Canon vs. Legends

Yes, thank you for reminding me
. One more to add to my small list of what I like from Legends is the Darth Bane books along with what I mentioned previously.

 

What is this "Canon" I keep hearing about? Just kidding!

I have gradually come to accept the fact that I am a Legends fan. My bookshelf is predominately filled with novels from the old EU, some of which I've owned since 1996. The ones I always return to are A.C. Crispin's Han Solo Trilogy. I originally read them at a time in my youth when I was beginning to realize that I was different from everyone else. Quiet, introverted, very few friends. When I began reading The Paradise Snare, an entirely different world opened up to me. Reading about how a young, irreverent Han Solo felt comfortable being rough around the edges and didn't feel the need to conform to anyone else's ideas really helped me feel that being different was a good thing, that I didn't have to fit in, I could just be me and that was good enough. I would continue to collect and read EU novels for the next fifteen years or so. It was a time, before all the pomp and circumstance, when being a Star Wars fan felt like you'd been told this Grand Secret that nobody else knew and it made you feel unique and special.

My hope is that someday, younger generations of Star Wars fans experience these feelings for themselves. Whether it's through Canon material or Legends, I hope they have the opportunity to feel special and unique, that they can learn some of what I learned from reading the books or watching the movies.

Canon has only just begun, but someday perhaps it will be just as fleshed out and full of heart and soul as Legends was; so that people can feel about it the way I feel about the EU.

 

Have you seen Barnes & Noble's new leatherbound trilogy collection?




I picked up a copy a few weeks ago and it looks great on my shelf next to their black/Vader leatherbound collection of the OT novelizations. I just finished re-reading the old Han Solo Adventures trilogy and have just started re-reading this trilogy. Unlike the older trilogy I actually remember some of this one (as I read the other one when I was younger) but not so much that it feels like old news. I'm surprised I remember more of this one since I was killing a lot of brain cells in the mid/late 90's but some bits and pieces stuck apparently. When I picked up the trilogy I also snagged a paperback copy of Scoundrels which I've never gotten around to but plan to read after I finish Rebel Dawn.

 

That is very, very cool. Personally, I'm more utilitarian when it comes to buying books, hardcovers tend to take up too much space on my book shelf. But then again, my copies have become somewhat worn over the years. Haven't read Scoundrels, though, I'll have to look into it. A story with Han and Lando between Rebel Dawn and ESB ought to be interesting.

 

I don't buy many hardcovers either. I find their size awkward to read, especially since I like to lounge when I read and usually only buy them if it's a book I want to read so badly I can't wait for the paperback. But I do have a modest (and largely decorative since I don't really read them) collection of hardcovers/vintage paperbacks/special editions of some of my favorite books/authors. My day-to-day reading tends to just be paperbacks that I trade in at the used bookstore for more once I've accumulated some.

Scoundrels sounds interesting but I've heard varying opinions about it. While the new Thrawn book didn't go to the top of my list of favorite EU books, Zahn will probably always be my favorite Star Wars author for the Thrawn Trilogy. And an Oceans Eleven style heist story starring Han, Lando and Chewie sounded like fun. Plus the books boasts a bonus prequel novella starring Lando, being a sucker for some Lando I went ahead and pulled the trigger on it.

 

Scoundrels is a pretty good book, not on par with the thrawn trilogy but a fun standalone book. I listened to it on audio, it’s a good listen I recommend the audio if you don’t have time to read it.

 

I've never been able to get into audiobooks. I guess I process the information better visually than by hearing somebody else read it, and I zone out more if I'm listening I think. I do have Heir To The Empire on tape though.

 

Audio Books is all I've done, Recently.
I was a teen when the Radio Dramas came out, heard them an' was Captivated then so, Audio books NOW work So Well for me.
Audio books Now, Ain't like they was... Nope.
Better.
Just My Preference.
Good Stuffs, They Be.

Canon (New=Current) Only though... Fer ME.

'Legends' is... well... just That.
A Legend.
To me.

