Best 2018 Star Wars Book? Inquiring Minds Wanna Know

I get excited every time a new Star Wars book comes out. Every. Time. No matter what other book I may be working through at the time--sometimes to the chagrin of my girlfriend (who is decidedly not a Star Wars fan but IS a Kylo Ren fan now because he's so...emo...and misunderstood?). But I'll take it! If that's how I can get her to watch Star Wars movies with me 😃 (Should I be concerned she champions a patricidal mass murdered?)

Anyway, my Star Wars new book process goes something like this: 1) release date of new book arrives, which I am always aware of; 2) I dutifully use one of my Audible credits to purchase the book (I had most likely pre-ordered); 3) I download the audiobook to my phone; and 4) I start listening the very same day--nay, very instant I awake--of the book release. 

I LOVE that first moment when the Star Wars theme blares in my earbuds, and then Marc Thompson, or whoever the narrator may be, begins, usually with the fabled..."a long time ago"... 

I had eight such moments in 2018. Eight, yes, eight books were were released...ah, ah, ah. And all of them, even the ones geared toward younger readers, were also released via audiobook, which is an awesome trend I hope continues.  

I was particularly excited about a few books that came outlast year...but....

               ...but...

                       ....but...

BUT! 2018 was a bit of a let down--the books weren't as...engaging as I had hoped. There were, however, some interesting surprises. 

Before we jump in, I wanted to go review the poll results from a big Star Wars Book Club Facebook event! I did a best of poll! An opportunity for fellow fans, and loyal followers of the page, to provide their input! People had a week to chime in on their favorite Star Wars book for 2018. I eagerly awaited thoughts, ideas, etc. 

*Crickets* 

One person out of my 2,775 loyal followers voted (now 2,778!...one of which is my girlfriend). 

One. 

Splendid. 

One other person also chimed in, noting his disappointment that these were all New Cannon, and not Legends (a.k.a. pre-Disney buy out) books, despite that the poll clearly stated this was for the best books of 2018. 

At least that made it easier to determine the winner of my poll. 

Honestly, I think they just like seeing the pictures of the book covers I post. *shrug*


Let's review the contenders, shall we? 

In alphabetical order, so as to be as objective as possible about my own personal opinions. 

1) 

I was probably most excited about this one (see...objective). 

What is great about Star Wars audiobooks that I think is unique are the sound effects and music. These are productions! 


 Honorable mentions. 


But I digress. 2018 books. I was probably the most excited about the so call expanded edition of the Last Jedi...with a bit of skepticism. 



It was a pretty dismal and disappointing year for Star Wars novels, especially after a really strong 2017. But there were a couple nuggets in there.

So let's take a look at who the contenders are. Fair warning: I don't differetiate between young reader and "adult" novels. To me, as I keep saying, story is story. And sometime the stuff marketing to younger people is really fantatsic, Harry Potter being an obvious example.

In 2018 we had 8 books: Last Shot, Most Wanted, The Last Jedi, Solo, Lando's Luck. Resistance.

Work the FB poll results into the essay. And bring the personal narrative flair to it.

Admit what I was late to read.

Make a little college as the pic...include Grumpy Luke somehow?

There were books released on audibook later in the year for previously released books, and that is a cool trend I hope continues. But I'm not including them in this list.

What about best story overal, not just books?

Admittedly, I got this idea from....blah. They did a nice job, and I thought it would be fun to do something similar.

I listedn to Lando pretty late...didn't even know that one came out to be honest. Same for Resistance, and it's cool I got all three of the resistancer books in one audiobook.

Comics are a bit harder for me to say because I read the vast majority of my Star Wars comic books on Marvel Unlimited. If you aren't aware of it and how it works, think of it as Marvel Comics Netflix. You can read ALL the Marvel comics to your hearts desire. I have the enitre catalogue at my fibure tips. And the price is. It's pretty amazing. The one downside, I don't get newer releases until 6 months later. I assume so they can first make a profit from the initial cover price. But it such an amazing deal, it's well worth it to me. So...I can vouch for half of 2018 in regards to comics books. Or I can do a year's review that includes half of 2017 as well....

Best comic book of 2018...series is an easy one for me: Poe Dameron. By a long shot.

