Leia, Princess of Alderaan

Leia, Princess of Alderaan by Claudia Gray
Ever wonder how Princess Leia first joined the Rebellion against the Empire? In 2016's Bloodline, author Claudia Gray wrote about how Leia came to found the Resistance against the First Order. Now, the same author winds back the clock with this novel about the princess's teenage years, during the events of the Star Wars: Rebels TV show and three years before Rogue One and Star Wars: A New Hope.

Though officially a young adult novel, Leia, Princess of Alderaan is 400 pages long and a part of the same more-mature publishing line as Lost Stars, Ahsoka, and Rebel Rising.

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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 Princess and the Scoundrel

The Princess and the Scoundrel by Beth Revis
Set just after the end of Return of the Jedi, this new novel covers Han and Leia's wedding for the first time in the new canon. There's more to the story than that, of course, as the newly-married couple end up on a whole new adventure despite their attempts at a relaxing honeymoon.

The book is also something of a tie-in to Disney World's Galactic Starcruiser immersive Star Wars experience hotel, with both taking place on the Halcyon luxury vessel.

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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).

Bloodline

Bloodline by Claudia Gray
A prequel to The Force Awakens, this books follows Princess Leia six years before the film, when she was still a Senator for the New Republic. It tells the story of how she came to leave the senate, setting the stage for the formation of the Resistance.

From the author of the beloved young adult novel Star Wars: Lost Stars (though this is a regular novel, not a young adult book).

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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 Force Awakens novelization

Episode VII: The Force Awakens novelization by Alan Dean Foster
The official book version of the Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie, set three decades after Return of the Jedi and written by the same author as the first Star Wars book ever!

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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 Last Jedi "Expanded Edition" novelization

Episode VIII: The Last Jedi "Expanded Edition" novelization by Jason Fry
This is the official book version of the Star Wars: The Last Jedi movie including deleted scenes and new additions to the story. It's also the first adult Star Wars novel by professional Star Wars expert Jason Fry!

WARNING: There's an older book also called The Last Jedi that's completely unrelated to the movie. Don't be fooled! :-)

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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).

Resistance Reborn

Resistance Reborn by Rebecca Roanhorse
Set just after The Last Jedi, and before The Rise of Skywalker, this book explains how the Resistance starts to recover from its devastating defeat on Crait. It's also fun for people who have been reading other canon books and comics, because it brings together a lot of different characters from them - especially from the Bloodline and Aftermath books and the Poe Dameron comics.

Despite being published as part of the lead-up to The Rise of Skywalker though, it doesn't lead directly into the story of the movie.

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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 Rise of Skywalker "Expanded Edition" novelization

Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker "Expanded Edition" novelization by Rae Carson
This is the official book version of the Rise of Skywalker movie, including deleted scenes and new additions to the story. It's also the first full adult Star Wars novel by Rae Carson, who wrote the young adult Solo tie-in novel Most Wanted, and contributed short stories to Canto Bight an 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 all new stories since mid-2014).

Empire and Rebellion: Razor's Edge

Empire and Rebellion: Razor's Edge by Martha Wells
One of the last books to be published in the Legends timeline, Razor's Edge is a book focused on Princess Leia between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes back. On a mission to save the Rebellion, Leia and friends come up against a group of dangerous pirates with a secret that will chill Leia to the bone.

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

Splinter of the Mind's Eye

Splinter of the Mind's Eye by Alan Dean Foster
The first ever Star Wars expanded universe novel, released in 1978, this book was written under the requirement that it could be made into a cheap sequel to the first Star Wars film in case the movie didn't do well enough to justify a big-budget follow-up. It tells the story of Luke and Leia crash-landing on a swamp planet, where they must keep a powerful Force-magnifying crystal from falling into the hands of the Empire. Before the end, they'll have to face the Empire's most feared villain: Darth Vader.

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

Shadows of the Empire

Shadows of the Empire by Steve Perry
The only novel set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, this book was published in 1996 as a refreshing return to the classic trilogy era, in the years where most novels took place after the defeat of the Emperor. The book is essentially a lead-in to Return of the Jedi, setting up the background for many of the events in that movie. However, it revolves heavily around a new character, the crime kingpin Prince Xizor, who is competing with Vader for the Emperor's favor.

Though the book tells a reasonably engaging story, many readers remember it more for its creepy attempted rape scene (for the record, most Star Wars novels have no sexual content at all).

