#sweu read

[blobracing]

You’re doing what?

I’m reading all the Star Wars Expanded Universe novels from 1976 to 2014, most of what’s considered ‘Legends’ canon now. 

Why?

I got the zoomies 🤷

How many books is that?

Around 264. I have a list. (If you think I’m missing something, send me an ask! I copied this from Wookieepedia myself so it may be funked up.)

[visionhaunted]

I tell you this: though neither he nor they yet know it, he is the greatest of all the Jedi. Jacen Solo is the LIVING JEDI DREAM. Even without the Force, he is more dangerous than you can possibly imagine.

— indie Jacen Solo / Darth Caedus from the Star Wars Expanded Universe

[incorrectstarwarslegendsquotes]

I've been wanting to get into the SWEU, specifically with the Rogue Squadron and all their stories, but I have no idea where to start. What books/comics should I read to get into it, and what do you reccomend in general?

Hoo boy, this ended up being a more complicated explanation than I expected. The long and short of it is read the X-Wing series in terms of books and the Rogue Squadron series in terms of comics, but there's a more detailed recommendation below.

First and foremost, I have this post that gives a general overview of where I think new SWEU readers should start (the Thrawn Trilogy, always) and then tips for where they should go from there.

For comic content, I'll be honest and say I haven't read too many old EU comics. I know for sure that the X-Wing: Rogue Squadron comic series follows Rogue Squadron and sets up a lot of the main character dynamics (Wedge, Tycho, Wes, and Hobbie's friendship came from this series) and that people tend to like it, but I've personally only read an issue or two, so I can't tell you much more than that.

For books, however, I can get into more depth.

If you want to get into Rogue Squadron, start with the X-Wing books. X-Wing is a ten book series that focuses on the pilots of the New Republic and spans a lot of the EU timeline. It's a lot of books, but it's fun and gives you a good overview of the Squadron! If you don't want to be scared off by my complicated reading suggestions, ignore everything below and start here!

If you don't mind getting a little complicated, I have a few notes about reading the X-Wing series:

It follows two squadrons: Rogue Squadron and Wraith Squadron. I'd suggest reading all the books, even the ones about Wraith Squadron, because those are really good, but if you're serious about focusing on the Rogues, then you're looking for Books 1 - 4 and Book 8. There's also Book 9, Starfighters of Adumar which technically follows Wedge, Tcyho, Wes, and Hobbie on a sidequest. I'd suggest reading it too, but know that it's not "Rogue Squadron."

There's two authors. Michael A. Stackpole handles all the Rogue books, so if you're only reading 1 - 4 & 8, don't worry about it, but the others are written by Aaron Allston. Stackpole and Allston have different writing styles and like to focus on different characters, so keep that in mind.

It spans a lot of the timeline, and some of the later books expect that you're reading the rest of the EU. This isn't a worry you should have about Books 1 - 7, but know that Book 8 expects you to have read the Thrawn Trilogy, Book 9 expects you to have a rudimentary knowledge of the events of the Jedi Academy Trilogy, and Book 10 expects that you've read New Jedi Order and Legacy of the Force.

This is controversial, but if you pick up Books 1 - 4 and find that you're not liking them, skip to the Wraith arc (5 - 7). Yeah, it's not Rogue Squadron, but Stackpole's writing style is definitely not for everyone, and I think Allston's books are a bit more accessible (and really good!).

Other than that, go ham! The X-Wing series is definitely the best place to start for the Rogues- it explains everything, introduces major players, and has some fun adventures (also please read the Wraith books, the Wraiths are great).

If you finish with that and want more, there's a few individual books / arcs that follow the Rogues and the Wraiths:

If you've read the X-Wing books, and you find that you like Corran Horn (he's a polarizing figure so this might not happen), check out I, Jedi. It follows some of his adventures around the time of the Jedi Academy Trilogy.

If you want more Rogue and Wraith content, both squadrons are spotlighted in several NJO books. Because of the nature of that series, however, you wouldn't be able to jump in and read those books without the full context of the series, and New Jedi Order is quite long (19 books!!!). If you're willing to commit though, go for it!

