Here are your Star Wars book recommendations for the Empire:
Showing posts with label the Empire. Show all posts

Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel

Catalyst: A Rogue One Novel by James Luceno
This is an important prequel to the 2016 spin-off film Rogue One! Written by veteran Star Wars author James Luceno, Catalyst tells how pacifist scientist Galen Erso, later infamous for designing the devastating Death Star superlaser, was manipulated into the role by one-time friend Orson Krennic. A thoughtful, character-based tale that provides a rich backstory to the opening scene of Rogue One, this novel also reveals a great deal about the creation of the Death Star according to the new Star Wars canon.

Catalyst is the tenth Star Wars novel by James Luceno, whose other works include the canon novel Tarkin, fan-favorite Legends novel Darth Plagueis, and two other Star Wars movie lead-in books.

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This is a book from the New Canon timeline! It's guaranteed to be consistent with future movies, TV shows, books, and comics (and all new stories since mid-2014).

Lords of the Sith

Lords of the Sith by Paul S. Kemp
A new canon novel set during the early days of the Empire. When Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader are stranded on a hostile planet, they must use their own Force powers and fighting prowess to crush the resistance and escape to safety.

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This is a book from the New Canon timeline! It's guaranteed to be consistent with future movies, TV shows, books, and comics (and all new stories since mid-2014).

Tarkin

Tarkin by James Luceno
Veteran Star Wars author James Luceno, in his first new canon novel, takes readers into the mind of Grand Moff Tarkin, the Imperial official who infamously gave orders to Darth Vader in the original Star Wars movie. Set in the years between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, this is the story of Tarkin's rise to prominence in the Empire.

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This is a book from the New Canon timeline! It's guaranteed to be consistent with future movies, TV shows, books, and comics (and all new stories since mid-2014).

A New Dawn

A New Dawn by John Jackson Miller
A prequel to the Star Wars: Rebels TV show and the first Star Wars novel of the new canon. A New Dawn tells the story of how idealistic pilot Hera and cynical ex-Jedi Kanan first met, before they were a couple and before they led the famous rebel crew of the Ghost.

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This is a book from the New Canon timeline! It's guaranteed to be consistent with future movies, TV shows, books, and comics (and all new stories since mid-2014).

Thrawn

Thrawn by Timothy Zahn
Because author Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy kicked off the Legends publishing program in the early 1990s, it holds a special place in the hearts of Star Wars book fans. So for lots of us it was a big disappointment to see those books overwritten by the new movies. But that doesn't mean the trilogy's namesake character, blue-skinned military genius Grand Admiral Thrawn, is gone for good.

Now the fan-favorite character is back in the Star Wars canon with this novel about the beginnings of his career in the Imperial Navy, leading into his role in Season 3 of the Star Wars: Rebels TV show. And he's in good hands: The book is written by the same author as the original Thrawn Trilogy. In fact, this book could fit almost as well into the Legends timeline as it does into the New Canon!

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Thrawn's career is continued in Thrawn: Alliances.

This is a book from the New Canon timeline! It's guaranteed to be consistent with future movies, TV shows, books, and comics (and all new stories since mid-2014).

Thrawn: Alliances

Thrawn: Alliances by Timothy Zahn
Fans of Timothy Zahn's Grand Admiral Thrawn will be excited for this sequel to the blue-skinned genius's New Canon debut in the novel Thrawn. Set between Seasons 3 and 4 of the Star Wars: Rebels TV show, it features Thrawn teaming up with Darth Vader himself in a mission to the edge of the Unknown Regions. This is interwoven with a flashback story set during the Clone Wars, revealing how Thrawn first met Anakin Skywalker (and Padme too).

Parts of the book take place at Black Spire Outpost on the planet Batuu, the setting of Disney's Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge theme parks.

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Thrawn's story is continued in Thrawn: Treason.

This is a book from the New Canon timeline! It's guaranteed to be consistent with future movies, TV shows, books, and comics (and all new stories since mid-2014).

