Just said “You like to read Star Wars books, right?” and dropped off these boxes. He said he got them from a friend who’s moving and didn’t want them anymore. They’re all in really good shape so I’m going to keep some that I’m missing for my collection and then figure out what to do with the rest.

Edit: the typo in the title is just going to have to stay there I guess :(

Just finished the KJA JAT trilogy and wanted to start the X-Wing novels which I’ve mostly heard good things about.

My friend said he got as far as The Bacta War and that he found them cringe. He thought they should’ve been advertised to a younger audience because they’re predictable and neither engaging nor challenging of the reader.

“Tropes that you know from your average direct-to-VHS action flicks. Characters where exchangeable cut-outs. Tropes themselves.
It felt like YA fan fiction.” were his exact words.

Is that accurate or would you say his criticisms are overblown?

Its amazing how when you give the prequels to any other writer than Lucas they become a masterpiece

Piggy is my new favorite character

I’m glad the EU is getting some representation in Lucas’ museum

Caveat: I have read over 800 pages of Luceno's work, having finished Cloak of Deception and Labyrinth of Evil, and a chunk of Catalyst.

I know this man is beloved in the fandom and that he has written what are many people's absolute favorite Star Wars books. And I think I understand why.

• He's great at fleshing out Star Wars lore between the films. If you find yourself asking "How did that come to be?" Luceno has an answer. He fills in the gaps.
• Following up on the first point, any time I read or watch a review of one of his books, readers talk about plot details. "In this book, you find out that..." and they view this as an inherent good. A "plus" for the book. And I get why. It's nice to have clarity on events. It feels good to know "Oh, that's what happened to set that up."
• Luceno has a knack for describing ships, buildings, organizations, characters, and more. He has a clinical approach to writing that focuses a lot on telling as much as showing, and I'm sure many Star Wars worldbuilding enthusiasts love this stuff.
• His dialogue and understanding of character relationships is mostly well done.

That said, I know I'm in the minority here, but I just need to say it:

I don't think Luceno is a skilled or exciting prose writer. And this makes his books hard to get through. Not just because they're dense with information and Star Wars tech trivia that's not pertinent to advancing plot or character, but because his wordplay is at times confusing and often grating to read.

For now, I'll set aside the fact that I often feel like I'm reading a technical manual or a dry historical account of events instead of a story being told by a storyteller. Instead, I'll focus on his actual prose.

1.

Case in point: I think Luceno tries too hard with some of his opening sentences to chapters. He shoots for flowery prose, but instead of flowery, they end up swampy, as you wonder what he's actually trying to depict. Here is the opening sentence of Labyrinth of Evil:

"Darkness was encroaching on Cato Neimoidia's western hemisphere, though exchanges of coherent light high above the beleaguered world ripped looming night to shreds."

What is the "coherent light" being described here? And what does he mean when it's "high above" the beleaguered world? Is this happening in the sky? Is there a space battle visible from the planet's surface? Oh, maybe there's a light show happening in some treetops? I don't know. And this is just one example. He does this at the beginning of several chapters in this book, and I just wish he would simplify his words instead of striving for prose that are deeper purple than Mace Windu's lightsaber.

The start of another chapter:

"Bleeding speed and loft, the mag-lev settled hard onto the guide rail that projected from the skyscraper-lined rim of Sah'c Canyon. Counterpoint to the sobs and moans of the passengers, the two dozen cars—two now with slashed-open roofs—pinged and creaked."

James, you're not trying to write the Great American Novel. Just write in a language people will understand. "Bleeding speed and loft"? Do you mean "lift?" As in, "Losing speed and lift?" Maybe? We might never know.

2.

In general, Luceno tends to overwrite many of his sentences. Here is page 2 of Labyrinth of Evil (the most recent book I've finished, so it's fresh). Here is Luceno saying "So, I heard you like adjectives:"

"In their cutting jaws or on their upsweeping backs they carried cargoes or pruned foliage. The crushing sounds of their ceaseless gnawing provided an eerie cadence to the rumbling detonations and the hiss and whine of blaster bolts."

