SWBC: Now is the perfect time to read these Star Wars books
From the prequels and The High Republic to "The Bad Batch's" connections to the sequels and Legends.
Now is the perfect time to read these Star Wars books
With The Bad Batch's final season premiere, news of The Acolyte series, and the upcoming 25th anniversary of The Phantom Menace, now is a great time to read stories from several eras on the Star Wars timeline.
The High Republic
This week, news quickly spread that The Acolyte has a tentative premiere date of June 5. If that date holds, that’s only a few months away. The series is set at the tail end of The High Republic, right before the prequel era, so now is the time to read The High Republic books if you haven’t already.
The place to start with The High Republic is, of course, Light of the Jedi. But with confirmation that Jedi Knight Vernestra Rwoh will appear in the live-action series, you don’t want to skip the young adult and middle-grade books in Phases 1 and 2 — in which Vernestra has starring roles.
The High Republic is a multimedia, multifaceted publishing project that’s been producing stories set 200 years before the Skywalker saga for the last three years. There are dozens of books, comics, short stories, and even the animated Young Jedi Adventures series on Disney+.
For my full guide and reading recommendations for The High Republic, check out my post below.
Star Wars prequels
The Phantom Menace is just months away from celebrating its 25th anniversary, kicking off what’s sure to be several years of celebrating the prequel movies.
As I’ve said before — and I’ll continue to say — reading the novelizations makes the Star Wars movies even better. They aren’t just the films in text form, they add more scenes, perspectives, and clarity to the storytelling.
The Revenge of the Sith and The Last Jedi novelizations are among my favorite Star Wars books. Matthew Stover and Jason Fry did not have to go that hard in their novelizations, but I’m so glad they did.
Also, remember how I said I was writing a Phantom Menace 25th anniversary story for Star Wars Insider? Well, the cover for issue 225 has been revealed.
The issue is expected to be published at the end of April. This issue is also special because my friend Meg from Now This Is Lit has her first Insider story in it — an interview with author John Jackson Miller about his new book The Living Force.
You can preorder Star Wars Insider #225 and subscribe to the magazine through your local comic shop or online through Titan.
Bonus recs for The Bad Batch
Star Wars is known for introducing an idea or event and then going back in time to explain why it happened. They did it with the prequels and The High Republic, and now they’re doing it with the sequels and The Bad Batch.
The third and final season premiere of the animated series focuses heavily on Omega’s imprisonment and being forced to contribute to Project Necromancer at the Imperial science facility on Mount Tantiss. While we are still learning about Project Necromancer and its connections to later Star Wars stories, we know that during The Bad Batch (the earliest days of the Empire) the Emperor was experimenting with cloning using decommissioned clone troopers.
Shadow of the Sith: This is a Luke and Lando adventure tale, but the best parts of this Adam Christopher novel explore Rey’s parents. Her father, Dathan, was a hybrid strandcast (not quite a clone, but close) of Palpatine. In the novel, his perspective allows us to see what it was like to grow up on Exegol alongside the Sith cultists.
The Rise of Skywalker: Like I just said — the novelizations provide key insight and perspectives you may have missed in the movie. The Rise of the Skywalker by Rae Carson gives us a bit more time with the “somehow, Palpatine returned” line.
Darth Plagueis: Star Wars may just now be filling in the gaps to expand the story of how Palpatine “lived” and Rey came to be, but Darth Sidious’s obsession with immortality and experimenting with midi-chlorians goes way back. This Legends book shows where Palpatine got all his ideas — from his equally obsessed master Darth Plagueis.
What other Star Wars books would you recommend? Share them in the comments!
This week’s Star Wars releases
Feb. 20
The Mandalorian Collection (reference book from Star Wars Insider Series)
Feb. 21
Visions: Takashi Okazaki #1
Star Wars (2020) #43
Probably the last Command and the Hand of Thrawn duo logy, shows how Thrawn uses clones in warfare and the Dark Empire comic series storyline almost as the squeal trilogy