All of that's just the stories that focus on them. Past that, Rogue Squadron shows up randomly all over the EU, so if you start reading the EU at large, you'll definitely see more of them!

That's pretty much it! I'm one person, so my recommendations contain my own preferences and are definitely not the final say on the matter, so if anyone has other pointers/recs put them in here! Also, if you want more in-depth reasoning for some of my recs (can't imagine why you would) just ask and I'll go ham. I love talking about the Rogues and the Wraiths.

boy this got long. Hope this helps!

[walks-the-ages]

Nope, not gonna reach Children of the Jedi now, I want to actually read SWEU in chronological order for the first time in my life lol.

[hiddenwashington]

anonymous said : Could somebody bring a Star Wars muse with little knowledge of the SWEU would you prefer someone with more knowledge on the extended universe, especially with muses like Luke Skywalker?

hi friend!!! first and foremost, as leia's writing i am constantly begging for a luke so :))) but to answer your questions : we have absolutely no preference for that sort of thing!! you could absolutely 100% bring in anyone from sw (even major characters) with little to no sweu knowledge. we have people who have only seen the first trilogy, people who have read so many of the books, those who survive off of our silly powerpoints we make to explain things-- it truly does not matter how much or how little you know about the eu to be here! we will help you every step of the way. the only big thing that is different from the new canon and eu is that we have just mixed the families together. please do not feel discouraged at all, because we will be more than happy to help you and explain anything you might have a question about. i promise, we would just love to have you here!! so, bring us all the star wars people ♥

[unpopularly-opinionated]

Small Obi-Wan spoiler/nitpick that bugged me unless someone can explain to me how I’m wrong or mistaken about it:

In the grand context of things, it’s probably an insignificant detail, but I actually thought this was going to be the psuedo-reveal of the series, but I’m almost positive Darth Vader being Anakin Skywalker is supposed to be like a big secret to pretty much everyone but Palpatine.

I’ll admit I’m not entirely caught up on the new line of Thrawn books but I did read the second one which was all about Thrawn learning through small details and intuition that Darth Vader was the former Jedi, Anakin Skywalker, who he had previously met, and when he learned about it IT WAS A BIG DEAL. I won’t pretend to remember the nitty-gritty, but I’m fairly certain there were like threats-on-his-life kind of consequences for him learning this closely kept secret.

So I found it just a bit surprising to learn that this random ass Inquisitor, Reva, just so happens to know this secret. Now maybe I’m jumping the gun and they’ll actually explain this somehow, but it was a huge red flag to me when she just calls it out. I kind of expected this series to conclude with Obi-Wan learning the truth behind Darth Vader and what happened to Anakin after their duel, which would, I think, lead in pretty nicely into A New Hope where he already knows Darth Vader is Anakin. I thought that would’ve been a pretty awesome conclusion. I mean obviously we know already that Anakin is Darth Vader but before now Obi-Wan didn’t and it would’ve been neat to see him on that journey to discovery.

I know the Inquisitors work directly under Darth Vader, so that’s probably how they’ll try to explain it off, but I just can’t help but figure that he’s not just going to divulge that info to some nobody underlings. The point of it being a secret is that Anakin is meant to be dead. It doesn’t matter that his corpse-like body is still walking, talking, and putting the galaxy in a force-chokehold, Anakin is dead and instead this man is Darth Vader.

I don’t know, I’m probably overblowing it but considering the new line of Thrawn books are meant to be a part of Disney’s ‘new-canon’, you’d think they’d, you know, actually stick to their canon.

[cafffine]

trying so hard to get into three body problem but i’m halfway through and literally maybe 2 things have happened

[loststarsabove]

a concept:

Pilot boyfriends Wedge and Tycho

Spy girlfriends Iella and Winter

[dxnniquee]

Pellaeon is Star Wars’ grandpa ™️

[handfuloftime]

I was warned that Darksaber was bad, but I still wasn’t ready. 

[blobracing]

Han Solo at Stars’ End, by Brian Daley

Featuring the Quintessential Jerk With a Heart Of Gold, Chewie highjacking a combine, and a literal cat girl.

