This is one hell of a series, in fact it is the longest star wars novel series to date with an impressive 18 novels.
I'm halfway through the last novel and will post a review on the whole series soon...I'll try to keep it decent length wise
Ah...after 7 months of reading and 19 novels later I have finally finished THE greatest novel series of the star wars universe and possibly the best story arc ever.
The story picks up about 25 years after Return of the Jedi. Luke is running his new Jedi academy on Yavin 4 with hundreds of new jedis under his wing. Han and Leia's three children have hit their mid teen years and are starting to wonder where they fit in the world and the New Republic has finally made peace with the Imperial Remnants. All seems fine until one day an extra galactic alien race known as the Yuuzhan Vong enter the star wars galaxy with the sole purpose of exterminating all manner of technology and "infidels".
The summary may sound a bit cliche but this story is very well developped, they introduce an interesting concept that the star wars universe is surrounded by some strange phenomenon that prevents hyperspace travel past a certain point. The enemy alien race comes from beyond this "border". The alien race is very interesting on it's own too, all their weapons and technology rely on biotechnology and living creatures. Their ships are living with propulsion and shields created by creatures that manipulate and control gravitic pulses (I guess you can call them that), the warriors throw bugs and fight with lightsaber proof snake staffs. Also the alien race is somehow immune to the force and the jedis can't sense them through the force.
Every aspect of the story is so well developped that I could write up a 50 page review on the series, the overall plot is amazing, each character grows throughout the series and actually becomes someone new. Familiar and new characters actually get killed off and there are twists throughout the 19 book series.
The series avoids the typical star wars novel by removing the ability of the heroes to be immune to everything, in this series if you're in a room with 25 guys shooting at you then no matter what, odds are you're going to die. Another great thing is the lack of super weapons, just about every star wars novel before this one had a super weapon in it. Well not this one! The series covers so many different aspects of the universe that just about any star wars fan will find something amusing. Wether you're more interested in learning more about the force, the Jedi philosophy, the smugglers, the enemy, strategy stuff, space battles, land battles, revolutions, genocide, mythic quests battles within the mind of someone with a split personality, you name it, it's probably in here.
The story covers 5 years in the star wars universe and once the series is done, the whole galaxy has been completely altered, there's no going back to the way things were before.
I really have way too much to say about each and every one of these books so if you want more info on any aspect of the story or individual books, just post a question and I'll answer it.
Now onto the next series "Legacy of the Force"!
it actually sounds interesting. Ive always liked starwars but the thought of reading the books usually just does not appeal.
If you want to start on a less intense series then I strongly recommend the "Heir to the Empire" trilogy
It's a story about 3-4 years after Return of the Jedi and it introduces one of the best non movie characters: Grand Admiral Thrawn, a crazy strategist.
Since it's only three books, you can a feel for star wars novels and get a great story too.
they should make movies about them.
Don't let Lucas do it. He's not all there any more it seems, to be able to make a good movie.
let them tell someone else to do it, the star wars series are amazing i cried when i saw the return of the sith.