 

Now that we've seen what happened to Luke's new Jedi Order in Canon, it makes me wonder how EU Luke would have reacted to Snoke seducing one of his students to the Dark Side. EU Luke dealt with a number of his students falling to the Dark Side,

Spoiler: SPOILER

but he never once considered murdering one of them in their sleep(that I can remember anyway).

EU Luke is considerably stronger than Canon Luke, less fearful, more optimistic, more willing to accept and learn from failure.

I can't remember any younger Jedi in the EU who were so powerful Luke couldn't handle them eventually. The story of Ben Solo seems to have parallels with both Jacen and Gantoris, with Snoke taking up the role of both the spirit of Exar Kun and Lumiya.

 

Don't get me wrong, I love Canon, but Legends is something unique to me, therefore I enjoy it more.

 

I love the EU and I love thrawn trilogy. The jedi academy trilogy was decent, had some lulls in it. Obviously theres more content that I've read. Comparing the 2 sequel films to my fave post-ROTJ EU content , I must say Thrawn trilogy and the sequels are tied for me(even though we still have one more sequel trilogy film to go). I enjoy both a lot.

But the canon aftermath novels suck compared to thrawn trilogy. Seriously. Pretty bad

 

The first Aftermath novel was bad. I couldn't finish it. Perhaps I'll try it again someday. But the second two in the series were much better, especially the third. At least in my opinion. I think the first book was rushed and I think the author tried too hard to be politically correct. It's like just write a novel without trying to please everyone. But that's just the way I felt when I started it. I also think part of it was that at first I didn't really care for the characters. I wanted to read about Luke and what he was doing, and of course that wasn't in there.

 

I couldn't either, but to say I couldn't finish it might be exaggerating as I barely started. I got 1-2 chapters in and gave up. In 30+ years of reading it's the only book I can think of that I started and didn't finish. It wasn't anything to do with the story. A book can start off bad and get better or vice versa, so I didn't give up because of that. It just became apparent pretty quickly that it was one of the worst written books I'd ever picked up. Having never heard of Wendig I was theorizing that Disney had so much faith in the Star Wars brand that they were just grabbing homeless people off the street to crank out the new Star Wars novels. I could hardly believe my eyes.

 

I'm going to have to go with Legends on this one. They have some stuff that I really love. (KOTOR, Tartakovsky Clone Wars)

 

At this point only a full on invasion from something like the Yuuzhan Vong can save Disney Canon books now.
It's stuck in journey to the next movie mode. Literally ten activity, kiddie books designed for ages 3 to 7 per one adult novel (300 plus pages that tells a proper story).

 

I definately go for Legends now only. The Thrawn trilogy should have been the ST and NJO as SST.

 

Even though I already mentioned that I gave up on Aftermath because it was so bad I've decided to go ahead and power through them because I thought they might clear up some things about the political/military climate of the ST I've wondered about since they first came out. I know the basic idea about what happened between trilogies but I was still curious. It's hard though as Chuck's writing is pretty terrible. One scene had me really confused, when the Koorivar, Ithorian and Abednedo visit Snap at his shop. At one point one of them either momentarily turns into a Rodian or dialogue accidentally appears from a 4th Rodian thug who was supposed to have been cut out of the book. Twice this Rodian is mentioned even though there's only supposed to be Snap and the Koorivar/Ithorian/Abednedo trio in the room.

 

Spoiler: THRAWN

Read the Thrawn book, especially if you watch the Rebels TV show, great read so far. I'm half way through it. Dying to find out how Pryce became a Governor.

 

I read that back when it came out and will probably re-read it before Alliances comes out, I thought it was OK but as a huge fan of the Thrawn Trilogy I was disappointed.

 

Spoiler

Really it dragged at first but now I'm really curious about Pryce. I like the warrior aspect of it too because I train in several martial arts too. anyway sorry to hear you didn't enjoy it as much as I do. hopefully Thrawn and Vader will do it for you!