Winner...I'm gonna go with Most Wanted, which was one of the books I was 

Support my blog by clicking on a link and purchasing a book (within the blog itself at links below). 

Enter: Star Wars Blog Club

Grumpy Luke Atop the Ancient Jedi Texts

I remember watching A New Hope as a kid. 

I was too young to have caught the film in theaters. Instead, my uncle would play it for my cousin and me on his new, high-tech projector. This was before the time of VCRs. We'd watch it again and again and again.

My first pop culture love. My first call to adventure. 

I did catch Empire in the theater. My first movie-going experience. Parts of it were a little scary for five year-old me, but parts were also funny, like the green Muppet-like character who reminded me of Grover. And then, three years later after Jedi, Star Wars...ended. 

That was it. A time of Star Wars darkness. 

Then another new hope. Star Wars began again, in a sense, in the early 90’s with the release of Heir to the Empire. This was a big event. Everyone seemed to be excited to read about the further adventures of Luke, Han, and Leia. I wasn't really a reader as a kid, but I read those books. And my love of Star Wars was rekindled. 

Then, eventually, the prequels happened. Then The  Clone Wars animated series. Then Lucas sold Star Wars to Disney. Then the sequels. And so on. 

Star Wars keeps changing in pretty dramatic ways. And each time, the fans moan and gripe in nerd outrage about how much better Star Wars used to be before the current, awful new thing ruined it. But in my opinion, these disgruntled fans too easily dismiss a great thing: we keep getting more Star Wars stories. And just like always, some great, some not so great. Same as it ever was. 

During the dark times, when we weren't getting any Star Wars big screen love, there was the books. The books kept Star Wars alive. Arguably, they are why we  got a prequel trilogy...and everything that followed. Those books inspired my love of story, of books, of reading. Of learning. Of science. Of mythology. Of psychology. Of so many things. If I can say to have a religion, it’s Star Wars. It’s informed and inspired me in a multitude of ways. The Force has been with us as long as I can remember. 

As a kid, I wanted to be Luke, the penultimate hero, and become a Jedi...like my absentee father before me. I loved upstart, coming of age Luke. Everyone did. But admittedly…I now definitely identify with grumpy, Old Man Luke. He's my favorite character once again. 

*grumble* "Go away." *grumble*

On that positive note,  let me take this moment to welcome you to the Star Wars BLOG Club! Cheesy title, I know. But I kinda dig it anyway.

This blog grew out of the Star Wars Book Club on Facebook I started waaayyy back in 2008. Jeez. Time flies. 

So why start a blog now? Good question. And I have no good answer. Writing is my passion, and I'm a Star Wars nerd. It really boils down to that. And after a bit of recent tinkering with my little, ten-year old Facebook book club...a light bulb appeared over my head. I should mix my peanut butter with my chocolate!

It’s actually something I’ve considered on and off for years. And even tinkered with a couple Book Club blogs I never published.  And while I haven’t done a great job up-keeping the Facebook Book Club page, I do have a good deal of people, approaching 3000, who like and follow the page. So I’m essentially using those poor souls as an excuse to write about Star Wars. More broadly, about Star Wars stories, whether in book form or other mediums. 

Story is story, as far as I'm concerned, and I'll be looking at and writing about both the individual stories and the larger metanarrative of both the New Canon and some Legends. Still a LOT of Legends I haven’t read. And I will read ALL THE STAR WARS!! Eventually. But seriously, that's a goal of mine. I want to read every piece of the Star Wars mythos, and this blog will also be about my journey consuming evermore Star Wars stories, as well as commentary and essays about Star Wars in general. 

I'm sure what I write about will evolve as I keep writing, and I hope to have some fun with this as I do. I would be honored if you would join me on this new adventure. Help me to make the blog better. 

A lot of cool Star Wars stories heading our way in 2019. Episode IX! The return of The Clone Wars! A live action series (which may not air in 2019...but we'll see). More books, including another Thrawn novel,  another Claudia Grey book (her work is fantastic), and a Padme novel (finally), among others. Comic books. Animated series. So many Star Wars stories! 

A truly exciting time to be a Star Wars fan! The Force is still with us.

___