I've mentioned a few times on Geek Girl how the Star Wars novels have always captivated me more than the movies ever did, and I often get questions from readers who are interested in trying out some of the books but just aren't sure where to start. My advice is always the same- Start with Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy (Heir To the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command) and then move to the X-Wing novels. From there you should have a fairly good handle on the characters and major founding plots of the series and can decide where in the chronology you want to move next. This is actually exactly how I got my brother started on Star Wars novels, and he said it worked well for him.
This week Del Rey, the publisher behind the current line of Star Wars books, released a special "Essential Novels" collection, available for a limited time in honor of Saturday's upcoming Star Wars Reads day. This collection of four novels (Heir to the Empire, X-Wing : Rogue Squadron, The New Jedi Order : Vector Prime, and Legacy of the Force : Betrayal) is currently available in eBook form (I've linked up the Kindle version, but you'll also find it available for Nook and a few other formats) for the insane price of $7.99 US. To put it in perspective, Heir to the Empire costs that much alone in eBook format, and the version included in the bundle is the extra-special 20th anniversary edition- the one with all the awesome footnotes. I have no idea exactly what Del Rey means when they say "limited edition" on this (they don't give an expiration date for the offer), so if you've been interested at all in trying out the Star Wars books, now's the time!
A word of warning on spoilers and chronology- you can safely read Heir to the Empire and X-Wing : Rogue Squadron without accidentally ruining any of the other books for yourself, but Vector Prime gets quite spoiler-y, and you're in for learning all kinds of stuff out of order if you try reading Betrayal before the other books in the series. Still, it's a great introduction to the Galaxy Far, Far Away.
If you need a bit of help on where to go after reading the introductory books, the just-released-this-week Essential Reader's Companion might be just what you need to get going. This massive encyclopedia of Star Wars novels and short stories presents the books in chronological order and gives a brief summary of each. The printed version clocks in at nearly 500 pages (including lots of fantastic artwork), and there's also an iPad-friendly Kindle edition (the version I opted for as my bookshelves are getting a bit full).
And don't forget Star Wars Reads day is coming up this Saturday, October 6th! You can check here to see what events are happening at libraries and bookstores in your area.
Happy reading!