The New EU

[aretood2]

Okay, I want to know what ya'll think about the new EU?

So far we have 4 confirmed books and 1 more book that seems confirmed, to come out this and next year with three comic series and a weirdly promised battlefront game with a rumored star fighter game.

The Clone Wars book looks like it have some possibilities of bringing back some elements of the old EU. I wonder how much the other 4 books will revive too. Then there's the comics. I get it that they won't really recycle story lines (why retell something already told?) so some characters will never see the light of day. Sadly, I fear that Mara Jade is one of the characters that will never be revived. Maybe a different version that doesn't marry Luke...

Anyway, what do you think?

[DigiFluid]

I have vanishingly little interest in this 'Disneyverse.' Disney has effectively torpedoed my interest in any new Star Wars

[mandogater]

I have vanishingly little interest in this 'Disneyverse.' Disney has effectively torpedoed my interest in any new Star Wars

I'm not too far behind you in this Digi. They don't pull me in with the first one and I'm done.

[Gatefan1976]

I third this notion as held by the Digitas one and the Mandalorian. I may be able to convince myself that the Disney movies are their own EU if they are good under their own steam, and I am open to becoming a fan of Disney Wars if it is good, much as I am willing to do it for new SG or I *was* for new ST.

[Infinite-Possibilities]

I have vanishingly little interest in this 'Disneyverse.' Disney has effectively torpedoed my interest in any new Star Wars

word.

[aretood2]

Okay, so I read some of the books and here is take on them so far.

The first one was A New Dawn. I liked it. It wasn't my favorite Star Wars book, but very readable and enjoyable. I do hope they make more adult books with Kanan et al. It's also a good way to bring back that massive universe that was obliterated.

The second book was Tarkin. I regret buying it, but it was okay if you're a huge Tarkin fan. I am not much of a Tarkin fan, but felt curious enough to read it. I just don't see anything of any real impact in the plot, it is very much a character driven story with a Character I can't support in any way...which is weird because the same isn't true for Vader of all people.

The third book was Heir To The Jedi. The story didn't feel consistent, but it was an okay book. It did pick up in the second half where the plot finally managed to basically form. I could have done away with the first few chapters, they were basically side missions that didn't relate much to the "real" mission in the second half of the book beyond setting up Luke and another character. And while yes, books do that, this one didn't manage to tie it in well enough with the main plot.

Lost Stars. This book is young adult, but should really not be even called that. The issues it deals with, the characters and what they do, all of it is quite mature and well written. I have to say it is my favorite in the new canon and by far the best. It even threatens to be one of my favorite Star Wars books. It ties in perfectly with the trilogy, but doesn't rely on any movie characters beyond a few "minor" characters (As in not main cast). I would recommend this book. I hope Cluadia Grey writes a lot more Star Wars books...especially since it seems like she tried to bring back a lot of EU stuff, but no Thrawn, Palleon, Mara Jade, etc... Sadly.

I'm currently reading Lords Of The Sith. I like how it is about Vader and his royal highness but it also focuses a lot on a band of early freedom fighters and fleshes them out (more than the rogue malcontents fighting Tarkin in his book). I am enjoying this book.

[garhkal]

I have vanishingly little interest in this 'Disneyverse.' Disney has effectively torpedoed my interest in any new Star Wars

FOr me that happened during the whole "Legacy of the force"novels. Jacen turning dark, and his sister having to kill him was very off putting... I was starting to get that way though, with the latter half a dozen books of the NJO time line (but i liked it overall), the swarm war trilogy, and the fate of the jedi novels..

Heck i even liked the whole "Junior Jedi Knights" novels.. Most EVERYONE panns the Jedi academy trilogy (and most of the others), but i actually liked them. Just like i was ok with the Black fleet crisis, the Corellian trilogy and even the Children of the Jedi-Darksaber-Planet of twilight novel saga..

[DigiFluid]

So a year and a half later, I actually have been keeping up with nuCanon. Much as I want the Legends universe back, some new SW is better than none at all eh?

That said, a lot of what's come out has been...rather middling. My opinions on nuCanon materials released so far:

• Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir (comic) - A bit painful because it was a send-off for both TCW and, more importantly, for Dark Horse. Not a bad little arc, but its tempo really felt very rushed.
• A New Dawn (novel) - Nonplussed. It was nice to get some time in Hera's head, but the whole Vidian thing came across as being kin to dreaded 'trade tariffs' of the PT.
• Rebels: Season 1 (TV) - Started off slowly, and for most of the season I was not terribly impressed. Then the last few episodes of the season were unexpectedly very very good.
• Tarkin (novel) - I liked this one. I know that not much of consequence happened, but I found it entertaining.
• Star Wars (comic) - Boooooring.
• Darth Vader (comic) - I find this storyline has some strange logical problems, but I've largely enjoyed the Vader line.
• Heir to the Jedi (novel) - I couldn't get past the first few chapters of this one. Just terribly written.
• Princess Leia (comic miniseries) - Started off strong, but somewhere along the line the story just went totally sideways.
• Kanan (comic) - Yawn. I'm sure Filoni wants to establish a tonal linkage between TCW and Rebels, but lord this comic is boring.
• Lords of the Sith (novel) - Loved it.
• Dark Disciple (novel) - Quite good.
• Lando (comic miniseries) - Strange little series that, at no point, feels like it's going anywhere. Still, it was very Lando-ish in tone, I have to compliment the writers for that.
• Aftermath (novel) - Boring. As. Hell. I cannot believe they're letting Wendig write an entire trilogy of these--this book was terrible.
• The Weapon of a Jedi (YA novel) - Felt very YA. Not great.
• Smuggler's Run (YA novel) - So memorable that I don't even remember what happened.
• Moving Target (YA novel) - Didn't grab and hold me, but it was an interesting run-up to the events of ROTJ anyway.
• Lost Stars (YA novel) - Doesn't feel like a YA story at all. Actually, I found that it came across quite adult. Loved the heck out of this one - probably my favourite single release in nuCanon.
• Shattered Empire (comic miniseries) - Utter and complete waste of time.
• Uprising (mobile VG) - So completely barebones, it's not even worth the bandwidth to download it.
• Chewbacca (comic miniseries) - Holy f-ing christ, who thought this was a good idea? This is absolutely terrible, and everyone involved in it should be banned from ever working on Star Wars again.
• Rebels: Season 2 (TV) - Really, really good this year. Incredible how much better this year has been than last.
• Battlefront: Twilight Company (novel) - I was surprised at how much I liked this. I wasn't expecting much (maybe that had something to do with it), but I came away from this one very satisfied with what I'd just read.
• Before the Awakening (children's anthology) - Not bad, but I wouldn't feel like I missed anything if I had skipped this. (This is 3 mini-stories set just before TFA.)
• The Force Awakens (come on) - I can't begin to tell you how glad I am that the movie wasn't crushed under its own hype. I had a few issues, but by and large I really liked it. Thank FSM.

[aretood2]

I just saw that Claudia Gray wrote another Star Wars book due in a few months. I am definitely going to read it. She is now my favorite New EU author...I really did like Lost Stars.