The best place to start in the Expanded Universe

First posts are always tricky in forums, so best get it out the way quickly...

As far as the Expanded Universe goes, I'm a complete n00b - I only discovered it yesterday! I've watched the films many times OT, SE & PT but never gone any further than that. Anyway, I finished watching the SE episode VI was thinking about what would happen next... and then discovered the EU! I ordered the "The Thrawn Trilogy" from ebay earlier this morning and am looking forward to reading them, but where to go from there? From reading this forum for a few hours and the "wookieepedia" there just seems such as massive amount of literature that it's difficult to know what to read first. Also, judging by comments on KMC there seems to be some books, series etc that I should probably avoid - NJO with Luke turning into a force god for example, sounds a bit... well... far fetched.

Anyway, I'm looking for recommendations and whatever the opposite of a recommendation is (condemnation I suppose) for where to go first in the EU!

Cheers

honestly i would recommend that you read the eu that stays closest to the movies in terms of timeline and events. those are usually the best. the more distant the eu gets from the movies the weaker it is imo.

so id recommend the clone wars novels and comics, the empire and rebellion comic series, and...

well it depends a lot on what you like about star wars. 🙂

i like starwars because of the large scale battles and wars, but i dont like most of the jedi vs. sith stuff, other people feel differently. so really it comes down to what you like.

Thanks Marvel. I certainly like the epic space battles, but also enjoy the jedi and sith stuff. I liked how anakin was turned to the darkside not because he was essentially evil, but because he wanted to save padme. So yeah - definitely like the jedi/sith stuff too! Anyone got suggestions along those lines?
Also - does everyone agree with Ms Marvel that the further away from the films timeline, the more far fetched the books become?

well if you like anakins story id recommend Dark Lord: Rise of Dark Vader] and the [url=http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Wars_Episode_III:_Revenge_of_the_Sith_(novel)]Revenge of the Sith novel]p/url].

the latter isnt necessarily eu but it fleshes out anakins dilemma and personality much better than the film did and s very well written.

as for jedi vs. sith... theres a lot of material on that and im not as savvy.

but out of curiosity have you played any of the games?

Yeah I've played a few ages ago, I seem to remember flying round Mos Eisley in an X Wing. Also shooting down those black flying droids on Hoth...
Played battlefront as well, that was pretty cool as far as I can remember...
More interested in the books at the moment tbh

ah... yeah Rogue Squadron. good games lol.

anyway heres that second link that i messed up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Episode_III:_Revenge_of_the_Sith_(novel)

Cheers!
The Republic Commando Series by Karen Traviss look good, so I'll probably look into them. And the Rise of Darth Vader looks good too. Not too keen on novelisations of films, so don't know about reading Revenge of the Sith, but as you recommended it I'll certainly give it a closer look.
Thanks a lot!

Book list so far:-

Purchased:-
Thrawn Trilogy: Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising and The Last Command

Recommended to me:-
Republic Commando Series: Hard Contact, Triple Zero, True Colors and Order 66
Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (Novel)

Anymore recommendations or books I should stay away from?

Well I personally enjoyed Death Star that and the Trawn trilogy were the only ones I'd recommend but you own the latter. Plus Republic Commando the game was one of the best Star Wars ones i feel.

if you want the stories on how luke started the new NJO read the jedi academy trilogy. It's and easy read with some cool stuff in it, and then there is I,Jedi which takes place in the middle of the second book of JA and ends after the events of the JA trilogy.

NJO is toomany books and I thought that whole series was lacking but that's IMO. I thought the dark nest trilogy was better than most of the NJO stuff.

"the new NJO"? I know that I'm being picky here, but that would basically be "the new new jedi order".

Bane books.

and the Dark Lord was good too.

I started a LOOONNNGGGG time ago with the Ambush at Corellia, but I was like six so it went mostly over my head. I like the post movies stuff the best, so you could try Truce at Bakura as it's literally right after ROTJ. Then just go in order for the 40 some books till you run out. If you like Clone Wars, read that, but its just gotten to old for me. I liked those books till ep3 came out and was just like, okay, time to move on. Bane and all those are good to, but I think it its good to read them more in the order they were written than the SW timeline, so you could try Splinter of the Minds Eye or the Thrawn trilogy as those were first.

Bane books, great books.

well, the Clone War Novels were pretty sweet, imo, not a bad place to start, since it fills out the details of the trilogies.

Remember, most of the EU books are fine, but NEVER read anything written by karen traviss.

she gave jacen 3 hands to kill mara. i will never forgive her.

srsly dude, it wz his foot!!!1!1 lolz

Kid listen.

Start with the Death Star Book.

From there go to Thrawn Series.

From there go to Jedi Academy Series.

From there go to the Han Solo Series.

From there go to the Boba Fett Series. or the Rogue Squadron Series.

From there go to the Darth Bane Series.

From there go to the Legacy Series.

Then its up to you.

I just name off all the awesome series that will develop the storyline well for you without you saying WHO THE HELL IS THIS PERSON!.

Originally posted by MasterAshenVor
without you saying WHO THE HELL IS THIS PERSON!.

That is exactly why i liked the Clone Wars novels.

Watch out for the Thrawnwankery though.

Out of all of them I personally enjoyed Death Star most.