1. Shadows of the Empire
When I was younger, I never knew that Shadows of the Empire was a book first. Call me an ignorant kid, I know. I thought it was just this great Star Wars video game for the N64 where I could take part in the battle of Hoth and bring down AT-AT walkers. I spent countless hours playing that game but had no idea who the green skinned guy was that I would see in the graphical cut scenes, why Luke Skywalker was in some of them and so forth. I just knew that it was a pretty cool game. Enter my exposure to the EU. I was actually fortunate enough to read Empire Strikes Back, then Shadows of the Empire before jumping into the Return of the Jedi novel adaptations. If youre ever interested in reading the novels from the original films, I highly suggest slipping Shadows of the Empire in between Empire and Return. It really creates a whole new experience and depth to the story and the hunt for Han Solo after being frozen in carbonite. Were also introduced to another great Corellian character in Dash Rendar. I picked this as my number one for purely selfish reasons. Ive always dreamed of a Shadows of the Empire adaptation because it really enriches the story of both films and the original trilogy as a whole. It explains more about Lukes journey after he learns the truth about Vader revealing that he was his father. The book even had a soundtrack you could purchase that took elements from John Williams original score with a number of other musical rudiments. Shadows of the Empire just hit everything right with where it fell in the story and the aspects it covered. With that, well see where we go from here but I guarantee well know long before 2015. I cant wait! I hope you enjoyed my selections. Please let me know what your thoughts are possible story arcs. But in the mean time: May the Force be with you.