and Leia. They're barely in these books.

I would also recommend reading the novel Bloodline and the comic miniseries Shattered Empire.
 

Calixis

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The people who say that the Aftermath books are "poorly written" generally focus on two things:

1. It's written in present tense. That makes it different. Some people don't like that, which is fine. But it's not the same as "poorly written" so don't let those people fool you.
2. It is very diverse and includes a host of LGBTQ characters. Some people who hate it don't like that there's that much diversity.

Otherwise, it just comes down to personal story preferences in which case it won't be everyone's cup of tea. Just don't go in expecting a trilogy about Han, Luke, and Leia. They're barely in these books.

I would also recommend reading the novel Bloodline and the comic miniseries Shattered Empire.
Ah right, Chuck's borderline offensive "p-people only hate it because there's LGBT characters in it!" defence. He must've been pretty desperate to use discrimination as a shield to defend his series but people seem to run with it, so he was obviously doing something right.

Sorry, but he writes like we did in English class at age ten. That's certainly 'different':

Every sentence is like this. He cannot string them together. Maybe that's his style. I don't like it. I'm not the only one. It doesn't flow. Is it personal preference? Maybe. But he also doesn't describe things. There's little detail. Even when he assumes we'd know. His OCs are flat. They're cliche. They're very predictable. Wedge suffers at their expense. At least his dialogue isn't written like this. But it's still poor. Nothing but quips. Yawn.

'Course that's my opinion, but in mine it's definitely poorly written and in more ways than just prose. Maybe if it was one of the Young Readers books I'd have given him a pass.
 

Brandon Rhea

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You took my post completely out of context.

I'm not saying that if you hate it, it's because you don't like the inclusion of diversity. I specifically said that if you don't like the story, or don't like the writing, or whatever, then that's fine. In that case, as I said, it's not everyone's cup of tea. That's a totally valid

I am, however, saying that many people who disliked it did so for that reason. You can see that reflected in Amazon reviews. You can see that at tweets and other messages that Chuck Wendig receives. There is a very vocal number of people who have had a backlash against the Aftermath series for that reason.

So if any of this post is still interpreted as "you're saying people who hate it are anti-gay" then I can't really help you there.
 

Malon

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Aftermath was difficult to adjust to, because I prefer reading things in past tense over present, but once I got used to it, it was fine. A great look at the galaxy post-RTJ; I didn't see anything particularly wrong with the writing itself. I'd definitely recommend them to those who want to understand where the seeds of the First Order were laid.

Bloodlines is definitely a good one. It's among my favorite of the NuCanon novels.

I'm still working through Phasma, so I'll hold off on giving my opinion on that one.

You might also check out some of the post-ROJ comics. The Poe Dammeron comics were pretty good imo.
 

Twisted Reality

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And if you have a chance, check out the force awakens novel. It touches on a lot of internal, and back ground stories not covered by the movies.
 
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