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

The Courtship of Princess Leia

The Courtship of Princess Leia by Dave Wolverton
An early Star Wars novel from the 1990s revival, this book tells the spunky story of how Han Solo and Princess Leia finally ended up getting married. After Leia receives a marriage request from the powerful prince of the neutral Hapes Consortium, she's divided between her love for Han and her duty to the New Republic. Han, reverting under pressure to the criminal instincts of his past, kidnaps Leia and spirits her away to the remote plant of Dathomir. They soon find themselves stranded groundside - trapped between the Empire and a clan of Force-using, rancor-riding witches - with Luke Skywalker obliged to come to the rescue.

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This is a post-Return of the Jedi novel from the Legends timeline. Think of it as an alternate universe from The Force Awakens and newer books.

Tatooine Ghost

Tatooine Ghost by Troy Denning
Written long after most of the post-Return of the Jedi Legends books, Tatooine Ghost is a story of the recently married Han Solo and Princess Leia, set just before the events of the Thrawn Trilogy. It was the first novel that set out to bridge the events of the original Star Wars movies and the prequels.

In the story, the Millennium Falcon travels to Tatooine to protect vital New Republic military secrets. But in the adventure that follows, Leia finds herself on a journey of discovery, turning up surprising links to the early life of her father, Anakin Skywalker.

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This is a post-Return of the Jedi novel from the Legends timeline. Think of it as an alternate universe from The Force Awakens and newer books.

The Thrawn Trilogy

The Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn
Among the most beloved of all Star Wars novels, the so-called Thrawn Trilogy (a name that doesn't actually appear on the books themselves) was the story that launched the Legends expanded universe in earnest back in 1991. These books were the first ever written to take place after Return of the Jedi, and they set the stage for much of the rest of the Legends continuity. They tell a masterfully-written, multi-faceted story that's at once both epic and deeply personal.

Five years after the destruction of the second Death Star, the budding New Republic is threatened by Grand Admiral Thrawn, an alien military genius who has returned from the Unknown Regions to retake the galaxy for the Empire. Worse, Thrawn teams up with an insane Jedi clone who boasts access to secret Imperial technologies. Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia must rediscover old secrets and search out new allies in the struggle to stop Thrawn. But among these new "friends" is Mara Jade, a former Imperial agent who lives for one purpose: to kill Luke Skywalker.

The Hand of Thrawn duology is a sequel to this trilogy, set ten years afterwards.

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Book 1: Heir to the Empire
Book 2: Dark Force Rising
Book 3: The Last Command

This is a post-Return of the Jedi series from the Legends timeline. Think of it as an alternate universe from The Force Awakens and newer books.

(Do you miss Grand Admiral Thrawn? He's back in the new Star Wars canon, starting with Timothy Zahn's novel Thrawn!) 

Planet of Twilight

Planet of Twilight by Barbara Hambly
As Luke Skywalker searches for his lost love, Leia is captured by a dangerous cult using Force-sensitive crystals to threaten the New Republic. Before the end, the heroes of Star Wars must come together on a strange planet to protect the galaxy from the return of an ancient and horrible plague.

Planet of Twilight is the third in a loose trilogy of novels that began with Children of the Jedi and Darksaber.

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This is a post-Return of the Jedi novel from the Legends timeline. Think of it as an alternate universe from The Force Awakens and newer books.

The Crystal Star

The Crystal Star by Vonda N. McIntyre
Meet the bizarre book that went down among fans as the most disliked Star Wars novel of the 1990s, despite being a great financial success. Written by noted Star Trek author Vonda N. McIntyre, The Crystal Star introduces readers a world of centaurs and werewolves, an evil chunk of meat from another dimension, and a strangely out-of-character Luke Skywalker.

The story follows Leia on a mission to rescue her kidnapped young children, while Han and Luke race to solve the mystery of a trans-dimensional space anomaly. Though clearly out of place among the Star Wars novels, it's not without its positive aspects, and is worth reading for both completists and those who appreciate the absurd.

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This is a post-Return of the Jedi novel from the Legends timeline. Think of it as an alternate universe from The Force Awakens and newer books.

