A few days ago, I saw someone selling a few Star Wars books; he had them listed as bundles of three, and the price was reasonable.
I first started reading Star Wars books around 2012/2013.
Before then, I had read/ heard of a few that I was interested in reading. But, I never really dived into the expanded universe.
However, after about a year or so of heavy reading/listening to audiobooks, Disney announced that all of the old canon was being axed, and they were only going to consider anything commissioned by them as canon. Which kind of killed the passion I felt for everything, as I essentially felt like I had wasted my time.
I tried to read some of the novels they released, but I never got into them as much as I had the others. At this stage, I don't really care about what's canon and what's not.
If it's a good story, and I like it, it can remain in my mind as head canon for the franchise.
The Thrawn Trilogy of novels were what started it all, for me. I can't remember where it was that I first heard about them, but whoever it was that suggested them to me back then, thank you.
I listened to the audiobooks of these back then, and always intended to buy physical copies so I could read them. Audiobooks are great, but I find I retain/ follow stories much better when reading, as I can go at my own pace, and reread sections, or pages that I feel I didn't take in.
They're a brilliant trilogy, and take place about 5 years after Return of the Jedi, and follow the main characters of the Star Wars films, as they face off against a cunning adversary, Grand Admiral Thrawn.
I remember certain details, but there is a lot I can't remember, so I am hoping that it will feel brand new to me when I start reading them.
Here is the book that I was most excited about, as I had never read or listened to it, but upon looking up some reviews, it seems to be highly rated.
It is a collection of short stories set around Jabba's Palace, following the people who frequent the place and work for him.
I only finished the first story, which is centred around Malakili (The Rancor Keeper) from Return of the Jedi.
The story is called A Boy and His Monster.
Spoiler Warning:
I really enjoyed the first story, and it adds a lot of detail to an otherwise unimportant background character.
As far as I remember, the Rancor keeper only shows up in one scene in the film, and that's after the Rancor monster is killed, and pretty much the only thing the keeper does is cry and walk off-screen.
In this story, we get to see his background and find out how he ended up working in Jabba's palace.
The author did a great job of giving Malakili character and developing him throughout the story. They even managed to make me feel a lot of sympathy for the poor old Rancor, which wouldn't have been an easy task, considering it's a big, scary monster who tries to kill Luke Skywalker in the film.
There are some violent scenes, with plenty of gory detail, but they don't dwell on it, and for the most part, it's more of a feel-good story about a man and his pet.
I find it funny that the author essentially took the only detail we had on The Rancor Keeper (The scene where he cries) and essentially runs with it, so you better believe that this man is very emotional and cries on a few occasions throughout the story.
The next story in this novel is about Jabbas Chef. I'm not expecting much, but if it is anything like the first story in the novel, I will be left rooting for them.
That's what I love about Star Wars novels: they can take extras from the background of crowd shots, give them an extensive backstory, and make us really care about them. Which, in turn, makes the next watch of the films more enjoyable.
I'm looking forward to reading this one. I don't know anything about it, but apparently, this first book in particular is very good. I also heard that the rest of the series is a bit lackluster.
If I enjoy this one, I will most likely buy the next in the series just to complete it.
