Looking for the best Star Wars books? With the arrival of The Rise of Skywalker Star Wars film franchise seems to come to its end, difficult to believe isn’t it? True, the last Star Wars films were not of the liking of all the fans so what if I told you there is another way to enjoy Star Wars? and no, I am not talking about The Mandalorian and the super cute Baby Yoda, (which is a great series) the way I meant was…reading! The Star Wars books are a great way to enjoy this universe full of jedis, bounty hunters and robots. But are Star Wars books canon? which are worth reading? let’s answer all these questions!

Notice that, in this case, the movies came before the books. That is, Star Wars is not based on a book series, instead, since the movies were so successful and it was such a rich world the story was expanded through Star Wars novels. For this reason, there were no Star Wars books before the movies.

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What are the best Star Wars books?

There are lots of Star Wars books and there are some that are more worth reading than others. Since some of you will only want to read those books that are considered canon in the Star Wars universe I will make two lists, one with the best canon Star Wars books and another list with the non canon.

The best canon Star Wars books

These Star Wars books are canon and are considered the best novels. If you only want to focus on the best Star Wars series then these are a must read.

By the way, you can buy the book by clicking on the book cover, the link will take you to Amazon.

Here you have a list of the best Star War canon books in no particular order:

Battlefront: Twilight Company

An action adventure that follows a squad of soldiers who take part in the last galactic war between the light and the dark side. If you are a fan of the Battlefront videogames developed by Electronic Arts then you will love this title.

Lost Stars

This novel written by Claudia Gray narrates the romance story of two original characters, Thane Kyrell and Ciena Ree, during the Galactic Civil War. He is a Rebel pilot, while she is an Imperial officer, will the love win or will the duty?

A novel that proves that a Star Wars novel does not have to center on Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia or Han Solo to be awesome.

Dark Disciple

Dark Disciple centers on ASajj Ventress, former Sith apprentice that now works as a bounty hunter. She, together with the Jedi Knight Quinlan Vos, will have to fulfill an impossible mission: defeating the Sith Lord Count Dooku.

Aftermath trilogy

This trilogy gets better book after book. Aftermath takes place after the sixth episode of the series, Return of the Jedi.

This story is set after the Battle of Endor, in which the Empire is defeated. Meanwhile, the Rebel Army, or the New Republic, hunt down the enemy’s scattered forces. In the remote planet Akiva a massive army is unfolding.

Thrawn series

Thrawn series follows the story of Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn. The plot centers on the campaigns of Thrawn, starting with The Destruction of the Elomin task force. In this series, lots of the most known Star Wars characters are mentioned, as are Luke Skywalker or Leia Organa Solo, since they are being chased by the Dark Jedi Joruus C’baoth to make them their apprentices.

Also, the Thrawn series introduces some of the most notable Expanded universe Characters such as Gilad Pellaeon, Mara Jade, Talon Karrde or Garm Bell.

If you want to read the Thrawn series in chronological order, it is the same as publication order.

Bloodline

Bloodline is set six years before Episode VII, The Force Awakens. The story centers on Princess Leia as she is a member of the Galactic Senate. In this story, she will have to face different threads to the Republic which will finally result in forming the Resistance shown in Episode VII.

Catalyst

A story written by James Luceno. Catalyst is the prequel to the film Rogue One.

Lords of the Sith

This story focuses on Jedi Knight Anakin skywalker or, better said, on Sith Lord Dark Vader.

The best non canon Star Wars books (Star Wars legends list)

If you want to know which Star Wars stories are not canon it is pretty simple: if its release date was before April 2014 then it will non canon, 100%. They are also easily known for their name before they were called Star Wars expanded universe and now it is called Star War Legends

Despite the fact that some Star Wars books are no longer canonical that doesn’t mean they are not great, in fact, some fans refer to these “decanonyzed” stories as Old Star Wars canon, since they were in fact canon not so long ago. So here goes a list of the best non canonical Star Wars novels:

Darth Bane trilogy

If you are looking for Star Wars books about Sith? then the Darth Bane trilogy is what you are looking for.

X wing series

A series of composed of ten novels narrating the story of the most elite fighting force, the X-Wing fighters, as they fight against the Empire. If you want space battles, here you have what you need. As always, the book covers are shown in publication order.

Shatterpoint: a Clone wars novel

Shatterpoint is set in the midst of the Clone Wars and narrates a story about the Jedi Master Mace Windu.

Darth Plagueis

This novel narrates the story of Darth Plagueis, you don’t know who he is? maybe Palpatine’s words will refresh your mind:

Did you ever hear the Tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise? It’s a Sith legend. Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith, so powerful and so wise that he could use the Force to influence the midi-chlorians to create life. He had such a knowledge of the dark side that he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying.”—Supreme Chancellor Palpatine,

Which Star Wars books are canon?

Lots of fans get confused regarding which Star Wars books are canon. Such confusion is more than understandable seeing that some stories that initially were considered canon ended up being declared non-canon.

Such is the case of the original Star Wars expanded universe, which in 2014 not only was rebranded as Star Wars Legends but was also declared noncanon to the franchise. As a result, several Star War novels are not canon now, some call these old canon.

In this section I will focus on Star Wars canon books and also, given that some of these stories are addressed to kids, I will make two different lists:

Canon Star Wars books for adults

These Star Wars books are canon and they are targeted to adults.

Here you have a Star Wars book list in publication order:

As you see some are stand alone books while others are part of a series, I have included the series name also so it is easy for you to know in which order chronological order you should read such series.

Canon Star Wars books for children

The following Star Wars books are canon and they are addressed to children. You will realize that the book covers are childish and cartoonized, since these Star Wars novels have a young target audience.

The following list is in publication order:

If you want to know the timeline of these Star Wars books addressed to kids most of them are set before the Battle of Yavin, which takes place at the end of the original 1977 Star Wars movies.

There are some of these series that take place after the Battle of Yavin, which are the following:

• Journey to Star Wars.
• Join the Resistance.
• Forces of Destiny.

🚀 What Star Wars books should I start with?

If you don’t know what Star Wars book read first I suggest you begin with Thrawn series or Lost Stars. They are canon and they are among the best star wars novels, so it is a safe place to start.

I am sorry this list does not include Star Wars graphic novels or comic books which are awesome and you will definitely enjoy them if you like this sci-fi saga.

Will you start reading these books? don’t forget to comment!

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