The Black Fleet Crisis

 
The Black Fleet Crisis trilogy by Michael P. Kube-McDowell
The remnants of the Empire have retreated and the galaxy is experiencing a period of peace. Han, Luke, and Chewbacca finally have some time to dedicate to themselves and their families. But Leia, now president of the New Republic, must grapple with the political maneuverings of a ruthless regional leader whose machinations threaten to tear the galaxy apart. Meanwhile, Luke is drawn off on a wild goose chase in search of knowledge of his mother, and Lando investigates the secrets of a mysterious and ancient ghost ship.

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Book 1: Before the Storm
Book 2: Shield of Lies
Book 3: Tyrant's Test

This is a post-Return of the Jedi series from the Legends timeline. Think of it as an alternate universe from The Force Awakens and newer books.

The Corellian Trilogy

The Corellian Trilogy by Roger McBride Allen
When Han and Leia return to Han's home planet of Corellia 14 years after Return of the Jedi, they find themselves caught up in a dangerous spy game even as the Corellian system threatens to erupt into civil war. But it gets worse: A mystery left by an ancient civilization could put an unimaginable superweapon into the hands of brutal insurgents, led by none other than Han Solo's long-lost cousin!

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Book 1: Ambush at Correllia
Book 2: Assault at Selonia
Book 3: Showdown at Centerpoint

This is a post-Return of the Jedi series from the Legends timeline. Think of it as an alternate universe from The Force Awakens and newer books.

The Hand of Thrawn

The Hand of Thrawn duology by Timothy Zahn
The thrilling follow-up to Timothy Zahn's beloved Thrawn Trilogy! Ten years after Grand Admiral Thrawn nearly brought the New Republic to its knees, the Imperial Remnant is ready to finally surrender to the former rebels. Not everyone would have peace: Three well-placed Imperials conspire to fake the resurrection of Thrawn, not realizing how close to the truth their charade really is. Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade follow a mysterious trail of clues to a shocking discovery in the Unknown Regions, while a revelation from the past threatens to tear the New Republic apart from the inside.

Want more of Luke and Mara exploring Thrawn's legacy in the Unknown Regions? Read Survivor's Quest next, set three years after the Hand of Thrawn books.

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Book 1: Specter of the Past
Book 2: Vision of the Future

This is a post-Return of the Jedi series from the Legends timeline. Think of it as an alternate universe from The Force Awakens and newer books.

The New Jedi Order

The New Jedi Order Series
Two decades after Return of the Jedi, the galaxy is invaded from outside by the Yuuzhan Vong - vicious, pain-loving aliens who use nearly-unstoppable organic technology and are mysteriously invisible to the Force. The whole galaxy will have to unite, friends and enemies alike, if the devastating invasion is to be reversed. The newly re-established Jedi Order, led by Master Luke Skywalker, is front and center in the grueling and heartbreaking war, with Han and Leia's newly adult offspring among the star players.

The longest and most epic Star Wars novel series ever written, The New Jedi Order includes the deaths of several major characters, and sets the stage for a new era of the galaxy's future.

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(Full Series for Kindle)
Vector Prime by R.A. Salvatore
Dark Tide I: Onslaught by Michael Stackpole
Dark Tide II: Ruin by Michael Stackpole
Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial by James Luceno
Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse by James Luceno
Balance Point by Kathy Tyers
Edge of Victory I: Conquest by Greg Keyes
Edge of Victory II: Rebirth by Greg Keyes
Star by Star by Troy Denning
Dark Journey by Elaine Cunningham
Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream by Aaron Allston
Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand by Aaron Allston
Traitor by Matthew Stover
Destiny's Way by Walter Jon Williams
Force Heretic I: Remnant by Sean Williams & Shane Dix
Force Heretic II: Refugee by Sean Williams & Shane Dix
Force Heretic III: Reunion by Sean Williams & Shane Dix
The Final Prophecy by Greg Keyes
The Unifying Force by James Luceno

This is a post-Return of the Jedi series from the Legends timeline. Think of it as an alternate universe from the sequel movies and newer books. 

Dark Nest

The Dark Nest Trilogy by Troy Denning
When the ancient insectoid Killiks re-emerge in the Unknown Regions after the Yuuzhan Vong war, the Galactic Alliance, the Jedi, and the Chiss empire are drawn into a complex and multi-sided war. Several young Jedi Knights are absorbed into the Killik hive mind, while Luke and Leia discover previously unknown information about their mother, Padmé Amidala.

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The Joiner King
The Unseen Queen
The Swarm War

This is a post-Return of the Jedi series from the Legends timeline. Think of it as an alternate universe from the sequel movies and newer books.