Thrawn: Treason

Thrawn: Treason by Timothy Zahn
The third of Timothy Zahn's new canon Thrawn novels is here! In this possibly-final installment, Thrawn comes face-to-face with the Empire's Death Star project, even as the Grand Admiral's divided loyalties between his homeworld and the Empire reach a final reckoning. This story also features the return of Eli Vanto, a main character from the first Thrawn book.

(Before this book, read the two previous stories, Thrawn and Thrawn: Alliances.)

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Can't get enough Thrawn? His adventures continue in a new trilogy of prequel stories, starting with Thrawn Ascendancy: Chaos Rising.


This is a book from the New Canon timeline! It's guaranteed to be consistent with future Star Wars movies, TV shows, books, and comics (and almost all new stories since mid-2014).

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story novelization

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story novelization by Alexander Freed
This is the official book version of the new Star Wars movie Rogue One! Written by Alexander Freed, the author of Star Wars Battlefront: Twilight Company.

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Want to learn more about the personal history between scientist Galen Erso and Imperial Director Orson Krennic? Check out the Rogue One prequel novel Catalyst by James Luceno!

This is a book from the New Canon timeline! It's guaranteed to be consistent with future movies, TV shows, books, and comics (and all new stories since mid-2014).

Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View

Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View by various authors
This book isn't actually a novel, but something much more special: To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the original Star Wars movie, dozens of authors came together to write 40 short stories, each one retelling part of the movie from a new perspective. Most of the stories are told from the viewpoint of a minor background character or other onlooker to the events of the movie.

As if that wasn't cool enough, the authors all contributed for free, with the publisher donating the proceeds to charity.

This is the first New Canon take on background characters from Episode IV: A New Hope, but if you can't get enough, also check out Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina in the Legends alternate timeline! And if you enjoyed this book, check out the sequel, The Empire Strikes Back: From a Certain Point of View.

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This is a book from the New Canon timeline! It's guaranteed to be consistent with future movies, TV shows, books, and comics (and most new stories since 2014).

Battlefront II: Inferno Squad

Battlefront II: Inferno Squad by Christie Golden
A tie-in to the video game Battlefront II, this book tells a story of elite Imperial soldiers on a mission to track down the remnants of Saw Gerrera's rebel extremists after the events of Rogue One and the destruction of the Death Star.

This is the second book based on the Battlefront video games. The first was Battlefront: Twilight Company by Alexander Freed, though that book actually takes place after Inferno Squad in the timeline.

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This is a book from the New Canon timeline! It's guaranteed to be consistent with future movies, TV shows, books, and comics (and all new stories since mid-2014).

Battlefront: Twilight Company

Battlefront: Twilight Company by Alexander Freed
This tie-in to the brand new Star Wars Battlefront video game follows a company of rebel foot soldiers in their fight against the Empire during the time of the original Star Wars Trilogy. Most of the book takes place just before and during The Empire Strikes Back.

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This is a book from the New Canon timeline! It's guaranteed to be consistent with future movies, TV shows, books, and comics (and all new stories since mid-2014).

The Empire Strikes Back: From a Certain Point of View

Cover art. A sillhoutte of Yoda is seen from behind watching over the Dagobah swamp, surrounded by the names of contributing authors.

The Empire Strikes Back: From a Certain Point of View by various authors
Here comes the sequel to Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View: To commemorate the 40th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back, dozens of authors came together to write 40 short stories, each one retelling part of the movie from a new perspective. Most of the stories are told from the viewpoint of a minor background character or other onlooker to the events of the movie. 

As with the first one, much of the money from sales of this book will be going to a charity that helps kids get access to books and education.

This is the first New Canon take on background characters from The Empire Strikes Back, but if you can't get enough, also check out Tales of the Bounty Hunters on the Legends alternate timeline!

Buy from Amazon!

This is a book from the New Canon timeline! It's guaranteed to be consistent with future movies, TV shows, books, and comics (and most new stories since 2014).

The Aftermath Trilogy


The Aftermath Trilogy by Chuck Wendig
The first new canon stories set after Return of the Jedi! In the months after the destruction of the second Death Star, the Empire is not yet dead. But when a group of high-level Imperials convene for a secret meeting on the planet Akiva, they soon find themselves on the defensive against an impromptu collection of rag-tag rebels, who will later go on to even greater adventures! Meanwhile, Imperial Admiral Rae Sloane, an outsider to the circles of galactic power, finds herself tasked with holding together the faltering Empire.

