Updated! Ranking The Canonical Star Wars Novels
- Star Wars: Catalyst- A Rogue One Story- Not only is it a great novel on its own, but the fact that it is a PERFECT companion piece to “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” makes it so much more special.
- Star Wars: Lost Stars- Claudia Gray has written 3 fantastic SW novels, but this one is still her best so far. She manages to create compelling new characters all while telling a clever story that ties into the saga as a whole.
- Star Wars: Dark Disciple- This Asajj Ventress and Quinlan Vos centric book is an essential read for “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” fans.
- Star Wars: Rebel Rising- A highly underrated novel that sheds light on Jyn and Saw’s past. This should be getting more press than it is.
- Star Wars: A New Dawn- Maybe I got caught up in the hype of reading this prior to the premiere of “Star Wars Rebels,” but I still thoroughly enjoyed the first canonical SW novel.
- Star Wars: Lords of the Sith- Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine, and Cham Syndulla. Need I say more?
- Leia, Princess of Alderaan- A young Leia story by Claudia Gray? It’s as good as it sounds.
- Star Wars: Battlefront 2: Inferno Squad- The tie in to the forthcoming “Star Wars: Battlefront 2” video game delivers pulse pounding action, a unique POV, and some deliciously dark drama.
- Star Wars: From A Certain Point Of View- This anthology novel that contains 40 stories with 40 different character POVs during the events of “Star Wars: A New Hope” is a fun read.
- Star Wars: Bloodline- Claudia Gray’s first Leia novel was an intriguing precursor to “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
- Star Wars: Guardians of the Whills- Even though the story is rather slight, Greg Rucka perfectly captures the characters of Baze and Chirrut.
- Phasma- Although parts of it don’t feel very Star Warsy, there’s a lot to like here. Not only do we FINALLY get some much needed Phasma characterization, but the plot also does a fine job of shedding light on the First Order as well.
- Ahsoka- As a fan of Ahsoka, this novel was rather disappointing in the story department as it feels like author E.K. Johnston is hamstrung by the story she can tell. Still, it’s a decent enough read.
- Star Wars: Heir To The Jedi- Despite having some decent character moments, there’s a reason why this Luke novel doesn’t get mentioned much.
- Star Wars: Aftermath: Life Debt- Ranking the “Aftermath” novels is like pulling teeth to me as I find all of them to be a colossal let down. However, the second one has a slight edge…I guess?
- Star Wars: Aftermath: Empire’s End- The third part of the “Aftermath” trilogy is arguably the most eventful, but the fact that the MAJOR events in this deeply flawed book are canon is a real shame as this epic story could have been saved for a film or series.
- Star Wars: Aftermath- The first in the “Aftermath” story is filled with jumbled storytelling and dull characters. As with the other two novels, however, the best part is the side stories.
- Star Wars: Battlefront: Twilight Company- A tedious and flat tie-in to the 2015 “Star Wars: Battlefront” video game.
- Thrawn- Unless you enjoy a seemingly endless amount of moments involving Thrawn’s mindset about everything and anything, Timothy Zahn’s highly anticipated return to the SW universe was an utter slog to get through.
- Star Wars: Tarkin- As a big fan of James Luceno, it pains me to put this one last. Alas, I don’t feel like it does the character of Tarkin justice. I don’t buy his boring backstory here.
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