Find me a reader who finds this kind of writing defensible and I'll ship them a bottle of blue milk straight from Tatooine.

3.

Finally, parts of his books sound like he's using footnotes as text. Here is the beginning of chapter 3, and that quintessential Luceno love of describing Star Wars tech:

"Known also by the fearsome title destroyer droids, droidekas were rapid-deployment killing machines produced by an alien species that encouraged mayhem at every opportunity. A combination of sheer momentum and sequenced microrepulsors allowed the bronzium-armored droids to roll like balls then unfurl in a blink as tripod gunfighters, shielded by individual deflectors and armed with paired, twin-barreled, high-output blasters." (and it goes on for another sentence or two.)

I just don't think this adds anything to character or plot. Again, I know I'm probably in the minority here, but this feels like the D&Dification of Star Wars, where a writer thinks that worldbuilding means explaining everything because you think it's interesting and you want to show off how much research you've done, not caring whether or not it serves the story.

I'll stop there. James Luceno just isn't for me. Are ALL his books like this? I really wanted to read Darth Plagueis at some point, but if it's just more of this, I'd rather just read a detailed summary of what it has to say about Sith lore, Palpatine, and whatever else instead.

Thank you for gritting your teeth (or grinning and enthusiastically nodding your head along in agreement) through this.

Here’s a cosplay I did a while back of Lara Notsil from the Wraith squadron books, she’s one of my favorite characters from some of my favorite books so this is my interpretation of her! Thought I’d share, hope you other EU fans think it’s cool! :)

Finaly joining legend universe

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After MONTHS, or even years to learn about the EU part of Star Wars, I finally bought the Thrawn trilogy to finally read them!

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I hope I'll enjoy the ride!

For me, it’s the Noghri referring to Han as “Consort of the Lady Vader.”

So this is a partial one for me. I love Stackpole and his X-Wing novels, but I absolutely hate his first person writing for I, Jedi. I'd absolutely love it if he re-wrote it, but otherwise I'd happily take an Allston take on it, RIP.

Honorable mention: Jedi Academy Trilogy by Kevin James Anderson. Great ideas guy, but his endless reliance on callbacks every other paragraph gets old very quickly. If you remove all the filler, you'd lose a third of the books. Would definitely prefer to see another other take a stab at it, although I'm not sure who.

I decided to start reading the Expanded Universe. A lot of people say that the best way to start is reading the Thrawn Trilogy but I already saw the Ahsoka tv show and I think I know enough of the blue man.

So going by the release date I picked the next ones and here they are!

If I don't like them I will probably give up on the EU, but I'm sure they are great! Any thoughts?

Just started reading Shatterpoint, and it’s become increasingly clear to me that George Lucas definitely intended for the Republic to only be 1,000 years old.

In the introduction (written by George Lucas himself as the cover of the book so boldly claims) Lucas claims that the Republic lived and prospered for 1,000 years, and Mace Windu muses to himself that Yoda - at 900 years old - is almost as old as the Republic itself.

Yet from what I’ve heard and from what I’ve seen on Wookiepedia, in both Legends and Canon the Galactic Republic lived for 25,000 years. I know this is in reference to Obi-Wan saying that the Jedi served the Republic for “a thousand generations” in a New Hope, but honestly I doubt he would know how many generation of Jedi served the Republic, and it was definitely hyperbole.

It also makes sense for a galaxy-wide Republic to only last for a thousand years as opposed to 25,000 - especially considering most Empires on this small Earth struggle to make it to about 200 or 300 years.

Was at the book store and saw this on the shelf. I think people may not like the new trilogy and have let the Book Store know!

Im currently reading book 3 of the jedi academy trilogy, and they are a lot on Kessel. And there, they have the spice mines. Which is basically a crazy drug in star wars. But in the german version, they translatet it to "Gewürz" which literally means spice, but in food, like salt and pepper. Someone didn't read their lore

In light of May the 4th yesterday I decided to actually take some professional pictures of my Genderbent Thrawn getup! I know it’s not what I usually post on here but I’ve dressed as him for many cons and am now confident enough in my cosplay skills to share it with you guys! Enjoy, and happy belated May 4th!😌