I’ve taken to skimming Goodreads before I read the next book on the list, usually to try and pluck out something relevant or funny to use as a teaser for the next post– listen to me talk like I’ve been doing this for sooooo long– and that made me a bit nervous about Stars’ End. The resounding and repeating sentiment was basically Now THIS is Han Solo! and perhaps uncharitably and due to the time we live in, that makes me antsy. It’s taxonomically close to I Remember When Men Were Men or Star Wars Used To Be Good Before The Wokeists Got It. Stars’ End isn’t perfect, but it isn’t that, and when I let my guard down, I honestly had a good time with this classic adventure romp. 

Coming up: world’s fastest plot summary, what I liked about it, and, just, you know, the vibes. We're just gonna meander.

So, as quickly as possible:

Han and Chewie are running amok in the Corporate Sector, a corner of the galaxy where the Imperial presence and Rebellion hasn’t reached, and local law is enforced by essentially a corprostate called the Corporate Authority. In return for some ship repairs and upgrades, the lads take on a deal to transport some passengers from one Corporate World to another, and along the way become involved with finding out why some bothersome citizens seem to be mysteriously disappearing. Chewie is captured during the process and so Han leads his allies to infiltrate and then destroy the prison planet where Chewie and all the spirited-away people have been held.

There’s a lot more going on in this book than Splinter of the Mind's Eye, so I’ll leave most of the plot summary to Wookieepedia, as per the usj– although I would say this is a pretty quick and easy read.

So, given that there are a lot of similar constraints on Stars’ End as Splinter– limited canon character use and availability, had to be set outside the plot (not totally applicable to Splinter, as it was originally ordered as a potential sequel to Star Wars [fuckin yowza]), relies a lot on original creation– Stars’ End is better. 

CHARACTERIZATION’S OKAY?

Yeah! I’d say pretty good, actually. 

Prose-wise, there’s something a little silly going on with the vocabulary that makes it feel more charming than annoying (thermocline, dipsomaniacal, insuperable) and Han’s dialogue and narrative voice is OOZING with Coolguy Spacebro. It dips into goofiness now and again– there’s definitely a sense of yeah, Harrison Ford could probably make this work that I respect in terms of characterizing Han, but sometimes you just gotta laugh. Picture Harrison Ford, your gruff, weed-dealing carpenter, getting out something like this:

“An Authority Data Center?” Han exploded. “And how do I get into a place like that? It’ll look like the Espos’ Annual Picnic and Grand Reunion. Listen, toots, I want that stuff from you, but I want to live to a ripe old age, too; I plan to sit in a rocker at the Old Spaceman’s Home, and what you’re suggesting will definitely exclude that option.”

(Immediately obsessed with the implication of the Old Spaceman’s Home. This is not the last time he mentions it, either. Where is this Disney+ miniseries.)

This is definitely not the last time I’m going to opine on what makes a successful Star Wars characterization? because so often that’s the thing that will pull me out of a tie-in novel or fic. To me, the gold standard of characterization is being able to slow down and feel instinctively that dialogue and behavior suit how a character is portrayed in the movies. Characters that don’t appear in the movies at all, or who do but don’t get a lot of attention, face a double-edged sword: they’ve got to be interesting enough to kind of generate their own force of personality, but they’ve also got to feel authentic to the setting.

That’s especially true where we are in terms of Star Wars novels– we have ANH’s Han to go on, and go through Stars’ End knowing that’s who we’re going to meet at the end of it. There are constant references to how much he doesn’t want to get involved with any causes, he’s looking out for number one, goddammit! There are more than a few moments where Han’s cynicism is pointed out or appealed to by characters in a way that ranges from hamfisted to Oh Man That Droid Just Read You To Filth, but I don’t necessarily think it needs to be subtle– Han’s not a subtle guy, after all. 

