2. Shadows of the Empire
Taking place between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Shadows of the Empire is one of the best Expanded Universe stories hands down. It focuses mainly on Luke, Leia, and Lando's search for Han as he is in the clutches of Boba Fett and carbon freeze. But what's really great about the story is that it introduces fans to two of the best non-movie appearing characters. The evil Prince Xizor (the green guy with claws above), the ruler of the Black Sun crime syndicate, who attempts to turn the Emperor against Vader by killing Luke so he can then in turn take out the Emperor and Dash Rendar (below), who is basically Han Solo without the guilty conscience. To say that Rendar isn't a cooler-than-thou character is a total lie. Like Solo he is also an ex-Imperial, but instead of becoming a smuggler like Katarn he too turned mercenary. His ship, the Outrider, is faster than the Falcon and he's a better pilot than Solo, faking his own death at the end of Shadows in a very fancy bit of flying. On the other hand, Rendar is extremely arrogant and full of himself, showing his unique character flaw of hubris many times, but when you're the guy who slaps bounty hunters like Boba Fett and IG-88 in the face before breakfast every morning you can probably afford a little over confidence. The book spawned an awesome video game where you play as none other than Rendar, but before that it even had its own soundtrack. A book with its own soundtrack? That's about as rare as a retired dictator. How is it even possible?