Padawan

Padawan by Kiersten White
If you've been waiting for a canon teen Obi-Wan story, this is it! Soon after being apprenticed to Qui-Gon Jinn, the headstrong young padawan sets out to prove himself and find his place in the galaxy, but ends up finding more than he bargained for. Padawan is part of Disney-Lucasfilm's line of young adult novels, and is the first Star Wars book by Kiersten White.

Buy on 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 stories since mid-2014).

Dooku: Jedi Lost (Audiobook and Script)

Dooku: Jedi Lost by Cavan Scott
Unlike other Star Wars audiobooks, which are readings of books that were written for print, Dooku: Jedi Lost was made especially for audio - the first Star Wars book of its kind. It's also narrated by a full cast playing the different characters in the story, in a way more like a radio play than a book.

The "book" is a sort of origin story for Count Dooku, telling the backstory of how he rose in the Jedi ranks and ultimately ended up leaving the order and turning to the dark side. In the story, his background is being researched during the Clone Wars by his apprentice, Asajj Ventress.

If you don't like to listen to audiobooks or aren't able to, you can also buy the script of the story as a printed book.

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 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.

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 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.

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 Empire Strikes Back: From a Certain Point of View

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).

Force Collector

Force Collector by Kevin Shinick
A lighthearted story about a high school kid running away from home to learn more about the Jedi, this is, well, not the most adult of Disney-Lucasfilm's line of young adult Star Wars novels. But that doesn't mean it's not a fun read, and it also has some small connections to places and things from The Rise of Skywalker movie and Disney's Galaxy's Edge theme park.

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 all new stories since mid-2014).

Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void

Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void by Tim Lebbon
A story from forgotten beginnings of the Jedi Order, before the dawn of the Old Republic, and tens of thousands of years before The Old Republic or Darth Bane.

Buy from Amazon!

This is a pre-Republic 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).

Knight Errant

Knight Errant by John Jackson Miller
Decades before the rise of Darth Bane, the galaxy is divided between the Old Republic and a resurgent Sith Empire. When a young Jedi is stranded deep behind enemy lines, she strikes out alone against a cabal of bizarrely idiosyncratic feuding Sith Lords who collectively guard a surprising secret.

Buy from Amazon!

This is an Old Republic 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)

The Darth Bane saga

 
The Darth Bane saga by Drew Karpyshyn
A thousand years before the events of the Star Wars movies, the last Sith Empire was defeated...but one ambitious survivor saved the Sith Order by taking it underground, setting the stage for the rise of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader a millennium later. This is the story of that man, and one of the most raved-about Star Wars book series.

Buy from Amazon:
Book 1: Path of Destruction
Book 2: Rule of Two

Book 3: Dynasty of Evil

This is an Old Republic era series 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).

Darth Plagueis

Darth Plagueis by James Luceno
A story set over the course of decades, this is the history how the Sith rose again to power through the schemes of Darth Plagueis, the ambitious Sith Lord who trained the later-emperor Palpatine in the ways of the Force! 

In many ways, it's more of a biography of Palpatine (a.k.a. Darth Plagueis) than of Plagueis himself, so it comes very much recommended for anyone interested in young Palpatine as well.

A fan-favorite novel, and something of a masterpiece of the late Legends publishing days, pulling together and drawing dots between many of the other Legends books, comics, and even video games set during the prequel era.

Buy from Amazon!

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).

Shatterpoint

Shatterpoint by Matthew Stover
Author Matthew Stover explores the psychology of Jedi Master Mace Windu as he returns to his home planet to find his missing former apprentice and face the darkness in his own soul. Inspired by the real-world film Apocolypse Now and the classic (non-Star Wars) novel Heart of Darkness.

Buy from Amazon!

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). 

Coruscant Nights

 
Coruscant Nights by Michael Reaves
A memorable trilogy of character-driven adventures in the seedy underworld of the city planet Coruscant. Inspired by the film noir detective movies of the 1940s and 1950s, these books tell the story of a self-doubting Jedi survivor, a sarcastic droid, and a plucky ex-journalist who come together with other interesting characters to solve mysteries and join the budding resistance in the early days of the Empire.

Buy from Amazon:
Book 1: Jedi Twilight

Book 2: Street of Shadows

Book 3: Patterns of Force

Story continued in The Last Jedi. 

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 Last Jedi

Warning: This is NOT the book version of the 2017 movie Star Wars: The Last Jedi. It's a completely unrelated novel from the Legends timeline.

The Last Jedi by Michael Reaves and Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff
The nail-biting conclusion to the story from the Coruscant Nights series, in which the team's growing involvement in resistance to the Empire - along with a devastating tragedy - takes them off Coruscant and on a journey across the galaxy.

Buy from Amazon!

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).

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope novelization

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope novelization by George Lucas 
The very first Star Wars book ever, this novel was written by Alan Dean Foster based on George Lucas's script for the original Star Wars movie (Foster agreed to do it without credit). It was released in 1976, six months before the movie, and was then titled Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker.

Buy from Amazon!

This is a movie novelization from the Legends timeline. Though the movie itself is canon, original content in the book could be contradicted by future books, movies, or TV shows (if so, you can 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.

Buy from Amazon!

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).

Episode VI: Return of the Jedi novelization

Episode VI: Return of the Jedi novelization by James Kahn
Written based on the script while the film was still in production, this is the original novel adaptation of Return of the Jedi from 1983. Author James Kahn brings depth and a slightly different perspective to what is probably the second-best of the main Star Wars movie novelizations (after Matthew Stover's Revenge of the Sith). Though there are naturally also some inconsistencies with the final film and later books, the novel also includes interesting expanded versions of some of the scenes from the movie.

Buy from Amazon!

This is a movie novelization from the Legends timeline. Though the movie itself is canon, original content in the book could be contradicted by future books, movies, or TV shows (if so, you can think of it as an alternate universe).

Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor

Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor by Matthew Stover
An unusual but intersting novel from author Matthew Stover, known to Star Wars fans for the exceptional philosophical and emotional depth of novels like Shatterpoint, Traitor, and the Revenge of the Sith novelization.

Dismayed by sensational film portrayals of his exploits for the Rebel Alliance, the self-critical Luke Skywalker finds himself caught up in an all new B-movie adventure, facing off against a mysterious dark side foe who has a theatrical side of his own. Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor is a self-consciously pulpy adventure that winkingly explores the sometimes unclear relationship between reality and fiction (while still staying strictly within the Star Wars universe).

Buy on Amazon!

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.

Buy on Amazon:
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!) 

The Jedi Academy Trilogy

 
The Jedi Academy Trilogy by Kevin J. Anderson
Though fan opinions vary on its quality, the Jedi Academy Trilogy plays a key role in the timeline of Legends novels set after Return of the Jedi. The series follows Luke Skywalker's mission to rebuild the Jedi Order by searching out Force-sensitive candidates and establishing a new Jedi Academy on Yavin IV. All does not go well at first, with a powerful Imperial superweapon emerging from hiding even as the spirit of an ancient Sith Lord works to corrupt the new generation of Jedi apprentices.

Buy on Amazon:
Book 1: Jedi Search
Book 2: Dark Apprentice
Book 3: Champions of the Force

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.