Star Wars EU Bantam Era Books Ranked

[@kidoliva]

Nice breakdown. I haven't read all the books and it has been awhile. Thanks for putting this together.

[@MrMuxix]

Excuse me Isards revenge has my favorite Booster moment where he beats Borsks ass.

[@LegendsLiterature]

Yes, that is true. Borsk getting his comeuppance was a fantastic scene

[@clonetrooper2003]

Why am I not surprised by your children of the jedi. Also BASED for putting Paradie Snare as number 1 that is my fav. Looking forward to yout tanking of the NJO & CWMMP novels

[@LegendsLiterature]

@@clonetrooper2003 really loving NJO. I’ll do a ranking of those since I’m done.

[@clonetrooper2003]

@@LegendsLiterature sweet

[@DIEGhostfish]

Iron Fist was an exceptional conclusion to numerous character acts, the deceipt at the end worked fine.

[@DIEGhostfish]

And I think only slightly less of Solo Command.

[@jayt9608]

I find that our tastes are wildly divergent, though our reasons are not always dissimilar. My ranking looks more like this: Assault at Selonia Ambush At Corellia Shield of Lies Before the Storm Showdown at Centerpoint Tyrant's Test I, Jedi (I dislike first person narration, and Corran is an obnoxious cad. There are good ideas that went underdeveloped.) Children of the Jedi Splinter of the Mind's Eye Tales From the Empire Tales From the New Republic Tales From the Mos Eisley Cantina Tales From Jabba's Palace Courtship of Princess Leia Planet of Twilight (I have always loved this story, particularly Daala's entrance, the adventure of the droids, and a Hutt Jedi gone bad.) Spectre of the Past Dark Force Rising (I am generally biased against the middle book of any series.) Vision of the Future Crystal Star (Weird but fun, particularly the twins) Heir to the Empire (I always struggle when starting this book, however I will redeem myself later.) Truce at Bakura Dark Apprentice Jedi Search Darksaber (Have I mentioned that I have always loved Admiral Daala as a character?) New Rebellion (Leia's scene at the end of the book immediately after the climax has always saddened me, even as a boy.) Shadows of the Empire Champions of the Force Last Command (just a great climax to the series) Empire Strikes Back Return of the Jedi Star Wars: A New Hope (This was the novelization, with an insert of colored photographs from the movie, that began my long journey as a Star Wars fan. I said that I would be redeemed in the end. 😁) I enjoyed your rankings, even if I suffered a few triggered twitches. Lol

[@LegendsLiterature]

An interesting ranking, indeed. I still have to read those original trilogy novelizations one day

[@DIEGhostfish]

Aaron Allston made Capital Ships *Scary* again after their underperformance in Stackpole's work (And massive underperformance in KJA'S)

[@clonetrooper2003]

Other than Ysanne Isard, I did not love stackpoles book. If I go back to the X-Wing I am definitely gonna duffer through Bacta War before HOPEFULLY giving wraith squadron a try

[@mtverv]

Just found your channel not long ago and I’m really glad I did even though our opinions on the Bantam Era differ greatly lol. My opinions are totally based on childhood nostalgia though lol. The Jedi Academy, I, Jedi, and most especially The Young Jedi Knights captivated me while I couldn’t have cared less about the X-Wing books or any of the Tales books. I need to refresh my memory on Truce, Courtship, and the Callista books though since those are the ones I remember the least to see if I agree with you lol. Anyway yeah the only series we seem to be in agreement on is anything with Thrawn in it lol

[@jpotter2086]

I had very few of these books. The only one I remember is Jabba's Palace ... received for Christmas one year, read it by New Year's!

[@chrisfreeman4480]

The Paradise Snare is a worthy inclusion at #1.

[@DIEGhostfish]

Dengar's was my favorite story of the Tales of the Bounty Hunters. Manaroo best waifu.

[@LegendsLiterature]

@@DIEGhostfish i enjoyed it, I just don’t like Dengar’s characterization as a cyborg. Thats not how I always imagined Dengar. Tbh I actually prefer how he’s portrayed in the new Battlefront game. A snarky British dude.

[@animalmother8037]

Reading sheild of lies. Yes, definitely structured differently which doesnt help it any. Was so excited to read it after before the storm then I got a thrird of the way through sheild of lies and was like, wth? Totally agree with Hamblys book ratings lol. Darksaber is the only book out of the Callista trilogy worth a darn. Actually surprised I, Jedi made it so high on your list. No trigger warning needed in my opinion. Everyones entitled to their own opinion and I enjoyed yours even it would differ from my own. Great video!

[@DIEGhostfish]

I liked CHildren of the Jedi a lot. The eye was creepy, the villains a bit of a different kind of threat, and Belsavis was one of the coolest most mysterious and broody planets. Which is why I get grumpy looking at the SWTOR take on it.