These books have gotten a kind of "love it or hate it" reaction from readers. Written in an unconventional style. Everything is happening in third-person present tense. Many short, incomplete sentences. But we found them really entertaining, with good character development.

Buy from Amazon:
Star Wars: Aftermath
Aftermath: Empire's End

These are books from the New Canon timeline! They're guaranteed to be consistent with future movies, TV shows, books, and comics (and all new stories since mid-2014).

Lost Stars

Lost Stars by Claudia Gray
Experience the story of the Original Trilogy from the perspective of two childhood friends - and later lovers - who end up on opposite sides of the war between the Empire and the Rebels. An epic love story that stretches from years before Star Wars: A New Hope to one year after Return of the Jedi.

Though officially a a young adult novel, Lost Stars is over 500 pages long, beloved by many adult Star Wars fans, and much more mature than any other Star Wars young adult novel published in the past.

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This is a book from the New Canon timeline! It's guaranteed to be consistent with future movies, TV shows, books, and comics (and all new stories since mid-2014).

Star Wars Insider: The Fiction Collection, Vol. 2

Star Wars Insider: The Fiction Collection, Volume 2 by various authors
Star Wars Insider magazine, the official magazine of Star Wars, has often published exclusive short stories set in the Star Wars universe, sometimes as tie-ins to new novels and movies, and other times just to explore new corners of the galaxy. 

Now people who aren't subscribed to the magazine can finally read many of those obscure tales in this new book, the second collecting short fiction from Star Wars Insider

Unlike earlier Star Wars short story collections, this book and the previous volume include a mix of canon stories and stories from the old Legends expanded universe, since it covers magazine issues from a period spanning 2011 to 2016.

 
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This book contains a mix of stories from the New Canon timeline and the Legends timeline. While some stories in it are consistent with newer Star Wars movies, TV shows, books, and comics, others are not.

Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader

Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader by James Luceno
After joining the dark side, destroying the Jedi, and losing his only love, Anakin Skywalker must learn to live as the villain Darth Vader and earn his place in the new Galactic Empire.

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This is a prequel era book from the Legends timeline. It may be contradicted by newer books, movies, or TV shows (if so, just think of it as an alternate universe).

Imperial Commando: 501st

Imperial Commando: 501st by Karen Traviss
The first book of an unfinished follow-up series to the beloved Republic Commando novels, 501st continues the story of those books into the early days of the Empire, when the clone commando squads are drafted into Darth Vader's special stormtrooper legion.

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This is a classic era book from the Legends timeline. It will likely be contradicted by newer books, movies, or TV shows (if so, just think of it as an alternate universe).

The Han Solo Trilogy

 
The Han Solo Trilogy by A.C. Crispin
A popular trilogy of novels telling the story of Han Solo's life before A New Hope, from youth on the streets, to his expulsion from the Imperial Academy, to the height of his career as a smuggler.

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Book 1: The Paradise Snare
Book 3: Rebel Dawn

This is a classic era series from the Legends timeline. It will likely be contradicted by newer books, movies, or TV shows (if so, just think of it as an alternate universe).

Death Star

Death Star by Michael Reaves & Steve Perry
A novel about the construction of the first Death Star, and the many different people whose lives it touched.

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This is a classic era book from the Legends timeline. It will likely be contradicted by newer books, movies, or TV shows (if so, just think of it as an alternate universe).

The Force Unleashed I & II

The Force Unleashed I & II by Sean Williams
Based on the popular video games Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and The Force Unleashed II, these novels tell the story of a powerful Force user, trained as Darth Vader's apprentice, who becomes entangled in the founding of the Rebel Alliance.

Buy from Amazon:
The Force Unleashed
The Force Unleashed II

This is a classic era book from the Legends timeline. It will likely be contradicted by newer books, movies, or TV shows (if so, just think of it as an alternate universe).