I’m worried that point might get a bit long in the tooth knowing there are two more Han Solo Adventures before ANH, and Han is essentially stuck in the same role, the same moment of his life before tipping over into throwing his lot in with the Rebels. By the same token, it does retroactively add a little flavor to that moment when he shows up at the first Death Star battle, knowing how hard he fought against his better nature before giving it all up for Luke’s big blue eyes the Rebellion. 

AND THE SUPPORTING CAST?

It feels fucked up that I’m including Chewbacca as a “supporting” cast member, but the man’s not getting any dialogue and doesn’t do much beyond act as a living sounding board for Han to exposit off of. His main move is getting captured by the bad guys and Han just about gets himself killed trying to save him, and the intensity of that relationship is always really fascinating when played out. Also, Chewie being a damsel in distress is cute. 

A lot of the other supporting characters feel very stock, like a fiery woman leader of an outgunned rebel faction (Jessa, leader of the outlaw mechanics who buck the man), or evil patrician badguy who loves droid bloodsport (we’re still saying ’droid in the text, somehow)-- but a couple of notable exceptions.

Bollux is a Goodreads fan favorite, an old droid who has a counterpart with a “younger” droid who lives inside him, Blue Max. Bollux grows on everyone who meets him– even me… he’s just a good guy…– and Max is essentially a portable plot-solver who can do whatever’s needed at the time. 

Rekkon is an extremely capable university teacher-turned-investigator who leads the cause to try and find where the Corporate Authority Guys are stashing the people they’ve stolen. He’s jovial, Han likes him almost immediately and respects him about as much as Han respects anybody who isn’t Chewie, and demonstrates a confidence and self-assuredness that I found really refreshing in a book where a lot of people just seem to defer to Han to move the plot. Rekkon is also Black, the only other Black character in the novel besides his missing nephew, and he does also get murdered by a traitor among the party in the second act and his body is dropped out the airlock. It’s really a “oh, nice!” to “oh… nice :/” thing that feels emblematic of Star Wars’ relationship with Black characters, even in these early days. A bizarre mirror is Star Wars’ relationship with the Black Hollywood executive who championed its original release, Ashley Boone Jr. 

As always, Rekkon’s death is an important motivating factor for Han, and he even gives Han the means to figuring out who the traitor is among the party, but his body is still very much dropped out a fucking airlock.

There’s a lot to talk about there, and I’m not sure I’m qualified to talk about it. But I noted it, and I noted myself noting it.

To brighten your spirits, I bring you the other two interesting characters left in the party: Atuarre and her son, Pakka, who are the only aliens that matter besides Chewie. They're Trianii– CAT PEOPLE THAT’S RIGHT WE GOT A FURRY MILF YEAHAHAHA BABY LET’S GOOOOOO MEOWOW!!!!!!! Star Wars actually has a ton of cat people variants. Despite being a trained warrior and pilot, she ends up pretending to be a dancer and leader of an entertainer troupe– Han’s idea.

WAIT, WHAT

Yeah– Han gets really excited about dressing everyone up as a circus troupe in order to infiltrate Stars’ End, to replace a troupe that couldn’t make it. Pakka, Atuarre’s traumatized-by-the-Authority-to-silence son is an acrobat, Atuarre is the troupe’s leader and skilled in the “dances of her people,” Bollux gets a paint job, and Han poses as a sharpshooter. I cannot emphasize enough how excited Han is by this idea. The word “exhilarated” is used. I’m now integrating this into my view of him as a character– between this and dressing up as a stormtrooper to get around the Death Star, Han Solo lives for the theater. The deception… the prestige. The making of props and wearing of capes. 

LOWKEY KINDA SOUNDS FUN…

Yeah! That’s how I’d characterize Stars’ End– fun. Not really breaking any molds or blowing my tits clean off, but certainly a step up from Splinter of the Mind’s Eye in… every conceivable way, likely. It still suffers from some tired genre conventions, and as always your own mileage may vary, but it’s a very readable adventure story that’s just cheesy enough to not take itself completely seriously. 

