Star Wars EU books: downers

jediscout

The Expanded Universe books are depressing.

I was looking through old reference pics of Luke's lightsaber from ANH--and realized that what started with such awe and wonder--sort of ends up terribly. Not that the death of Kenobi, Luke's adoptive family--Leia's entire planet--aren't terrible, they are.

But dern. These heroes never actually get a break, or a happy ending. Kids die--a lot. Mara dies. Chewbacca dies--still very unhappy about this decision.

I think about the OT--and that Anakin/Luke are supposed to bring balance to the force--and yet, after the OT movies, the Skywalker & Solo families sure seem to make a lot of dark jedi, Luke seems to train an awful lot of jedi-hopefuls who turn bad, wars keep breaking out--it's a pretty sad, dark world our young heroes grow up & become aged in. Luke's new order is mistrusted, similarly to how the prequel Jedi were...if anything it just seems to repeat problems, not balance anything out.

If I were Luke, I'd long for simpler days on Tatooine & I'd have to wonder if the Universe was any better off--or if it had simply germinated new versions of old evils.

Orange_Blend

I suppose, but partying with the Ewoks was totally worth it in itself.

Aside from the Timothy Zahn books I haven't read any expanded stuff. In my universe Chewie is alive and well thank you!

cayman shen

I read them up until a few years ago just to get my fix, but yeah the whole "neverending war" nonsense kinda sucks the wind out of the actual films, if you subscribe to the EU. One more superweapon, invasion, Jedi tempted and turned, blah blah blah. What did ROTJ really matter?

Of course, that could be an interesting existential debate, but since about half the EU novels seem to be written with the competence of a homeless man being handed a laptop and a handle of off-brand vodka, I'm guessing there was no conscious plan to develop anything particularly "meaningful."

Orange_Blend

To be fair, the series is called "Star Wars". Wouldn't make sense without a war!

OldKen

The EU is horrible.

We don't need to know when or how Chewbacca died. Those people just need things to fill there books and sell them.

Youshin-vong? HORRIBLE.

Xisor? HORRIBLE.

Evil Luke? Clone emporer? DOUBLE HORRIBLE.

The ONLY book I have cared about or consider half cannon is the bounty hunter books. They shed light on background characters instead of RUINING the main characters however they see fit.

Funky Jedi

Did you really use the word, "dern"?
I thought only I did that!

jediscout

I like dern.

KorrickUSCM

+1! The only EU books I have enjoined have been the ones that deal with the past such as the Darth Bane books and the Old Republic. Don't really care to know how the original star wars characters end up!

James Kenobi 1138

I have never read any of the books and I doubt I ever will.

I like the movies, I like the characters in the movies, and I really don't care what happened before EP 1 or after EP 6. In my world, whatever goes on in those books has no bearing on Star Wars at all.

If it didn't happen on screen, it didn't happen.

Tempus

Someone say my name?

jcoffman99

I've really been enjoying the novels that take place in the Old Republic. The Darth Bane books are fantastic. The author really captured the feel of Star Wars.

KorrickUSCM

I think he is writing the Darth Revan book as well. Might have to read that!

jcoffman99

Yep. It's out now. I'm about half way through. So far so good. Not quite as good as the Bane books but still very good.

Egon Spengler

90% EU should be completely forgotten about.

Sluis Van Shipyards

I agree with all of those examples, but not all of the books are horrible. I think there are waaaay too many Jedi who go to the Dark Side. In the Prequels we know that only 20 Jedi ever left the Order and they didn't go to the Dark Side. So from that we know it's almost never happened.

Some great series:
Republic Commando (and the NJO novels that deal with Fett that had info about the fate of the clones from those books)
X-Wing (Rogue and Wraith Squadrons)
The Darth Bane books
Outbound Flight (and the sequel Survivor's Quest) by Zahn
Choices of One (and sequel, forgot the name) by Zahn

There's a bunch of others that are good that I can't think of. Just don't count them all as crap.

The new book Shadow Games is pretty good. It has Dash Rendar and some Han Solo, but it's completely different than the usual stuff. It deals with Black Sun and Dash being a bodyguard. The Revan book was disappointing. It might be better if it has a sequel.

The one series I REALLY don't like the concept of are the Legacy comics that have the Jedi practically destroyed again just 100 years after Luke builds the Order again. That's just stupid.

Kerr Avon

EU is pretty stupid, but I do like the fact it took throwing a planet at Chewey to kill him. It took an entire ****ing PLANET to kill that walking carpet!

And don't forget that it's practically canon that Chewey was alive and well on Earth as a sasquatch protecting the crashed ruins of the Millenium Falcon, found by Indiana Jones!

Darth Mawr

I just might would watch this movie.

neosporing

i remember being 11 and getting a copy of foster's splinter of the mind's eye thinking i was reading the sequel in advance and getting excited about y-wing's and underwater saber action, luke and leia romance and force origins... then empire came out.. and i never read another EU book...

jediscout

I liked Splinter--almost forgot about it.

It's the post ROTJ EU books that just seem to wreck/repeat everything our heroes worked to achieve.

I mean, with so many Jedi peeling off for the Dark Side, it seems like Luke really doesn't have a grip on what he's teaching--or how, because in a relatively short amount of time he's made quite a revolving door of Dark Jedi.

Although, I suppose if Chewie had to die, the fact that it did take a whole planet--as was pointed out to me--to kill him, well, that's a death to be proud of.

Did the writers see the movies? They did hear that part about bringing Balance to the Force, right?

cayman shen

I really enjoyed Dark Empire because it felt like a very natural and plausible sequel to ROTJ. And generally speaking I forgive the comics more than the novels. But it feels like this cash cow's been milked dry with a 70 year old Han and so on. I'd take more Clone Wars comics like the Karen Trav. ones though. And I loved the Tales of the Jedi. I wouldn't mind seeing a prequel with the early adventures of Ulic, Tott, and Cay.

Wes R

I was a fan of the Zahn books but after a while the EU stuff just felt kind of forced and recycled.

firesprite

Well, I hate to point this out, but without conflict, the books would be really, really boring. Do we want our heroes to have a happily ever after? Sure... but that doesn't make for very entertaining reading.

Wes R

What I liked about some of the EU books was that the Empire was like ancient Rome in that even after it fell apart entire areas didn't know about it yet so they kept on as if nothing had happened.

Kerr Avon

There's a few pages from the comic at The lost Indiana Jones-Star Wars crossover was really depressing

Kerr Avon

Ultimately, at the end, yes. I do. I like that the Harry Potter series ends with the simple fact that Voldemort is dead and never coming back again. That's not to say that they won't have issues in the future after that, but after all that struggle and loss, yes, I want a happy ending damnit.