Let's Talk The Star Wars Canon

Good topic, I just asked much the same thing yesterday.....how about the book "Tarkin"....looks interesting....any thoughts on it?

 

Tarkin has good moments but tough to get through IMO. Catalyst is awesome and functions as a prequel to the Tarkin novel (as well as RO of course). That would be my recommendation to anyone looking to get into the books, especially with the RO home release coming out this month.

 

I've enjoyed them all to varying degrees except for Heir to the Force. Ashoka was a slow read. Surprised with how much I liked Catalyst. Really enjoyed Tarkin, New Dawn, Bloodline and Lords of the Sith. Dark Disciple is a great read if you want to go back to the Clone Wars period. I'm a big fan of the Aftermath series with each book better that the previous one. I'm not a big fan of YA, but Lost Stars wasn't a bad read at all.

 

I personally enjoyed Tarkin because of how deep it went into the character of the man himself. If your interested in a deep character study it is worth a read. Luceno has written way better novels, but it was still good for what it was.

 

I had some issues with the book, but ultimately enjoyed it for this reason. Like so many others, I began the novel with that age-old question - "Just why does Tarkin appear to be Vader's boss?" Even though I don't think it's *explicitly* explained, I finished the book with an understanding of what was going on.

As for the story, I thought a solidly strong start fizzled about midway through. I also found the flashback interstitials to be a bit over the top. But I definitely recommend the book to anyone who hasn't read it.

I'm behind in my canon reading, so my best and worst of canon is a bit out of date. But for me, the best has probably been 'A New Dawn.' The worst - 'Lords of the Sith.' I'm in the minority for both opinions.

ETA - This appears to be a spoiler-free thread. Let's be considerate to others. Thanks!

 

I enjoyed Tarkin, but my problems with it stem from the fact that act two is rather sluggish. While I was heavily invested in the story at the beginning, by the end of the second act, I just wanted some resolution to the conflict.

 

Lost Stars kept me gripped throughout, to the point where I got annoyed that I had to sleep instead of continuing to read.

Bloodline was a fabulous read, full o f great little details ahead of TFA.

Lords of the Sith was damn good, especially for Vader's inner turmoils

Finally, Catalyst was brilliant, and made R1 a much richer and more satisfying story knowing the history of the characters

That said, I've read all of the new canon now, and even Heir to the Jedi has it's moments...

 

What didn't you enjoy about LotS or Catalyst? Out of interest

 

It's important to keep in mind that as far as details important to the films go, we are really only going to get supplemental details and clues in the stories right now. This is still rewarding of course when we put the pieces together, but their never going to completely reveal their hand about details important to the films until we see the films. For instance, we have plenty of clues about Snoke right now, but we are never going to get all the details til they reveal them in the movies. Still fun to speculate, but don't expect any smoking guns. The payoff is later when we watch the next film and then we're like "Oh! Now I get what that little clue means!"

Like you said about Shattered Empire, after watching the next film, aspects may become more relevant than we initially realized.

A series in the comics that is really quite excellent and reveals important details about the relationship between some film characters is the Lando mini series though. It gives much more context to the relationship between Lando and Lobot and is an excellent read as well. I would say it's probably the best comic series in the new Canon so far.

 

Great points. Once I sort of accepted that the stories are mainly going to be supplemental in nature–at least for right now–I began to enjoy them a lot more. The Lando mini is actually my favorite thing in the new canon, book or comic–it's so good.

 

I've read the first few trades of the Vader comic.

On Aftermath now, then Lost Stars. After that, probably going to Life Debt.

I'm all over the place, is what I'm saying- but I should have a lot of time to read, soon.

 

No love for my boy Has? All good man, everyone is going to have their own take on these things. Just to provide a different perspective, I will say that I really enjoyed this character particularly his partnership with Saw and the way he played the game so well between Tarkin and Krennic. I found myself really interested to know more about him afterwards that I stumbled across this picture of Dressellians in ROTJ. Then I wondered if one them could someday be canonized as Has (similar to how the old Rebel soldier in ROTJ may be Rex).

 

While I don't think that it will factor into the movies, I greatly enjoyed the Lando short series.