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 

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