So You Want to Star Reading Star Wars Novels

The Star Wars universe seems vast enough just with the six movies. But the universe has been expanding--at quite a rapid pace, no less--since the early nineties, when Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire pushed the boundaries past the original 3 movies into then-unexplored territory. Now, the Star Wars universe is bigger than ever, with countless books, video games, and the like. It can be quite overwhelming for one interested in expanding their Star Wars horizons to find a good jump in point. Thus, allow me to get you started on your Star Wars "Expanded Universe" tour with several book suggestions.

What better place to start than the trilogy that started it all? I'm talking, of course, about Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy, the first three licensed Star Wars books from way back in 1991. These books--Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command--are set five years after Return of the Jedi, and tell the story of the scheming imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn as he strives to bring the greatly-weakened empire back to its former glory. While Thrawn begins his conquest, Leia Organa Solo and the New Republic strive to bring as many planets as possible into the organization so that peace and order can be restored to the galaxy. Easier said than done, as both Leia and her brother Luke Skywalker are the targets of a dark Jedi master named Jorrus C'baoth who wants to turn them to the dark side and form a new universe ruled by dark Jedi. It all comes to a head when Thrawn comes to be in control of a vast number of powerful ships to send against the New Republic, manned by strange new clones with C'baoth leading them. Can our heroes destroy the cloning facility and stop Thrawn and C'baoth from taking over the galaxy? The trilogy features non stop action for all of the characters. New characters prove engaging, leading them to appear in many upcoming novels. The only problem I found was the trilogy getting bogged down by a little too much political talk for my tastes, but if you want to get started in the Star Wars universe, it's highly recommended you start here.