[@ridensroom6957]

I'll always love Vader having Xizor killed.

[@LegendsLiterature]

Their rivalry was very entertaining

[@DIEGhostfish]

Death of Crix Madine and his agents turned a great comedic A-plot into a bit of a fizzle. Dorsk's death worked well. (I also did not like his space battles at all, powerscale was all over the place)

[@DIEGhostfish]

Children of the Jedi is fine as a spooky mystery story right up until the end.

[@LegendsLiterature]

@@DIEGhostfish i just could not stand Hambly’s writing

[@this.is.a.username]

your last place choices makes me thankful this is a completely subjective ranking. Children of the Jedi was actually a good read, pretty funny even if it messes with Aaron's portrayal of Piggy and the supposed inability of gamorreans to speak basic. There was no weird robot sex, Callista is a jedi, it was literally their spirits intimately connecting. the fact that you put this book, still not the greatest, but definitely not the worst, below black fleet says something.

[@LegendsLiterature]

@@this.is.a.username Children of the Jedi being one of, if not the worst EU books is a very popular opinion. And yes, the book described them as making love in a force “dream”.

[@DIEGhostfish]

Vision of the Future spent FAR too long fucking around in caves.

[@LegendsLiterature]

@@DIEGhostfish i agree, there was too much fluff in that book.

[@Scottadamsfan3481]

I highly disagree with the tales from jabbas palace being bland

[@LegendsLiterature]

I still enjoyed it. I’m just very big on setting, that can heavily affect my enjoyment of the story. I just don’t think Jabba’s Palace translates to prose very well, and after a dozen stories, it got pretty tiring for me.

[@DIEGhostfish]

Interesting, the first Black Fleet Crisis book was the worst in my opinion, it made Leia too dumb.

[@LegendsLiterature]

@@DIEGhostfish I agree, Leia’s characterization was god awful. But I liked the rest of the book. It had great ship and fleet lore, Lando’s plotline was great, Nil Spaar was at his best I think, and even Luke’s plotline showed promise. The next 2 books lost the plot imo

[@DIEGhostfish]

@@LegendsLiterature It is funny that leiterally every piece of visual art for the K-wing puts the booster engine on the top when it's supposed to be on the bottom.

[@this.is.a.username]

Black Fleet trilogy is the worst writing in the EU. I read it for only the second time just a few weeks ago and realized I never finished it the first time, for good reason. Absolutely none of the characters are portrayed in anything approximating themselves from the OT or any of the other EU books. The presumption of the author to try to introduce a "non-force" magical system into the lore is probably where the idiots got the idea for the abomination of dathomir witches in disney lore.

[@DIEGhostfish]

Planet of Twilight i SOOOOO much worse than Children of the Jedi. The setting planets are more boring, the villain plot is more nonsensical. (Why would the arch plaguebug return to his prison planet and only leave a few smaller Droch on Leia's ship to spread to the galaxy? He had no reason to stick to Seti and Beldorion's plot. (Though Beldorion was cool as an antagonist)

[@LegendsLiterature]

@@DIEGhostfish I disagree. I found Nam Chorios a much more interesting planet than Belsavis. It reminded me a bit of Arrakis from Dune with Luke traveling with the native tribes. And the force storms were a much more believable and clever way to nerf Luke than “he’s using the force too much”. Plus, Children of the Jedi was just Luke going up and down the different decks of the Eye of Palpatine for 300 pages straight. And I agree, both books have nonsensical plots, but imo COTJ is beyond nonsensical, it’s plain unfathomable at points. Like when Luke just so happens to have brought the ONLY TWO Jedi from Plett’s Well to Ithor when Drub McKumb shows up.

[@DIEGhostfish]

@@LegendsLiterature Belsavis is the perfect mix of cozy and creepy in those narrow rift valleys full of greenery and warmth surrounded by ice. Nam Chorios was just "Oh wow, more desert, this time with some shiny rocks" Drub McKumb should have been in the Han Solo Trilogy, Ann Crispin managed to fit everyone else Han met in there! (She did fit Vine Silk and Vine Coffee which she renamed Coffeine, though. Which means she STILL tied the book in, genius that she was.)

[@LegendsLiterature]

@@DIEGhostfish Belsavis could’ve been cool but I found it so hard to visualize and the storyline was already so boring that I just didn’t care. The artwork I’ve seen of it looks cool though

[@DIEGhostfish]

@@LegendsLiterature I sorta started with the basic line artwork in the Essential Guide to Planets and Moons. From there it was vines, foggy streetlight parks, great big vines, and the ground having bits of mudpits or yellowstone bacteria-colored steaming pools. The planet is lucky it's so far from Hutt space because it sounds like the kind of place they'd love.