Yeah, I grew up with the “old” EU, so there’s a lot of the Disney!SW that’s taking some adjustment. Like, I read Bloodlines and was….. less than impressed. I get that they’re trying not to give a lot away, but… I’ve read fanfic better than this. And it reads like not-polished-fanfic.
I read Jedi Apprentice/Jedi Quest WAY back as a young Padawan, long before all the Jedi Quest books were written, and I liked them then. Should probably reread them as an adult. I’ve heard some people saying they’re written with a really awful power imbalance and Qui-Gon being an ass and expecting WAY too much of Obi-Wan (which I did not notice, but I was also younger than Obi, so…). Was there anything in particular that infuriated you about Watson’s stuff?
The second I saw “novel recs” I was like, “PICK ME!!!” I have read… so much Star Wars. SO MUCH. (Almost all canon stuff, but still.) A New Dawn (by John Jackson Miller, the same guy who wrote Kenobi) is REALLY GOOD; it’s a prequel to Rebels and it’s about how Hera and Kanan met, and it’s GOOD. Tarkin is also good, and… I’m forgetting something, I know I’m- OH! Heir to the Jedi! Which is Luke-centric, and has a lot of really great stuff about the Force.
(Continued from this post.) Starting a new post because the other one would have been a bit of a dash killer!
I second @evaceratops‘ recs, who has read a lot of novels and is knowledgeable about these things! I’ve not read any of them yet, but I’ve heard good about A New Dawn especially. ♥
re: Bloodline -- I feel much the same way, as well. I liked it as a Leia story, I felt like it was truly her story, but the worldbuilding did not hold together well at all (the logic of “we can’t have a centralized government because we might get another Palpatine!” just makes no sense if you’re still going to have planetary level leaders or country level leaders or, hell, any kind of leaders at all, I say looking at you, General Organa, leading people in the Resistance) and none of the new characters really stuck with me and also apparently indentured servitude is fine and dandy in the New Republic?? Okay then. But also that it was set only a handful of years before TFA, but they couldn’t give away any backstory, so Han and Luke and Ben are all just completely absent from a story where they should have been present, and so it felt very light plot-wise, when it should have been more solid, about the origins of the First Order. (I had the same remark--”I’ve read more satisfying Leia fic than this.” And that’s because fic is allowed to do things, this novel wasn’t really.)
re: Jedi Apprentice/Jedi Quest -- I read the first few when they started coming out, when I was a wee thing and I enjoyed them a lot! But as an adult... none of the Jedi worldbuilding makes any goddamned sense (aging out by 13 makes NO SENSE and I’m glad TCW explicitly contradicts that) and everyone is written as a jerk and Anakin is written as inherently evil and Dooku was written as inherently evil as well. Watson writes some interesting stuff about Obi-Wan (”The Last One Standing” really hit me in the feelings place, exactly as it was supposed to) but just about everyone else is god-awful and I’m glad they’ve been tossed out, especially as I don’t think they were compatible with actual canon after TCW. That said, they definitely had their appeal when they first came out, I ate them up and never really thought much about it, they’re good for a person if you’re an Obi-Wan fan, I think. And I do love the characters, I would love to see Bant and Siri and Tahl especially rescued from those books!
(So, basically, I’m cranky because everyone is such an ass in those books, as you’ve read criticism about, combined with worldbuilding that I greatly dislike and think was really pretty shoddily done. But I don’t want to take away from anyone who enjoys them! It’s been a long time since I read them all the way through properly, so I may be missing some good stuff in them!)
re: other books -- I haven’t read Dark Rendezvous yet, but it’s on my list! I haven’t read a lot of the PT-era novels, but I’m slowly making my way through the current canon books first, then picking up the PT novels. (Which is relatively slow going, because I also read fic at the same time!)
As mentioned, the Ahsoka novel is probably my favorite of the new canon so far, it does a solid job of bridging the gap between ROTS and Ahsoka joining the Rebellion, it can’t really do anything majorly surprising, but it’s a lovely look at her character and the sense of loss she feels and her struggling to find her purpose again, as well as I’m easy to please because there’s f/f subtext (possibly actual text??) that’s pretty great. The mentions of Obi-Wan and Anakin are spot on as well.
I’ve read Catalyst, which was hilarious for the Tarkin vs Krennic catfights, but also interesting to give depth and connection to the Rogue One part of the galaxy, where it drew on a lot of previously established SW stuff, instead of just making up all new stuff. I also thought it did a really good job of giving a bit more weight to Galen and Lyra’s characters, as well as Krennic was hilarious in every scene. The building of the Death Star stuff was also genuinely interesting! I liked the plot a lot and it was a great book for bridging things together.
I’ve also read the Rogue One novelization by Alexander Freed and I highly recommend it. It’s what novelizations should be--it takes the canon and gives it so much more depth, I really found that Jyn Erso as a character made a ton more sense to me after reading it, where she’s so jaded and damaged and not emotionally stable. All the characters get some really good bonus stuff, but Jyn especially benefits from it.
I’m almost finished with the Thrawn novel that just came out about a week ago and I think I would definitely recommend it if you’re at all interested in the character. Zahn writes really well, it’s super engaging, and it feels connected to the rest of the Star Wars universe in that way I like and I find Thrawn charismatic under his pen. I don’t know that it would appeal if you hate the character or are bored by him, but if you have a vague interest, it’s a really good re-canonizing of the character, I find that I really want more of this author writing this character.
(As always, anyone should feel free to jump in with novel recs/thoughts! ♥)