BEFORE YOU GO:

Bollux is described as having been programmed with sewing and “necessary skills” while serving under a regimental commander in the Clone Wars. Obviously at the time of writing there was no way Daley was told that commanders in the Clone Wars were traditionally Jedi, so for me today it calls forth the image of Obi-Wan having a droid on hand specifically to tailor the cloaks that he throws away on every mission. 

Hours are referred to as ‘Standard time parts,’ implying some galactic agreement on measurement. As an American, this is outside my ability to conceptualize. 

Stars’ End also contains our first detailed dogfight, and introduces the Headhunter starfighter, which is kind of the X-Wing’s homely older sibling. I’ve been imagining an entirely different shape all my life. Bah oui… 

NEXT TIME

Han Solo’s Revenge, by Brian Daley

[iabsolutelyresentthiswebsite]

Self care is getting completely invested in the SWEU and pretending like TLJ doesn't exist

[readingreylo]

Yay! it's finally done!

Coveted by OptimisticBeth | @optimisticsprinkles | Explicit | 124k | Complete | Modern AU | Werewolves | A/B/O Alpha x Omega | No heat sex | Medium Slow Burn | Graphic depiction of violence | Drama/Action | Pack Politics | ALL THE WEREWOLF POLITICS | Pack/family dynamic | Secret werewolf society | OCs (taken from SWEU) | Adopted!Rey vibes | Feral!Rey | Unwanted Suitors | Strangers to lovers | Werewolf typical nudity | Rough Sex | Long distance | Absence makes the heart grow fonder | Refence to domestic violence/abuse | Multi POV | "Rey has never wanted nor needed a mate. So when it gets out that her new Pack Leader, Ben, is determined to claim her, she’s horrified to find that not only does she have to fend him off but all the strange alphas who come sniffing around."

Okay, I thought I was finished with werewolf stories when I finished Highschool (12+ years ago) but THIS FIC! omg it makes so much sense with the whole A/B/O trope and the author does an exquisite job of world building and IT'S. JUST. SO. GOOD. Great characters, chemistry and delish smut!

The story has it's dramatic and angsty moments, but it's a great look at an Omega that doesn't want to be ruled by her biology... and she isn't. Yes, she is at the mercy of her designation, but her destiny isnt ruled by it.

So many A/B/O fics say that omega Rey doesnt want to be ruled by her designation, but then she gives in because its ben. And I do love those fics... But in this fic, despite being madly in love with her... Ben respects her decisions and supports her while loving her from afar.

This is a fic that walks the walk, if you know what I mean.

I also feel obligated to mention, A LOT HAPPENS IN THIS FIC. So many plot turns. Even looking at my tags, I realise it doesnt truly give you the scope of what this fic is. It clearly started as one thing, then became another, then became another, then another, then it decided to address the consequences to that other thing, then took a radical (but necessary) turn, before coming full circle. I'm not saying this is a detractor, this fic does what some of the best fanfiction does, it takes cues from its readers, and ended up in surprising, but brilliant, places!

It's truly something special (I would have never thought I would enjoy werewolf politics so much?) And if by some chance you haven't read it yet, check it out!

House keeping: The beginning chapters are longer, then when covid hit, the chapters shrunk. The author does a great job of mentioning potential triggers at the begining of each chapter, but be aware this is A LOT in this fic that is generally considered triggering.

[cursed-40k-thoughts]

40K 'lore' reads like someone looked at the sprawling mess of the SWEU and said 'I can probably chop that down to a few basic elements'. And then they only sort of did.

I guess this makes the current flow of 40K the equivalent of SW’s Disneyfication/Sequel era... which means Loyalist Astartes fans... are the Reylo stans of 40k.

[daisylincs]

One of my best friends in the whole world wide web, the amazing @ohwriteiforgot​, won a Treat in my Trick or Treat challenge, and she asked me to spotlight my Clintasha WIP Jade Arrow. *catch me frantically re-opening Google Docs to remember what on earth that one was about* NO, I’M KIDDING, I REMEMBER PERFECTLY.

This is one of my favourite WIPs ever, actually, and even more so because of my soft spot for Clintasha - and, let’s have a big drum roll, Star Wars. 

