I’ve been reading a lot this year and most recently finished reading Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor by Matthew Stover (it’s cool and good!). That, along with Dark Disciple by Christie Golden and Traitor by Matthew Stover which I also read earlier this year, were my first foray into the larger Star Wars Extended Universe and, even though I’m not a big Star Wars Gal*, they’ve given me a much deeper appreciation for why people like the EU and why people can be so passionate about it.
Like, Stars Wars has always been, to me, a thing that the canonical stories are kinda whatever but there’s so much stuff that they gesture towards or give little details about that all really gets you thinking about things. It makes you ask interesting questions about, like, hey the force is weird and probably not as black-and-white as the movies would have you think, right? And, hey, ever wonder what’s beyond the outer rim? (fucked up flesh spaceships, it turns out). And I managed to get suggested a couple of books that really explore those weird nooks and crannies. They play with what Star Wars sets up in interesting ways that isn’t just people inserting their Cool OCs into Fun Adventures (although there’s some of that, too).
I’m not going to be doing a deep dive into the Extended Universe and, honestly, I’m a bit Star Wars’d-out at the moment so I’d need time before I dip my toe in again but it’s been fun to try out a thing I had never really considered before.
*Just because I have started to make my own cool Twi’lek smuggler OC does not mean I am a Star Wars Gal! She doesn’t even have a name yet so it doesn’t count!!