When Attack of the Clones hit theaters, Del Rey launched an ambitious, multimedia project: novels, video games, comic books and the first animated series all tied in to one another closely. The trilogy is dark and well written, but feels a bit like an ignored story in the larger continuity arc that makes it a good standalone set of adventures. This trilogy is set in a remote star cluster as tensions between the New Republic and a local government explode into war. Stackpole’s novel I, Jedi is set during the events trilogy, cleverly working in a character from the X-Wing series after the fact. While the series isn’t the best out there, it does introduce a ton of characters who will become pivotal later on, such as Han Solo and Leia Organa’s children, Jacen and Jaina Solo. He tracks down a number of Force-sensitive recruits, only to have his most promising student fall to the Dark Side. The trilogy is about Luke Skywalker’s efforts to try and restart the Jedi Order. These books are hit or miss with fans, but if you want to read on, they’re pretty essential. It’s a good example of a prequel novel that sets up its own story, while serving a larger narrative. The trilogy recounts how he met Chewbacca, got booted out of the Imperial Academy, and how he ended up losing some cargo owned by Jabba the Hutt.

Crispin trilogy is about a teenager named Han Solo who finds work as a transport pilot for a cult. We might be getting a standalone Han Solo movie soon, but A.C.

The entire 10-book series is worth picking up. There’s a final installment that came years later, Mercy Kill, which takes place after the Legacy of the Force series (see below), so some additional reading might be needed for context. Aaron Allston’s entries follow another unit that’s geared more toward espionage, and they’re sidesplittingly funny.

The series follows the efforts of the New Republic as it takes on the Empire in the years after Return of the Jedi, and if you like military science fiction, there’s plenty to love here: there’s lots of X-Wing fighter dogfights, espionage, and a whole cast of great new characters. Based on the old PC games, this series takes an interesting direction: Stackpole only sparingly uses the franchise’s lead characters, and introduces a whole host of his own.

Star wars force awakens book vs movie