Now, I don’t know how much you know about the SWEU - which is to say, the Star Wars Extended Universe of books that were written after the original trilogy came out, and took the story further. Many people don’t know or like those books, but I survived on them as a kid, okay. We had this giant box of them in the storage room, and they’re practically the books that taught me to read.

My favourite character, apart from, of course, Leia, was Mara Jade, the tough, sassy assassin who was sent to kill Luke Skywalker, but eventually became his partner and then wife. (Do I have a type? Do I? Why, yes. And you can count Mara and Leia as the starting point of my adoration for strong female characters!!)

Anyway, so Jade Arrow is a Clintasha and Pepperony AU in which Natasha is Mara Jade, and Clint is Luke Skywalker. In a fun little spin on canon, she was sent to kill him, while he was fighting the Sarlacc in the Great Pit of Corkoon. She failed, though, because of something as ridiculous as a missed transport, which started her burning hatred for one Clint Barton. Of course, this only got worse when he killed her master, the Red Emperor, and destroyed her life. 

So she plots revenge, yadda yadda, and ambushes him on a mission to Myrkr, except of course they then get stuck in the jungle and have to rely on each other to stay alive because, gasp, there’s no Force in this messed-up place. (Fun fact: Myrkr and ysalamiri, which create the anti-Force bubbles, are very much canon in the SWEU.) 

Oh my gosh, did I forget to mention?? Both Clint and Natasha are Force-sensitive, and they have some really fucking awesome lightsaber duels. Also Pepper is Leia and Tony is Han Solo and they feature in the background, and it’s just the best. 

This is a very, very long and detailed WIP, though - because, I mean, I have to get from her passionately hating him to grudgingly allying with him to becoming his partner and then falling for him. So when I’m actually going to do it is anybody’s guess - but you can see why I like this idea so much, right?? There is just so much potential!!

(Also I just HAVE to tag @aleksandrachaev​ at this point so I can rub it in her face that look, Kat, I have a Clintasha WIP that’s really cool and shippy and leaves no doubt that they’re one of my OTPs. 😇I can just feel how much Kat is going to glare at me for that, ahahahahahahahahahahahahaha)

Anyway, Bobbi, thanks for this amazing ask, and thanks for playing!! I love you so much and I really hope you liked this idea 🥰🥰🥰🥰💜

The Trick or Treat Challenge

[kotorswtor]

Yeah, while I’m thinking about it, I’m sad about the Old Old Republic no longer being canon, the license for Star Wars comics passing from Dark Horse to Marvel, and consequently the Knights of the Old Republic comic series being permanently unfinished for a lot of reasons. Like that I would literally read John Jackson Miller’s transcription of a phone book, or that Zayne Carrick is one of the most ideologically-consistent Jedi across present and past SWEU media, while dissenting with Jedi Order officials of his time. Some other stuff that’s theoretically interesting re: The Mandalorian in particular:

We’ve got Rolan Dhyre, called Rolan the Questioner, a Mandalorian who’s been disciplined and censured for desertion several times but refuses to toe the party line, because he’s examined the circumstances and a lot of stuff about this war between the Republic and his folks doesn’t add up. Spoiler alert: 15 out-of-universe years before RoS, we had another centuries-old body-hopping fuckbag of a Sith Emperor calling the shots and treating Mandalorians as a speed bump to get that done.

We’ve got also got a couple of interesting examples of Mandalorians doing enough self-reflection to realize that they keep trying the same tactics against space wizards and keep getting owned, coming to the conclusion that the solution is to make Force-sensitive Mandalorians. One is Demagol, who does a lot of gruesome medical experiments on (usually subadult) Force-sensitives in an attempt to scientifically understand and reverse-engineer Force-sensitivity. His name survives in spoken Mando’a up to the post-OT era as demagol’ka- a descriptor of needless, wasteful, dishonorable sadism. The other is Dorjander Kace, a disillusioned Jedi who fell in love with and subsequently lost a Mandalorian wife in the war, who just mcfuckin kidnaps a cohort of Jedi children with the intention of raising and training them and their probably Force-sensitive descendants as Mandalorian.