My Star Wars Experience: The Books That Made Me a Star Wars Fan (1997-1999)

 Hey everyone, I'm back for another My Star Wars Experience post. Today I'm talking about the five Star Wars novels that made me a Star Wars fan. Before we get into it, let me give you some background. I was born a Trekkie. My parents even told me once that they turned on the tiny TV in my hospital room, when I was only nine months old, and watched the series premiere of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Encounter at Farpoint", in 1987. Aside from watching reruns of both Droids and Ewoks on Global Television in the early 90's, and inheriting an entire collection of original Kenner Star Wars figures from the 70's and 80's, as well as Dark Empire #3, I didn't see the Star Wars movies until 1995 when my dad got the trilogy on VHS for either his birthday or for Christmas. I thought they were good, but I was more of a casual fan, who played with the toys that I had and that was it. But, then I got some Star Wars novels and seeing that the books expanded the universe introduced in the movies, that made me the Star Wars fan that I am today. So let's take a look at those books shall we? Let's get into it!

The first book on this list is The Paradise Snare by A.C. Crispin. The first book in the Han Solo Trilogy, this book shows Han as a young man, escaping the harmful life he was forced into when he was captured by Garris Shrike, who used him, and other children in various schemes on Corellia. After an adventure on the planet, Ylesia, the book ends with Han leaving Coruscant for the Imperial Academy. We don't learn very much about Han in the original movies, aside from that he's a smuggler, who has a bounty on his head by Jabba the Hutt, and that he and Lando have a history together, where Han won the Millennium Falcon from Lando in a game of some sort. The game isn't specified in the movie, but the novelization of The Empire Strikes Back states that Han won the ship in a game of Sabacc. Because I liked Han so much when I was a kid, I loved learning about his backstory in this book, as well as its sequels, The Hutt Gambit, and Rebel Dawn. This was the book that got me started though.

Next up is Eaten Alive by John Whitman. A young reader's book, Eaten Alive was the first book in the Galaxy of Fear series, which was inspired by the Goosebumps series, which was heavily popular at the time that Galaxy of Fear started coming out. Aside from brief cameos from Han, Luke, Leia, Chewie, Artoo, and Threepio, as well as Darth Vader appearing in the book's prologue, the book focuses on Tash and Zak Arranda, two orphans who were offworld visiting relatives when Alderaan was destroyed by the Death Star, which killed their parents. They live with their uncle, Hoole, a member of the Shi'do race, who is an anthropologist, heading to the planet, D'vouran, which is actually an Imperial experiment gone wrong. This book stuck out to me because it showed it could carry a story that didn't focus on Han, Luke, Leia, Chewie, and the Droids. This was a rarity at the time, because the prequel era wasn't a thing yet, so the only characters we really had to explore with in depth were the Original Trilogy characters. So to have a book that didn't focus on them, really made me realize that the Star Wars Universe was a much larger place than the movies had shown.

The next book on this list is Classic Star Wars: A New Hope, which was a junior novelization of the 1977 movie. So not only was this book my first novelization of any kind, but it included scenes that aren't in the movie. It's been many many years since I read this book, but the opening of chapter one had Darth Vader overseeing the attack on Leia's ship, the Tantive IV, followed by a conversation between Princess Leia and Captain Antilles, where he urges her to take the escape pod down to Tatooine, but Leia decides to stay and fight, and to send the Death Star plans down to the planet inside the memory banks of Artoo-Detoo. There are many other differences between this book and the movie, but it essentially adapts the story of the movie.

 Next is Shards of Alderaan, the seventh book of the Young Jedi Knights series by Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta. See, the book itself is misleading because it says "First in an all-new saga starring Jacen and Jaina" on the top of the front cover, so I thought that meant it was the first book in a series. Obviously, it's not. I've never actually owned this one though. My mom actually borrowed it from our local public library for me back in the summer of 1998. What stood out to me about this book is that while Han, Luke, and Leia are in it, well, Luke and Han are anyway, the focus is on the next generation of heroes in the New Republic. The next generation of Jedi Knights. This was my introduction to Jacen and Jaina Solo, and their friends Tenel Ka, and Lowbacca, who is Chewie's nephew, as well as Lowie's translator Droid, Em Teedee. Zekk also appears in this book. 

The final book on this list is Rogue Squadron by Michael A. Stackpole, the first book in the X-Wing series. Like with Eaten Alive, Rogue Squadron focused on characters who weren't the main characters from the three movies that were out at the time. Unlike Eaten Alive, Han, Luke, and Leia don't appear in this book at all, and the book introduces a cast of characters who play important roles later on the novels of the Star Wars Expanded Universe. This includes Corran Horn, Gavin Darklighter, Iella Wessiri (she's mentioned by Corran in this book, but doesn't actually appear until the next book in the series), Mirax Terrik, and Tycho Celchu. Garrett lent me this book in 1999, and I'd get my own copy a couple of years later. 

And that's it for today my friends. Just five books that turned me into a Star Wars fan. I'll be back on Friday for my post on my first Star Trek novels. So until then have a great rest of the week and I will talk to you all on Friday. Take care.